Just started having co-workers spam them with calls. Figured Clutchfans could do even better 202-558-5489 Give my regards to "Frank Martin"
These a-holes have really been hitting it hard lately. I was getting 3 and 4 calls a day on my mobile for a bit there. That stupid threatening voice mail that makes it sound like your arrest is imminent.
I got a call the other day from a guy saying my mom (he actually used her name) had gotten into a bad car accident, and that I needed to come to the scene. I'm pretty sure the string of obscenities and threats I had for him (in my best Batman voice) were so bad, George Carlin himself was smiling at me from heaven.
I'm right there with you. I've been hit with a wave of them over the last several weeks. I continually find it hard to believe that enough people fall for those to make it worth their while, but then again, I suppose it probably only takes one or two in a batch of thousands of calls to keep them going.
Oh, I got that IRS call too, lol. I just hang up any call that has a pause before someone talks, for that's an auto-dial indication.
So far the longest conversation we had him in for was 15 minutes alternating between offering him a credit card number and just deciding to meet him in person because he sounded like a trustworthy guy. Tomorrows a new day!
They did this to my last roommate, found out he owed back taxes, threatened him with imminent arrest warrant. He went to 7-11, wired him $800. Whole time scammer wouldn't let him hang up. 7-11 attendant finally got through to my old roommate that it was a scam and cancelled the wire transfer before the time limit. My old roommate was/is an idiot.
Lol, that's insane, it's stories like this that make it clear why these scams are still alive. I was hoping w/ the net it'd curb it, but no... It's worse now. I had a string recently of silly calls like this, I don't even bother answering the phone if it's a non-recognized #. I figure if it's important I'll get a message, or some comedy time. "hi this is the irs, send money to the magistrate" or "hi, you've been selected to... send us money", blah blah.
The IRS never calls they send mails...this is from my Tax man who is a former IRS auditor. Oh and the DUMBASS 'Windows computer" callers are just as bad. DD
I never pick up on area codes I don't recognize. If they actually needed to talk to me, they'd leave a voicemail.
I was acting like I really wanted the Windows person to help me remove that dreaded virus. I kept them on the line for a while. She finally put her supervisor on as I was asking all kinds of questions. He recognized that I was just having some fun with them and ironically said "Why are you wasting our F'in time?".
They're usually recorded messages, but if I'm lucky enough to get a live person, this is the shtick I usually do: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q4a6y1NZ-RM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It isn't entirely true. They almost never call (they never email). They will send several letters before you ever get a call. They are as likely to show up at your door as they are to call. You have to give them your phone number at some point for them to call. Definitely never give personal information over the phone.
I did this as well. They wanted to me to go to the prompt screen. When I do, they asked what does it say? I said "fs back slash something". He responded with "you need to tell me exactly what it says." I started saying very slowly, "it says 'this is a scam and its easy to figure it out'". He came back with, "where does it say that?" I told the guy "literally all over the internet." He got frustrated and said "so you don't want to go through this process then? We're not the hackers, we're trying to help you. Stop playing games and wasting our time." I lol'ed when he hung up.