by zeb 15 Replies latest jw friends
I received a phone call, "Is that (name)?"
I was working my way around a car park and answered
"yeah hang on" at which the caller hung up.
This is a scam where they are wanting you to confirm who you are so they can move on identity theft.
The voice was male clear like a professional announcer.
I have reported this to the relevant authorities.
I have also frozen my bank account.
Scamwatch Australia
scamwatch.gov.au/attempts-to-gain-your-personal-information
"The little black book of scams" is a great booklet published by the Australia Government.
https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/the-little-black-book-of-scams
Wow, shocking. When I get a call where I'm not familiar with the number , I answer most times "Sheriff Department, officer..... speaking, and most times they hang up. If not I hang up.
that scam has been on the local news here in NYC several times, they want to hear your voice, hear you say your name
ZEB:
I've heard about what you said where the caller asks "is this so and so"..
I made sure I changed my answering message so that it does NOT announce my name. Any stranger or scammer will not know who they reached
Yes, it is disturbing that all these scams and phishing are increasing.
thanks all. I have a gut feeling that if the s*** hits the fan in Asia then this scamming as a tactic of war will go wild-fire in order to cause melt -down of the phone system, a run on the banks and any other nasties the bad guys can think up.
Well it is the time of the end, ya know.(sarcasim added here) love of money will be rappant,ect.
When I get such a call I always ask who they are before confirming my name, and if any doubt exists I hang up.
Many years ago, long before scams like this were common, my Bank 'phoned me, something they no longer do of course, for security reasons, but even then I thought it was silly. The conversation went like this :
" Is that Mr Phizzy"
" Whose calling?"
"It's ******* Bank here, could you confirm your date of birth? ( I had not confirmed who I was at this point)
"No, you tell me my date of birth"
"Well would you give me two letters from your Password ?"
"No, you give me two letters from my Password"
"I can put you on to my Supervisor if you prefer"
" No, that could be a fellow scammer standing next to you, Goodbye" I hung up.
I rang the bank and found out the call was genuine, I blasted them and said they needed to tighten up on security and train their operatives properly.
No wonder so many scams worked easily in those days, the Banks were stupid, and yet did not want to help if you were scammed, BASTARDS.
Perhaps a slight over reaction.
Your name is in public domain anyway. They've now tied a phone number to it. It will be sold as part of a verified marketing list.
There was some vague threats a while ago about them recording you saying 'yes' in order to sign you up for some services but that amounted to nothing really.
it's good to be paranoid when it comes to phone/email scans though.
You can always answer unknown callers in Russian, just saying hello will suffice. If they are trying to scam Australians, usually from an fake Indian call centre for microsoft, telstra, or optus, then they will try to identify your language if you speak other than English. At this point speak English with a fake Russian accent. Some people I know have told them "this is the Russian Embassy and you are not from our technical department." Click!
Here is a YouTube video from Alena who is currently teaching me Russian.
