Another phone scam, this one impersonating a hospital
I received a call this morning from "Daniel", claiming to provide info on "final expense benefits just approved in your state". Note that "your state" is generic for any state, so the scam isn't limited to my state. Caller ID showed the alleged number as being 248.577.9366. I got only a busy signal when I *67'ed and called back to see if anyone answered.
Caller idea showed "Beaumont Health", a local hospital chain which has been active in promoting its actions on Covid, including ample tv interviews with doctors and various nurses addressing the subject.
My concern is that so many of these scams target older people, and those in this area might consider the scam real simply because the "information" is being spread by a hospital.
I have no idea if this tactic is being used elsewhere, but again, given the "your state" reference, it's tailored to be used anywhere in the US.
Just FYI.
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I do not answer my phone 90% of the time anymore. Keep my ringer off and call the person back if they leave a message.
The govt really needs to do something about this crap.
Last month I told her she was despicable.
I am working on a new moniker for this month.
Barb, I like the idea of challenging them, especially if it disrupts their practiced pitch, and if it affects their self image, hopefully to the point of finding legitimate employment, although I suspect that isn't going to happen.
One clever poster I know from another forum plays games; he pretends to believe them, plays out a role of something like Ma and Pa on some tv program, and leads them on.
I did that a few times with the Microsoft scammers who claim that my computer is "infected." I asked what kind of infection, and was it contagious to humans and animals? Could I get a vaccination for it? Did it come from China?Eventually I couldn't control my laughter and d'c'ed the call.
But sometimes I can't think quickly enough and just tell them where to go (and it's not a vacation paradise!).
Has anyone noticed that they seem to pick specific days in the week?
I decided to play along with the spam calls claiming to warn me that law enforcement was going to be knocking at my door because I owed the IRS 🤣 I told them to send them over and I would put on a pot of coffee for us to share. The guy cursed me out and hung up. I laughed because instead of him annoying me, I had the pleasure of annoying him!
It’s sad though when the elderly or anyone is fooled by these scam artists. I NEVER give out any personal information over the phone, nor click on emails and generally don’t answer any calls from numbers that I don’t know. Legit people will leave a voicemail.
Hahaha. That sounds like a good response to me. Years ago, the people who sold siding for houses would make ‘cold’ sales calls. My father in law would tell them that he lived in a glass house. LOL 😂 They never cared him again!
Now, as you say, callers have become more sophisticated using an automated system.
Unfortunately, the robocalls continue. It’s annoying even if we don’t answer the call. I get calls when I am speaking to my daughter on the phone and I hear the ‘beep beep’ to signal a call, then I can’t hear what my daughter was saying to me.
This is another topic but it’s in the category of pet peeves. I don’t know about you but I find it very annoying if people place me in a group text! My cousin does that to me. She lives in New Jersey and I am in her group texts with tons of people that I don’t know. I will text her back outside of the group. Otherwise, people ask me, “Who are you?” LOL
I don't worry about texting b/c I have no interest in it and have disabled texting. If I'm going to read and often keep an e-mail, it has to be on something I can read w/o straining my eyes, and w/o ruining my fingers, hands and wrist by fiddling with an itty bitty keyboard. I have enough trouble just figuring out the goofy icons that might lead to something useful. But eyesight and wrist and arm issues are more important than someone's text.
I personally think it's inappropriate to send out group e-mails, unless it's for a specific group meeting, or something like that. But practices have changed so much that it's hard to remember a time when people weren't so addicted to electronic devices. That's not a criticism of your daughter though; younger people grow up with these kinds of activities as standard.
An arm and hand doctor told me back in 2010 when I had a rotator cuff injury that he was seeing a lot more people, particularly women, for treatment of wrist injuries, b/c of so much texting.
Carpal tunnel issues too. Lots of people deal with it.
Ooooh, rotator cuff issues become painful. My husband has had two shoulder surgeries repairing his shoulders. He doesn’t even know how he damaged them. I told him it was lifting up our daughters and nieces and nephews on his shoulders all the time for them to see our Mardi Gras parades!