Phone scam calls you've received ... post your here (1 Viewer)

[kupcho1]

Got a call on my mobile from 202-677-0170 with a voice recording that says (I'm paraphrasing) "This is IRS and we are filing a lawsuit against you. For more information call 202-677-0170"

Rather than return the call from my mobile, I call from work (PBX) and at first get no answer.

I get a second call from the number, same message.

Call the # from work again, and get a message that they are not receiving calls.

:shuked:

Can't figure the scam.

Pretty sure IRS isn't suing me. (BTW, love that they don't use "the" .. reminds me of when Buster Bluth was in Army)

That's my scam of the day

Whatcha got?

 

[17seconds]

Hearing a lot about the hotel check-out scam. Caution to the travelers out there.

Apparently scammers will just call every room in a hotel at like 8am on Sunday morning, and hope the person that answers is checking out: "Hi, this is Bob from the front desk. We have you as checking out today, is that correct? Well, we're really, really swamped down here, the check out line is like a half hour wait. If you want, though, I can run your credit card and check you out right now. Can you give me the number?"

Interesting.

Is it necessary to check out anymore?

In the last 5yrs I don't think I've done anything but just leave

 

[mr roboto]

Hearing a lot about the hotel check-out scam. Caution to the travelers out there.

Apparently scammers will just call every room in a hotel at like 8am on Sunday morning, and hope the person that answers is checking out: "Hi, this is Bob from the front desk. We have you as checking out today, is that correct? Well, we're really, really swamped down here, the check out line is like a half hour wait. If you want, though, I can run your credit card and check you out right now. Can you give me the number?"

Interesting.

Is it necessary to check out anymore?

In the last 5yrs I don't think I've done anything but just leave

Yeah. When I go to 'check out 'they just say 'OK! Have a nice day.'Unless you need a receipt for expense account?

ETA now I remember, this happened to me 2 years ago in SF. It sounded suspicious so I said 'I'll come down and verify this is really the case.' They hung up. I told the front desk and they had a horrified look on their face.

 

[AnonymousBob]

A few years ago I would regularly get calls from guys with thick Indian sounding accents telling me my computer was infected and they're calling from Microsoft to help me resolve the issue. I'd ignore the calls or hang up, but they didn't stop. No idea what I did to get onto their list. One time they happened to call while I was out for a walk around my local lake. Being bored and having time to kill, I decided to play along. At first it was sheer curiosity to figure out what they were trying to do. Get my cc information? Download some scam crap? I started asking questions and the guy on the phone seemed stunned to have a nibble. He very quickly told me to hold for a supervisor and they put me on hold for some other Indian. I don't know what's wrong with me, but while I was waiting I got the terrible idea to pretend I'm mentally slow. Really slow.

The boss hops on the phone and starts telling me he's from Microsoft but he's here to help fix my laptop (which had blown its motherboard about two weeks prior and I hadn't replaced it yet) as its been infected with some kind of virus. But "Don't worry sir!" was repeated numerous times. Strolling around the lake, he proceeds to walk me through the entire process. I pulled every tired, stupid cliche one could imagine, from not understanding which keys to press, having no idea how to get to certain screens, not figuring out how to turn the laptop back on, to misspelling words in the command prompt. I kept asking him about his day, asking him about his family, and generally dragging things out. You could tell he was getting immensely frustrated trying to get me back on track, but was largely keeping his cool. After about 10 minutes of this nonsense, I could no longer bs my way through typing stuff into my computer when he asked me what my screen was telling me for about the 6th time. So I just laughed and told him I wasn't on my computer and I wasn't falling for their scam. It took several moments for things to don on him, as he kept asking me "So you're not on your computer?!??" When he realized I was just wasting his time, he let forth a very impressive string of expletives, cursing me, telling me to _____ my mother, and really just screaming into the phone before slamming the phone down and hanging up.

They stopped calling me after that.

 

[nirad3]

Hearing a lot about the hotel check-out scam. Caution to the travelers out there.

Apparently scammers will just call every room in a hotel at like 8am on Sunday morning, and hope the person that answers is checking out: "Hi, this is Bob from the front desk. We have you as checking out today, is that correct? Well, we're really, really swamped down here, the check out line is like a half hour wait. If you want, though, I can run your credit card and check you out right now. Can you give me the number?"

Interesting.

Is it necessary to check out anymore?

In the last 5yrs I don't think I've done anything but just leave

Yeah. When I go to 'check out 'they just say 'OK! Have a nice day.'Unless you need a receipt for expense account?

