16 Ways You Can be Phone Scammed

Two years ago, when I was an 18 year old college freshman I was a complete idiot and fell for some scams. One called and told me I had won a free trip to the bahamas and I was really excited and dumb. As we talked he said if I paid 500 I could get an extra trip to las vegas or puerto vallarta. I gave him my credit card number and two years later they are calling many times a day saying that I owe them another 500 dollars!
Also, watch out for a call that says you were entered into a 10.000 sweepstakes from visa. They say you will get like 4 magazines I think for only 4.95 a month and then they try and charge you way more and I never received any of the magazines. I tried to cancel it and they said I couldn't because the publisher had already been paid. I asked my mom to call and they actually listened to her and finally canceled it.
Hopefully, I'm smarter now.
Oh, and I also get 3 emails every day saying I won some lottery or somebody from Africa is giving me their inheritance or some bull-[***]. And I get a million calls a day from all these 7,8,900 numbers. It's really annoying, I guess I am a great target.

I have had calls for gas cards and dinning cards. I was told that I could look over the discount card information and if I wanted to cancel (I had 21 one days to decide If I wanted to enroll) I called and was given 30 more days and They would not cancel. What can I do now? I don't remember the phone that was used to call me.

I once had an "Ambassador to an African Country" email and tell me he wanted to get money out of his country-but had no way to- asked that if he mailed me a check- put the $50,000 check into a joint  account with both our names on it-here is my SSN-and  for your trouble, I will allow you to keep $1000 (of course you will have to give your SSN)

some of the dumber ones actually ask for you account number SSN and name


Lets just say-I had fun with them-try it on any bogus call

well if its a number in your local directory that YOU chose-then it should be OK-  -"You should know thats not something I feel like i can do on the phone"- If they ask you  and THEY call-if it really is them

Heavy Accent?  That is because that is A SCAM
Fake Debt Collectors - they are hackers who stole info from Payday loan sites.  They then call those who have paid off the loan threatening them with immediate arrest.

ABC News did a story on this scam a while back.
just go to the ABCNEWS WEBSITE and search on Fake Debt Collectord

That is the Fake Debt Collector Scam

ABC news did a story on it awhile back

just go to ABCNEWS website and search on Fake Debt Collectors

basically they use SCARE tactics to get you to WIRE THEM MONEY.  NO CHECKS OR MONEY ORDERS - that way once you wire its gone for good and no way to track it down again

I read a lot of complaint boards.

People come to post their own complaints after being ripped off by a scam - but never bother to look at the boards before falling for it.

Most get scammed because they assumed that if something is advertised whether it be TV, RADIO Newpapers, magazines or on the internet-  it must be legitimate.  Even the Federal Trade Commission has this info on their website

"The appearance of ads in media outlets that you recognize - like your local newspaper or radio station - is no guarantee of the legitimacy of the company behind the ad"

There are a number of banks around the country, I use the Bank of America, that have a program called "Shop-Safe" or something similar.  Works like this..... I am surfing the net and see an item that I want to buy.  It is a special tool for removing stuck camera lenses and sells for $14.95.  I hit the order button and complete the order paperwork on line.  The total with shipping and tax is $18.90.  Before I enter the credit card number, I open another tax, go to my shopsafe webpage and enter my information and request a new credit card, good for $19 and one purchase.  I get a completely new number with an expiration date two months out.  The card has a unique number and CVV number.  I enter the information and complete my purchase.  If it turns out to be a scam and they try to hit my account for more than $19, or try to make additional purchases or enroll me in some club, the card won't work.  After three tries, I get a phone call from BoA asking me about the card, and they take it from there.

I never, repeat never order anything over the internet or by phone without getting a shopsafe number.  

Call your bank and inquire.  The service is free, or perhaps I should say "Priceless"...

Check and see if the cancellation information is on the sheets/notes that they sent along with the card.  I found some that my Dad signed up for (he is a senior citizen and falls for this stuff) the cancellation information was printed in *very* light gray on the back of the sheet that the cards were sent on.  Check very closely.

If you can't find it printed with the information you have, I would Google the cards.  Usually with scams like this, you are not the only one, and others have found the information you are looking for.  Hope this helps you out!

"Unfortunately, when you get your phone bill, you might find that you’ve been charged $2500 per minute"

Sorry but this bit is absolutely rubbish, spread by urban legends and chain forwards (i.e. lies or hoaxes).

The most expensive international 'phone calls are under the $10/min mark and are to satellite 'phones. Calls to the Caribbean should be no more than a dollar or two per minute.

$2,500 per minute would be downright ridiculous. I mean, can you imagine paying that to casually call your grandmother in Jamaica, for example?

Got a bill by FIDO (Canada) for calling to 322-401-8971; which I never made from my FIDO cell phone; FIDO bill shows that this number (322-401-8971) is located in Belgium

It's NOT "rubbish"...if you are dialing certain area codes outiside the USA & Canada, the telephone companies who issue the phone numbers aren't companies like AT&T/SBC, Verizon, Qwest, Rogers, or any of the familiar USA/Canada telephone companies.  They are essentially international companies who set their own rules for rates and so forth, and your local telephone company is required to pass on their charges as per the negotiated tariffs. Yes, you can file a complaint and try to get your long distance provider to initiate a chargeback, but it's a time consuming process that most companies will only do once or twice before restricting your service so they don't have to deal with it.

It's similar to the way cell phones work outside of North America: in most countries the CALLER pays to dial cell phones, instead of the cell phone subscriber.  This is why most international long distance calling plans (including the all-you-can-eat VoIP services) have different (higher) rates for calls to cell phones in foreign countries.

So, the call to someone's granny in Jamaica =might= actually be $1 or $2 per minute, but a call to the telemarketer down the street from her (who has paid a good amount of money to the local governing authorities for a business 'license') could actually be as high as $2500 per call, whether one minute or ten.

One of the few things in common between, say, the USA/Canada and Caribbean countries are often just the 10-digit telephone numbering system. Just read some of the travel blogs and it's easy to see that it's a very different world, with different rules and different laws---and in some cases, some very expensive fees.

My policy- never order anything over the internet.

There are numerous scams regarding insurance.

Often people don't realize how much information about them can be collected via a simple web search. All you need is know where to look for it. Like gov. websites which will give your name and addresses to any website user and all information on the property and companies, if any, owned. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PRIVATE INFORMATION any more.

For an extra $10 you can find out person's former addresses, DOB, phone  numbers, and even last digits of SSN. If you want to your information to stay private then: do not register on your name any property, do not open credit cards, do not give your personal info to your dentist, magazine, insurance co, water and electric company, bank, etc,....