topic Re: Call Forwarding Scam in Community Chat

Call Forwarding Scam

nambee — Tue, 05 May 2026 23:05:03 GMT

Just got an email fron my bank regarding possible call forwarding scams. People here may know about it but it's new to me so I'm passing info along.

Fraudsters try to trick you to forward calls to a # they control - including calls to verify your identity or give you a one-time passcode. If successful, they have all they need to sign in to your account.

Basically, someone poses as a bank rep, creating a false sense of urgency, and instructs you to dial *72 (or *21, etc) and a 10 digit #. If you do, calls intended for you will go to scammer so that they can intercept verification calls. authentication codes and other info to access your accounts.

I know that most of us are aware not to give any info over the phone but some may be unwittingly conned into doing this.

Hope this helps to keep someone safe. Each day brings new variations of ways that scammers are using to get around our guard. The more we know, the better we can protect ourselves and help each other.

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Kachina624 — Tue, 05 May 2026 23:43:03 GMT

That's why I never answer unfamiliar phone numbers. It also keeps me off sucker lists so I get almost no strange/nuisance calls.

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Desertdi — Wed, 06 May 2026 00:23:30 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
That's why I never answer unfamiliar phone numbers. It also keeps me off sucker lists so I get almost no strange/nuisance calls.

@Kachina624

And NOW these crooks are stealing real people's caller IDs.

I have had 4 calls in one day from a "hospital", the Phoenix "school" district, a brokerage house, etc. They were all kinda like the Social Security Lady phone calls. Ya know: "this is an emergency that needs your immediate attention"..... di

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Mz iMac — Wed, 06 May 2026 00:40:45 GMT

@Desertdi Your "number" has been ~~bounced around~~ sold multiple times on the "dark web."

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Meowingkitty — Wed, 06 May 2026 00:48:18 GMT

@Desertdi wrote:
@Kachina624 wrote:
That's why I never answer unfamiliar phone numbers. It also keeps me off sucker lists so I get almost no strange/nuisance calls.
@Kachina624

And NOW these crooks are stealing real people's caller IDs.

I have had 4 calls in one day from a "hospital", the Phoenix "school" district, a brokerage house, etc. They were all kinda like the Social Security Lady phone calls. Ya know: "this is an emergency that needs your immediate attention"..... di

Don't you love the ones from the so called DMV (we don't have DMV in Arizona) saying we have an unpaid toll? (We don't have toll roads in Az either)

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Desertdi — Wed, 06 May 2026 00:48:51 GMT

@Mz iMac

It's been sold to somebody! I get calls from people who assume I live in Berkeley CA. (NO, my house is NOT for sale...)

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Desertdi — Wed, 06 May 2026 05:34:52 GMT

@Meowingkitty wrote:
@Desertdi wrote:
@Kachina624 wrote:
That's why I never answer unfamiliar phone numbers. It also keeps me off sucker lists so I get almost no strange/nuisance calls.
@Kachina624

And NOW these crooks are stealing real people's caller IDs.

I have had 4 calls in one day from a "hospital", the Phoenix "school" district, a brokerage house, etc. They were all kinda like the Social Security Lady phone calls. Ya know: "this is an emergency that needs your immediate attention"..... di
Don't you love the ones from the so called DMV (we don't have DMV in Arizona) saying we have an unpaid toll? (We don't have toll roads in Az either)

@Meowingkitty

I even got one from "The Federal Reserve", telling me I had just won $800,000 in their "contest"...and all they needed was my checking account number so they could make the deposit.

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

We rescue cats — Wed, 06 May 2026 01:02:33 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
That's why I never answer unfamiliar phone numbers. It also keeps me off sucker lists so I get almost no strange/nuisance calls.

Unfortunately I don't have that luxury. . . wish I did!

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Kachina624 — Wed, 06 May 2026 01:25:35 GMT

@Desertdi. Have yoru ever had a call and your own number was in the caller ID? They can do that too. I had one once.

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Desertdi — Wed, 06 May 2026 01:31:23 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Desertdi. Have yoru ever had a call and your own number was in the caller ID? They can do that too. I had one once.

@Kachina624

Oh YEAH! I have VOIP since the local phone company couldn't serve my neighborhood. I thought it was a "cable problem"...but they thought I was a crazy woman... di

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Kachina624 — Wed, 06 May 2026 01:37:22 GMT

I need to do something about getting VOIP. @SilleeMee has told me about hers but I hesitate due to the installation and mechanics of starting it.

I pay just under $200/mo for wifi and only make a handful of phone calls. Ridiculous to pay that much.

