Thread: phone calls

It's an autodialler checking to see if it is a viable line. Your number is now included in a list that will be sold to telemarketers/scammers

If you ever get a call that says "Can you hear me?" NEVER answer "Yes". The yes will be recorded and possibly used later to order something and use your response to complete the deal.

Just had this exact thing happen to me as I was reading a thread before this one. Caller ID said it came from a mobile number - which is unusual.
Oh well, another number to add to the "Auto hangup on" (IE do not even send the call through to the handset) list in my VOIP router. That makes about 35 numbers in the list now.

What's a landline?

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

What's a landline?

I never get nuisance calls to my mobile because I never use it which brings up an interesting question. Because I don't use it I never see nuisance calls even missed ones because the number is never given to anyone.

Nor do you answer real calls or texts

Originally Posted by Pat

Nor do you answer real calls or texts

That reminds me, I must call Pat!

And you did!

probably had to charge the battery first !!

I got a couple today.

The typical 'Predictive Dial System' with a live person. The second was obviously a computer using an Artificial Intelligence system.

The first (PDS) is a computer that sits in front of a phone bank of telemarketers. The system estimates how quickly someone will be free and available for the next call. If you get there quick enough there will be no one there to talk to you.

The AI system is trying to get donations for some charity. (Probably a scam.) I try to take these systems into illogical paths. Can be fun.

And then there is the robotic calls to have me call somewhere because, the IRS is filing an enforcement action against me , my entire Microsoft is expiring and a few others that don't come to mind at the moment.

And yesterday it went like this.
Hello?
Grandpa is that you? (I don't have any grand children, that I know of.)
Yes! BoBo is that you?
Yes! I need your help. I've been arrested and . . . . (Go get a Western Union money transfer . . . )
Now BoBo, you know that I can't drive since I lost my legs in the Meth Lab explosion. And Grandma had her license taken away after her ninth DUI. This time they took the car and I still have to make car payments and keep the insurance active and valid.
. . . click

Originally Posted by ian

probably had to charge the battery first !!

It's always fully charged because it sits in the bottom of the centre console in my car where I can't see it. I rang Fletty on it once and he wasn't sure who was calling due to him not recognising the number.

I got this samsung phone recently that gives me the "suspected spam" message a lot so I just reject.
Generally I reject all phonecalls from numbers I don't recognise even without the suspected spam message.

When I used to pick it up, for about 5 years straight I used to get a call from different person every time asking for "Glenn Gardner". It got to a point that I rang Telstra and asked them if maybe they had given my number to someone else as well, they said no and there was nothing they could do.

Eventually someone asked for Glenn Gardner, I started asking them where they got the number and who is that person etc etc and over the course of the discussion the guy eventually asked me if I want to buy some insurance

Just don't pick up anything from numbers you don't know. If your job involves doing just that, I feel sorry for you.

About 30 or 40 years ago I wrote a short article for an Aus' trucking magazine and they misspelt my name in the acknowledgement. Not long after I started getting this spam snail mail with my misspelt name. Obviously the magazine had dished my address etc to their advertisers. The spam died out after awhile of me ignoring them.
More recently Telstra misspelt my name, (Goeffrey) When a foreign accented representative of Telstra would ring me he/she would say "Hello Go Free". I had that much difficulty getting Telstra to spell it correctly I thought it would probably be easier to change my name. The point here is I got no spam calls that misspelt my name apart from Telstra calls.
Cheers,
Go Free.

The problem with not answering unknown numbers is that you WILL miss an important call eventually. Even not answering known numbers is dangerous. When I broke my arm recently I was home alone. I got back inside and called my wife on her mobile and it went to voice mail, it turned out the phone had been switch to airline mode accidentally the night before when using the flashlight option on the drop down menu of the phone. I knew my wife was with her sister so I attempted to ring her. On her mobile our landline number comes up as my wife's name. When the call came in she looked at the phone and Bron was standing next to her so without answering hung up on the call thinking Bron had accidentally hit her fast call with the phone in her handbag. Meanwhile I'm blacking out on the sofa at home.

Second example. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that my VOIP provider had applied overstamping of my mobile number on our homeline. I couldn't fix it myself in the online service options. it was about 4pm so I sent a support email requesting could the overstamping be corrected at their earliest convenience. At about 7pm Bron answers a phone call from an unknown number, from an Indian call centre telling her there is a problem with your phone service........ half way towards telling the caller what to do with his headset the penny dropped that it was a legitimate call and they were fixing our caller id overstamping!

I used to try and mess with scam callers but I just apply the one strike rule now that we are on NBN. Just hangup and add the number to the growing list of do not answers in the voip router.