16 Ways You Can be Phone Scammed

This is an excellent article and for those of you that believe that people can't fall for these - I worked for the IRS for several years and I lost count of the number of people that I spoke to who fell for the IRS scam call. Mostly older people. And, sadly many for a few thousand $.Some of the stories almost brought tears to my eyes (Remember that I worked for the IRS and we were supposedly cold hearted).

I get a  couple of scam calls weekly. What I'd like to know is : what happens to the people behind these scam calls when they are found out? I'd hope they can be prosecuted and incarcerated. Especially if they have been successful in stealing money from say, vulnerable people like the elderly.

I was scammed of $3500.00 from a landscape contractor who never returned to
Finish the job in backyard. After several attempts to reach him by leaving him messages, he came to my house and said he was in the hospital and has cancer.
I said ok when he said to give him a couple of days.  It is now 2 months and not a word from him.  I was dumb enough to give him an advance he said he needed it for
Material I don’t have a  contract he was a person that I trusted get fooled once get fulled Twice shame on me. He took advantage of my age 89.

I thank you for all the good ideas here. I also sure wish you'd quit telling  people these are "Scams". I see them more as "quick ways to cover a Bar Bill" or "My Baby needs something pretty, and if I don't deliver it NOW she'll run off to another man's arms".  Honestly: I might need your money even more than you!  Have a heart, support your local Scammer.   (please!)

Forward me all the information you have on them, and $100, and I'll make sure "they get theirs"!  Those dirty crooks won't even know what happened to them!  and $100 is all I charge

One of the "money from Africa" scams is back, or never left. These have been around for years. I'm impressed that their grammar and spelling is much, much better than before. My organization just received an email stating that $18M is available through the World Bank Group in association with the African Development Bank. We have been chosen as one of the recipients of a large chunk of this cash ready for us to take possession at any time! We just need to call them and give them access to bank accounts so they can deposit the money. I hope no one falls for this in this day and time.

Why are you using all caps?! It's so annoying!

Do not give any financial information to someone WHO calls you trying to sell you something or have you donate to a charity.  I don't give anyone who calls me ANY Information (I do give them a hard time and keep asking questions and keep them on the phone so they can't call someone else.

I have years of experience in dealing with junk debt buyers, also known as third party debt collectors. They will never win in a court of law.  So, they are hoping that you will cave in to their threats and give them your money on the spot.  The so-called court threats, is nothing but a scare tactic.  In order for them to file a claim at your local courthouse, they need to provide proof of their claims as well as proof of how they were injured by you.  Those are the most important parts here.  A stranger, especially one that refuses to identify themselves, or who their client is, does not have a claim, especially in a court of law.  The law states that once a so call debt collector contacts you, even if you did not answer your phone, they must identify themselves and state the nature of their business within five business days after the first contact, and it must be in writing.  A voice message left on your phone is not enough.  Call them back and ask for validation and proof, and they must send that proof to you within five days.  But, you can't call them back and get that information, because they themselves do not have proof, nor will they give you the time of day.  All they are interested in is getting your money, now.  So, back to how the courts system work.  If, they were to file a complaint at your local courthouse, they would need to hire a special process server and have a summons and complaint served on you.  Once served, the server has to provide proof to the court that you were served.  Very unlikely, simply because they don't have the kind of proof to show how they were injured.  As an example, Trump filed over sixty lawsuits regarding stolen election, and he loss every one of those lawsuits.  Simply, because he had no proof, and lack evidence to show harm.  That is the key.  The debt collector or fake debt collector, in this case, does not have enough proof to show harm.  Simply, because they lack the kind of evidence to support their claim.  For example, can't go to the junk yard, buy an old junk car, then lookup and find who the original owner and sue them for a new car.  Junk is junk, once original creditor sells your debt, all debt buyers have a big hill to climb in making any claims.  Proof, in a court of law, centers on how they were harmed, as well as how they obtain ownership, and that ownership has to be very clear without any broken links in that chain.  All debt collector, have broken links in their claims. They will never win, especially for those who are willing to challenge them.  However, you can't challenge a debt collector who refuses to identify themselves and provide proof.  Having your name, phone number, address, and last 4 digit of your SSN, and vague information on a prior debt, is not proof.  More importantly, their alleged, unproven, claim will never hold up in a court of law.  So, until these so call debt collectors are willing to come out of the dark, and identify themselves, just look at them as annoying gnats buzzing in your ears.

