The latest Credit card scam

[Larry N.]

Our caller ID showed my HOME phone number on an incoming call more than once. Think about it, you cannot call yourself if you are on the phone. The scammers use computer generated caller ID.

I've had a few of those...

 

[Tulecreeper]

If they're not in my contacts, my phone doesn't ring, it's that simple.

That works, too - if you never expect to get a call from a person/company that's not on your list. I emailed a guy a few days ago for info regarding a firearms qual course. He replied that he would call me later with the information; at the bottom of his reply was his name and phone number. I memorized the last 4, and when he called a few hours later I knew to pick up. But I will never contact him often enough to add his name to my address book.

 

[Chef Duane]

Our caller ID showed my HOME phone number on an incoming call more than once. Think about it, you cannot call yourself if you are on the phone. The scammers use computer generated caller ID.

I sometimes get emails from my own email address. Or I get an email from the address of my recently deceased wife. I read the ones from myself thinking I was trying to remind myself of something.

 

[woof-n]

Similarly, one day while at my desk writing a report, I got a call from "Matt from Windows" who said that my computer had automatically sent him a notice that there was a virus on my computer and he needed to access my computer to remove it.

I thanked him for his effort and said that I was out by my mailbox and asked if he could give me a couple minutes to get back in the house. He obliged, and I set the phone down and went back to my report.

After a few minutes I heard him calling "Hello? Hello?". I picked up the phone and explained that the dog got loose and to give me a couple minutes to catch him and bring him in house. He obliged, and I set the phone down and went back to my report.

After a few more minutes I heard him calling "Hello? Hello?". I picked up the phone and apologized saying that I got the dog and was going to the computer but had to turn it on and get it booted up before we could start so he would need to give me a few minutes. He obliged and I set the phone down and went back to my report.

After a few minutes I heard him calling "Hello? Hello?". I picked up the phone and said that the computer automatically started running an update and he would have to wait a few more minutes. He obliged and I set the phone down and went back to my report.

After a few minutes I heard him calling "Hello? Hello?". I picked up the phone and that his choice to being a scammer showed he was a person of low moral values, but the fact that he couldn't figure out that I was messing with him this whole time showed that he was a stupid person of low moral values.

Then I hung up, happy that I was able to tie him up for enough time that lessened the number of similar calls that he could make that day

Be careful of playing games with bad people. There is plenty of internet stories of how bad guys have taken revenge on people toying with them. They are professional bad guys, they have much better skills and resources to avenge you than you have for them. Just hang up. Don't engage. The risk to reward is just not there.

 

[Kodiak34SS]

Better yet, don't pick up the phone if you don't recognize the number. If it's important, they'll leave a detailed message and/or contact you by mail.

"But what if it's my doctor/provider/pharmacist/radiology department calling, and I'm waiting for the call". Yeah. Healthcare systems need a WAY better way to communicate with patients via phone than having a provider call from his personal cell number which you may not know in advance, or a pharmacy or radiology department which can call from multiple trunks associated with your providers or not. This is like 99% of seniors in America sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring.

Using online portals like MyChart is a good substitution for communication with your providers, but when an actual call is needed, unless it's truly urgent, it's probably OK to let it go to voicemail if you don't recognize the number. They'll leave a detailed message if you've given them permission, and then you'll have the actual callback number.

It's also OK to ask for their numbers in advance.

If/(when) I have to start communicating with my parents' healthcare providers, I will have a second number set up from an area code far away. Local spoofs happen based on the area code, so if I'm expecting 206 area codes from their providers, I'm not going to answer random numbers from 471 if that's the area code of my number.

 

[old_toys]

we ignore every number we don't recognize, let them leave a message.
sometimes it's the doctor using a different number but everything that has been important has appeared in a message recording.
seems like if they required a credit card applicant to show up in person and not online it would stop a lot of the monetary problems of a hacked identity.

 

[UTTransplant]

I also ignore all calls from people not in my phone book. It took about a year, but the number of spam calls I get has dropped to 2-3 a month compared to 4-5 a day. Quite effective.

 

[DonTom]

I also ignore all calls from people not in my phone book. It took about a year, but the number of spam calls I get has dropped to 2-3 a month compared to 4-5 a day. Quite effective.

Here in Auburn, I have not had even one spam call since the phone has been here. No robo calls or any of that. If it rings, I know it is somebody who I left my phone number with. I answer all calls here without even looking at the display.

OTOH, when my phone at my Reno house rings, I can bet it's a robo call.

I wish they could do in Reno what they do here. In Reno, they are detected, but still rings the phone. The display will say "spam risk".

