16 Ways You Can be Phone Scammed

Had received the call about lowering rates several months ago,started out as a recorded message claiming they had been trying to reach me for sometime. I pressed one - only to make sure it was not a CC company I do business with, when I asked which credit card company she was with - her response was "ANY ACCOUNT" you like.    I immediately told her not interested and hung up.   If she had indicated any of the cards that I do have I still would have hung up and called the 800 # on my cards or statements.

My husband also received a call quite sometime ago and the caller get really nasty when he would not give him the credit card account numbers.

As Seen on TV products have always been a rip-off.  They claim to include all this "FREE" stuff if you order the already overpriced piece of crap. They also grossly overcharge for shipping which pay for separately on the free items.  

They are actually charging you for the "FREE" stuff - if you really need to try something you have Seen on TV, it will be out in the stores in no time at half the price they quote on the TV add. No shipping and handling charges either

I received the call yesterday from a woman wanting to know my copier model number.  I asked what company is this and she hung up promptly.  Thanks for the information on this site.

If you are calling to question the tax department - you need to give your social insurance number - how else will they find the file?  It's the first question they ask.

I love this site and info given! One company claiming to be from Atlanta is actually in Buffalo, NY! They threaten you, they call relatives, they do and say anything to get your money.If you get a call or calls from them break in and tell them they are being recorded. One copy is going to your AG and one to the AG of NY. This throws them off as they think you think they're in Atlanta. I pulled this on one woman with a heavy accent and she aked why I was threatening her. I told her this is not a threat, it's a promise. I haven't heard from them since.
Atlanta NE 678-916-5965. Try it, it works.

Somebody should make a parity of that one. (Laughs!)

Excellent info. The basic rule I follow is: Never answer the phone!! I pay 6.95 per month for voice mail. If it's important they can leave a message. If a number is left from someone i don't know -always google to one of these informative sites.

Very good info.I am extremely paranoid when it comes to my children.Along with what you said, I still notice parents writing their childrens names on the out side of their book bags, this is the sort of things perverts watch out for.

I think it was a great article, very helpful. My mom and aunt recieved letters from overseas about a relative leaving them money. Sounds fishy, I'm going to use your advice and do some detective work for them. Thank you

It is disturbing that we live in such fraudulent times.  Our children shouldn't wear personalized items.  We shouldn't answer the telephone, and if we do, we need to evaluate at a moment's notice how to respond or not.  We are subjected to bullying tactics by telemarketers praying on and taking advantage of our naivety.  Today I received both a bill indicating that I was in default for payment of a subscription to Ebony magazine.  I also received a telephone call at work asking for my husband by a young woman claiming that it was a financial institute that needed to reach him.  I sent back the bill, cutting off all personalized information, and wrote them a scathing note.  To the young woman on the phone I recommended that she send whatever she had by mail because my husband would not take her call, EVER.  You need to be on guard at all times.  How sad.

I would add one more scam, which I appear to have fallen for, unfortunately.  I was called by a lawyer's office regarding an outstanding debt that I have.  They offered to settle the $20K debt for $6000, payable over 3 months.  They called so often and, when I talked to someone in that office, he was rude, insulting, and yelling.  I asked them to send me something that gave me info on the outstanding debt to confirm that it was mine.  I received paperwork, but it looked false and didn't include the usual info.   (Unfortunately, I have several outstanding debts due to my poor use of credit when I was younger.)  I eventually sent in the first payment--and then never heard from the lawyers again.  I learned here that the office number I called may be related to a scam.  I hope that others will be able to avoid this kind of scam in the future.  The rule, I think, is this:  If you get a phone call from an unknown/800 phone number, be very careful about what you say and try to check into who's calling you.

Hello,

I was wondering if anybody had the following pb. I am in Canada and I am using my cell phone to call in England. My company is rogers, but I use Yak cell phone to call on O2 cell phone. Often, when I call, instead of talking to my friend, I get this man who is going to say "hold on" and he calls my friend. I use to wait to realize my friend was never coming. And when I am calling back, I am either directly talking to my friend or it goes to the answering machine. I find it really weird. Could that be a scam with a third party redirtecting the call? Thanks for your answers!

of course if YOU call the tax people then its up to your discretion wether or not you want to give out that kind of info over the phone. But never ever ever give out ur SIN number if someone calls you. Scammers will most likely pretend to be calling from somewhere that they have stumbled upon your info such as the bank that you deal with, ect ect ...

The same thing happened to my daughter. We normally talk everyday and I hadn't heard from her all day. .
I decided to call her. When the person answered the phone. I asked to speak to my daughter. They said that there was no one there by that name. I tried again and they said that I had the wrong number. I must have tried five or six times but got the same response. So I figured that there must be some trouble with the phone company. Later on that evening my daughter finally called me. I told her that I had been trying to call her all day. But each time I call
a female would answer and tell me that I had the wrong number. She said that's funny because her phone kept ringing that day but after a half of ring it would stop ringing. I asked her if the kids were playing around with the phone. Because they might have accidently transfered her number. She said no. I knew that thats what happens when you transfer your phone to where you want to be reached if your not going to be home. But then she went on to tell me about a man calling her from the county jail saying that someone needs to come and pick up his daughter because he's been arrested. I asked her how many numbers did he ask her to dial. When she told me what he had her to do. I knew right away that he had got her to transfer her number to someone elses phone. Someone that he knew. With my daughter still on the line with me. I decided to use three way calling. I dial my daughter's phone number again and the same female answered. I quickly said, I figured out your little scam. I got your phone number and I already called the pollice on you. She hung the phone up on me. Unfortunatly my daughter didn't write down the number. We called the phone company. They said there was nothing that they could do about it. Luckily the charges was only about $40.00. It could have ended up $400.00 or even $4000.00. That's just one of the lessons that my daughter learned. I'd been using call forwarding sence the late 80's which is how I figured it out so quick. But some poeple are't so lucky.

I'm having problems with my phone company. I have phone calls on my bill that were not made from my home but it shows up as if they were and I've told the phone company that it was wrong. Now my phone is back on and teh bill is over $500 for the same reason. Is there anyway that I can find out if it is a fraud and what and/or how I can stop it? I really need help on this!