Originally published November 6, 2019
My first post on here was about scam calls and how I handle them, but it was not very lengthy and I didn't really have too many examples to draw on. Now that I have worked at my current position for a month and a half now, I think I have built up a nice collection of phone calls that have not been for legitimate business purposes. Here are a few that stand out:
- The most obvious scam attempt
I would say the single most obvious scam attempt was a call I got a few weeks ago. There was a delay before they started speaking of course, but in that delay I could hear background noise (perhaps other scammers trying to scam other innocent individuals). I was just about to hang up, but decided to ask "Hello?" because I heard the background noise. Then someone with a bit of an accent said "Hello?" I then asked him how I could help him. He then shouted my boss's/our company president's name. Didn't ask to speak with him; just shouted his name. And not in the form of a question, either. The caller ID said "Out of Area" with no phone number attached to it, so I asked "May I ask what this call is regarding?" And he promptly hung up. This call may have been made from across the world for all I know, and it seems like this is a scam-baiting attempt where they probably call hundreds and hundreds of businesses a day, hoping to get a hold of a business owner and attempt to scam them.
- "Myron" and their frequent attempts to sell us stuff again
This isn't so much a scam, but more of a telemarketing call. In any case, it's an unwanted call. It seems like at least once a week a company named "Myron" calls and asks to speak to my CEO. They are a promotional materials company based in New Jersey. Apparently, my CEO and our company have done business with them before. From what I have gathered by doing research on their phone number, they are a company that will incessantly try to reach a business to try to reestablish a business relationship with them. I can tell by how she ignores their call that she has absolutely no desire to do business with them again, and I don't blame her. I've started ignoring their calls because I recognize their phone number (Their caller ID shows up as "Out of Area" but at least has a phone number). I may one time in the future just tell them that we're not interested. Apparently, the combination of Lisa and myself ignoring their calls may not be enough to get them to take a hint.
- The robot that could respond to what I said
This call happened just to me recently. Earlier that same day that I got the call and even the day before, I had gotten a few calls from a Florida phone number with the caller ID saying "Talada Lowell". Through some research, I actually found out this phone number belongs to a Lowell Talada that lives there in Florida. Anyway, the first few times they called, it was a silent call. However, on the 3rd or 4th time, I heard an automated voice. You know how when you call a company and you hear an automated menu? It sounded a bit like that. However, this automated voice (male, by the way) asked how I was doing. I responded, "Well, how about you?" They responded by saying "Ah bless you, I'm doing well." I just thought that was interesting. They then want on a spiel to say they represented an insurance company and were going to offer me life insurance (which I already have). This voice then asked, "So to get things started, how old are you?" Obviously I am not going to tell a strange voice over the phone my age, so I said, "I'm actually not interested, I already have life insurance." They then promptly hung up without so much as a pause. So to sum up, some poor old man's phone number was hijacked by this insurance company, and it was the strangest responsive automated voice.
- The Google Listing Scam
I have gotten a few of these, and they were all over a three day span or so. After a delay (of course), an automated female voice says, "Don't hang up". Yes, that makes it sound really legit! NOT. She then goes on to say that our business is in danger of having its listing on Google removed. She then says, "Press 1 to keep your listing", then goes on to say, "If you are the owner, press 1", so in a way she contradicts herself. Then she says, "If you'd like taken off the call list, press 7." I've tried pressing 7, but they just called back again later. I also just stayed on the line, but eventually the call disconnects. Each time they called with a Washington area phone number, usually one with area code (425), which is where we are. It seems like they have stopped calling us, but it sure was weird.
-Three automated calls in six minutes from either PSE or Corix Utilities
Also recently I got a series of phone calls from an automated voice that claimed to be Puget Sound Energy, our local power provider. However, the Caller ID said "Corix Utilities" and the area code for their number is Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They said that they'd need access to our power meter basically. After some research, I've seen many other people get calls from this number claiming to be for their local power provider (Not PSE). Honestly, I cannot figure out what their angle is. I can't figure out what they are trying to accomplish with these automated calls. Also, these calls came in quick succession, and the 2nd one came in while I was listening to the first! And it was the same number, somehow. The third one came five minutes after the 2nd one, so all three were in a total of just six minutes. All said the same thing.
