# Scammy phone calls



## Marie5656 (Feb 16, 2017)

My husband got a series of scam phone calls, all within 20 minutes, fro the same number INSISTING they were from his credit card company saying they wanted to lower his interest rates.  Thing is, when Rick asked what card, the guy said "Well, what do you have?" The caller had the last 4 digits of his social security number, as well as the last 4 digits of his one credit card.  Plus his balance and the last payment he made.  So my husband called me and had me call Discover and ask about this.  Discover told me they would never make outgoing calls to customers like this.  That the only time they call a customer is if there is suspicious activity.

  Thing is, the same person called about 7 or 8 times, getting more threatening each time.  When my husband told them he called Discover and they knew nothing about these calls, they caller threatened him with canceling his card and told him to erm..Flake-off.   And hung up on him. Also the caller was calling from another country, and Discover told me all their US customers are handled by US based call centers.  We asked about how they knew so much information, they said that the last four digits are public record!!  Still not sure how they got the balance info (which was wrong, BTW).

I know that seniors are targeted, so just be careful.  If you have elderly family members, tell them too.  We are always warned to not answer the call if we do not know the number, and to do what I did, call  the number you know is an accurate customer service number to check on it.  
The National Do Not Call registry as a way to report numbers who continue to call after you are on the registry.


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## RadishRose (Feb 16, 2017)

Thanks Marie!


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## Marie5656 (Feb 16, 2017)

*You are welcome.  By the way, Rick is not easily given a feeling of insecurity, so I asked Discover what our options were.  They are going to monitor his card for us, PLUS, they are changing his card number and issuing him a new card.  Just to be safe,*


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## RadishRose (Feb 16, 2017)

:coolthumb:


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## Kadee (Feb 16, 2017)

Thanks for the warning about yet another SCAM ..We are in Australia but we tend to get the same calls as you do, the last one we got about a week ago claimed they were from "windows" dept regarding the computer ..I have a iPad so I don't have windows.
I know  they can get quite aggressive as we have had the so called "Tax Office" get quite aggressive with us the moment you answer the phone


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## grannyjo (Feb 16, 2017)

Kadee,  I've been getting the tax office scam call on almost a daily basis lately.  I've let the call go to my answering machine.

Apparently,  if I don't call back,  I face imminent arrest,  and my home is being watched by Federal Officers.

We older people do have to make sure that we keep abreast of of the latest scams.

One I have heard of is they ask if you're the owner of the house.  Do not say yes.  They record, then tack that "yes" onto the end of a read out of the terms and conditions for changing your electricity supplier.


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## Bajabob (Feb 16, 2017)

We solve the problem of scamming phone calls by having no cell phone, only a land line, which is used only for outgoing calls. It's plugged in only when we are making those calls.


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## NancyNGA (Feb 16, 2017)

I got one today that started off...."You are covered by Medicare, right?  We've heard reports you've been having some lower back pain..." (click)  Now THAT'S a new one.


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## Butterfly (Feb 16, 2017)

NancyNGA said:


> I got one today that started off...."You are covered by Medicare, right?  We've heard reports you've been having some lower back pain..." (click)  Now THAT'S a new one.



I've gotten that one.  And another one about a back brace that has allegedly been ordered for me.


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## Kadee (Feb 16, 2017)

Thanks that's a new one to me ,( medicare which we have in Aust ) I really appricate both Nancy and Marie posting the warnings ,as the attempted scammers sound so genuine at times


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## steelcitiesgray (Feb 16, 2017)

Marie5656, I don't understand why people keep falling for these scams. It's been on the news for years now. Why do people keep answering the phone calls even though it was the same number calling them? Even your husband gave them info they were looking for, the name of the credit card company. You were smart to have a new card issued.


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## Marie5656 (Feb 16, 2017)

steelcitiesgray said:


> Marie5656, I don't understand why people keep falling for these scams. It's been on the news for years now. Why do people keep answering the phone calls even though it was the same number calling them? Even your husband gave them info they were looking for, the name of the credit card company. You were smart to have a new card issued.



Unfortunatly, my husband can be a bit gullible about things.  He is smart, but not always scam-savy.  It took me a LONG time to convince him to check with me first about these things.  He also has a tendency to just pick up his phone and answer without looking at the number.  Thing is, because he was getting the calls on the cell phone he uses for work, he is used to getting calls from unfamiliar numbers which end up being legit calls so he hates ignoring calls.  So I reminded him that if the same number keeps calling like that, he needs to hit the ignore button.


