Strange number on caller ID +011

As much as I enjoy playing with and trying to get information out of telemarketers, it is rare when there is any benefit to calling back. So unless they leave a call-back number, don't return calls of telemarketers or other unknown callers. There's no penalty to the telemarketer, no information to be gathered, and you could do more harm that good. Here's the general scenarios:

1) The number does answer, but it's with a generic "If you want to be put on our DNC list, ..." or "The voice mail you've reached is full...". You still can't figure out who it is, and their DNC list is completely useless. Impact to the telemarketer is virtually nothing, you've gained no information, and you've wasted your time.

2) The number reports as being not in service. Actually, it could be in service, and sometimes you can recognize the "Voice of Asterisk" making the statement. They programmed it that way to make you think it's our of service. But either way, there's no impact on the telemarketer, you've learned no information, and you've wasted your time.

3) The number is spoofed. This is especially likely if the number is close to your number. If you call back, you will be joining a (large?) number of other people asking this poor unsuspecting person why they called. You get no information about the telemarketer. You're wasted your time, and more importantly, wasted some innocent persons time.

The best, and sometimes only, way to get information about the telemarketer is on the actual inbound call. If you want to waste their time, again do it on the inbound call. There's no reward, and it's possibly more damaging, to return any of the calls. If you missed the a couple of the calls, and want to get info about them - be patient. They will probably call back.

I got a call from 011-763-937-6321 and didn't answer it..

It's a tax scam, they say you will go to jail if you refuse to pay,, wow come and get me I told them , they hung up😊

Called me just now.  Did not leave a message.

I just read this article where it's a scam and they call you and hang up right away usually and then when you try to call the number back you end up racking up a bunch of long distance charges and it can be $20 a minute sometimes. So be careful when calling back numbers that you don't know or recognize.

OK, 2nd try, the first was timed out.. so hopefully this won't come up as a double post...

I agree and disagree. The ultimate point here seems to be helping people ID mystery calls as legit or criminal. With
a secondary point of perhaps helping to catch those responsible...  anyway, to quote your post:

>"1) The number does answer, but it's with a generic "If you want to be put on our DNC list, ..." or "The voice mail you've >reached is full...". You still can't figure out who it is, and their DNC list is completely useless. Impact to the telemarketer is >virtually nothing, you've gained no information, and you've wasted your time."

If the number does answer with a DNC list recording, there is a very good chance that those responsible are paying for
that number, and someone investigating might be able to connect the dots and track them down. A long shot, I know, but
still could be useful.  It also tells visitors here that the call is probably a scam

The full mailbox is less useful, it could always be the spoofing victim getting pounded with
calls, and returning the call just makes you [and me] part of the problem...

>"2) The number reports as being not in service. Actually, it could be in service, and sometimes you can recognize the >"Voice of Asterisk" making the statement. They programmed it that way to make you think it's our of service. But either way, >there's no impact on the telemarketer, you've learned no information, and you've wasted your time."

Again,  useful info to those who check here. If the number is out of service for real, then you can be sure it's a criminal
faking a number. If the disconnect notice is faked, there is a possibility that the spoofing victim did it to stop angry calls,
but it is more likely the scammers set it up, either way, it shows the call to be illegitimate.

>"3) The number is spoofed. This is especially likely if the number is close to your number. If you call back, you will be >joining a (large?) number of other people asking this poor unsuspecting person why they called. You get no information >about the telemarketer. You're wasted your time, and more importantly, wasted some innocent persons time."

I agree. I have no desire to harass innocent people by calling them about some scam they have no part in. In general I
only call back numbers that if they are legit, probably belong to businesses or government. You know, 800 and 877
numbers, numbers ending in 2 or more zeros, etc.

If I do call it back, and find it's a legit number, but they didn't call me or have any reason too, that too is useful info for
people to know, that scammers are spoofing a real number to make their scam seem real.

See IRS and Card Services scammers spoofing real numbers... and many others

>"The best, and sometimes only, way to get information about the telemarketer is on the actual inbound call. If you want to >waste their time, again do it on the inbound call. There's no reward, and it's possibly more damaging, to return any of the >calls. If you missed the a couple of the calls, and want to get info about them - be patient. They will probably call back."

Once again, I agree. And if I talk to them, I rarely call back, since I can find out which scam they are pulling, and at
the same time waste as much of their time as possible. Plus I have a chance of tricking them into revealing some
info about themselves.  So if I'm around, and have the time, I will answer it.

On a side note, more relevant to the subject to this thread... I have been using a well-known piece of call blocking
software for years now. The older free version. Anyway, today I got a call that came up as 011-1415-2310022
Now I'm pretty sure that the number is supposed to show as 415-231-0022, since I have gotten calls from that
number before... but anyway, the software should have blocked it, since I have it set to zap any calls coming from
area codes that start with zero. i also had the 415 number on the block list. And yet, it didn't block the call.