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Desertdi — Wed, 06 May 2026 02:09:15 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
I need to do something about getting VOIP. @SilleeMee has told me about hers but I hesitate due to the installation and mechanics of starting it.

I pay just under $200/mo for wifi and only make a handful of phone calls. Ridiculous to pay that much.

@Kachina624

I have COX, Phoenix. My cable bill is $286 for TV, phone and internet. It was $30 when I moved in here in '99.

Electricity....I haven't gotten my "new" bill yet. That's supposedly up 14%. It isn't even a public utility. It's a private company listed on the NYSE.

Water company sent out a notice that it was going up "substantially"...but they didn't have the exact amount determined yet.

Do you remember the song "16 tons" ?

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

spabar — Wed, 06 May 2026 08:36:45 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Desertdi. Have yoru ever had a call and your own number was in the caller ID? They can do that too. I had one once.

@Kachina624 I have quite a few times. I took a photo of the screen so people wouldn't think I lost it when I told them about it.

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

SilleeMee — Wed, 06 May 2026 11:48:35 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
I need to do something about getting VOIP. @SilleeMee has told me about hers but I hesitate due to the installation and mechanics of starting it.

I pay just under $200/mo for wifi and only make a handful of phone calls. Ridiculous to pay that much.

@Kachina624

It's pretty straight forward. Just buy the VOIP box, plug the thing into the back of your router and set it up online from there. You can keep your phone number but that comes with a fee and a short wait time but not long.

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Estellee — Wed, 06 May 2026 12:19:45 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Desertdi. Have yoru ever had a call and your own number was in the caller ID? They can do that too. I had one once.

@Kachina624 I remember the first time that happened I stared at the caller id for a bit before I answered. I was curious lol

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

jackthebear — Wed, 06 May 2026 13:46:04 GMT

@We rescue cats wrote:
@Kachina624 wrote:
That's why I never answer unfamiliar phone numbers. It also keeps me off sucker lists so I get almost no strange/nuisance calls.
Unfortunately I don't have that luxury. . . wish I did!

why not? do you answer every call?

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

jackthebear — Wed, 06 May 2026 13:48:03 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
I need to do something about getting VOIP. @SilleeMee has told me about hers but I hesitate due to the installation and mechanics of starting it.

I pay just under $200/mo for wifi and only make a handful of phone calls. Ridiculous to pay that much.

it is worth researching how to reduce your bill,

I dumped cable

for now keeping the land line for the fax for the business

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Venezia — Wed, 06 May 2026 16:04:39 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
@Desertdi. Have yoru ever had a call and your own number was in the caller ID? They can do that too. I had one once.

@Kachina624 - I haven't had that happen with our phone (we have VOIP and call blocker with Spectrum; works great!).

BUT I have in recent months gotten emails from myself!!! The idiot spammers have used my own email address to send me emails. I always hover over the address and, of course, it's a long string of gibberish.

Mostly from a domain in the Netherlands. It doesn't happen often but, when it does, I tell DH "Oh, I'm sending myself emails again!"

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Venezia — Wed, 06 May 2026 16:27:41 GMT

@Kachina624 - We have our VOIP phone through Spectrum. You just plug your phone cable into the router. We've had it for years now.

Our prior (lousy) phone service was expensive and the clarity was awful; we were constantly having to get someone out to fix issues with it because the phone company would never invest any money to update things. It was always, patch, patch, patch.

We now pay $60 a month for high-speed internet and an additional $10 a month (guaranteed for 3 years) for excellent phone service, free calls nationwide and to most countries.

We used to pay hundreds of dollars for ****** internet and phone service because it was all we could get in our rural area. Thank goodness that's no longer the case!

I wouldn't go back to older phone technology. Of course, if the power/internet goes out, so does the phone with VOIP, but we have cell phones for that circumstance.

Re: Call Forwarding Scam

Icegoddess — Wed, 06 May 2026 16:31:06 GMT

@Desertdi wrote:
@Kachina624 wrote:
That's why I never answer unfamiliar phone numbers. It also keeps me off sucker lists so I get almost no strange/nuisance calls.
@Kachina624

And NOW these crooks are stealing real people's caller IDs.

I have had 4 calls in one day from a "hospital", the Phoenix "school" district, a brokerage house, etc. They were all kinda like the Social Security Lady phone calls. Ya know: "this is an emergency that needs your immediate attention"..... di

I'd consider those unknown too and don't anwswer them. I get calls from myself sometimes too and don't answer them either.