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phone scam
#51311 03/12/19 04:29 PM
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jchuzi Offline OP
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Today, I received 5 phone calls (and counting) purportedly from Apple. The robo-female voice stated that my iCloud account had been compromised (I don't have an iCloud account) and that I should speak to a rep. This number spoofs the actual Apple store in Nanuet, NY and shows as (845) 215-6980 on caller ID. I phoned that Apple store and got a recorded message to beware of this scam, so Apple knows about it.


Jon

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Re: phone scam
jchuzi #51322 03/12/19 10:20 PM
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That one has been around for a while and there are email, Text Message , and even pop up window variants as well. The "production values" are scarily high.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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Re: phone scam
jchuzi #51343 03/18/19 02:50 PM
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I don't understand why after over a decade of caller ID spoofing they still don't have that system replaced with something that works better.


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Re: phone scam
jchuzi #51346 03/18/19 04:26 PM
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And this surprises you?!
I get daily robocalls advising me not to hang up because my Google business account (which doesn't exist) needs 'fixing'. If I don't hang up, the calls gets forwarded to a live yutz in a boiler room. So, if I'm bored and/or feel motivated to do so, I just string the bozo along by acting stupidly to each and every comment. It frustrates/infuriates the scammer/phisher ~ pisher. I luvs it.
And that's just one example.
A lot of this crapola is due to the government's DO NOT CALL lists which were supposed to alleviate the burden of such calls on the public. All it does is let them know it's a 'live' number ... so you're doomed for another several years.

Re: phone scam
grelber #51350 03/18/19 07:10 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
If I don't hang up, the calls gets forwarded to a live yutz in a boiler room. So, if I'm bored and/or feel motivated to do so, I just string the bozo along by acting stupidly to each and every comment.

Or, you could try a routine from one of the Seinfeld shows. He got a call from a salesperson of some sort and his side of the conversation was something along these lines: "Look, I'm kind of busy right now. Why don't you give me your home phone number and I'll call you back this evening. What? You don't like getting calls from strangers at home? What a coincidence...neither do I. Good-bye."

Last edited by ryck; 03/18/19 07:11 PM.

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Re: phone scam
ryck #51351 03/18/19 08:21 PM
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While it is tempting to give these scumbags the business, it won't stop them but it will waste your time. Any satisfaction that you get is an illusion.


Jon

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Re: phone scam
jchuzi #51352 03/18/19 08:30 PM
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I just BURN their ears for 5 or 10 seconds; it's quick, cathartic, and just maaay induce one or two of them to find jobs that don't that don't get them abused.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: phone scam
jchuzi #51353 03/18/19 09:45 PM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
While it is tempting to give these scumbags the business, it won't stop them but it will waste your time. Any satisfaction that you get is an illusion.

Not so. Sometimes it really gets under the skins of these mostly off-shore scum. It makes me feel good no matter what.

Re: phone scam
jchuzi #51355 03/18/19 10:58 PM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
While it is tempting to give these scumbags the business, it won't stop them but it will waste your time.

Mostly I don't have to deal with them. My landline phone provider has a pretty good call blocking feature. Once a number is input, when that number calls again they get a recorded message "The person you are calling is presently unavailable." Click.

If a new caller gets through because they are not yet in the system, I just use the old 'policy' statement. "I'm sorry but it's our policy not to respond to telephone solicitations." Click. Then, with a couple of buttons on the phone, that number too goes into call blocking.

Also, if we're watching TV, the incoming number appears on the screen. If we don't recognize it, we don't pick up.

Last edited by ryck; 03/18/19 11:00 PM.

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Re: phone scam
grelber #51357 03/18/19 11:33 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
Not so. Sometimes it really gets under the skins of these mostly off-shore scum. It makes me feel good no matter what.

Wrong target. The poor schnook that is on the other end is in all likelihood just somebody who is trying desperately to get by and is making way less than minimum wage (if there is a minimum wage where they are). The real scum is the person(s) who setup the scam. They are the ones that blatantly ignore the law, both state and federal, have the technology to scam the phone numbers, etc. You can vent all you want at the person in the boiler room but if they quit there are 1,000 more desperate people waiting to take the job even though they know or suspect what they do is loathsome sleaze.

