topic Re: Phone number scam? in Home

Phone number scam?

lafelinevrais — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:37:26 GMT

Help!

Today while my husband and I were out our phone recieved a call from itself as

recorded on our caller ID. I did not think that this was possible. Caller ID revealed our

correct home number and our name. Could this be some sort of scam in the making? Should we report it to the authorities? TIA

Re: Phone number scam?

Montana — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:45:46 GMT

It is a scam called ID spoofing. Probably a telemarketer hoping you will be curious and answer the phone. I got a call a few days ago and I did not answer it. This happened to another poster here so I wasn't as surprised as I might have been.

Re: Phone number scam?

NYC Susan — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:50:22 GMT

This has happened to me a few times. I just ignored it, assuming it was some kind of telemarketing hocus-pocus.

Re: Phone number scam?

ROMARY — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:53:28 GMT

I rarely answer/use my land line. If it's important, they can leave a message, or several messages. Everyone I know calls my cell phone.

Re: Phone number scam?

KarenQVC — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 03:57:37 GMT

Yes, a few weeks ago someone on the board reported the same thing. Another board member really looked into it and it is a scam-type thing. I also have a land line and only take messages. There are a lot of bad actors out there.

Re: Phone number scam?

IEscapedLosAngeles — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 04:01:07 GMT

I'm glad you guys said something. I'll never answer if I see this happen to me.

Thank you all for sharing.

Re: Phone number scam?

Kachina624 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 05:09:15 GMT

Actually a lot of people report this happening. I suspect it's a trick to get you to answer your phone.

Re: Phone number scam?

sabra — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 05:14:23 GMT

This happened to me about a month ago. I called Time Warner and told them about it. They said it's called a robocall. It's a telemarketer making the calls and they talk to the 1st person that answers. They also asked how many times this had happened and I told them only once. TW said if it happened more than once to call them back and report it.

Re: Phone number scam?

Nightowlz — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 05:15:48 GMT

We have received those calls. It's strange seeing the caller id on the tv that shows our name & number.

Re: Phone number scam?

NYC Susan — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 05:37:03 GMT

On 9/22/2014 sabra said:
This happened to me about a month ago. I called Time Warner and told them about it. They said it's called a robocall. It's a telemarketer making the calls and they talk to the 1st person that answers. They also asked how many times this had happened and I told them only once. TW said if it happened more than once to call them back and report it.

It's happened to me more than once. The first time was kind of startling. After I spoke to my telephone provider (and some friends in law enforcement), it didn't bother me anymore. They all advised me just to ignore it.

As others have said, I only keep my landline as a secondary phone and for emergencies, so I rarely pay much attention to it anyway and often keep the ringer off. Calls like this are only a minor annoyance, and don't disrupt my day.

Re: Phone number scam?

shoekitty — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 05:39:00 GMT

I haven't had this one , but I have received a ton of telemarketing calls as of late, and I am on the Do Not Call Registry.

BTW, has anyone had calls that claim to be from the IRS.?

Re: Phone number scam?

NYC Susan — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 05:44:05 GMT

On 9/22/2014 shoekitty said:
I haven't had this one , but I have received a ton of telemarketing calls as of late, and I am on the Do Not Call Registry.

BTW, has anyone had calls that claim to be from the IRS.?

Yes, and I did a search of the number online. It's apparently a pretty common scam.

The IRS would never contact us that way, so it's always 100% okay to ignore such calls. But of course people become afraid, and that's what they're counting on. I read stories about people sending money because they thought they were dealing with the real IRS. Disgraceful!

I'm on the Do Not Call Registry too, and I often report numbers that call me, but I'm not sure it does much good because lots of these telemarketers consistently change their phone numbers.

Re: Phone number scam?

Kachina624 — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:53:05 GMT

I've had calls with my number in the caller ID years ago. They seem to be doing it more now.