I’ve heard this joke used before, in the context of either aggressive telemarketing, persistent scammers, or both. What I don’t get is the context. Was this really a thing at some point, some car warranty broker just spamming the shit out of everyone in the world? Some Indian call-center scam writ large?
I’ve never been contacted about my car’s extended warranty. There was, however, a period of a few months when Toyota USA would not leave me alone about some minor problem that necessitated a recall, and by the end they were getting borderline hostile about getting my ride into the dealer.
You are very lucky. This is a current scam that has been going on for a few years now. It was more frequent about 6 months ago. At that time my cell phone was receiving about 3-4 voicemails a week.
From the above link last updated March 2022:
Auto-warranty robocalls were the top unwanted call complaint filed by consumers with the FCC for two years running
the total number of complaints filed with the FCC about auto warranty scams rose from close to 7,600 in 2020 to more than 12,000 in 2021
I get them almost every day. And now they are interspersed with one about Student Debt Relief, and also “Debt Counseling Services, regarding your recently approved application”. Thankfully, Google Assistant catches 99% of them so I just have voicemails to delete.
I get plenty of the “your Amazon purchase of $499…” variety, and on at least one occasion, a hostile Indian dude demanding my Social Security Number else law enforcement will start some unspecified criminal action against me. Never the extended warranty scam though.
Planet Money did an interesting episode about the history of car warranty robocalls. The business started in the '80s with a company called US Fidelis.
It’s the same scam and same scammers whether it’s the extended warranty on cars or appliances, or the amazon renewal/purchase confirmation, or ‘hackers have stolen your IP address’ or whatever. Ultimately it all funnels through to a call centre where they connect to your computer while you log into your bank, and they either transfer money out of your account, or trick you into doing it.
A few years ago I used to get at least 2 or 3 a week, but then I moved out of state and got a new phone number, and they went away for a few months. Then they started up again, but not as often.
I never answer my phone unless the number is in my contacts list. That has reduced the number of spam calls I get dramatically. They still try every once in a while, but usually, it’s in Spanish and I answered a call I shouldn’t have.
That may be how it works nowadays, but historically U.S. Fidelis would sell you an actual service contract for your vehicle. It would be an expensive contract with very poor coverage, but they did pay out on some claims.
I get the car warranty calls at least 2-3 times weekly. For a while it was sometimes more than once a day. The “your social security number has been suspended due to fraudulent activity” calls are down to about one a month or so.
The Apple or Microsoft virus guy hasn’t been around in a while.
What really pisses me off about them is that they don’t nicely release the phone line. They can tie up to as much as a minute or more before I’m able to use my phone again.
I get them frequently, on my personal phone and also on my work phone (which is a Washington State government phone). In my case it’s always a robo-dialer; a recorded message pretending to be a real person, not a real person.
I got a few messages in Chinese calling my work phone years ago, and I asked a coworker (who was from China), after listening to them she said it was someone pretending to be from the IRS calling.
I figured it was a scam aimed at recent immigrants one way or another. I’m just outside of San Francisco, so there’s plenty of them here, although I can’t guess how they got my number, specifically.