Be forwarned!!!!

[bhunted 887]

The holiday scams have started. I have been scammed by a marketing scheme via phone. They call and claim they are Merchant Card Services claiming to be working with Experian. Their claim is that they will lower your interest rates and save you about 4k a year in interest. All for an amount of about $590 which they don't tell you till the end when they wish to draw from a credit card. Without me giving them any pins or passwords, they were able to pull up my statements and read back past payments, credit left, etc. they were persistent and kept pushing me to the point I said I was not interested and was going to hang up unless they confirmed some things with me. They said I was threatening them and they reminded me that they had my info and cards. The bank credit card I had that they seen credit on was the last card they asked me about and the only one that they asked for the cvv number. That and their threat is where I ended the call.

 

What I did was immediately:

 

- Confirm with Experian that they were not affiliated and added fraud protection to our credit accounts.

- Call AT&T because they made the mistake of calling my cell and they were dumb enough to unblock their number or they wouldn't get through. Gave them the caller ID info for their record and to note my account.

- Call every credit card affected and get them reissued.

- Submit a case to the Do Not Call list to start a Federal investigation. This was recommended by Experian's Fraud Dept.

- ....tomorrow, file a police report with my detective to start an investigation.

- .... And if all fails, I will engage a rash of my former agent colleagues and myself to find these scumbags.

 

Now luckily I do not fall prey to arseholes like this and I kept letting them feed me to the point I was able to break them. But this could have easily been one of our senior citizens or someone not knowing any better. So warn your friends and relatives. Keep an eye out for unfamiliar phone numbers. If you can engage call block on your phones, do it. It will force them to do something stupid and unblock their lines so they can call you. Again, warn your friends and family...

 

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[Bully 749]

Thank you for posting.  Much appreciated.

 

C

[ogfarmer 138]

i ve gotten this call from these guys from a 856-848-3449 from woodbury Nj and when i picked up it was a call from Credit Card Services, once i heard the first few seconds about lowering my interest rates i hung up. Usually never answer any calls that are not in my contacts, but some reason i did this time They also called from a 732 area code once before.

[jackandjill 683]

All three credit agencies offer FREE credit freeze. Make sure you write down PIN / Passwords on paper and keep them in safe, physical place (not computers).

Unless your life / business involves other people accessing your credit report frequently , freeze works without interrupting your life.

 

IF they have ALL of your information, then they wouldnt be calling you to sign up for anything (they would be stealing without your knowledge). So NEVER fall for any threats.

 

I had scammers call me about computer virus, how it downloaded pornography and how police are going to come arrest me for that virus.  I told them,  local PD Chief was my uncle and I will invite him myself to investigate the computer "virus".

 

Another variation of this is, scammers get hold of some of the tax information and threaten Victims with IRS audit / arrest.

[vjf915 456]

The best advice for whenever you are contacted by ANY agency/organization/company is to end communication and contact them yourselves to verify.  This includes both emails and phone calls.  Delete the email and go to the website via your own browser, DO NOT click the link in the email.  Hang up and call them yourself through the number you are familiar with (found online, on the back of your card, etc.).  I have seen some of the scams people come up with.  They can be quite convincing.

[1LtCAP 4,264]

thanks for posting this!

[bhunted 887]

What really surprised me is how easily they read statements back to me with no effort. Dang, I wanna bury these pricks.

 

 

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[bhunted 887]

i ve gotten this call from these guys from a 856-848-3449 from woodbury Nj and when i picked up it was a call from Credit Card Services, once i heard the first few seconds about lowering my interest rates i hung up. Usually never answer any calls that are not in my contacts, but some reason i did this time They also called from a 732 area code once before.

Bare minimum is submit an investigation to DNC so the feds can get in on it. I may also contact the FBI myself too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vlad G 345]

Slowly over time I've reached the point where I don't answer my phone unless I recognize the number. Everyone else can leave a message. Life is a lot better that way.  Just because it is in your house and making an annoying noise it doesn't mean you have to pick it up and talk to people at the other end

[jm1827 284]

Slowly over time I've reached the point where I don't answer my phone unless I recognize the number. Everyone else can leave a message. Life is a lot better that way.  Just because it is in your house and making an annoying noise it doesn't mean you have to pick it up and talk to people at the other end

The same rules I live by...

[bhunted 887]

Yea, but every once in awhile, you don't checked the caller id and just answer the dang thing.

[67gtonut 847]

We have not picked up the house phone in year.....  no one I want to talk to anyway...   

 

Anyone I want to talk to ... has my cell

 

We ONLY keep the land line for outgoing 911 calls.... since the dispatcher can see the address without spoken words.... just in case...

[njpilot 671]

Slowly over time I've reached the point where I don't answer my phone unless I recognize the number. Everyone else can leave a message. Life is a lot better that way.  Just because it is in your house and making an annoying noise it doesn't mean you have to pick it up and talk to people at the other end

This. 100%

[lunker 274]

i ve gotten this call from these guys from a 856-848-3449 from woodbury Nj and when i picked up it was a call from Credit Card Services, once i heard the first few seconds about lowering my interest rates i hung up. Usually never answer any calls that are not in my contacts, but some reason i did this time They also called from a 732 area code once before.

I get that from cardholder services on my cell phone several times a week. It is a recorded message. If you press '1' to speak with a representative, the person hangs up on you when you tell them to remove you from their list. The number they call from is spoofed and cannot be called back. It is a different area code and number every time.

