constant phone spam from "loan" companies - is it only me?

jwasbury · 02-28-2014, 11:49 AM

It comes in spurts, but over the last several months, I am bombarded by calls (on my cellphone - don't use landline) from "loan" companies.

The callers always sound to me like they are coming from India, but the calls are showing up as from all over the USA, or sometimes from "unknown" or "11111111"

Usually I don't answer, but when my phone is ringing 10 times a day from these clowns, I sometimes feel the need to either yell at them, or mess with them.

One of today's exchanges:

scammer: "is this Bridget Sanchez?"
me: "yes, this is Bridget Sanchez"
scammer: "you have been pre approved for a loan of up to $10,000, how much do you want?"
me: "Oh really? That's fantastic, but I need $100,000,000."
scammer:"$100,000,000? Well why don't you check your pockets."
me: "Check my pockets? Ok I am looking in there now. The $100,000,000 isn't there, where is it? You said it would be in my pocket!"
scammer: "do you have a pen?"
me: "yes"
scammer: "ok then stick it up your @$$"
me: "how bout I stick it up your @$$"

then he hung up.

these people are unbelieveable. at least I will try to have some fun with them since they call me 10x a day or more. Anyone else dealing with this crap?

KevinP73 · 02-28-2014, 12:09 PM

I get these constantly. The only thing to do is play with them and waste their time.

pete3799 · pete3799's Garage

I was getting them too......till I gave them Jacob's number.

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete3799

I was getting them too......till I gave them Jacob's number.

That is what I do too.

jwasbury · 02-28-2014, 01:12 PM

^you fargin bastiges!!!!

onlycafe · 07:09 PM

getting them here in downtown vernon too.
most of them are robo-calls though.

on2wheels52 · on2wheels52's Garage

I get them about once a week at the pawn shop, "you're approved for a $100,000 business loan if you act now......."
As oc said, most are robocalls.
Jim

oldE · 03-01-2014, 03:47 AM

I don't have a cel, but we get the "credit card services" one from time to time.

I heard an interesting radio interview the other week with a fellow from somewhere in the SE USA. He had been getting about 10 - 15 calls daily at his place of business from some outfit in India which claimed to be selling prescription drugs. He had never bought anything from them, but they kept calling.
Finally, he threatened to report them if they continued and the scammer's response wasto the effect he would arrange for this guy to get "hundreds of calls per day".

It started almost right away. He was getting calls from all over the USA from people asking why he had called them, them getting pretty p/o'd when he told them honestly that he hadn't.
The scammer had set up their computer to show his number on call displays.
He has since gone to the FCC, the FTC, the police and his senator to see what could be done.

I can't help but wonder why the telephone service providers are not being held responsible for aiding and abetting criminal activity. You think they can't identify the kind of traffic which comes out of a particular set of numbers and maybe gets a few complaints?

Best
Les

onlycafe · 03-01-2014, 04:07 AM

when i have tried to star69 the robo-caller, the last number dialed turns out to be the last real call that was received, not the robo-caller. they seem to be invisible to the call-back identification.
when i asked verizon if i could have all robo-calls blocked from the phone i was told that the only way to block a caller is by using their telephone number on an individual basis. if you can't get the robo's number then you can't block their calls.

stomachmonkey · 03-01-2014, 06:42 AM

Nomorobo.com

onlycafe · 03-01-2014, 11:13 AM

just tried nomorobo, not available for verizon customers. drat!

stomachmonkey · 03-05-2014, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onlycafe

just tried nomorobo, not available for verizon customers. drat!

Actually it is, sort of, depending on your service.

For the home I have Verizon FIOS.

Works great.

What they do is take advantage of the simultaneous ring feature.

Some services will allow you to specify additional numbers that will ring at the same time as the primary number, your dedicated office phone, cell phone, phone at your weekend vacation place etc....

You put in their systems number as one of the simultaneous rings. They use caller ID features to determine if it's a ROBO. They never answer your phone.

They can do this after the 1st ring. If a ROBO is detected they block it.

Just had one blocked a few minutes ago which prompted me to revisit this thread.