Yeah, Vivian Baker, Ryan Palm, my Filipino family & my crappy exes are scamming my parents and abusing a disabled person. As soon as i get my meds I’ll see you all in court!

Every freggin’ day….

Every freggin’ hour….

Another SPOOFED (“Scam Likely”) or no answer call to discover if we accept such call thus leads to see if we’re empathetic enough to answer other soon to follow-up calls with some of their many scams, including, but not limited to:

Credit Cards Merchant Accounts, Police Association Donations, Google listing Verifications, Debt Reduction/Eliminations, Bad Credit Loans with no credit checks, 0% pre-approved Credit Card/Cash Advance loans, Car/Auto Warranties/Insurances, Credit Card Debt Elimination or Reduction approval offer, Election Surveys, Hearing Aid Devices, IRS Debt Forgiveness Programs, Veterans/Health/Medicaid/Medicare/Life Insurance, pre-approved Small Business Loans, loan default reconstruction offers, fake PayPal activity on my account, Prayer Center calls, senior wellness calls, DirectTV/ATT/Spectrum Internet/TV Offers, Solar Panels, some random Survey, fake/false Amazon/Bestbuy purchase Fraud Activity Alert/Notification, fake electric power cutoff warning, Time Share Offer, Travel Rewards offer/service, Drug Recall Legal Class Action Lawsuit warnings, Arrest Threats “if I don’t return their Legal Department Open Case Law callback ASAP” warning, fake Jury Duty Arrest Warrant Warning, Pain Management Center, Medical Alert or Home Alarm System, Social Security Number Fraud Activity, Health Insurance Government Assistance Program, Funeral Burial Policy, Zero Tax-Debt Credit Program, Firefighters/Police Association donations, Microsoft calling about some fake Virus/TeamViewer scam to enter my PC seeking to copy my important information, or some other offer/etc.

Once a fraudulent telemarketer discovers a victim or someone that answers willingly, that victim’s name may soon be transferred to another database that is later sold to hundreds of other scammers. These constant hourly/never-ending fake calls keep calling disguising their spoofed phone numbers each time and keep at it along their journey.  Each sales/scam attempt tries to cipher from us at all angles with their vast network of call centers sharing the same valuable database inserting more and more of our private and precious information along the way.

Afterwards, they find the Owner and ask for them by name to verify if we can handle more business customers for that $150 to $300 monthly reoccurring Google SEO Listing Services because our google trust-score/listing is “in danger.” If you answered such Google “Verification”, you are put into their list as a valuable lead to further/more and more redundancy of their:  Alexia/Google/Apple Maps/Voice search engine/map Listings, website makeover, SEO services, search engine directory insertions/backlinks/landing pages, Google review monitoring, Google Click Ads, and this/that other website rankings blah/blah/blah.

Without emotions and/or guilt, these self-centeredness narcissistics assume entitlement to our self hard-earned cash and resources, all the while, they selfishly get to sit on their a$$ and continually prey on the gullible empathy of small business owners struggling to get thru the day making ends meet while being barraged by these unending calls onto us that must answer all such calls in hopes it being a “real” customer.

These scammers usually spoofs a forwarded call as a three-way call to some legitimate offer thereby listening in and having themselves muted just waiting for my precious and personal information to pierce their eager ears.

BTW, signing up for the online Do Not Call Registry to cut down on telemarketing sales calls does NOT help due to their abilities to “hide” their number, spoof/display any number at will (including your own) and impersonate any Caller ID at will.