ETA now I remember, this happened to me 2 years ago in SF. It sounded suspicious so I said 'I'll come down and verify this is really the case.' They hung up. I told the front desk and they had a horrified look on their face.

Yeah, you'd have to be fairly dumb to fall for this. Every single hotel I stay at makes you run a card when you check in. If you get that call, wouldn't your first thought be "sure, just use the card you have on file"? If they ask you to confirm the number and you give it to them, you deserve to be scammed.

If I don't need a receipt (which I typically do for expense reporting), I just leave the keys in the room and bail.

 

[CGRdrJoe]

Hearing a lot about the hotel check-out scam. Caution to the travelers out there.

Apparently scammers will just call every room in a hotel at like 8am on Sunday morning, and hope the person that answers is checking out: "Hi, this is Bob from the front desk. We have you as checking out today, is that correct? Well, we're really, really swamped down here, the check out line is like a half hour wait. If you want, though, I can run your credit card and check you out right now. Can you give me the number?"

Interesting.

Is it necessary to check out anymore?

In the last 5yrs I don't think I've done anything but just leave

Yeah. When I go to 'check out 'they just say 'OK! Have a nice day.'Unless you need a receipt for expense account?

ETA now I remember, this happened to me 2 years ago in SF. It sounded suspicious so I said 'I'll come down and verify this is really the case.' They hung up. I told the front desk and they had a horrified look on their face.

Yeah, you'd have to be fairly dumb to fall for this. Every single hotel I stay at makes you run a card when you check in. If you get that call, wouldn't your first thought be "sure, just use the card you have on file"? If they ask you to confirm the number and you give it to them, you deserve to be scammed.

If I don't need a receipt (which I typically do for expense reporting), I just leave the keys in the room and bail.

Yeah cause the elderly are completely in tune with all this

 

[Chadstroma]

More of a break in but....

An elderly customer came in and told me what happened to him on Friday. Someone comes to the door and was talking to him about roof work he had done previously. Said he was the son of the owner of the company and some BS about offering more repairs at rock bottom prices. To make a long story short. The guy eventually gets the old man to go outside with him to look at the roof/siding. While in the back, the guy made a quick phone call. Two guys went in thru the front door and started to grab jewlery etc. A son heard something and they ran out. The guy talking to the old man got a phone call and said something like his special order came in and he had to go pick it up right away. Told him some figure of what he could do but just don't tell his dad and ran off.

Cops came and mentioned this has been happening around his neighborhood. About the 7th or 8th victim.

 

[17seconds]

Hearing a lot about the hotel check-out scam. Caution to the travelers out there.

Apparently scammers will just call every room in a hotel at like 8am on Sunday morning, and hope the person that answers is checking out: "Hi, this is Bob from the front desk. We have you as checking out today, is that correct? Well, we're really, really swamped down here, the check out line is like a half hour wait. If you want, though, I can run your credit card and check you out right now. Can you give me the number?"

Interesting.

Is it necessary to check out anymore?

In the last 5yrs I don't think I've done anything but just leave

Yeah. When I go to 'check out 'they just say 'OK! Have a nice day.'Unless you need a receipt for expense account?

ETA now I remember, this happened to me 2 years ago in SF. It sounded suspicious so I said 'I'll come down and verify this is really the case.' They hung up. I told the front desk and they had a horrified look on their face.

Yeah, you'd have to be fairly dumb to fall for this. Every single hotel I stay at makes you run a card when you check in. If you get that call, wouldn't your first thought be "sure, just use the card you have on file"? If they ask you to confirm the number and you give it to them, you deserve to be scammed.

If I don't need a receipt (which I typically do for expense reporting), I just leave the keys in the room and bail.

Yeah cause the elderly are completely in tune with all this

That's how most scams work these days- get the low hanging fruit.

The absurdly obvious email scams are written that way for a reason. If you send it out a million times and 1% of the population are morons or luddites who can't recognize bogus email, you are reaching 10,000 suckers.

 

[bigmarc27]

Hearing a lot about the hotel check-out scam. Caution to the travelers out there.

Apparently scammers will just call every room in a hotel at like 8am on Sunday morning, and hope the person that answers is checking out: "Hi, this is Bob from the front desk. We have you as checking out today, is that correct? Well, we're really, really swamped down here, the check out line is like a half hour wait. If you want, though, I can run your credit card and check you out right now. Can you give me the number?"

