Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sevenlayermuddle]

Got a message on the answerphone today, words to effect of

"This is HMRC. We are calling to confirm we are filing a law suit against you, please press 1 to speak to your case advisor"

Just another scam obviously.

But it sounds like that discussion, by pressing 1, could have been a lot of fun.   Shame I missed them, I do hope hope they call back.

[Dray]

My mother took one of those calls. Scared her to death 

[kitz]

Seems to be a large increase in nuisance calls of late.  Im ex-d and seldom if ever get nuisance calls such as this.. but in the past 2 weeks Ive had 3 unwanted calls.  Beginning to wonder where they are getting the numbers from or if it is just random diallers which ignore TPS.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I'm certain it's random dialling.

Though it's easy to think otherwise.   One day alone last week, I got six Indian scam calls 'about my computer' from six different numbers, all claiming to be BT Openreach technical dept.   There seemed to be a strong connection, as they arrived the very day I'd been talking to the real BT's Indian call centres regarding a phone fault.

But when I thought about it, I'd had one the previous week too.   So just coincidence after all.

[broadstairs]

I still get quite a few purporting to be TalkTalk. I think they may well have passed on the numbers or perhaps the same people decided BT might be a better option. A lot do use random number dialers as well though.

Stuart

[sevenlayermuddle]

I should add, the recent Indian BT scams did know 'my' name, or at last, that of better half.   Which merely supports that she has in the past been inclined to sign up to supermarket loyalty cards and the likes, with their famously (but legal) privacy leaks.

Similarly, many hotel booking sites, as well as social media stores, when you read small print on (say) page 45 out of 86 if their T&C, reveal they reserve the right to pass on details to whoever they like, whenever they like.

I am sure it is that leaked/mined data that goes into the great big pool from which the scammers make their calls, selected at random.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I wonder if this, on BBC news today, is relevant to the HMRC scam call that led me to start this thread?   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-37564408

...sounds I impressive, '750 detained' or so they claim, and raking in $150,000 a day.

[kitz]

hmmm  scams are getting far more sophisticated. Thats a heck of a lot of people involved.

[c6em]

I'm ex-directory and on the TPS
My property's Tel number has been my home phone number for decades on BT.

I almost never get any scam type calls of any form at all.
I'd guess perhaps one every 6 months if that.
I have had one "its Microsoft" calling - but whether that was 5 years or 7 years ago I could not tell its been so long.

Same for the mobile. No scam calls/texts whatever.... In fact I don't think I have ever had one to my mobile number and I've had that number for maybe 15+ years.

I've got weary of replying to those who vouch loudly that signing up to the TPS actually result in more calls as "they sell your number on".
Likewise those who claim that signing up to noddle free credit reports deluges your email with spam.  Well I used a special email address and no it has never had any spam to it at all.

[sevenlayermuddle]

I'm ex-directory and on the TPS
My property's Tel number has been my home phone number for decades on BT.

I almost never get any scam type calls of any form at all

TPS is a service run by the Direct Marketing Association.   Their members are the very people who make nuisance calls and for that reason, I am unwilling to supply them with any information about me whatsoever.  But if it works for you, go with it.

But also worth noting, I don't want to stop the Indain scam calls, or PPI etc, I genuinely enjoy them.   I am always polite, and would never swear or otherwise be abusive, but I have got quite good at annoying them, to the point they start ranting and swearing at me.   

My all-time favourite was an Indian 'Microsoft virus' scammer who threatened to swear at me every time I laughed.   And the more I laughed, the more he swore.   Swearing US-style (involving mention of my mother) like some Quentin Tarrantino movie but with the accent of any ISP helpdesk, which simply made me split my sides and made him swear all the more.   Great fun.

[Weaver]

How do these guys hope to turn these calls into cash?

[sevenlayermuddle]

How do these guys hope to turn these calls into cash?

In th case of the US IRS scam, according to that Beeb article, they convince people that they owe back taxes.  They then ask for payment, amazingly, in forms such as gift vouchers.   I remember elsewhere reading that the HMRC version also asks for payment by gift vouchers. 

The odds of persuading people to do so must be very tiny but, if you make millions of calls, tiny odds still yield thousands of payments.

The HMRC one was PPI-style, just a recorded message saying 'press some button to speak to us'.  That saves them from wasting human effort on people who jus hang up, as the costs of human effort rack up, even if paying a pittance, when that many calls are involved.   That is one reason I usually do press the button to speak too them, if everybody did so, I suspect it might tip the scammers business model from profit to loss...

[kitz]

This guy recorded his call from the 'IRS'.
My jaw dropped at the threats... but then listen to what the call centre guy says at the end.  Nasty nasty people.

Warning strong language.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuVFcizDwqw[/youtube]

[tickmike]

Not had many calls since I tell them 'This Is A Police Station'     

[sevenlayermuddle]

This guy recorded his call from the 'IRS'.
My jaw dropped at the threats... but then listen to what the call centre guy says at the end.  Nasty nasty people.

Interesting but slightly disappointing that the guy posting on YouTube resorted to swearing too.  That's a pity, as he'd annoyed the call centre plenty without stooping to these levels.  In my endeavours to make them swear at me, I have never ever been the slightest bit rude... just darned annoying. 

And yes, when you annoy them enough, there's no limit to the abuse they'll unleash.   I just take pleasure in the thought that some criminal mastermind is spending just a tiny bit of his ill-gotten gains, paying a call centre worker half way around the world to be nasty to me while I sit back and laugh at him.