Fake fundraising scam asking for donations that criminals from the Philippines keep for themselves. This same Filipino scammer also operates daily fake Medicare and health insurance scams, pretends to be fake loan financing companies or debt collectors, along with fake auto insurance and car warranty scams, and they impersonate AT&T DirecTV. This is a massive widespread fake charity fundraising scam by Puta'ng Ina Ka criminals robo-dialing from the Philippines! 99% of these unsolicited phone calls from fake charity fundraisers that pretend to raise money for veterans, police, firefighters, breast cancer, leukemia, diseases, autism, schools, NRA, PACs, political organizations, disabled, poverty, hunger, and other worthy causes are ALL SCAMS!! If you want to donate, call a trusted charity phone number yourself, never trust unsolicited callers, research the Charity Navigator website and you will find reputable charities that actually donate most of the collected money to the cause that they truly represent. All these other fake fundraising scams rotate through many charity causes every day and keep all the collected money for themselves, some of these fake fundraisers purposely overcharge your credit card thousands of dollars and then disappear, and they all really ruin the trust that people have for the reputable charities. Anyone can phone you from anywhere in the world and tell you that they are raising money for some worthy cause, but charity fundraising fraud phone scams are extremely common, very easy to do, and your contributed money goes directly to the fraudsters instead. Many of these fake fundraising scammers use automated interactive voice response (IVR) software that sounds very human, but you are initially talking to a software robot who asks you some questions and responds based on your replies before transferring you to the real scammer who steals your credit card number under the pretense of raising money for many fake charities. The human scammer often says they will mail you an envelope so you can mail your donation in, but then they immediately still ask for your credit card number. All of these IVR robot-based fundraising scams have been robo-dialing using the same IVR software voices and scripted dialogues for years now, just slightly adjusting their initial presentations for each fake charity. About 55% of North America scam calls come from India and 40% come from the Philippines. India scammers run hundreds of fraud, extortion, and money laundering scams every day such as posing as a fake pharmacy, fake Social Security officer saying your benefits are suspended, IRS officer collecting on fake unpaid back taxes, debt collector threatening you for fake unpaid bills, fake bank/financial/FedEx/UPS/DHL scams, pretending to offer fake health insurance, car warranty, student loan forgiveness, credit card and debt consolidation services, posing as Amazon to falsely say an unauthorized purchase was made to your credit card or your Prime membership was auto-debited from your bank, posing as Microsoft/Dell/HP/Apple to say your account has been hacked or they detected a virus on your computer, fake "we are refunding your money" or "your account has been auto-debited" scams, fake Google/Alexa listing scams, posing as electric utilities, Verizon, AT&T, or Comcast, fake solar panel and home purchase offers, fake fundraisers asking for donations, fake phone surveys, and the scammers try to steal your credit card, bank account/routing number, Social Security number, and personal information. India scammers often rotate through fake Social Security, subscription auto-renewal, pharmacy, and pre-approved loan scams on the same day. Philippines scammers run more auto/home/health/life insurance, Social Security and Medicare identity theft, and fake charity donation scams. Scammers use disposable VoIP phone numbers (e.g. MagicJack devices) or they spoof fake names and numbers on Caller ID. Anyone can use telecom software to phone with a fake CID name and number. Scammers spoof thousands of fake 8xx toll-free numbers. CID is useless with scam calls unless the scam asks you to phone them back. CID area codes are never the origin of scam calls since scams use spoofed CID numbers from across the US and Canada, numbers belonging to unsuspecting people, invalid area codes, and fake foreign country CID numbers; e.g. fake women crying "help me" emergency scams often spoof Mexico and Middle East CID numbers. Scammers often spoof the actual phone numbers of businesses such as Apple, Verizon, and banks to trick you into thinking the call is valid. How can you avoid being scammed by phone calls? NEVER trust any unsolicited caller who: sells something (most unsolicited calls are scams so your odds of saving money are very poor); asks for your Social Security number; offers a free gift or reward; threatens you with arrest/lawsuit or says you need to reply back soon (pressure tactic); asks you to access a website, download a file, wire transfer money or buy prepaid debit/gift cards; claims suspicious activity on your account; says your subscription is being refunded or auto-renewed/auto-debited; and all pre-recorded messages. Recordings are far more likely to be malicious scams and not just telemarketer spam. All unsolicited callers with foreign accents, usually Indian or Filipino, are usually scams. Filipino scammers tend to speak better English than Indian scammers. Filipinos speak English with a subtle accent having a slight trill. Scams often say that you inquired about a job, insurance, social security benefits, or that you previously contacted them or visited their website. A common India scam plays a fake Amazon recording. Amazon account updates are emailed, not robo-dialed. Many banks use automated fraud alert calls to confirm a suspicious purchase, but verify the number that the recording tells you to phone or just call the number printed on your credit card. India scammers impersonate AT&T DirecTV, Comcast, or a cable/Internet company, offering fake discounts or service upgrades. Indians impersonate the IRS and Social Security Administration. The IRS/SSA never make unsolicited calls and never threaten to arrest you; they initiate contact via postal mail. Real lawsuits are not phoned in, especially not using pre-recorded threats lacking details; legal notices are mailed/couriered. The police, FBI, DEA never phone to threaten arrest; they show up in person with a warrant. Scammers try to gain your trust by saying your name when they call, but their autodialer automatically displays your name or says your name in a recording when your number is dialed using phone databases that list millions of names and addresses. Scammers often call using an initial recording speaking English, Spanish, or Chinese that is easily generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of their overseas phone room. Some speech synthesis software sound robotic, but others sound natural. To hide their foreign accents, some India scammers use non-Indians in their phone room. Scammers often use interactive voice response (IVR) robotic software that combines voice recognition with artificial intelligence, speaks English with American voices, and responds based on your replies. IVR calls begin with: "Hi, this is fake_name, I am a fake_job_title on a recorded line, can you hear me okay?"; or "Hi, this is fake_name, how are you doing today?"; or "Hello? (pause) Are you there?"; or "Hi, may I speak to your_name?" IVR quickly asks you a short question to elicit a yes/no reply so it hangs up if it encounters voicemail. IVR robots understand basic replies and yes/no answers. To test for IVR, ask "How is the weather over there?" since IVR cannot answer complex questions and it keeps talking if you interrupt it in mid-sentence. IVR usually transfers you to the scammer, but some scams entirely use IVR with the robot asking for your credit card or SSN. A common myth is IVR calls record you saying "yes" so scammers can authorize purchases just using your "yes" voice, but scammers need more than just a recorded "yes" from you - credit cards and SSN. Phone/email scams share two common traits: the CID name/number and the "From:" header on emails are easily faked, and the intent of scam calls is malicious just as file attachments and website links on scam emails are harmful. Scams snowball for many victims. If your personal/financial data are stolen, either by being scammed, visiting a malicious website, or by a previous data breach of a business server that stores your data, then your data gets sold by scammers on the dark web who will see you as fresh meat and prey on you even more. This is why some receive 40+ scam calls everyday while others get only 0 to 2 calls per week. If you provide your personal data to a phone scammer, lured by fake 80%-discounted drugs or scared by fake IRS officers, you receive even more phone scams and identity theft can take years to repair. Most unsolicited calls are scams, often with an Indian accent. No other country is infested with pandemics of phone room sweatshops filled with criminals who belong to the lowest India caste and many are thieves and rapists who were serving jail time but released early due to prison overcrowding. Scammers often shout profanities at you. Just laugh at their abusive language. Google "Hindi swear words" and memorize some favorites, e.g. call him "Randi Ka Beta" (son of [***]) or call her "Randi Ka Betty" (daughter of [***]). Scammers ignore the National Do-Not-Call Registry; asking scammers to stop calling is useless. You do these scammers a favor by quickly hanging up. But you ruin their scams when you slowly drag them along on the phone call, give them fake personal and credit card data (16 random digits starting with 4 for Visa, 5 for MasterCard), ask them to speak louder and repeat what they said to waste their time and energy.