Interesting.

Is it necessary to check out anymore?

In the last 5yrs I don't think I've done anything but just leave

Yeah. When I go to 'check out 'they just say 'OK! Have a nice day.'Unless you need a receipt for expense account?

ETA now I remember, this happened to me 2 years ago in SF. It sounded suspicious so I said 'I'll come down and verify this is really the case.' They hung up. I told the front desk and they had a horrified look on their face.

I always have a receipt under my door when I wake up.

 

[rustycolts]

Got a call on my mobile from 202-677-0170 with a voice recording that says (I'm paraphrasing) "This is IRS and we are filing a lawsuit against you. For more information call 202-677-0170"

Rather than return the call from my mobile, I call from work (PBX) and at first get no answer.

I get a second call from the number, same message.

Call the # from work again, and get a message that they are not receiving calls.

:shuked:

Can't figure the scam.

Pretty sure IRS isn't suing me. (BTW, love that they don't use "the" .. reminds me of when Buster Bluth was in Army)

That's my scam of the day

Whatcha got?

They usually target seniors.Telling them they owe back taxes and to send funds Western Union to the fake IRS rep.A lot of this going on in Fl.They tried with a friend of ours he was real concerned.I told him I had heard about this on the news and that it was a scam.Plus the IRS would not call on the phone they always notify you by mail.

 

[CurlyNight]

Every year at tax time..... get an automated message saying if I don't call this # to pay x $s I owe that they'll come and arrest me. The automated message is always a nice touch..

 

[Judge Smails]

I've had them all I think:

1) The Indian guy claiming to be from Microsoft must have called 100 times. Mainly because my Mom was staying with us and responded to phishing and gave out my home #. Thanks Mom. After awhile, it became a sport. I messed with him and his comrades a bunch. Mostly talking about real infections that I may need help with, like could he help me with a herpes breakout, if he had any protection programs that would protect me from scum of the earth phone scammers, etc.

2) The lotto winning ticket scam. Nigerian of course.

3) The ticket that's going to warrant for my arrest if I don't pay by Western Union, Green Dot, etc.

4) Stock boiler room scam. I mean, you can hear them in the background. Had the Stratton Oakmont guys on the phone during the Wolf of Wall Street days. Talk about obnoxious.

 

[El Floppo]

Got a call on my mobile from 202-677-0170 with a voice recording that says (I'm paraphrasing) "This is IRS and we are filing a lawsuit against you. For more information call 202-677-0170"

Rather than return the call from my mobile, I call from work (PBX) and at first get no answer.

I get a second call from the number, same message.

Call the # from work again, and get a message that they are not receiving calls.

:shuked:

Can't figure the scam.

Pretty sure IRS isn't suing me. (BTW, love that they don't use "the" .. reminds me of when Buster Bluth was in Army)

That's my scam of the day

Whatcha got?

They usually target seniors.Telling them they owe back taxes and to send funds Western Union to the fake IRS rep.A lot of this going on in Fl.They tried with a friend of ours he was real concerned.I told him I had heard about this on the news and that it was a scam.Plus the IRS would not call on the phone they always notify you by mail.

mentioned this one aimed at seniors in another thread...

"the grandma scam"

people call an older person (must've hacked AARP or something) and say "hi grandma!"- usually what follows is them gleaning all the personal info they need while asking and answering questions to convince the grandma/pa that they are the grandkid. Once that happens, grandkid says they're in trouble, at school/travelling/wherever and need money right away. Can't ask mom/dad because.. you know how they are.

My mom caught on fast. My aunt caught on slower, but caught on. My other aunt fell for it- grandkid (who is an investment banker in Hong Kong) says he somehow needs money send it fast... and she did. a couple grand. grandkid called back later that day and said it didn't go through- send again (it did go through). this time she checked the bank and the alerted her to the scam.

when my mom got called, she reported to the police- but they basically said only thing to do is spread the word not to fall for it.

 

[fantasycurse42]

This is Canadian Pharmacy

 

[heckmanm]

Angie from "account services"

 

[Otis]

Got one last week. Guy with an Indian accent called. He said my computer has a virus, they were getting messages from it and it was really dangerous but they could fix it. I pretended to be really concerned and asked him what to do. He asked if I had access to the computer. I ran inside and sat down in front of my computer. I was so giddy. I asked what to do next. He asked me if I could see the start menu on the screen. I told him no, I was looking at a Mac. He hung up.

