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"Almost Scammed"
9 years ago
Years ago, the folks in Washington, D.C. announced a service called the "No Call List", for owners of landline phones - who constantly receive annoying calls by telemarketers and scam artists who try to talk them into investing money in phoney deals...
I had long since given up my landline service, in favor of using a government-issued cellular phone (with 350 free minutes per month). I'd logically figured that it would take a real long time for scam artists to find my phone number and try to work their wiles on me... Well, time flies, in my case...
On Wednesday (9-14-16), I had received several calls on my cell phone from a 202 area code. Consulting one of my friends, he informed me that said call came from Washington, D.C. (The last time I got a call from our nation's capital was in August - when I'd won the 'Puzzle Challenge' on NPR News' "Weekend Edition: Sunday" - but other than that, I never got any other calls from there.) I'd told said friend that I'd try to call this 202 phone number later that day...
Oddly enough, within an hour, I was in my condo clubhouse when I'd received a call from the aforementioned number; but the reception was unusually poor, as I can barely hear the voice of the female caller over a lot of static...
"Is this Jed?" asked the caller, who seemed to have spoken with a foreign accent.
"Yes," I replied. "Who's calling?"
"I'm representing someone from the United States Department of Grants, who informs you that you are entitled to receive a check in the amount of $7,000..."
(Having been out of work for over a year, I had to go through a lot of channels just to receive both 'food stamps' and Social Security checks - which I can barely live on now [even though I was making far less than that when I was working part-time as a 'janitor']. I'd figured that the $7,000 would come in handy.)
"...this money," she continued, "will only be used to pay your bills, and cannot be used to purchase alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, pornography, and other illicit items."
(That's no problem for me, since I don't buy any of that stuff.)
"How will I receive this check?" I'd asked. "By mail or 'direct deposit'?"
"We could have the money included in your credit card account..."
"I'll have to cut you off there," I'd interrupted, "because I don't have a credit card. I'd stopped using them over a decade ago. I only have a debit card."
"Then, we can have the money in your bank account in nothing flat," said the female caller, her voice sounding even weaker over the static.
I was beginning to get suspicious, over the eagerness on her side of the conversation. For starters, I only began my latest bank account less than a year ago, when my brother Glenn decided to make it a joint account. ("How come Glenn hadn't heard from this Department of Grants himself?" I'd asked myself.)
I gave the caller just my name (Jed G. Martinez - not telling her what the middle initial stood for), but no other information.
"Look," I told her, "the reception in this clubhouse is poor. Let me step outside, so I can hear you better."
Within seconds, I stepped through the rear exit, into the swimming pool area, where I'd raised the cell phone back to my ear... only to hear dead air. She'd hung up.
Using a feature on said phone, I'd tried to call back the 202 number to get the caller again, only to get the following:
"The number you have dialed... ...is not a working number. Please hang up and try again."
Now, I was getting worried that I might've been a victim of a scam.
I immediately called my friend
Funimal, who works for the U.S. Postal Service (a government agency), and who (luckily for me) had the day off from work.
I'd told him about the call I got, and the moment I'd mentioned the Department of Grants, he'd said, "It's a rip-off! They're trying to get your money, not give you any! That woman with the foreign accent is probably from the Philippines..."
("Great!" I'd thought to myself. "I was getting scammed from Washington, D.C., by way of the South Pacific!")
"As long as you didn't give out any important information about yourself (phone number, mailing address, Social Security number, bank account number, debit card number and PIN), you are still safe."
"I didn't," I replied, "but I was still caught off-guard. It's bad enough that scammers try to trick me over the Internet - as I get tons of 'Spam' messages over my Yahoo! inbox - but this was one of those rare moments I almost got ripped off over the phone."
"You might want to get on that 'No Call List', as soon as possible."
"I'll try to do that; but I don't know what good this is going to do, if I'm going to continue being someone's target..."
"Better safe than sorry," Funimal replied.
Of course, living in south Florida - where its population consists mostly of senior citizens - there are more targets that scammers aim for than anywhere else in the America. And, having just entered my sixties, I'm now a part of that minority.
So, I have to be more on the alert than ever before, whether these rip-off artist contact me via phone, E-mail, or even door-to-door. (And if any of you "FA" members recently became senior citizens, you might want to be on the lookout for these savory characters yourselves.)
I had long since given up my landline service, in favor of using a government-issued cellular phone (with 350 free minutes per month). I'd logically figured that it would take a real long time for scam artists to find my phone number and try to work their wiles on me... Well, time flies, in my case...