You guys are awesome! Whenever I'm questioning a call, I check here. Canceled my land line after my message machine filled up with threats from the IRS over taxes due. My 'broken windows computer', non-existent, remains unfixed. I dunno who keeps calling from Beijing or why; don't speak Chinese, but my cell phone has caller blocking. I use it liberally. I DID discover how to end car warranties offers coming when I'm exhausted post-call. Clicked through, told the operator I desperately needed a service warranty on the 1920 Packard I inherited from my grandfather cuz my father died and I didn't know how to keep it running. Demanded a supervisor when told she couldn't help. They haven't called since...<G> I use a backup phone when placing ads in Craigslist etc. so they don't get my main phone #. I've had some pretty strange replies. Never going to accept shipment of a car, with extra money forwarded 'for my trouble', especially when said car was going to be used to commute to a graduate program daily...several states away! I HAVE to answer all calls due to my job. Everyone keeps their phone # even when moving out of state, so the prefex says nothing about legitimacy. Might be a traveling RN at the bedside of my patient calling me to report something important. Gotten good at weeding out the scam calls of which there are many, thanks to this site!

Hard to keep track of all the phone scams. The rule of thumb is NEVER GIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION to strangers who call. Ask for their name and call-back numbers, and research. Call the company customer support directly, and inquire if the person who called you is legit. Better still, don't answer unknown calls, although not everyone has that luxury :P

Great article full of valuable info. I treat every csll with suspicion. So many tricks out there trying to get at our money. Stay safe

I have had people try to pull this scam on me for Craigslist ads for livestock, promising to hold the item for a 'deposit', or offering to ship it for a fee.  Usually a few educated questions about the animal/their care/vaccination or health history will disclose that they have no idea what they are trying to 'sell' and they will almost never answer a direct call, only communicate a text.