16 Ways You Can be Phone Scammed

Great.
Suggest that everyone who gets an unsolicited call should forward these numbers to a Consumer Agency and the Federal Government.  When you have an unlisted number and have a freeze on whatever the law allows you should not then receive any outside calls.  Some states like NY do not allow a freeze on local calls.  Why?

Too bad she didn't call 911, because then they could have caught the crooks.  Did she not realize this??  I think the police should have been there at the appointment time to pick them up.

If we screened all of our calls and only picked up when we knew who was calling, we could avoid the majority of these scams.  True, some will leave a number saying to call back, but that gives you time to check out the number through sites like this.  But the majority of scammers do not leave messages.

My home phone system, which is made by Panasonic, actually allows me to block calls from specific numbers.  This is not the blocking service through the telephone company (many numbers are not allowed to be blocked through the telephone service - I don't know why, but it's very annoying).  I actually program the number into my phone, and when one of the blocked numbers tries to call, my phone rings just once.  The caller receives a busy signal.  The number still shows up on my Caller ID list, which I actually like, because then I can still see how often this caller is trying to reach me (and I know when they quit trying).  At least I don't have to listen to the phone ring five times before it goes over to my voice mail!

I read your thread, curious as if you know much more about PI stuff. I believe that , well, I know that my idenity is being compromised, I believe by someone I know. The pattern follows very close to my own. Anyway, do you know of any scams or ways to redirect my phone calls ?
Like my directory assistance for att and verizon are both 866.225.6495
Just curious, law enforcement has been a waste, and my bank accounts are completely 'hacked' into, although the bank doesn't want to help.

We too got call from 5-062-232-0309 when we answered no one answered-- it's very annoying ---we also get tons of calls from different areas in Florida (Macclennny, Fort Myers) also Atlanta, GA ---people need to be more alert of scams

I received a call 2 weeks ago from 626-2595568 promo offerts
they track our account number and stole money from.

Excellent Report - Very useful

I forwarded a link to this article to my in-laws and my parents who are in their 60's and 70's.  I constantly remind them never to trust anyone they don't know on the phone, and if the caller is a legitimate entity then they will already have personal information and will not need to ask for it.  I.E. You can be assured that the IRS already has your social security number and does not need to ask you for it...

Another observation is that a lot of the types of scams identified in this article also carry over to the Internet and e-mail realm.

Great Article!!!

got a call from 727 324 1045 claiming to be a doctors office and was trying to update their records and wanted my phone numbers and mailing address ...I told them that since they had my phone number to begin with they had all they needed. then they asked for my IRS business number ... I laughed and said I give no personal or business information to anyone when I dont initiate the call.  they hung up.

Every time I post an ad for a puppy, the deaf relay phone service calls & asks if I know how to use the system.  I tell them yes & if asked about shipping a puppy I start grilling them.  Who are you, name?  Where do you live?  Address?   Why do you want a puppy from here?  Are you stupid?  Why would you want to pay more for a puppy here, when the largest dog club for this breed is located near you on the east coast?  I don't ship any animal!  If I thought you'd be a good owner & it made sense after I receive the money & a signed notarized contract I'll deliver the puppy.  Then she will relay that "buyer" has a very good freight service "Blue Seas."  Then I cut right through the relay with, "Your the jerk the FBI is looking for!  As soon as I get off the phone I'm calling them!  By then the girl "relaying" the message is sputtering leading me to believe the relay girl & scam artist are the same.  It's sad because the first time I did business over the deaf relay I sold a wonderful puppy to a very nice, newly married deaf couple who live in a somewhat rural suburb close to me.  If they are severely hearing impaired, the deaf have enough trouble conversing, even with the relay.

i also have recieved phone calls from new jersey and virginia but i dont answer cuz i really dont know whos calling,,, i guess they will have to keep wasting their time calling me...from this number 16032143680

A quick thing to note:

There was a scam that fell under #16 that I almost got taken by. I am naturally a suspicious person when it comes to dealing with money or get-rick-quick scams, but I was pulled in because I had actually initiated the interest. There were posters around my college campus boasting a $24/hour thing that anyone could do. Since it was being advertised on campus, I figured that it might have been a bit legitimate; it might be some horrid job like data entry, you know? I went to the website and gave a name and number (this was like 1-2 months ago). This morning, I got a call from them, and they were asking me about a name and all that stuff, so I was optimistic up until they started asking about my financial situation. They wouldn't mention a name for their company, and I hung up on the recording ('why you want to do this') half-way through.

Just gotta be constantly aware of it, huh?

This very thing happened to my wife when she ordered the "Samauri Shark" knife sharpener off the add from that disgusting Billy Mays.  Several weeks after this transaction, I noticed our bank card had several 4.95 charges for something described as UMG.  Several more weeks and two more charges from UMG showed up for 14.95.  I called the number associated with the direct debit and was informed that my wife had subscribed to two different "Shopping" clubs.  They even had a recording of my wife saying "yes" to the question of whether she wanted to join the clubs.  Actually, the recording of the sound byte "yes" was actually to an entirely different question concerning the account number.  When I informed them that I was turning the matter over to the Attorney General's office, they agreed to refund the four debits.  A lot of people would have never noticed or questioned the mysterious debits to their accounts, and that's what these scammers rely on.  By the way Billy Mays' Samauri Shark was a cheap plastic piece of junk.

Let me add one thing. NEVER EVER give someone your Social Security Number over the phone. No legitimate company or government agency will EVER ask you for it over the phone. I work as a Federal government employee, and we are not even allowed to accept that kind of private information over the phone or fax machine. DON'T DO IT!

Someone just tried the Toner cartridge scam on me at the office this morning.   When I answered the phone she immediately requested verification of the serial numbers of our copiers. She did not give her name, company name or anything else as an introduction.

When I asked what company she worked for she gave some off the wall name as Suduku - I immediately informed her we do not do buisiness with that company and hung up.