Given the vagaries of international law it is may be the only way to stop this garbage is to pay hackers to go after them and take down their networks and services. Of course that could easily bring retaliation from foreign governments and lead to a cyber war that everyone involved would lose.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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Re: phone scam
joemikeb #51359 03/19/19 07:40 AM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Wrong target. The poor schnook that is on the other end is in all likelihood just somebody who is trying desperately to get by and is making way less than minimum wage (if there is a minimum wage where they are). The real scum is the person(s) who setup the scam. They are the ones that blatantly ignore the law, both state and federal, have the technology to scam the phone numbers, etc. You can vent all you want at the person in the boiler room but if they quit there are 1,000 more desperate people waiting to take the job even though they know or suspect what they do is loathsome sleaze.

Agree to disagree.
That logic comes perilously close to the vacuous, self-serving and exculpating arguments which perpetrators made at the trials following atrocities during the Second and Balkan wars and the Rwandan genocide: I was only following orders. [Sorry for the over-the-top exemplar.]
The victims advise — following the dictum of one queen: We are not amused. Following that of another (the Red Queen): Off with their heads! mad

Re: phone scam
grelber #51364 03/20/19 01:04 AM
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We'll have to agree to disagree on your agree to disagree waaaaay over-the-top exemplar. I'm with joemike. Forget about the poor (probably quite poor) overseas shnook who's just trying to put a bit of food on the table. There may be exceptions but I'm sure they're few and far between. Whack the people devising and running the scams.

Oh, and while we're on the topic of scams, it always astounds me at the number of people who fall for the most blatantly obvious spiels that have been exposed on various media over and over and over..... "Tax department calling and we want you to pay up using iTunes cards." Really?

Last edited by ryck; 03/20/19 01:05 AM.

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Re: phone scam
ryck #51366 03/20/19 07:20 AM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
... Whack the people devising and running the scams.

Sure thing. Please provide names and addresses so that Bruno the Beater can pay them a visit. Until then everyone gets tarred by the same brush. Basta!

Re: phone scam
ryck #51367 03/20/19 08:19 AM
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Everybody who isn't self-employed spends hir life following orders which range from benign to malevolent, but grelber's example was, indeed, over the top...although not by very much. tongue

In this particular instance, though, there are people who's job is to be canon-fodder, so I fire "when I see the pink of their eardrums". As I said, it's cathartic. I'll NEVER reach a point at which I'll be indifferent to invasions of my privacy, regardless of ultimate culpability.

Here's a tip: My experience has been that when I get a spam phone call there's invariably a several second delay between when the auto-dialer recognizes that it's got a "live one" and when the "poor schnook" or, as the case may be, recorded message picks up, so if I say "Hello" and don't get a response in pretty much a heartbeat...I hang up.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: phone scam
artie505 #51368 03/20/19 10:48 AM
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Here's another tip: If you pick up and there is silence followed by a "boop" sound, hang up. Better still, if Caller ID shows a number that you don't know or your phone provider labeled the ID as "spam" (or similar), pick up and hang up immediately without listening or saying anything.


Jon

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Re: phone scam
grelber #51370 03/20/19 01:38 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
Originally Posted By: ryck
... Whack the people devising and running the scams.

Sure thing. Please provide names and addresses so that Bruno the Beater can pay them a visit. Until then everyone gets tarred by the same brush. Basta!

Actually, in their home countries the organizers are often quite visible, and there have been joint raid efforts with RCMP/FBI/Indian Police that have resulted in shutting down boiler rooms and the arrest of key people. It's a start.

Last edited by ryck; 03/20/19 01:41 PM.

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Re: phone scam
grelber #51378 03/20/19 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
Sure thing. Please provide names and addresses so that Bruno the Beater can pay them a visit. Until then everyone gets tarred by the same brush. Basta!

Two names rise to the top of the heap, the Premier of Russia Vladimir Putin, the chairman of the politburo standing committee of China Xi Jinping. Both of whom are well aware of the scams originating in their countries and choose to turn a blind eye or even support the illicit activities. Until enough pressure can be brought to bear that it becomes too costly for their respective nations to continue the activities they are likely to continue. There is simply too much money involved to really shut it down.

When the United States, Great Britain, and the other nations admit thier economies have become irrevocably globalized and band together to managing our joint world economy enough financial pressure can be brought to bear to shut these activities down or at at least exercise a modicum of control.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: phone scam
jchuzi #51382 03/21/19 03:49 PM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
Here's another tip: If you pick up and there is silence followed by a "boop" sound, hang up. Better still, if Caller ID shows a number that you don't know or your phone provider labeled the ID as "spam" (or similar), pick up and hang up immediately without listening or saying anything.


The "boop" is a clear indication of a robodialer in your country transferring the call to a call center agent out of country.

