231-555-0111

SCAM< No answer and I get this call with the 555 number muktilpe times from many different area codes.  I reject all these numbers but get another call with another xxx-555-xxxx.

Total scam. Guy with a thick accent said he was from Microsoft and wanted to fix the errors on my PC. I hung up and he called back from another number and called me a bunch of expletives.

This idiot called me at 6:41 AM on a Saturday morning insisting he worked for micro soft and that my computer was sending signals to them telling them it had a virus. I told him it wasn't even on and he kept going with his phony accent and long spill so I hung up on him

I'm surprised that anyone in the United States who has watched television or seen movies wouldn't recognize (or at least suspect) a number in the form NXX-555-XXXX as being fictional, or at least highly suspect.

At one time, **all** NXX-555-XXXX numbers were reserved by the phone company or companies, with NXX-555-1212 being the only number in widespread use in the US (for directory information for area code NXX).  A slightly different number was used in Canada.  The reason that movie and TV companies used NXX-555-XXXX numbers was that they would never be assigned to a "real person" or business other than the phone company, thereby avoiding a lot of problems that had occurred in the past.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/06/technology/ ... ly-fiction.html

These days, almost all NXX-555-XXXX numbers are actually assigned to real people or companies under certain restrictions.  The problem is, almost none of them really work because the phone companies have not cooperated to make them work.  However, a list of all the assigned 555-XXXX numbers in the entire country can be found at
http://www.nanpa.com/enas/form555MasterReport.do
If you look really carefully, you'll see that the entire range of XXXX from 0100 to 0199 are still reserved for fictional use.  Thus, the number that called you is spoofed.  The remaining 555-XXXX numbers may be in use somewhere, in some limited parts of the US and/or Canada, but I wouldn't bet on any actually working except for those owned and operated by phone companies.

So I would bet that all calls from this number are spoofed (illegally so, in the United States) to hide or mislead you about the identity or source of the caller and to make it impossible for you to call back.  (Don't try!!)  Aside from that, a call coming from NXX-555-XXXX is likely to have the caller ID name "DIR ASSIST" (or something similar) automatically associated with it by your own phone company, which will further mislead you.

Don't pick up the phone when you get a call from NXX-555-XXXX.

No pick up from me; no message from them. Darnit, I need a faster computer, so I can identify the number on this site while the phone's still ringing and know to pick it up with "Police Department, Computer Fraud Division."

just got a call from 231-555-0111     claiming to be from Microsoft  I told him - you are a scamer and lier do not call me again and I hung up.   I get tired of these idiots and the credit card scam Rachael starting up all over again.The Federal trade commission and the Federal communications Commission will not a thing. I sent then a list of over 60 calls from scams I have received and all they did was send me a letter to thank me for sending the list to them also stating there was not much they could do with the spoofed numbers.

I recognized the voice, he calls so many times. He said his name is Victor and lives in New Jersey and has many phone numbers. I told him he calls so often that I feel like I know him, so asked if there is any good places to eat in New Jersey, and started just chatting. When he mentioned he was from microsoft, I just changed the subject. "Victor" hung up on me.

Why on earth do people answer these calls?  I NEVER pick up my phone unless I know for certain who is calling. And since Caller ID no longer shows names unless they're in my phone list, at least 90% of my calls are spam.  They almost never leave messages.