On Wednesday (9-14-16), I had received several calls on my cell phone from a 202 area code. Consulting one of my friends, he informed me that said call came from Washington, D.C. (The last time I got a call from our nation's capital was in August - when I'd won the 'Puzzle Challenge' on NPR News' "Weekend Edition: Sunday" - but other than that, I never got any other calls from there.) I'd told said friend that I'd try to call this 202 phone number later that day...
Oddly enough, within an hour, I was in my condo clubhouse when I'd received a call from the aforementioned number; but the reception was unusually poor, as I can barely hear the voice of the female caller over a lot of static...
"Is this Jed?" asked the caller, who seemed to have spoken with a foreign accent.
"Yes," I replied. "Who's calling?"
"I'm representing someone from the United States Department of Grants, who informs you that you are entitled to receive a check in the amount of $7,000..."
(Having been out of work for over a year, I had to go through a lot of channels just to receive both 'food stamps' and Social Security checks - which I can barely live on now [even though I was making far less than that when I was working part-time as a 'janitor']. I'd figured that the $7,000 would come in handy.)
"...this money," she continued, "will only be used to pay your bills, and cannot be used to purchase alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, pornography, and other illicit items."
(That's no problem for me, since I don't buy any of that stuff.)
"How will I receive this check?" I'd asked. "By mail or 'direct deposit'?"
"We could have the money included in your credit card account..."
"I'll have to cut you off there," I'd interrupted, "because I don't have a credit card. I'd stopped using them over a decade ago. I only have a debit card."
"Then, we can have the money in your bank account in nothing flat," said the female caller, her voice sounding even weaker over the static.
I was beginning to get suspicious, over the eagerness on her side of the conversation. For starters, I only began my latest bank account less than a year ago, when my brother Glenn decided to make it a joint account. ("How come Glenn hadn't heard from this Department of Grants himself?" I'd asked myself.)
I gave the caller just my name (Jed G. Martinez - not telling her what the middle initial stood for), but no other information.
"Look," I told her, "the reception in this clubhouse is poor. Let me step outside, so I can hear you better."
Within seconds, I stepped through the rear exit, into the swimming pool area, where I'd raised the cell phone back to my ear... only to hear dead air. She'd hung up.
Using a feature on said phone, I'd tried to call back the 202 number to get the caller again, only to get the following:
"The number you have dialed... ...is not a working number. Please hang up and try again."
Now, I was getting worried that I might've been a victim of a scam.
I immediately called my friend
Funimal, who works for the U.S. Postal Service (a government agency), and who (luckily for me) had the day off from work. I'd told him about the call I got, and the moment I'd mentioned the Department of Grants, he'd said, "It's a rip-off! They're trying to get your money, not give you any! That woman with the foreign accent is probably from the Philippines..."
("Great!" I'd thought to myself. "I was getting scammed from Washington, D.C., by way of the South Pacific!")
"As long as you didn't give out any important information about yourself (phone number, mailing address, Social Security number, bank account number, debit card number and PIN), you are still safe."
"I didn't," I replied, "but I was still caught off-guard. It's bad enough that scammers try to trick me over the Internet - as I get tons of 'Spam' messages over my Yahoo! inbox - but this was one of those rare moments I almost got ripped off over the phone."
"You might want to get on that 'No Call List', as soon as possible."
"I'll try to do that; but I don't know what good this is going to do, if I'm going to continue being someone's target..."
"Better safe than sorry," Funimal replied.
Of course, living in south Florida - where its population consists mostly of senior citizens - there are more targets that scammers aim for than anywhere else in the America. And, having just entered my sixties, I'm now a part of that minority.
So, I have to be more on the alert than ever before, whether these rip-off artist contact me via phone, E-mail, or even door-to-door. (And if any of you "FA" members recently became senior citizens, you might want to be on the lookout for these savory characters yourselves.)
i know this cause i watch some anti-scammer Videos and they use Skype to call on the land line
"Simply send $50, along with your name, address, phone number, and Social Security number to ____..."
"Let's get two videos, honey. We'll be doubly protected!"
Some scam was ping call they just ring your phone in the hope you call back the overrated number it works a lot and i know numerous people lose some money with this.
The next level is they ping call you with a "standart" phone number, and if you call back, an answering machine ask you to call an overrated number about anything. and if you call the standart number from an other phoneline you get a message "we didn't recognise your number" very "fun"
Fortunately our phone operator allow free call restriction based on a mask, so I just set up the lines to blacklist any overrated number.
If they don't speak, I can't help them.
Up here in Soviet Canuckistan, telemarketers seem to like using our Do Not Call List as their call list. Mind you, our list is voluntary, there's no penalty for ignoring or abusing it. Even so, I only get scam calls once in a while. So far.