Here where I work, we have cell phones, and when they ring, we have an unwritten contest here to see how big of a reaction we can get from the telemarketers that call. So we always answer, and try to waste their time, confuse them, or especially, irritate/frustrate/anger them. The ultimate achievement is to get them to start swearing or otherwise lose their temper.

Recently I kept some lad from India on the phone for a good minute just continually asking him what time it was. He finally told me to piss off and hung up. And we all laughed!


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: phone scam
Virtual1 #51385 03/21/19 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted By: Virtual1
... we have an unwritten contest here to see how big of a reaction we can get from the telemarketers that call. So we always answer, and try to waste their time, confuse them, or especially, irritate/frustrate/anger them. The ultimate achievement is to get them to start swearing or otherwise lose their temper.
Recently I kept some lad from India on the phone for a good minute just continually asking him what time it was. He finally told me to piss off and hung up. And we all laughed!

My point exactly! mad laugh

Re: phone scam
jchuzi #51406 03/27/19 04:06 PM
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For the low, low price of $89.95 I think I have found a device that effectively blocks junk calls on land lines (hard wire, VOIP, cable): CPR Call Blocker v5000 or v10000 (look on Amazon or search by the name). I have no affiliation with the company.

The device sits between your wall jack and phone, and works with extensions on the same line. You must have the Caller ID feature turned on. The Blocker contains a database of 5000 or 10,000 junk numbers and you can easily add up to 1500 more with the push of a button (a big red one!) or a touchtone code (#2). We used to get a dozen calls a day and it has dropped to none or 1 (which gets added in and never comes through again). At most the phone rings once and the call is killed. I admit I was skeptical, but it does seem to work as advertised and is a real relief. If a good number is added to the blocked list, it can be removed and put on the good list. Just not hearing the phone ring regularly is a real delight. smirk


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Re: phone scam
Ira L #51409 03/27/19 09:50 PM
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We subscribe to a service that works similarly to what Ira describes called NoMoRobo. It works on our cell phones and VOIP landline, and has an even larger database of known spammers. It manages to trap out 20 to 25% of the robo calls, but it does not catch spoofed numbers because they change for every call.

Even a strict white list can be defeated by spoofed numbers. Last week I received a robocall that purported to be from my home phone number to my home phone number.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: phone scam
Ira L #51447 04/04/19 05:24 PM
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Originally Posted By: Ira L
The device sits between your wall jack and phone, and works with extensions on the same line. You must have the Caller ID feature turned on. The Blocker contains a database of 5000 or 10,000 junk numbers and you can easily add up to 1500 more with the push of a button (a big red one!) or a touchtone code (#2).


In the last year or two there's been an enormous uptick in telemarketers and scammers spoofing caller ID to some number in your area code, to try to bait you into picking up the phone.

And very recently I've seen talk of some legislators trying to get stricter laws passed concerning spoofing caller ID. AT&T, probably foreseeing this, is working on improving the caller id system to be more reliable. (something that people have been downright screaming at them to do for the last decade)

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what develops.


I work for the Department of Redundancy Department
Re: phone scam
Virtual1 #51459 04/04/19 11:46 PM
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Originally Posted By: Virtual1
In the last year or two there's been an enormous uptick in telemarketers and scammers spoofing caller ID to some number in your area code....

The scumbags are spoofing more than local numbers. A recent scam here focussed on vulnerable elderly, with a conversation that suggested there is a problem with a bank account or credit card and that the victim should report it to the police. They say good-bye but don't hang up. Instead they send a spoofed dial tone down the line and wait for the victim to dial.

Then the scammers "answer" as if they are the police and suggest the victim needs to talk to a police specialist. With the victim thinking they are talking to the police their personal information is more easily acquired. As well, the "police" ask the victim to participate in a sting which involves providing money for bait.

You can guess the outcome.

Last edited by ryck; 04/04/19 11:49 PM.

ryck

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Re: phone scam
ryck #51467 04/05/19 03:31 PM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
The scumbags are spoofing more than local numbers. A recent scam here focussed on vulnerable elderly, with a conversation that suggested there is a problem with a bank account or credit card and that the victim should report it to the police. They say good-bye but don't hang up. Instead they send a spoofed dial tone down the line and wait for the victim to dial.

Then the scammers "answer" as if they are the police and suggest the victim needs to talk to a police specialist. With the victim thinking they are talking to the police their personal information is more easily acquired. As well, the "police" ask the victim to participate in a sting which involves providing money for bait.

You can guess the outcome.

Even though I am a fervent supporter of the Constitution of the United States and its Bill Of Rights, I am not entirely convinced that these scammers are worthy of the protections of the law.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein

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