Spoofing

[Gary_C]

I just heard about this yesterday and now I see that congress is set to set penalties for doing this to defraud. I think it should be for more than defraud, any time you use the practice to deceive someone it should be illegal.

I was talking to Verizon about telemarketer calls on my cell phone and the lady told me that you can apparently go to Google and obtain a fake number that shows up on anyones caller ID when you call them. Apparently the fraud has been where someone has obtained a phony ID of a bank and then defrauded some people. Telemarketers can use that fake number to hide their true identy so you will answer the call.

House moves to stop scams using false caller IDs

[Brucer]

Another nasty use of spoofing is to fake the ID of a local politician (who you don't happen to like), and then start calling people in the wee hours of the morning.

I noticed it was a bi-partisan bill.

[SwampDonkey]

Federal Court Strikes Down Florida Anti-Caller ID Spoofing Law

Anti-Caller ID Spoofing Law to put a few companies out of business

Industry Canada Task Force on Spam (2005)

[Warbird]

Another nasty use of spoofing is to fake the ID of a local politician (who you don't happen to like), and then start calling people in the wee hours of the morning.

I noticed it was a bi-partisan bill.

That last sentence cracks me up! 

[TimRB]

I never, ever answer the phone unless I *know* who is on the other end.  If I don't know, I sometimes wait to see if whoever it is leaves a message and listen to it.  If it's a legitimate call, I pick up.  Simple. 

I am always amazed to hear that some people have difficulty hanging up on telemarketers and try to politely wait for a break in the "conversation".  If I pick up the phone by mistake and it turns out to be a telemarketer, instant "click".

My wife and I used to have a fake name in the phone book.  (Remember those things?) Sometimes I would get a call:  "Hello, Mr Whatever, I'm calling about..."  -- click.

Tim

[red oaks lumber]

why as a society have we become afraid to answer the phone? if you won't answer it why have it? this habit burns my butt more than a three foot fire!!

[SwampDonkey]

I'm not afraid to answer the phone, not afraid to hang up neither. ;D Personally, I have never subscribed to all those phone company add-ons. If I ain't home, just leave a message on the machine. ;D If not, I don't care. :D

[rbhunter]

If you are bored and get a telemarketer try and see how long you can keep them on the phone. Waste as much time as possible. Ask them to repeat, hand them off to another person buy make sure not to say yes or no.l

[stonebroke]

A good one is, tell the telemarketer that the doorbell just rang and you have to answer it but you are very interested and will be right back. Put the phone down and come back in a hour.

Stonebroke

[BaldBob]

My favorite telephone solicitor tactic is, as soon as they tell me what company they are calling for, say "Well its about time you folks returned my calls. Where's the $1252.00 you owe me?" Another favorite of mine is to tell the caller " That's weird you're also with XYZ company. That's who I work for. You know sometimes the phone lines get crossed up. Why don't you stand up so I can see who you are." After the usual moment of silence they get back on the line and I say "Oh. Its YOU." and hang up.   

[Left Coast Chris]

The second I identify the caller as a telemarketer I ask if they can wait a moment and they always say yes.  I then just put the phone down and wait one miniute or so and they are always gone.  That way I have taken some of their time like they have mine.  We do not get very many telemarketing calls anymore.    Another good one is if you don't recognize a group asking for money or donations tell them that you are in need of money more than thier group and ask if they can send you some cash.   They get off the phone real fast every time.

[Don_Papenburg]

I had a guy call me every three months or so wanting to sell me tools .  Poor quality tools at that So one day I told him I had no use for tools anymore cause I retired .   Never heard from him again.

[John Mc]

All these comments remind me of a game we used to play at work. When we got a call from a telemarketer, we'd get them talking for a bit then pass them on to someone else in the organization... "Oh, you don't want to talk to me, you want to talk to our purchasing agent..."  then "Oh, I'm sorry, purchasing doesn't handle orders for this type of thing, you need to go right to our maintenance supervisor."

We'd usually get together over lunch and see how far we'd been able to string them along. Extra points for getting them to hold on while you passed them back to someone they'd already spoken to ("oh, you mean office floor cleaners?... yeah, that's purchasing. You already spoke to them? They probably thought you meant cleaners for out in manufacturing. All the office supplies are bought through purchasing.")

Lots of fun. We finally had to drop the game, though... we were wasting too much time yanking these guys chains.

[SwampDonkey]

Toll Fraud

http://about.telus.com/publicpolicy/scams_tollfraud.html

[Magicman]

I got a cell phone call from a legitimate customer asking about sawing.  Their ID came up as XYZ  ???

[SwampDonkey]

A lot of masked phone numbers by telemarketers. The number you see displayed isn't the number they are calling from. I wouldn't doubt there is a cell phone app to do just that.

[Paul_H]

We got telemarketer calls at our office when my brother and I were in business together and I'd always give them Don's home and cell numbers and told them he was the man in charge of those decisions.
He had it coming ;D

[Tom]

I got a legitimate phone recently.

[DouginUtah]

If you see the number you can sometimes find out who is calling here:

http://whocalled.us/

or

http://www.numberinvestigator.com/

[red oaks lumber]

a couple yrs ago i got the telemarker to hang up on me !i just started chewin his back side something feirce all at once click gone..
there does seem to be new family names around, the " not provides" or the "not availables" or "the unknowns" i wonder if these families have any kids