When I was still in Jersey, i would take the phone, get a representative, walk into my garage, shut to door, then scream at the top of my lungs into the phone. I wanted them to know whoever got me that day pulled the short fucking straw. Now in New Hampshire, my garage is not attached. I just ask for a rep and say "hold on a minute" and just leave the phone in to tv room. I figure wasting their time costs them money and hits where it hurts the most.

[siderman 1,139]

we too just dont pick up unless its a recognized number, doing that for a few yrs. but for fun my wife would ID them and assign them a bogus name that the phone announces such as asshole, scumbag etc and was funny untill my 8 yr old niece heard the phone announce shitbag lol. now we're back to blocking and not answering.

.

[bhunted 887]

Love it, good one.... LMAO!

 

we too just dont pick up unless its a recognized number, doing that for a few yrs. but for fun my wife would ID them and assign them a bogus name that the phone announces such as asshole, scumbag etc and was funny untill my 8 yr old niece heard the phone announce shitbag lol. now we're back to blocking and not answering.
.

[DirtyDigz 1,812]

I get these calls at my work number a couple of times a week.  As well as the "credit card services" ones, I'm getting some more sophisticated ones that actually have an algorithm that does voice recognition and plays back recorded responses in reaction to what you say in an attempt to make you think you're talking to a live person.  Those calls are actually somewhat interesting as I explore the bounds of how sophisticated their system is...It's like a turing test.

 

Anyway, I hope all these phone scammers die in a grease fire.

 

The Caller ID info on these calls is probably worthless.  They're likely spoofing the calling phone number, they can make the calling number appear to be anything they want:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_ID_spoofing

 

There's laws against this, of course.  If you can PROVE that they're spoofing caller ID then they're liable for a $10K fine per call.

[raz-0 1,259]

I get these calls at my work number a couple of times a week.  As well as the "credit card services" ones, I'm getting some more sophisticated ones that actually have an algorithm that does voice recognition and plays back recorded responses in reaction to what you say in an attempt to make you think you're talking to a live person.  Those calls are actually somewhat interesting as I explore the bounds of how sophisticated their system is...It's like a turing test.

 

 

Is it really like a turing test when legitimate CS with call scripts fail it? 

[Carcano 14]

The thing is...they spoof the numbers used to call you (when you call back it's disconnected or a legitimate business) so no way to shut them down, same as the IRS scam that's been targeting people.

 

OP: I hope you put a freeze on your file with the 3 major bureaus.

[Carcano 14]

I have one of these on all three land line phone: http://www.digitone.com/

 

I have it set to block all area codes and private numbers except for 609, 856, etc. can be programmed to block entire area codes/exchanges/numbers best $100 I ever spent.

[bhunted 887]

No good for cell phones. Not sure how good it would work with voip...

 

 

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[Carcano 14]

No good for cell phones. Not sure how good it would work with voip...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

The big question is...how did they obtain your card information? I'm assuming they have your SSN and DOB, too, for them to pull balance details for the accounts.

 

Looks more like identity theft, if they have your social might consider contacting social security and having it changed (I think up to 10 new numbers can be generated for a person?).

[bhunted 887]

Have to confirm that with my wife. I don't think its possible to view statements with a ssn.

 

 

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[1LtCAP 4,264]

Yea, but every once in awhile, you don't checked the caller id and just answer the dang thing.

that's when you say something like "hey.....the job's done, but there's blood all over the place. i need help cleaning it up.

[1LtCAP 4,264]

I have one of these on all three land line phone: http://www.digitone.com/

 

I have it set to block all area codes and private numbers except for 609, 856, etc. can be programmed to block entire area codes/exchanges/numbers best $100 I ever spent.

with this i can select the numbers i wanna block? i've got 12(the max) blocked through crapcast, and i've got 12(the max) call forwarded to one of the blocked numbers....but it's a pain in the dick to keep changing. something like you're showing.....if i can mark a number that just called tro be blocked....and not be limited on how many.....ima about to spend about a hundred bucks......

[Carcano 14]

with this i can select the numbers i wanna block? i've got 12(the max) blocked through crapcast, and i've got 12(the max) call forwarded to one of the blocked numbers....but it's a pain in the dick to keep changing. something like you're showing.....if i can mark a number that just called tro be blocked....and not be limited on how many.....ima about to spend about a hundred bucks......

 

It will work with Comcast, you use the up and down arrows to find the number that just called and hit "block"...you can also hit the program button on the call blocker and pickup the phone and manually key in the phone number to block.

 

Works well, I bought one last year for one line and worked well enough to buy additional ones for the other lines.

[Carcano 14]

that's when you say something like "hey.....the job's done, but there's blood all over the place. i need help cleaning it up.

 

ROLMFAO!

 

I've played with them a bit, I use to forward them (the callers) to the state police barracks number.

[1LtCAP 4,264]

It will work with Comcast, you use the up and down arrows to find the number that just called and hit "block"...you can also hit the program button on the call blocker and pickup the phone and manually key in the phone number to block.

 

Works well, I bought one last year for one line and worked well enough to buy additional ones for the other lines.

yep. i'll be gettig one for the shop then. for home, i don't care. i only ever answer that phone for 2 people, and even those two try me on the cell first. here though, i've had nearly 20 calls just today that were all robocallers.

[Carcano 14]

yep. i'll be gettig one for the shop then. for home, i don't care. i only ever answer that phone for 2 people, and even those two try me on the cell first. here though, i've had nearly 20 calls just today that were all robocallers.

 

Good choice they work very well

 

With cell phones it's the same here, if someone needs to get in touch with me they call the cell before the home or work phone..

[Carcano 14]

Here is a vid on that call blocker for anyone wondering how it works/setup and install: