Telephone scams

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AltaRed
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by AltaRed »

SQRT wrote: 14 Oct 2017 10:41 I never answer phone calls from numbers I don’t know.
:thumbsup: And especially 8xx numbers.

And speaking of 8xx numbers, I do remember one time only where a legitimate company (with whom I did business with) trying to get hold of me via a 8xx number. After apparently weeks of trying, they sent me a letter on the matter. I responded to them verbally with a.... Why would you expect a customer of yours to respond to a 8xx call? and that they needed to clean up their act with a legitimate number with Caller ID on it. IOW, just what you said... I don't answer to any phone numbers I don't know.
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by knotley »

I have gotten a lot of Duct Cleaning calls in the last few weeks.

The accent sounds like "Duck" cleaning.

I respond "No Ducks, we have geese".
They hang up
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Re: Telephone scams

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AltaRed wrote: 14 Oct 2017 13:35
SQRT wrote: 14 Oct 2017 10:41 I never answer phone calls from numbers I don’t know.
:thumbsup: And especially 8xx numbers.

And speaking of 8xx numbers, I do remember one time only where a legitimate company (with whom I did business with) trying to get hold of me via a 8xx number. After apparently weeks of trying, they sent me a letter on the matter. I responded to them verbally with a.... Why would you expect a customer of yours to respond to a 8xx call? and that they needed to clean up their act with a legitimate number with Caller ID on it. IOW, just what you said... I don't answer to any phone numbers I don't know.
Yes, especially 8xx numbers. Like you we have probably missed a couple of legit calls. So what? Voice based phone calls are less and less important these days. Tend to be for calling family on Sundays?
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Re: Telephone scams

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AltaRed wrote: 14 Oct 2017 13:35 [

And speaking of 8xx numbers, I do remember one time only where a legitimate company (with whom I did business with) trying to get hold of me via a 8xx number. After apparently weeks of trying, they sent me a letter on the matter. I responded to them verbally with a.... Why would you expect a customer of yours to respond to a 8xx call? and that they needed to clean up their act with a legitimate number with Caller ID on it. IOW, just what you said... I don't answer to any phone numbers I don't know.
Don't you have an answering machine or voice mail? Any one legitimate can leave a message.
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AltaRed
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by AltaRed »

That is indeed what I do with 8xx numbers and other phone numbers that I don't know.
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by deaddog »

AltaRed wrote: 16 Oct 2017 16:15 That is indeed what I do with 8xx numbers and other phone numbers that I don't know.
Likewise. I even explain it on my message so that people realize that I might be home and don't answer for a reason.
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Re: Telephone scams

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deaddog wrote: 16 Oct 2017 12:37
AltaRed wrote: 14 Oct 2017 13:35 [

And speaking of 8xx numbers, I do remember one time only where a legitimate company (with whom I did business with) trying to get hold of me via a 8xx number. After apparently weeks of trying, they sent me a letter on the matter. I responded to them verbally with a.... Why would you expect a customer of yours to respond to a 8xx call? and that they needed to clean up their act with a legitimate number with Caller ID on it. IOW, just what you said... I don't answer to any phone numbers I don't know.
Don't you have an answering machine or voice mail? Any one legitimate can leave a message.
Sure. But I often don’t check those very often either. Usually just blank. Vast majority of outside communication now texts or email. Do use my phone for outgoing calls of course, but other than family, mostly to bank, insurance, or other businesses. Don’t have any land lines as these seemed mostly used for incoming marketing calls.
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Re: Telephone scams

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SQRT wrote: 17 Oct 2017 05:11 Sure. But I often don’t check those very often either. Usually just blank. Vast majority of outside communication now texts or email. Do use my phone for outgoing calls of course, but other than family, mostly to bank, insurance, or other businesses. Don’t have any land lines as these seemed mostly used for incoming marketing calls.
If you don't answer unless you know the party and you don't check your messages,how does someone get hold of you in an emergency? Surely you are on someone's call list as an emergency contact.
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Re: Telephone scams

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deaddog wrote: 17 Oct 2017 11:47
SQRT wrote: 17 Oct 2017 05:11 Sure. But I often don’t check those very often either. Usually just blank. Vast majority of outside communication now texts or email. Do use my phone for outgoing calls of course, but other than family, mostly to bank, insurance, or other businesses. Don’t have any land lines as these seemed mostly used for incoming marketing calls.
If you don't answer unless you know the party and you don't check your messages,how does someone get hold of you in an emergency? Surely you are on someone's call list as an emergency contact.
Yes, I know those numbers. But they have also been instructed to use email. We travel a lot and don’t always have access to cell signals. Almost always have Internet, at least at days end.
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by samd1 »

I received a phone call yesterday from someone claiming to be from Amazon, they said there was a problem with my payment details for a recent purchase I made. I use Amazon quite a lot so I thought it might be legit although I've never heard of Amazon phoning you, they usually email. So I said to the caller that I will just log into my account and sort it out from there, to which they replied 'the order is not showing up in your account yet due to maintenance on the site'. I asked them what the product was that I ordered to which the reply was 'I can't give that information out over the phone. If you give me your updated payment details I can sort the issue out for you now'. Of course, I hung up.

The thing is, imagine how many people have recently made a purchase from Amazon? I'm willing to bet a few of them will believe the story about the order not showing up in their account and just hand over their details.
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Re: Telephone scams

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samd1 wrote: 18 Oct 2017 06:22 The thing is, imagine how many people have recently made a purchase from Amazon? I'm willing to bet a few of them will believe the story about the order not showing up in their account and just hand over their details.
If people still fall for those kind of phishing attempts after a decade or more of daily stories on same, they have been asleep at the wheel. Really.....
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by SkaSka »

I actually received (a legitimate, I think) call from Amazon a couple of weeks ago.

I had placed an order for ~$2,000 camera and they called me to verify that I had made the purchase.

Of course, I was initially suspicious but when they quoted the dollar amount and the camera brand and model number, it slightly eased my concerns.

After they verified, that I had made the purchase, that was it and the call was over.

Still thought it was a bit strange.
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by OptsyEagle »

SkaSka wrote: 18 Oct 2017 12:48 I actually received (a legitimate, I think) call from Amazon a couple of weeks ago.

I had placed an order for ~$2,000 camera and they called me to verify that I had made the purchase.

Of course, I was initially suspicious but when they quoted the dollar amount and the camera brand and model number, it slightly eased my concerns.

After they verified, that I had made the purchase, that was it and the call was over.

Still thought it was a bit strange.
As long as all you said was "yes" then I wouldn't worry about it. If you made the mistake of telling them anything that you would not have told a stranger on the bus then I would be cancelling your credit card before you reply to this post.
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Re: Telephone scams

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SkaSka wrote: 18 Oct 2017 12:48 I actually received (a legitimate, I think) call from Amazon a couple of weeks ago.
Amazon might have your number but only to assist you to reset a forgotten password. A temp pw is texted to you.
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Re: Telephone scams

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No information like credit card or address was given during the phone call.

After sleuthing around, it does appear that it probably is a scam call.

I haven't noticed any abnormal activity on my credit card or on my Amazon accounts, but will be keeping a sharper look on those 2 for the next little while.
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by kcowan »

They record your YES response to use for agreeing to other scam phone offers. Never say YES to an unsolicited call!
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by AltaRed »

I agree. Never respond affirmative on anything to an unsolicited call. I would have told the caller those exact words and then say you will respond in your normal way through your own secure online links (a real call would not be offended by that caution).
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Re: Telephone scams

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SkaSka wrote: 19 Oct 2017 00:18 No information like credit card or address was given during the phone call.

After sleuthing around, it does appear that it probably is a scam call.

I haven't noticed any abnormal activity on my credit card or on my Amazon accounts, but will be keeping a sharper look on those 2 for the next little while.
I would suggest you change your Amazon Password.
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

deaddog wrote: 19 Oct 2017 11:04 I would suggest you change your Amazon Password.
Absolutely agree. Great recommendation.
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Re: Telephone scams

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Went ahead and did that last night just to be safe!
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by StuBee »

I just had an unpleasant experience.

I received a phone call at my home number. I believe it was a taped message. There was a pause at the beginning and when I spoke to it at the end, there was no response from the speaker (just a click followed by nothing). He had a non-canadian accent and claimed he represented a recovering agency mandated by CRA to recover unpaid taxes and that I was to call a phone number (that he repeated twice but that I did not note except that the area code was 289 (I googles it and it is a "overlay" area code in the Toronto-Hamilton area)).

He claimed that if I did not initiate proceedings, there would be a lean placed on my assets.

I am convinced that I owe nothing to CRA.

Has anbody experienced this? I am quite sure it is a scam.

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Re: Telephone scams

Post by Insomniac »

Oh, yeah. The old CRA scam. Been around a while that one.
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Re: Telephone scams

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StuBee wrote: 19 Dec 2017 16:15 I just had an unpleasant experience.

I received a phone call at my home number. I believe it was a taped message. There was a pause at the beginning and when I spoke to it at the end, there was no response from the speaker (just a click followed by nothing). He had a non-canadian accent and claimed he represented a recovering agency mandated by CRA to recover unpaid taxes and that I was to call a phone number (that he repeated twice but that I did not note except that the area code was 289 (I googles it and it is a "overlay" area code in the Toronto-Hamilton area)).

He claimed that if I did not initiate proceedings, there would be a lean placed on my assets.

I am convinced that I owe nothing to CRA.

Has anbody experienced this? I am quite sure it is a scam.

StuBee
On my cell number, which I do not provide to CRA, I got a taped message from "John at CRA" who, without mentioning my name at all, said that there was a suit filed against me, and an arrest warrant issued in my name. At the end, there was a request to call a number in the 647 area code (that's an overlay of the main 416 Toronto area code).

The call was repeated several times during the day.
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by AltaRed »

The CRA scam comes in many forms... both telephone and email. Must have seen 50 or more over the last few years.
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Re: Telephone scams

Post by StuBee »

Thanks Insomniac and adrian2!!

You have reassured me.

There are a few reasons why this is unlikely to be a legitimate request from CRA (or an agency mandated by CRA). First of all they did not even verify who I was nor did they mention that they wanted to speak to me (or any other tax payer in my household and associated with this number). In other words, they have no way of knowing they even spoke to the right person.

Also, it would be extremely odd that CRA would go straight to a recovering agency without trying at least once (if not several times) to have me pay overdue amounts by a more traditional way.
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