Thank you! Why do people do this stuff? Do they claim they can "fix" it if you pay them? Or is it just people with nothing else to do than harass others?

Donna

Why do people do this stuff? To con others out of money. It's so cheap to make hundreds of thousands of calls, and every so often, they'll get a gullible person on the line and steal money by way of stealing personal info.

My DH tried to engages scammers in long, involved conversations to keep them busy with him instead of successfully scamming someone else.

After one such call, the scammer, flustered and indignant, angrily confronted my DH, raised his voice and blurted out (insert accent here) "Sir, you ARE a LI-AR!"

We all got such a kick out of that.

I handed the phone to my 6yo granddaughter, who kept the guy going for awhile. He was in the U.S. so I was surprised he didn't realize it was a child. Years ago, I had a call from the Microsoft scammers and acted like I was getting on our computer (I have a laptop). She finally handed it off to her supervisor and he was not happy when I called him a scammer. He told me to F off. >:(

Our campus had to take the student database off public search because the students were being called and emailed by scammers and, unfortunately, some of them sent money. Now to search the database, you have to be logged in with your credentials.

Not entirely related, but several years ago, a young guy got a new cell phone and gave out his new number to his family/friends. It was the incorrect number--it was MY number. So for a few days, I was fielding calls from his friends (this was before texting was so common, back when people still called one another). Some were rather belligerent and insisted that this was his number. At one point, his mother called me and was very confused. English was not her first language so I carefully explained that her son must be giving out the wrong number. She was quite sweet... we chatted for a while. :-)

I've had the same call several times. Twice one day last week. I, too, tried to keep the caller talking and then they asked me for my SS#. Not the first time I told the caller I wasn't falling for their scam. They hang up fast after that. LOL

I had one of the microsoft scammers call while I was in the car. I had DS and a friend of his in the car, both young teens at the time. The scammer asked if I had windows ... yes, I did ... several of them in the car! The call went on for a bit as he asked all about my windows! The kids got the windows pun and were laughing in the background. The scammer did leave the call with a not so kid friendly parting word!

ETA (also, when I tried to edit my original post, it took me to a "page not found" page...oh Houzz :(you must have gremlins working for you...

Anyway, I wanted to say that the ssa wants this reported. I went the appropriate page to do this, but it was a bit confusing, so I just didn't bother following through. All I had was a phone number, anyway. But yep. I should have followed through...

I love to have fun with these calls if I have the time and I’m in that kind of mood. I keep them on pretending I’m falling for it. Then at the end I make it obvious that I’m goofing on them. I ask them if they want my bank account # or ssn. That’s usually when they curse me out and hang up!!
There was a particularly nasty call going on where they were threatening arrest for unpaid taxes unless an immediate payment was made! My elderly mother in law received that one. Understandably went into immediate panic mode. Despicable! My husband handled that. Did report it.

Yes Penny. Impossible to edit. Sometimes pics and comments are there one minute and gone the next.

I got it a few days ago, was outside with my phone.

It was windy, I knew what the deal was but asked him to please repeat what he said, and his response was, "Why are you shouting at me?" I told him I was not shouting, I could not hear him. Then he said, "You do not have to shout at me."

I wasn't even shouting.

Then I told him the truth about what he was doing, a no good scammer, etc.

He hung up.

The sad thing is, there are people older than us that can be taken in by this.

Had that same experience a few weeks ago. They left 9 messages on my phone in the same day. Nothing since, thankfully. Just crazy. According to the NextDoor chatter this scam has really been hitting our area recently.

I don't get the calls anymore since I don't answer my phone unless I know the number. However the latest things I've been getting are text messages with links that appears to be from amazon or other reputable places. However, the newest one I got was a push notification on my phone, which said your home address has been updated, please go to "link" and verify that you intended to make the change. I wish I'd taken a screen shot of it instead of just clearing the notifications. Push notifications scams I think is fairly new and most people will probably not recognize it and could likely click on the link and try to login and give away their login/password.

Yes,

Always check online to see if the number is legit (it won't be...) and always see who the sender of these kinds of email are (the address portion).

Not everyone will automatically be cynical about this...my mom, who's in her 80's, is ALWAYS entering these "sweepstakes" in which you put your phone number. Because of this, she gets tons of scam bait but she doesn't always recognize it as such since these people are so clever...

The radio program Marketplace is reporting this week on scams targeting the elderly. I haven't been able to listen to much of it, but apparently as we age the part of our brains that says "This is a scam, how could anyone fall for it?" doesn't work as well. Many people who were very tech and/or financially savvy in their younger years fall for these things when they are older. I hope Marketplace is also giving information about how to protect yourself as you age.

Donna

Yep they even leave messages

I've heard some of that reporting too, Donna. Here's a link to the series:

https://www.marketplace.org/collection/brains-losses-aging-financial-vulnerability/

My mom just gets more and more panicky about things as she ages. I hate that that they call her and my MIL. I think they just don’t get that this hideous scamming is something people do. They’ve been told to just hang up and don’t talk but these callers are positively diabolical. Try to engage and alarm them.

Same here Michele. Both my parents are now departed but before they passed each one of them got snared by one of these low life crooks. I was their power of attorney and handled their financial affairs toward the end, and spent a lot of my time undoing the chaos these horrible scammers caused. The money that was gone was a lost cause.

Just yesterday our IT dept gave us our monthly security updates. A new thing is for robocalls to your phone. They also 'spoof' numbers, so it looks like someone you know or from a call in your area code, etc. Hang up when you get these calls and NEVER say anything that sounds like yes. They can actually record your responses and then use them to charge things to your phone, even if you have no idea that they're doing that.

Also never reply to texts or emails, they're usually automated and when there is a reply it's a hit and they know they have a good number. Just DELETE at all times.

It happens more with companies than private people, but apparently 3 of our Directors got an email from our Agency Director requesting some sensitive information-and it wasn't from her at all-her name had been 'spoofed'. One of the victims happened to call her and ask about the email and she verified she'd never sent it-she even went to her own email account and there was nothign from her.

So bottom line is just DO NOT engage at all. Delete the texts, emails, hang up the phone without saying anything. If it is truly a legitimate agency, they will provide YOU with the info, and not ask you to give them your info.

I get them from what seem to be local numbers all the time now. You are so right about NEVER using the word “yes”. They record.

DH was in computers so he used to mess with the "Microsoft" scammers. He had one on the phone for awhile one time and when the guy finally realized DH was knowledgeable he said FU and slammed the phone....we got a good chuckle.

Another time I chatted with one for a few minutes and then said something like "do you think your mother would be proud that you are scamming people?" Got the phone slam that time too.

But as neetsiepie says, we no longer engage them.