Beware Of Phone Scam
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
When receiving a phone call, your caller ID tells you (supposedly) who is calling. Now we learn that “spoofing” means that the caller’s identity on the caller ID can be altered and may not be who is actually calling. (Good reason to not give out personal information by telephone.) My family has been receiving a steady stream of recorded phone calls from many supposed different telephone numbers. The call goes like this when answered, with a recorded female voice:
“It is urgent that you contact us concerning your eligibility for lowering your interest rates to as little as 1 percent. Your eligibility expires shortly, so please consider this your final notice. Please press the number 1 on your phone now to speak with a live operator to lower your interest rate, or press the number 3 to discontinue further notices.”
Sometimes the words “financial stimulus” are mentioned as these crooks search for suckers to take the bait. We have received dozens of these pre-recorded calls over the past two months, and the caller ID usually shows the caller name as “Consumer Services,” and the phone numbers shown for the caller on our caller ID have been from at least four different states of the Union. This is fraud.
I called the Indiana Attorney General’s office, and the Consumer Affairs spokesperson told me they were very familiar with this type of phone scam. The spokesperson said that if I had pressed “1” or “3” or any number while connected to the spoofing caller, as instructed by the robo-call voice, I would have been charged a long distance call to a foreign country. So I am glad I did not ever do that. But, I asked whether the State of Indiana goes after fraudulent telephone callers who call showing a different number than they actually are calling from, and was told maybe. Naturally, I wondered why, if the Attorney General’s office knew about such “spoofing scams,” the state hasn't stopped it.
I did not call CenturyLink, the phone company, because it is nigh onto impossible to be connected to a live person through their “press 1 now,” “press 2 now” menus. But if the phone company is earning income by charging people for long distance telephone calls to numbers they did not actually dial, then one has to wonder if the phone company isn't, by reversing charges, part of this fraudulent scheme?
But I would like to make people aware of the phone scam. Remember what pressing the number “3” was supposed to do for you according to the robo-call voice? Don't push any buttons, just hang up. Telemarketing robo-calls are illegal in Indiana if your phone number is registered with the Federal Trade Commission’s “Do Not Call” registry, but that doesn’t stop crooks. When will these spoofing calls end? Probably when we disconnect our home landline.
Rick Wagner
Pierceton, via email[[In-content Ad]]
When receiving a phone call, your caller ID tells you (supposedly) who is calling. Now we learn that “spoofing” means that the caller’s identity on the caller ID can be altered and may not be who is actually calling. (Good reason to not give out personal information by telephone.) My family has been receiving a steady stream of recorded phone calls from many supposed different telephone numbers. The call goes like this when answered, with a recorded female voice:
“It is urgent that you contact us concerning your eligibility for lowering your interest rates to as little as 1 percent. Your eligibility expires shortly, so please consider this your final notice. Please press the number 1 on your phone now to speak with a live operator to lower your interest rate, or press the number 3 to discontinue further notices.”
Sometimes the words “financial stimulus” are mentioned as these crooks search for suckers to take the bait. We have received dozens of these pre-recorded calls over the past two months, and the caller ID usually shows the caller name as “Consumer Services,” and the phone numbers shown for the caller on our caller ID have been from at least four different states of the Union. This is fraud.
I called the Indiana Attorney General’s office, and the Consumer Affairs spokesperson told me they were very familiar with this type of phone scam. The spokesperson said that if I had pressed “1” or “3” or any number while connected to the spoofing caller, as instructed by the robo-call voice, I would have been charged a long distance call to a foreign country. So I am glad I did not ever do that. But, I asked whether the State of Indiana goes after fraudulent telephone callers who call showing a different number than they actually are calling from, and was told maybe. Naturally, I wondered why, if the Attorney General’s office knew about such “spoofing scams,” the state hasn't stopped it.
I did not call CenturyLink, the phone company, because it is nigh onto impossible to be connected to a live person through their “press 1 now,” “press 2 now” menus. But if the phone company is earning income by charging people for long distance telephone calls to numbers they did not actually dial, then one has to wonder if the phone company isn't, by reversing charges, part of this fraudulent scheme?
But I would like to make people aware of the phone scam. Remember what pressing the number “3” was supposed to do for you according to the robo-call voice? Don't push any buttons, just hang up. Telemarketing robo-calls are illegal in Indiana if your phone number is registered with the Federal Trade Commission’s “Do Not Call” registry, but that doesn’t stop crooks. When will these spoofing calls end? Probably when we disconnect our home landline.
Rick Wagner
Pierceton, via email[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092