Beware Latest Social Security Scam

[DavidC]

Saturday the Wife's phone rings and she has Social Security # saved as SSI. She did not answer and I told her it was a scam as SS offices are closed on weekends. Later the phone rings SSI on the screen and some guy with a foreign accents wants info. She debates the guy and he say's it is SS, she stated that SS is closed and tells him she will call Monday. He gets a little disgruntled emphasizing he is with SS. Wife calls SS today and the scammers have infiltrated SS phone system. We would not have known other than the idiot calls on a Saturday when SS is closed. Just a heads up as SS will not call unless you have requested a call on their system.

Dave

 

[Lynx0849]

Saturday the Wife's phone rings and she has Social Security # saved as SSI. She did not answer and I told her it was a scam as SS offices are closed on weekends. Later the phone rings SSI on the screen and some guy with a foreign accents wants info. She debates the guy and he say's it is SS, she stated that SS is closed and tells him she will call Monday. He gets a little disgruntled emphasizing he is with SS. Wife calls SS today and the scammers have infiltrated SS phone system. We would not have known other than the idiot calls on a Saturday when SS is closed. Just a heads up as SS will not call unless you have requested a call on their system.

Dave

They don’t have to infiltrate the phone system.

It is trivial to spoof any caller ID. Just like it is trivial to spoof the sender email address.

Neither protocol was designed with any thought to malicious use.



Pro

 

[seafish]

^^^^THIS!!!

We are sometimes getting close to 6 calls a day from "Apple Inc".., it is NOT funny, but nothing to do but ignore them!!!

 

[mwilson]

We were beginning to get way too many spoof and robo calls on both our cells and the house phone. Told the wife to stop answering any incoming calls from numbers she did not recognize....I did the same plus told any business contacts that wanted to call me needed to provide the number they would calling from so I could load them into my contacts as I would not answer unless their name showed up......took a couple months but we don't get those spoof or robo calls at all now...
I have a lot of time to think when on the road and I came to the conclusion that the robo calls and maybe the spoofs as well were searching for phone numbers that would be answered at certain times of the day which then creates data that can be sold to others...maybe I'm wrong but I don't think so especially after proving to myself that three phone numbers that never got answered dropped off their radar....
I've also witnessed robo calls coming in through the switchboard at work start ringing first at the numerically lowest phone number and then working up through all 11 inbound lines....looking for someone to answer.....

Try it, you've nothing to lose.....

 

[mwilson]

Thermoking Corporate phone calls come in as "Private"......I won't answer them.....they always leave a voice mail if it's really them calling anyways.....

 

[seafish]

Yup, not answering is the best way to deal with them. but it doesn't;t necessarily drop you off the list entirely, only until the next scammer decides to ring you up!!!

 

[mwilson]

That’s right but I’m pretty sure if that first and even second attempt result in a no answer situation they move on. I just checked my phone, two numbers that I do not recognize in five days...much better than it was this summer.

 

[Jim W]

I went one step further with ROBO calls and scammers. We have un-plugged our house phones and put them away. We no longer get any phone calls on the house phone any more, what does happen to the phone callers is they will get the FAX machine. My printer is a FAX and Scanner combined into one machine so, we leave the printer on and the FAX machine will answer the phone calls. They get the FAX tone on the phone line since it is a FAX machine the ROBO calls are dropped out. I have not heard the house phone ring for seven months now. I would have dropped the phone line but I need this for my DISH service and I have bundled our WIFI to save money.
We do get some calls on my wife's cell phone but none on my cell phone. My cell phone is off 90% of the time and the number is only given out to our kids.

 

[mwilson]

Fax machine is a great idea.....!!!

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

Fax machine is a great idea.....!!!

Plenty of fax scam out there too...

 

[Jim W]

Plenty of fax scam out there too...

Mark;
I have never received any FAX from scammers. This machine is on 24/7 and I do hear the FAX machine answer every once in a while when the house is real quiet. But the machine never received any message from any ROBO calls.
Just saying! For me it works.

 

[MLee]

I started to use Block caller ID, through Comcast, rings once then goes away. I still get the number on my phone but it shows it being blocked.

 

[Cooper_D]

I have A T &T and they suggested to get their call protect app-works great!

Doesn’t get all of then but when it pops up and says “telemarketers or suspected spam or potential fraud...” I chuckle.

The really bad ones it blocks automatically -no ring at all!