For a while, it was the car warranty people. They rang the phone off the hook day and night with their stupid taped messages. Just once I would have loved to have gotten a live person so I could tell them: "Sure. Go ahead and warranty a 20-year-old car." (Which was all that we owned until recently.)
Eventually, they started calling my cell phone, too! (I reported them to the FTC. I also made sure my cell was on the Do Not Call list and exactly 30 days to the day I registered it, those calls ceased.)
Then, it was one claiming to offer government grants to go back to school. Last night’s taped message was a new one though.
“We have an important message about your mortgage. President Obama …”
I hung up. I have an important message of my own for them: I don’t have a mortgage! And, if they were a legitimate outfit seeking my business for something that wasn’t a scam, they’d know that.
A day before, the mother offhandedly asked me if I switched our phone service. Huh?“There’s a message in on the answering machine saying you need to call them.” I listened. It was yet another robocall.
This one came from some outfit called CoolTell America thanking me for registering for their voice-over IP service. Here’s a note to you guys: I didn’t register for this, and I’m not calling you, but I am sending all the information you were kind enough to leave on my phone to the FTC. You see, we’re on the DO NOT CALL list. Have been for years.
You might recall we also had a bit of “cramming” a while back whereby another set of scam artists put fake charges on our bill. I’m just now getting that settled.
So, it would seem that the number of phone scams is endless. I found this list accidentally while looking up the latest scammers. That list explained another set of weird phone calls several weeks ago that the mother kept asking me about. (Apparently, someone was calling me saying I was paying too much interest on my credit card.)
Beware the next time you answer the phone …
5 comments:
I like to put the phone down right after I say hello and come back to it an hour later. Good times.
Oh, I hate solicitors by phone. I bought a new SUV in March, which came with free XM Radio for 3 months.
I have 23 missed calls from XM Radio on my cell phone, all since June. The few times I did pick up, I got the robot. It should be against the law to solicit that way.
That irritates me too! I don't have a phone on my landline (which is gonna be gone in the next couple weeks anyway) and my cellphone's on the Do Not Call List. But still they manage to squeak through sometimes. Grrr!
I get calls from the same crooks. One set does the this is card services calling, another says my car warranty is expiring.
So much for the DoNotCall list, but I guess if you're a crook, little niceties like that don't bother you.
What I don't understand is why the federal government or states' attorneys general haven't landed on these people like a ton of bricks.
Oshea -- Great plan!
Debbie -- This is good to know. Was debating the trial of XM that came with Pearl! Maybe I'll pass.
Jayne -- I know. Doesn't seem like the DNC is doing what it was designed for.
Karen Anne -- I wish they would fall on them already! :-)
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