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[old_toys]

on the Louisville ky news yesterday, local woman was scammed. got a phone call from her bank she thought about some problem with her accounts and the IRS was getting involved. scared the **** out of her and before it was all over the lady was out $1.7 million and lost her house and 401 plan moneys.
she saved all the money she could all her life and was 75yrs.
don't know why these elderly people don't tell them they will check with their bank tomorrow and hang up.

 

[old RV guy]

The an hour long piece on NPR now on victims of scams. How otherwise intelligent people fall victim to the various cons which would seem obvious to most anyone else. It also described a scam directed at phone scammers. Large scale operators in countries like Malaysia lure well known phone scammers to a certain location, kidnap them at gunpoint and keep them in captivity in a dorm equipped as a phone bank. They were forced to work at the phones in shifts conducting phone scams in industrial scamming operations. Local authorities are paid to look the other way.
It won't be long before scammers are using AI and advanced computing to decrypt passwords and get past even two step authentication.
My doctors office which is part of a nationwide outfit was able to get past my phones screening and call me just as if they were on my contacts list. If they can do it, so can bad actors.

 

[garyb1st]

Here in Auburn, I have not had even one spam call since the phone has been here. No robo calls or any of that. If it rings, I know it is somebody who I left my phone number with. I answer all calls here without even looking at the display.

-Don- Auburn, CA

I recall you saying your Auburn phone is a land line. Maybe the technology doesn't allow the scammers to call on those old numbers. We got rid of ours many years ago. That said, we continue to use that old number when we don't want to give out our cell numbers. Makes me wonder if there are certain phone numbers that were never converted for cell phone use. When I search for my old number that we haven't had for at least 15 years, it still brings up my name, age and address.

 

[DonTom]

I recall you saying your Auburn phone is a land line. Maybe the technology doesn't allow the scammers to call on those old numbers. We got rid of ours many years ago. That said, we continue to use that old number when we don't want to give out our cell numbers. Makes me wonder if there are certain phone numbers that were never converted for cell phone use. When I search for my old number that we haven't had for at least 15 years, it still brings up my name, age and address.

Both Reno and here are on a cable modem. Here in Auburn, it is Optima Cable. In Reno, it is Sprectum Cable.

While I do have a 5G cell, it is rarely on. It's only on when I need to make a call when I am not home, which averages a lot less than one call per month.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Rene T]

Maybe the government should do a mass mailing to all registered voters explaining in simple terms what to do and not to do with phone calls. I don’t know what else can be done to help our seniors.

 

[old RV guy]

Maybe the government should do a mass mailing to all registered voters explaining in simple terms what to do and not to do with phone calls. I don’t know what else can be done to help our seniors.

Same as every time there’s an extended power outage, someone, somewhere is going to kill the entire family running a generator indoors.

 

[Lou Schneider]

It won't be long before scammers are using AI and advanced computing to decrypt passwords and get past even two step authentication.

That's why I use 3 credit cards. One for online orders, one for in person charges and a third reserved for recurring payments. This way if the online or in person card gets compromised the credit card company can send a replacement without messing up my recurring payments.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Maybe the government should do a mass mailing to all registered voters explaining in simple terms what to do and not to do with phone calls. I don’t know what else can be done to help our seniors.

I get scam warnings from various government agencies all the time. Mostly from Medicare or Social Security sources, so obviously targeted at seniors.

But some of us old timers have perhaps too much respect for authority and panic when a caller mentions the IRS or police or even "your bank". And I don't think you can teach healthy skepticism in a mailing, whether snail mail or email.

 

[Chef Duane]

Maybe the government should do a mass mailing to all registered voters...

Even the dead ones?

 

[old RV guy]

I get scam warnings from various government agencies all the time. Mostly from Medicare or Social Security sources, so obviously targeted at seniors.

But some of us old timers have perhaps too much respect for authority and panic when a caller mentions the IRS or police or even "your bank". And I don't think you can teach healthy skepticism in a mailing, whether snail mail or email.

It's exactly that which makes the elderly the prey of choice for predators, whether by phone, online or in person. Many seniors are reluctant to seem rude and that for a predator is an indication of weakness and vulnerability. If I talk to one and ordinarily I don't, it's only two words long, the second is off. I hate being misunderstood.

 

[DonTom]

But some of us old timers have perhaps too much respect for authority and panic when a caller mentions the IRS or police or even "your bank".

I have heard of the phone IRS scams and often those who fall for it are recently from d=some other country where they do not realize that the IRS doesn't phone people. They use US Mail when you owe them.

-Don- Pollock Pines, CA

 

[old RV guy]

I have heard of the phone IRS scams and often those who fall for it are recently from d=some other country where they do not realize that the IRS doesn't phone people. They use US Mail when you owe them.

-Don- Pollock Pines, CA

The average person on the sidewalk wouldn't know what the letters in IRS stand for much less how they'd contact them if there were an issue.