I just got a robo SSA call from a spoofed local number. I pressed 1 to talk to the scammer; it was a very noisy call center, with lots of people in the background. As usual, I pretended to be concerned about the call and wanted more details. The scammer said, just go to your local social securities office and present your paperwork, I said no, they’re closed because of Covid. He was in such a hurry to hang up, so I asked him directly, “why don’t you want to scam me?”
"Because you already know about this scam." Then he read off my name, phone number and home address, and threatened to send Pakistani agents to my house. I just laughed it off, and he started to get nasty, the usual about doing my mother, wife, sister, etc. He also had the real name of my wife in whatever database they use to make these call. Kinda chilling, in a way, even if I know they can't or won't bother me.
This reinforces that I have to be a bit nicer when it is an inbound scam call, and save my bad manners when I'm 100% anonymous.
@jaymee#156239 I got one today as well… it’s been quite a while since the last one I had. Anyway, I have a single persona that I use for the house when they call. It’s always the same name and address, although sometimes some of the little details (SSN, DOB, etc…) change. When they ask “Am I speaking to …” and read my name off their CID, I tell them that they must have the wrong number and give them my ‘real’ name. 9 out of 10 times, they will recover from the brief sidetracking and get right back on the script, but with the name (and address) I give them.
I have lately been getting calls specifically looking for my fake persona. When questioned about the CID info being different, I just tell them that I've been fighting with AT&T for almost 10 years now to get that fixed, and they still show the wrong info ;-)
Yesterday I received call on my real home number and the caller knew my ethnicity and spoke in Hindi. He wanted to reduce my utility bill in half. I told him, I am not interested.
I called them back with different caller ID (and different name) from my TextNow #. They speak in Hindi and target Americans of Indian origin. They are going to call me tomorrow for more “details”
@drwat#156256 They are going to call me tomorrow for more “details”
Please let me know if I'm wrong after you talk to them.
My guess is that this is similar to the old slamming game where they trick people to switch long distance providers, back when there was still money to be made in providing long distance service. This time it is for gas and/or electricity, made possible by deregulation. You'll still be using PG&E gas and electricity, they'll just handle the billing. Their pitch is they buy "wholesale" and they pass on the savings to you. They also promote this through multi-level-marketing, but affinity marketing is very common in this type of "scam". I put scam in quotes because it is technically legal, but a definite rip-off in the long run. Read the fine print is what I tell people who ask about this. Many have been burned.