Telephone Scam

[K6WXA]

Fellow Amateurs,

I'm retired Army, and I still keep in near daily touch with members of the branch that I served with. There's a new telephone scam making it's rounds, and so many of you have been so helpful in some of my efforts that I want to try and repay all of you, even in this small manner.

Rather than go into great detail about the scam itself, I invite you to do your own reading at: http://militarypoliceassn.net/coptalk/viewtopic.php?t=160

73' Rick,
K6WXA

[ae4fa]

My modest efforts:

A computer generated voice answers my phone 95% of the time that I'm home & my wife isn't. If I'm here I use that as a screening device. If not, it will accept messages.

On the odd occasion that I do answer the phone, I answer in Russian. Drives telemarketers & the rest crazy!

I never respond to messages telling me I have won something, etc.

My wife is addicted to answering the phone. But she knows my name listed as in the phone book is not the one I use, so those respond in hang-ups.

If she starts getting questions, she tells them they must speak with me.

If someone is asking for a donation, she knows to ask for a mailing with full information, which goes to a PO Box

It really is pretty simple.

This ain't hard, folks!

[n0ov]

Last call I received telling us someone in our family won something was for Brandy -- she won a jet ski. #Only thing she needed to do is go down Lake of the Ozarks, listen to a time share presentation and pick up her prize.

Only one catch, the time share place didn't allow pets -- thus the dilema.

Brandy is a dog -- a 9 year hold Shetland Sheep dog. #We filled out an application in the mall for the chance to win a free jet ski, gave her name, noted the "household income" and stated her occupation is watch dog and lap dog.

You know it took 7 calls before the telemarketer on the other end finally got the hint!


Now we're on the Missouri No-Call list and enjoying our new found peace and quiet!

[K4JSR]

The National "NO-CALL" List is God's gift to serenity.
If a telemarketeer calls now, he, she, they or "it" gets a
blast of foul language like haven't used since I stopped being a Construction Superintendent! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

I love the sound of a telemarketer hanging up on me!
Never leave those jerks happy.
And hey, those of you who wish to jump me about First
Amendment rights, I get to use those rights, also!

Have a glorious telemarketer free life!

73 Cal K4JSR

[wb6bcn]

Protection from this type of scam is relatively easy. There are many international calls that only require 1+xxx. Most of these are Canada, and the Carabean area islands. If you do the following you can protect yourself from this situation:

1: Call your long distance provider and tell them to place an international block on your phone line(s).

2: If you are one of those people that need to make an international call from time to time, use a calling card for those calls.

This will also protect you from dialup internet parasites that disconnect your dialup from your ISP, and redial a third world country.

More on the subject: click on INTERNET SPAMMERS AND SPYS here (http://fp3.antelecom.net/dflory/)

[KD4LEI]

My caller ID picks up the number as something I don't recognize, or UNKNOWN. #I let my answering machine pick it up. #If they have nothing to say, then I don't either and I'm happy.

Or you could say as they talk to you in case you forget to let the answering machine get it... #"I have an emergency..." #(You fill in the rest) Works everytime

I placed my name on the do not call list last summer. #The telemarketers I get are local numbers asking for money for some foundation.

[k6ncx]

Well, it's hardly new. I first heard of this probably a decade ago, and I doubt that it was new then.

[k4kyv]

If you accidently get ripped off by this scam, who is going to actually force you to pay the money? I would just ignore it and refuse to pay. Nothing they could do about it. A similar thing happened here about 10 years ago. Some kids broke into our house and used our phone to call some dial-a-porn service, and we were hit with a $150 bill for it. We just paid the legitimate part of our phone bill every month and ignored the bogus charge. Eventually it stopped appearing on the bill.