[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I agree, but you can't literally block every number in the world. But, you can turn on your "do not disturb" setting and allow an exception for calls on your contacts list.

That works well but can be dangerous as it was for me a number of years ago. There are a lot of situations when sending **ALL** numbers not in your contact list directly to voice mail could be at the least bad and at most dangerous especially in the middle of the night. One has to seriously consider all the ramifications of that before doing it like family health, older relatives, kids etc etc No one can have every possible emergency call phone number in their contact list.

[DrHitch]

And NEVER trust any "area codes"....don't even answer calls from your "home" area ...

[CatskillBill]

Everyone must watch
Scammer Payback on YouTube.
He had lots of videos.
This guy is great.
He actually gets into the hackers system and reeks havoc deleting their files and wasting their time.

[juddfl]

I had a phone call like that about a year ago. I decided to play with him. His name was Tommy and he needed money.

Tommy: Grandma can you help me? I'm in trouble.
Me: Why don't you call your dad?
Tommy: I can't, he'll get really mad at me.
Me: Well, ask you mom.
Tommy: I can't, she'll tell my dad.
Me: Tommy, I have a question for you.
Tommy: What grandma?
Me: I never had children, so how can you be my grandson?
Tommy: You just wasted my time.

Then he hung up on me. That was a lot of fun!

[mikeycereal]

I don't pick up unknown calls, but if I did and it is a scammer... some of these responses are cute and silly but I'd just take the quickest 1-click response and waste as little of my time as possible.

[nativetex]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

When last time heard scammer being arrested? I’m surprised they caught Bernie Madoff.

Sadly, but in the tech age it best not answer phone or emails unless you know exactly who they are from. If I don’t recognize the call or email I don’t answer and email going in trash.

I never answer the phone from anyone I do not know. If it is important, a person can leave a message. This has cut my unknown number calls a lot. They never leave a message. When someone answers the scammers' calls, they will keep calling even if you hang up on them.

[Worldseries27]

Originally Posted by quixote

we just received a phone call purportedly from our grandson having been in an auto accident in which a six-month pregnant woman ran a red light, and he hit her. He was treated for a broken nose and a lip requiring six stitches, then was arrested for reckless driving. His lawyer, john steinberg, would contact us with pertinent information, and he would likely have to post a bond to get out of jail. He also gave us a case number: C749882651.he sniveled and cried through the whole conversation, perhaps in an effort to make his voice less recognizable.

He ignored questions of specifics that we posed to him: 'where are you now?' 'in what hospital were you treated?' when it reached the point of 'could we keep this between us?' we responded 'no, don't think so.' then came his moment of belligerence: 'why not?' we allowed the question to hang, and after a few seconds he hung up. Caller id gave us the number from which he was calling: 352-392-5286.

We promptly called the sheriff's office, from which we were transferred to a unit that handles specifically scammers trying to scam other individuals. We're waiting for a callback from them; in the meantime, we felt it important enough to post on totv.

thank you

[Worldseries27]

Originally Posted by jimbomaybe

i talk to these people , i have given out so many fake ss# and credit card# i can't remember them all

a scammer with an indian asian accent was on our car speaker phone pretending to be an irs agent threatening imprisonment. We caught onto the scam within 30 seconds and 4 people in the car mercilessly berated his culture, family especially his mom and dad. No matter what sex toy was going to be used on his family he kept reading from the script. They fear their bosses more than our legal system

You can also set a specific ring tones for your favorite contacts and one for all others. Ignore the rest.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Worldseries27

a scammer with an indian asian accent was on our car speaker phone pretending to be an irs agent threatening imprisonment. We caught onto the scam within 30 seconds and 4 people in the car mercilessly berated his culture, family especially his mom and dad. No matter what sex toy was going to be used on his family he kept reading from the script. They fear their bosses more than our legal system

That seems like an incredibly childish way to respond to a scammer. I mean like 6th grade stuff. There are LOTS of ways to deal with a scammer. Having four of your pals in a car revert to "ur mom" memes is one of the more infantile options and doesn't speak well of the carload of people at all.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

That seems like an incredibly childish way to respond to a scammer. I mean like 6th grade stuff. There are LOTS of ways to deal with a scammer. Having four of your pals in a car revert to "ur mom" memes is one of the more infantile options and doesn't speak well of the carload of people at all.

There is a proper etiquette for how to respond to someone lying to me and trying to steal my money?

[jparsoneau@aol.com]

I honestly don’t understand why anybody would send money to people they don’t know these scams have been around for years I’ve heard of them for many years I’ve heard of them in other state. Do not send money over the phone do not ever give anybody your personal information over the Internet or the phone. If you are concerned tell them you need to make some phone calls have them call you back in a couple hours and do your own investigation do not send your money. Nothing new here

[OhioBuckeye]

If they’re not on my contact list or if a name comes up & I don’t know them l never answer, NEVER. Because these callers always have a way to keep you talking.

[OhioBuckeye]

Personally I think I would of hung up immediately & called the hospital instead of talking to a want a be lawyer about his bond fees. My children & grandchildren are more important than lawyer fees or bonds. This scam has been going around for at least 10 yrs.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by raney3099

How did you not know that wasn’t your grandson?

Not sure really, but I did know within a few seconds. Maybe his low-key tone until he decided I have a grandson; then he morphed into the sniveling.

Originally Posted by Petersweeney

Why didn’t you ask him his mothers maiden name, what city was he born and the name of his first pet?

WIth all his weeping and wailing, I wanted to string him along in the present, asking 'Where are you now?' and 'Which hospital were you treated in?' His ignoring these questions validated my initial impression that this was a scam.

Originally Posted by OhioBuckeye

I thought for sure you would end this by saying this to the caller that your grandson was standing right nexted to you.

Even simpler, I could have said 'Grandson? What grandson? I don't have a grandson....' But that would have ended the call sooner than I was ready toi.

Originally Posted by OhioBuckeye

Personally I think I would of hung up immediately & called the hospital instead of talking to a want a be lawyer about his bond fees. My children & grandchildren are more important than lawyer fees or bonds. This scam has been going around for at least 10 yrs.

What hospital would you have called? Please reread what I wrote: You missed the point that I DID ask him at what hospital he was treated, and his failure to answer this and other questions in the present continued to validated that this was a scam. He was a pretty good actor; asking him questions like his mother's maiden name and so forth would have put him on to my recognition that he was a scammer.

Originally Posted by Worldseries27

thank you

You're welcome. My intention was to be able to give as much information as I could to others in my position (potential recipients of the scam) AND to those who might even remotely be in a position to do anything. I knew this was not an issue for the Sheriff, but I didn't think of contacting Seniors Versus Crime, as the Sheriff's office suggested. We ordinarily never answer unknown calls, instead letting them either hang up or leaving a voice mail message. This was an exception as we have family members traveling who could be calling from anywhere.

In retrospect I'm sorry I ended the scam when I did by refusing 'to keep the incident between us.' Who knows what further information I may have been able to pick up—maybe all useless information—or maybe not. At one time I was scammed involving two banks; when the dust settled one bank recognized the injustice and made good on it, while the other bank ... well ... I will post the story on ToTV at some point.