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## Laurie (Feb 17, 2017)

Do you not have decent call blockers in the US?

Out of all the numbers in the world, including all cellphones, only 39 are permitted to call my number.

I haven't had an unwanted phone call, not even a wrong number,  for seven years.


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## Ken N Tx (Feb 17, 2017)

Marie5656 said:


> *You are welcome.  By the way, Rick is not easily given a feeling of insecurity, so I asked Discover what our options were.  They are going to monitor his card for us, PLUS, they are changing his card number and issuing him a new card.  Just to be safe,*




It is possible that they got that info from your mailbox or from a discarded statement in your garbage..


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## Marie5656 (Feb 17, 2017)

Ken N Tx said:


> It is possible that they got that info from your mailbox or from a discarded statement in your garbage..



Yes it happens, but not in this case.  We do not get paper statements, and pay online. Plus I do not put outgoing mail in our box, take it right to post office.  Good, thought, Ken, because you have to be careful.  With that in mind, though, everyone should consider investing in a shredder, to shred documents and paper with personal info on it.


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## AprilSun (Feb 17, 2017)

Laurie said:


> Do you not have decent call blockers in the US?
> 
> Out of all the numbers in the world, including all cellphones, only 39 are permitted to call my number.
> 
> I haven't had an unwanted phone call, not even a wrong number,  for seven years.



Yes, we do. I own one now called Digitone Call Blocker and no one hardly ever calls me that I don't want them to. If they do, it's because they haven't called before and I don't have their number blocked. But, that's when I block them and they don't call again. They may try but they are blocked from doing so! It has been worth every penny!


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## Butterfly (Feb 17, 2017)

AprilSun said:


> Yes, we do. I own one now called Digitone Call Blocker and no one hardly ever calls me that I don't want them to. If they do, it's because they haven't called before and I don't have their number blocked. But, that's when I block them and they don't call again. They may try but they are blocked from doing so! It has been worth every penny!



April, was that blocker hard to set up?  Does it make it hard for people you WANT to call you to get through?


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## Butterfly (Feb 17, 2017)

Marie5656 said:


> Yes it happens, but not in this case.  We do not get paper statements, and pay online. Plus I do not put outgoing mail in our box, take it right to post office.  Good, thought, Ken, because you have to be careful.  With that in mind, though, everyone should consider investing in a shredder, to shred documents and paper with personal info on it.



I shred everything that has even my name and address on it.  I've gotten to where all that paper mail just annoys me.  I get a huge amount of junk mail, and if I get one more thing from AARP or some hearing place or funeral place I may blow a gasket.


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## charry (Feb 17, 2017)

getting loads of scammers now , i just block them as soon as they call..


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## Mrs. Robinson (Feb 17, 2017)

I got this in a text message yesterday and then husband emailed that he got it as well. First time either of us has received anything like this in a text. Hope it`s not a sign of things to come.....

S:M:I'm Peter from Banco bank HK, I've $950K inheritance DEALfor you.


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## AprilSun (Feb 17, 2017)

Butterfly said:


> April, was that blocker hard to set up?  Does it make it hard for people you WANT to call you to get through?



No, it's not hard at all. Blocking by phone number is easy. You just hit the up or down viewing button and when the number displays that you want to block, you hit the "Block" button twice quickly. If it is quick enough, it will display, "number blocked". Everyone will be able to call as normal *except* for the numbers you have blocked. Now by area code is a little bit more to it but it comes with a manual telling you how to do any of it. I  have some blocked by area code but I don't know anyone in those area codes so it is no problem for me. You can go to their web site and read more information about it at: http://www.digitone.com/


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## Sunny (Feb 17, 2017)

I tried doing this, but my phone doesn't have a "Block" button. I tried it on my land line. Does this only work on smart phones?  (I get junk phone calls on both.)


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## AprilSun (Feb 18, 2017)

Sunny said:


> I tried doing this, but my phone doesn't have a "Block" button. I tried it on my land line. Does this only work on smart phones?  (I get junk phone calls on both.)



Sunny, I was referring to the Digitone call blocker that we have to purchase separately and use it with our land lines and phones. You can click on the link in my message above and read more about it. If I misunderstood who your question was directed to, I do apologize.


