I’ve been pestered by zero interest rate calls, and I do waste their time by pretending to go along until the time they ask for my credit card number. That’s where I draw the line, and the insult trading starts. Here’s the problem. Most of these calls, I assume, know my name and some basic information, likely from a list they bought from our credit bureaus. So how far should I go in messing them up?
Just this morning I received another such call, offering zero interest rate because I have been paying on time and never missed a payment. When I said that I just got this phone number and he must be referring to the previous owner of this number because my credit sucks and I'm a few months behind. He insisted I was Jaymee. I said no, my name is Roger, he still insisted my name is (my real name) but eventually hung up.
Bottom line, how far to mess them up when they know you?
I get one of those CC interest rate calls at least once a day. I don't have an unlisted phone number, so they get the info from the white pages. If questioned why my name/address differs from what they have, I just tell them that their info is not correct. Sound convincing enough and they will accept what you are telling them!
I have a list of generated CC #'s with expiration dates and verification numbers. There are a few places on the web to generate them, and you can select which bank you want to generate them from - so when they do the initial check on the number, it looks valid and you know the bank it was from. I try to stick with small obscure banks, which makes it even harder for them. I can generally keep them on the phone for around a half hour before they just give up. A few times I have made it all the way to the 'closer' though!
The key to screwing them up is to not give them a correct customer service number... Most of the time, I will claim the writing is too small and I can't read it. Sometimes I'll say 'there is an 800 number, but it looks like it's to report theft or fraud', then give them the 800 number for the FBI or Federal Trade Commission fraud division :)
I've actually had direct call backs (to my fake name) stating that there was some suspicious charge (against my bogus credit card number) and they were calling to verify. I of course say it wasn't me and for them to decline the charge. They then go into their 'we need to verify we are speaking with the card holder' routine, and ask for the customer service number on the back of the card - which again, I can't seem to read!
@Otis#130493 Thanks for the response. I used to get lots of these calls on my 2 land lines, but truth be told, it has slowed down considerably these last few weeks. So, bottom line of this scam, they just want to steal your credit card number? Or are they going to convince you to an agreed upon “fee” to lower your interest rate?
I'm sure they are doing their fair share of harvesting data, and that may be the primary goal for some. If that is it, I sure have given them a whole ton of bogus data! But when I have been able to get to the upper tier of the scam, they want to charge you money for lowering your rate. You can tell when you are getting towards the top of the food chain as their English starts getting really good!
Last time I got all the way through, they wanted $549 to do so, based on my (bogus) card balance and (bogus) interest rate. Gave all sorts of calculations showing how much money I would save without paying interest, and how little their charge was compared to that. Said they would charge it to my existing card, and then the balance of that card would be transferred to a new card that has zero percent interest. I imagine that once they have successfully charged your card, the chances of it being transferred is pretty low :-O
These calls typically come out of Karachi, Pakistan. In my experience, they always come from Pakistan. Hindi and Urdu are 85% same, so when I speak Hindi, they ask how I speak Urdu. I even pretend to be Muslim and they warm up to me and we have a nice conversation. I’ve even managed to befriend some and exchange WhatsApp numbers - all from Karachi. I’ve had my share of galee (Hindi/Urdu abuse) wars with these guys, but the Pakistanis tend to be a bit more polite and naive compared to the Indians. Many of these Pakistani callcenters are outsourced by LLC telemarketers to bring in customers. They basically do the credit card shopping for you for a fee while gaining your private information. Private info and data is GOLD these days. When I became a fake customer, I got a call from an ID Protection telemarketer telling me that my private information has been compromised by foreign callcenters and that my info was sold to them and that they can protect me and ask if I want the security services charged on my credit card. Here’s a video from CBC News talking about these Pakistani callcenters…