I suspect other call blockers might also be fooled by the extra-long prefix, and that could be the goal of the scammers
using it.

So, in summary, I think in certain circumstances calling back can provide useful info, as long as you do it in a
considerate way. Don't call back numbers that could be personal, and if you do actually reach a person, be
polite and explain who you are and why you are calling. Don't just call random people to cuss them out.

Thanks for your patience.

If you are on the DNC list, there's little question of "Is this a scam?" in my opinion. And you can often determine that while conversing with the telemarketer is there is any question if there is any doubt.

And while you make reasonable points:

1) The number is probably being managed from overseas, and not the business paying for the campaign. So it's not clear if that information is really actionable. In any case, you know no more after returning the call than you did before returning the call. So reporting the phone number when call is sufficient.

2) Same thing here. There's no new information really to be gathered here,no additional information you can report. You're on the DNC. If you didn't answer and they didn't leave a message or the Caller ID looks funny, it's largely unneeded to return the call to figure it's a scam.

3) Spoofing is growing more common. Toll free numbers have been spoofed in the past a well, so that's not always a "litmus test" for good numbers to return. And frankly, I think it's much better to err on NOT calling back except in rare cases. I want to reduce collateral damage completely, and I really wouldn't want to mistakenly call someone even once and have to apologize for adding to the problem they are potentially dealing with.

Since many of the callers are from overseas, even if you call back, it's highly unlikely you will get any information about the US businesses that are paying for their services. Those are the ones we should concentrate on, since that's where they money is coming from and - when they close a sale - going to. The return on investment just isn't there for calling back, and again, the risk of hurting innocent people too high.

The only ones I would return are numbers I derived while conversing with the scammer (or trusted source), or in the cases similar to the IRS scammers which leave call back numbers. If you've read my posts, you should be able to tell that I really don't like telemarketers, and I applaud the people that take matters into their own hands and "torment" them. If I thought returning calls was a useful tactic and was a financial detriment to them, I'd be all for it. Years ago, it made a little more sense to make the attempt. With call spoofing, I would hate to add even 1 more call to their burden, so I continue to advocate against it.

hi everyone! so today i got a call from a number starting with 800 saying they are from homeland security and they ll arrest me for making huge transfers from India. I thought it's not possible since I don't have so much money :P, but i was really scared that time. what i found fishy was the lady had an Indian accent and she asked me the date I reached to USA. I thought if she is at all from Homeland Security then she should be having my details. She threatened me saying i shouldnt use my internet and call anyone. I called the police and I realized its a scam. After that I got calls from "011" twice. Be careful people!

011 means out off country..You  must dial 011-233 for Ghana, 0110-234 for Nigeria...and what ever for UK, Germany   anywhere but islands maybe can you dial 1 for regular long distance

This thread is about calls RECEIVED with 011 on the caller ID, not calls MADE using 011.

They left me a five secend voicemail of jazz music

We are a couple living in Vancouver bc canada and received a call from a male caller who left a voice message for us too have our lawyer contact them and a contact number to reach them at think it was a 350 exchange

You ever download an app from the play or app store that asks your permission to use your phone to make and manage phone calls?

You ever read the posting date under the screen name?

Got 3 calls in the last 24 hours from the infamous 011.  First one was no one on the other end, obviously a computer dialed call that the caller was not ready to talk.  Second call a few hours later said "Please hold while I transfer you".  They said "please" so I waited 10 seconds and hung up.  Third call came 18 hours later, this time some woman who sounded like I woke her up called me by my full first name(Douglas) and said she was from publishers clearing house.  I told her to stop calling me and hung up.  Had she not sounded like she just woke up, or had she asked for me by complete name, I may have entertained myself a bit longer.  I have never subscribed to a magazine, newspaper, record club or any other non life essential product that required me to have to pay daily/monthly for. My phone number listing is the only place my full first name is listed.  I never go by my full name, everything other than my public phone number listing uses the short name.  I have done this for 40 years.  It makes it very easy to figure out if it is a telemarketer.  I run my own email server as well, and it is setup to accept all email addressed to doug.*@domain.  This allows me to enter my email address as doug.publishers@domain on a website for publishers clearing house(just an example).  Any spam email that comes addressed to doug.publishers@domain must have received my email address from publishers clearing house(again just an example).  Once that email address gets sent to spam emailers I set the server to block incoming messages to that email address.

Calling back numbers to have you removed from their system rarely works.  I think the telemarketers that spoof numbers will spoof a number that they know has an auto-attendant that will offer to remove you from their call list.  Problem is, they never actually called you.  You think it did something, but it didn't.  The ability to spoof numbers is the problem.  Their needs to be a system put in place that validates CSID information before it ever gets to your phone carriers system.  It is not that difficult.  Years ago there was an option for call screening.  It required the caller to say their name before that call was completed, and the called number was given the option to accept or reject that call based upon that response.  I think Vonage had it initially, but I don't see it listed anymore.  That system needs to come back on a wide scale.