In retrospect I should have pulled out my windoze laptop to see how much farther I could take it. Didn't even dawn on me they would give up if it was a Mac. I figured he would just turn to the next page in his script and have a way of doing it there.

 

[James Daulton]

If you have a few moments to spare the IRS and computer virus scammers are fun to string on for a bit. Both scammers get very frustrated very easily when you can't seem to follow their simple instructions.

 

[CurlyNight]

If you have a few moments to spare the IRS and computer virus scammers are fun to string on for a bit. Both scammers get very frustrated very easily when you can't seem to follow their simple instructions.

I love doing this. Unfortunately it's always a pre-recorded message and when I ring them to string them along, no one answers. I usually play on their accents and eventually ask to speak to someone who speaks english. By the time I'm done with them, I know they've lost my number in their pool.

 

[El Floppo]

If you have a few moments to spare the IRS and computer virus scammers are fun to string on for a bit. Both scammers get very frustrated very easily when you can't seem to follow their simple instructions.

I love doing this. Unfortunately it's always a pre-recorded message and when I ring them to string them along, no one answers. I usually play on their accents and eventually ask to speak to someone who speaks english. By the time I'm done with them, I know they've lost my number in their pool.

pretty sure you're not doing this right, gb.

 

[kupcho1]

Got one last week. Guy with an Indian accent called. He said my computer has a virus, they were getting messages from it and it was really dangerous but they could fix it. I pretended to be really concerned and asked him what to do. He asked if I had access to the computer. I ran inside and sat down in front of my computer. I was so giddy. I asked what to do next. He asked me if I could see the start menu on the screen. I told him no, I was looking at a Mac. He hung up.

In retrospect I should have pulled out my windoze laptop to see how much farther I could take it. Didn't even dawn on me they would give up if it was a Mac. I figured he would just turn to the next page in his script and have a way of doing it there.

If you have a few moments to spare the IRS and computer virus scammers are fun to string on for a bit. Both scammers get very frustrated very easily when you can't seem to follow their simple instructions.

Got one last week. Guy with an Indian accent called. He said my computer has a virus, they were getting messages from it and it was really dangerous but they could fix it. I pretended to be really concerned and asked him what to do. He asked if I had access to the computer. I ran inside and sat down in front of my computer. I was so giddy. I asked what to do next. He asked me if I could see the start menu on the screen. I told him no, I was looking at a Mac. He hung up.

In retrospect I should have pulled out my windoze laptop to see how much farther I could take it. Didn't even dawn on me they would give up if it was a Mac. I figured he would just turn to the next page in his script and have a way of doing it there.

I got this one about a year or so ago. Call came in on my mobile. The crazy thing was it showed a 6 digit number (at least the IRS scammer had the courtesy to go to the trouble of getting a 202 area code number to spoof)

Anyway, I sat down and let them walk me through it. They were basically trying to get me to edit the registry (IIRC) to allow them access. I played along like I was following instructions until I stopped and said

"OMG, what did you have me do here"

"... and then type in "

"Hold on hold on hold on ... there's smoke coming out of the computer. What were these instructions"

" ...."

"My computer is on fire. What did you do?"

[click]

LOL

 

[MattFancy]

Got a call on my mobile from 202-677-0170 with a voice recording that says (I'm paraphrasing) "This is IRS and we are filing a lawsuit against you. For more information call 202-677-0170"

Rather than return the call from my mobile, I call from work (PBX) and at first get no answer.

I get a second call from the number, same message.

Call the # from work again, and get a message that they are not receiving calls.

:shuked:

Can't figure the scam.

Pretty sure IRS isn't suing me. (BTW, love that they don't use "the" .. reminds me of when Buster Bluth was in Army)

That's my scam of the day

Whatcha got?

Had something similar. However, it was someone with a very thick Indian accent telling me they were from the US Revenue Department. They were coming after my money and I needed a lawyer and if I wished not to get a lawyer, they wished me luck.

 

[Funkley]

My MIL has received two calls over the last year saying that "your grandson is in a lot of trouble in Las Vegas and needs you to send money so he can get home.......I'm his friend, send it to me and I'll get it to him." I'm sure it works sometimes.

 

[El Floppo]

My MIL has received two calls over the last year saying that "your grandson is in a lot of trouble in Las Vegas and needs you to send money so he can get home.......I'm his friend, send it to me and I'll get it to him." I'm sure it works sometimes.

a version of the Grandma scam I wrote about earlier.