Community Chat

[shoekitty]

My friend now lets her African parrot answer the phone now. He says. "HELLO, HELLO YES YES!"    She said people are so confused until they hang up. He parrot is a riot. He talks up a storm

[on the bay]

@shoekitty,

That is so funny!

I also like the one from @RedTop  

that says: "Detective Bureau, SGT? speaking."  LOL!

So many good ones!

[novamc1]

I've often thought about answering the phone as if they had called a business and I was the receptionist.

I'd say the name of our fictitious company and ask "to whom may I direct your call?"

By the way, if your computer screen suddenly displays a drastic message with audio that  says your computer has been frozen, that you should call Microsoft to unlock your data and your computer and provides the  alleged Microsoft "help" number to call ----along with a  genuine-looking Microsoft logo background.  Then  you can't seem to delete or move on from that message.  

Then an audio feed  warns over and over NOT to shut down your computer, implying that you would cause further problems.

TRUST ME, folks.  this is a scam.  Go ahead and shut down your computer so the loud audio will shut up,  and stop worrying. I went around and around with these scammers more than once (including just recently) ,and everything they say should be ignored.

If you unnecessarily let them "fix" and unlock your computer, you would be giving them remote access to all your data, passwords, etc.

[on the bay]

@novamc1,

That's a good one too-"To whom may I direct your call?" lol!

I remember that happening (the scam) when I had a computer with microsoft. That is so creepy. If I remember I took it to the geeksquad and spent lots of money (to me) to get it fixed.I couldn't seem to even shut down my computer-it was frozen.

Nowadays I have a chromebook and never have to worry about stuff like that. 

That is good information though!

[novamc1]

One thing in common I've noticed about  all these scammers..........

You are not allowed to ask them  any questions at all.  One question from you and they immediately hang up.

I've asked where their company is located,  whether I can look up their company on the  internet, why they are using some deceptive caller ID instead of a company name, etc. etc.

I like to waste as much of their time as they are wasting of mine.

[Judaline]

I kept getting calls asking me if my gas & electric bill was too high and I right away said, 'we don't have electricity.' Dead silence. Then I guess he couldn't stand it and asked, timidly, 'what do you use?' I said we use our fireplace for heat and candles in all the rooms.' Then I guess he 'got' it and hung up.

Another one which really ticked me off was the guy who called from the supposed emergency room saying, 'Grandma, I'm at the hospital. I broke my nose and they won't fix it until I pay them and I don't have insurance!' I said, WHO IS THIS? He said, 'it's me! your grandson!' I said, using my gransdon's name, "Billy?" He said, 'yeah, it's me, Billy!' I said 'well, Billy, I resent you calling me grandma and if I had a grandson I'd tell him he broke his nose, he fixes it.' I mean, how dumb does he think I am not to know my grandson's voice?' Would you believe he called again about 3 months later and tried a different approach with my DH. Why don't those people get a life?

[cookinfreak]

Some funny ones here for sure. I live in South Dakota and I got a call once and the guy was taling so fast that I couldnt stop him until he said "now I know you think this is a great deal, so let me get some info. He rattled off my name & street add and then said and you live in Sioux Falls (pauses and stammers a little) in Sioux Falls San Diego?" I laughed and said "It's been awhile since I was in school but I did not know that San Diego was now a state!" He hung up.

Had another call and the person yawns in the middle of her spiel. I interrupted her and said "If that's all the more youre excited about it, how do you think I feel?" and hung up

cookin

[Pook]

When I get the gas or electric calls asking if my bills are too high I just say they are included in my rent.

Today I got one from a foreign sounding person saying he was calling from the medical center.  I told him he must have the wrong number.  He insisted he did not.  I asked him who specifically he was calling and he did say my first name right.  I further asked him what medical center and after a pause he said the diabetic center.  I again told him he has the wrong number and he said no I do not.  I told him there was no diabetic center around where I am and that I am not diabetic and have not seen a doctor in 15 years.  After all that he was starting to spin another tale and finally gave up!  I gues he figured that saying diabetic was a good choice because probably many older people are diabetic.  Probably was going to say  I needed to pay a bill.