PHONE SCAM

[DrLeftover]

Beware of the new phone scam that is actively calling people. It is a cruise promotion (which is banned by the 'do not call' regulation) disguised as political survey (which was allowed by the politicians that wrote the law).



The prize for completing the survey is a two day cruise to the Bahamas, which they then push you to upgrade and so on. Even if you don't upgrade, they want your credit card number to pay your port tax for your 'free' cruise.



IT IS A SCAM! When they call. Hang up.

 

[Jazzy]

Thank you for the heads up on this Doc! I have caller ID and never pick up if I don't recognize the number. I just let it go off to the answering machine.

 

[DrLeftover]

No problem. They just called here, and I sat through the survey and about half of the sales pitch just to find out what it was about, and then to post that warning everywhere I could.



It's what I do.

 

[Sinon]

I just let them talk. We get a LOT of scam phonecalls, anything from homeowners insurance to people claiming they're calling from Microsoft due to a virus on our system. You have no idea how funny it is to sit in front of my (Linux) PC while listening to an Indian tell me how I don't understand what computers do or how viruses infect them, and the reason I can't access Windows is due to aforementioned virus.



Alternatively, threatening an insurance company with legal action when they mention something about the house that someone who isn't invited in would know, such as the position of windows in the back or how big the garden shed is.

 

[DrLeftover]

I had one of those computer calls a year or so ago.



They were all about how I had to pay for an 'upgrade' to Windows 7 on my New Computer.



After about ten minutes of their speech I told them that I had just bought a 'new' computer and I probably did need to upgrade the operating system.



Especially since it was a five year old Refurbished unit with XP Pro on it.



They hung up on me.

 

[Sinon]

I enjoy them. It makes me sound horrible, but I love making them feel stupid. And besides, it's costing them money to call me. The more I can make them spend, the better.

 

[DrLeftover]

In most cases, the only thing it is really costing the telemarketer is the payroll for the person talking to you, and if that is a recording or interactive voice response system, that is negligible as well because on a VoIP system running on a broadband connection, the call itself breaks down to a couple of cents per minute, if that.



Plus, if it is a real person and the call center is overseas, what are they paying them? A buck an hour?



One hit on the scam, paying for the cruise or upgrade or whatever, and they've covered most of their expenses for the day.

 

[william68]

Wow! These scammers just won't stop. I got a call like that, too. The caller, James, told me his company was conducting a survey about impressions and insights people have about the candidates running for political positions and as a reward, 2 of the participants will get an all-expense paid trip to the Bahamas. It may have been a tempting offer and I would have agreed to it but while I was Google-ing the phone number, I came by several complaints associated with the phone number.

 

[william68]

by the way, just so you guys are aware, 253-382-9937 was the caller's phone number. And all you have to do is Google it to find this page http://www.callercenter.com/253-382-9937.html.



Amazing minds!

 

[DrLeftover]

Most of the time the number that shows up on the caller ID is spoofed.



The good news is that since the scammers are essentially lazy, once they do the programming they seldom go back in and change it.



You can read more about Caller ID spoofing here:

http://themediadesk.com/newfiles2/callerid.htm

 

[DrLeftover]

New telephone PHISHING scam in progress



The Caller ID will be 360-633-9155 or something similar, with the name Customer Service.



The recording will say something about lowering your credit card bills.



I pressed 1 to talk to their rep and started asking questions.



The guy with a VERY thick accent hung up on me.



It is a PHISHING scam.



Also, DO NOT call them back and enter your number into their DO NOT CALL LIST, which is on the recording you get when you call it back. That just verifies your number to them.



MOST LIKELY their call center is not in Washington State and they are spoofing the Caller ID using a soft phone War Dialer over IP.