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## Aunt Bea (Feb 18, 2017)

Butterfly said:


> I shred everything that has even my name and address on it.  I've gotten to where all that paper mail just annoys me.  I get a huge amount of junk mail, and if I get one more thing from AARP or some hearing place or funeral place I may blow a gasket.



You can get rid of some of the prescreened credit offers by opting out at the various credit bureaus.

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0262-stopping-unsolicited-mail-phone-calls-and-email


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## Kadee (Feb 18, 2017)

We have what is called Do Not Call Register in Australia ,I registered our home phone on it however we still get Scammers calling ..We both have mobile phones, we have never had scammers call us on either of them.


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## Mike (Feb 18, 2017)

Unfortunately there are many of these scams going about,
I never take part in their suggestions, I always say that
I will call the office, Bank or ISP, they always hang up.


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## fuzzybuddy (Feb 19, 2017)

You ask why people fall for these scams. Well, Marie5656's husband believes he was given correct credit card information and  the correct digits on his SSN.  Unfortunately, her husband may have given some of the information himself. It's similar to "cold readings" used by psychics.  Such as," I see you have a close relative who has passed on". Who doesn't. He might have unknowingly given much more information than he got. And since they did get information from him is why they kept calling back.
They work off carefully worded scripts. They are pros at what they do.


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## Bajabob (Feb 20, 2017)

*Replying to Marie 5656*



Marie5656 said:


> Yes it happens, but not in this case.  We do not get paper statements, and pay online. Plus I do not put outgoing mail in our box, take it right to post office.  Good, thought, Ken, because you have to be careful.  With that in mind, though, everyone should consider investing in a shredder, to shred documents and paper with personal info on it.


I consider a shredder as essential. Not long ago, I foolishly donated to a couple of charities and since then I've been bombarded by other charities wanting money. They think that if they use my name as often as possible in the multi-page solicitation, I'll be greatly pleased and will be generous. Wrong ! I have to go to each of those, cut my name out and put it into the "For Shredding" folder. I've had a shredder for years, but my donation to those charities recently has put it to more use than ever. The charities apparently sell each other a list of names and addresses of donators. If they've found a sucker, they share the good news.


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## steelcitiesgray (Feb 20, 2017)

Bajabob, I agree about charity mailings, no good deed goes unpunished. I hate those mailings that you have to hunt through 5 or 6 pages looking for your name. I bought a more powerful shredder that can handle the thicker mailings and credit cards. I belonged to a garden club a long time ago. The club sponsored a charity one time and 15 years later after that one donation I'm still getting mailings. Now they are sending mailings wanting to know if I want to opt out of the mailings. Are these charities that stupid that they got one donation in 15 years and don't know when to stop sending out mail?? I only donate to certain charities now and they guard their donor list because they want you to donate to them and not other organizations.


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## Marie5656 (Feb 20, 2017)

I am not sure if this is related to any sort of scam, but over the last few months I have been getting messages from people on facebook who wonder if we share any relations as they have the "same last name" as my married name.  Most say that my married name is their maiden name, or a family name.  I play a couple games on Facebook so I have many FB friends who are not real life friends.  I keep my settings there very secure, have my yahoo address as my go to Facebook email, etc.  But interesting.  I know my husband has told me that he does not have many relatives on his fathers side.  Mostly his mom's.  And both only had one or two siblings.  Who knows.


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## Silver (Feb 21, 2017)

Thanks for the warning. It seems to be getting more prolific, telephone and email. I tend not to respond to questions or answer emails.


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## maggiemae (Feb 21, 2017)

If I do recognize the number or if the name under the number we do not know, we do not answer.  I have blocked so many calls on my cell phone and I think it is time to get rid of the "Land Line" at home.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 27, 2017)

I get a lot of spam and scam calls on my landline.  Just got one of the latest scams a couple of minutes ago, but I didn't pick up.  It's the one where they act like they're having trouble with their head set and ask, "Can you hear me now?".  When you say yes, they supposedly record your voice and along with the info they have on you, they use it against you to approve things, as if you're giving your authorization. 

 The number that called me was 720-851-4203.  I look up most of the numbers that call on the website 800notes.com, they can tell you if others have had complaints about that number.  I don't have call blocking on my phone.  I am on the do not call registry and have an unpublished number, but that doesn't seem to matter these days.


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