- How I could pocket $10,000 every two weeks
This one was while I was out of office, but it's a fairly common one from what I've gathered. It was an automated voice that had already started its spiel when it was time to leave a message. It said to press 3 if I was to find out exactly how to start putting $10,000 or more in my pocket every 10-14 days. He finishes with press 9 and I'll never hear from him again. I love how these automated systems don't know they're leaving messages that we cannot press buttons on our phones to interact with them. By the way, his voice sounded like someone crafted a salesman's voice in a lab until it was absolutely perfectly sounded like a salesman.
My first post on here was about scam calls and how I handle them, but it was not very lengthy and I didn't really have too many examples to draw on. Now that I have worked at my current position for a month and a half now, I think I have built up a nice collection of phone calls that have not been for legitimate business purposes. Here are a few that stand out:
- The most obvious scam attempt
I would say the single most obvious scam attempt was a call I got a few weeks ago. There was a delay before they started speaking of course, but in that delay I could hear background noise (perhaps other scammers trying to scam other innocent individuals). I was just about to hang up, but decided to ask "Hello?" because I heard the background noise. Then someone with a bit of an accent said "Hello?" I then asked him how I could help him. He then shouted my boss's/our company president's name. Didn't ask to speak with him; just shouted his name. And not in the form of a question, either. The caller ID said "Out of Area" with no phone number attached to it, so I asked "May I ask what this call is regarding?" And he promptly hung up. This call may have been made from across the world for all I know, and it seems like this is a scam-baiting attempt where they probably call hundreds and hundreds of businesses a day, hoping to get a hold of a business owner and attempt to scam them.
- "Myron" and their frequent attempts to sell us stuff again
This isn't so much a scam, but more of a telemarketing call. In any case, it's an unwanted call. It seems like at least once a week a company named "Myron" calls and asks to speak to my CEO. They are a promotional materials company based in New Jersey. Apparently, my CEO and our company have done business with them before. From what I have gathered by doing research on their phone number, they are a company that will incessantly try to reach a business to try to reestablish a business relationship with them. I can tell by how she ignores their call that she has absolutely no desire to do business with them again, and I don't blame her. I've started ignoring their calls because I recognize their phone number (Their caller ID shows up as "Out of Area" but at least has a phone number). I may one time in the future just tell them that we're not interested. Apparently, the combination of Lisa and myself ignoring their calls may not be enough to get them to take a hint.
- The robot that could respond to what I said
This call happened just to me recently. Earlier that same day that I got the call and even the day before, I had gotten a few calls from a Florida phone number with the caller ID saying "Talada Lowell". Through some research, I actually found out this phone number belongs to a Lowell Talada that lives there in Florida. Anyway, the first few times they called, it was a silent call. However, on the 3rd or 4th time, I heard an automated voice. You know how when you call a company and you hear an automated menu? It sounded a bit like that. However, this automated voice (male, by the way) asked how I was doing. I responded, "Well, how about you?" They responded by saying "Ah bless you, I'm doing well." I just thought that was interesting. They then want on a spiel to say they represented an insurance company and were going to offer me life insurance (which I already have). This voice then asked, "So to get things started, how old are you?" Obviously I am not going to tell a strange voice over the phone my age, so I said, "I'm actually not interested, I already have life insurance." They then promptly hung up without so much as a pause. So to sum up, some poor old man's phone number was hijacked by this insurance company, and it was the strangest responsive automated voice.
- The Google Listing Scam
I have gotten a few of these, and they were all over a three day span or so. After a delay (of course), an automated female voice says, "Don't hang up". Yes, that makes it sound really legit! NOT. She then goes on to say that our business is in danger of having its listing on Google removed. She then says, "Press 1 to keep your listing", then goes on to say, "If you are the owner, press 1", so in a way she contradicts herself. Then she says, "If you'd like taken off the call list, press 7." I've tried pressing 7, but they just called back again later. I also just stayed on the line, but eventually the call disconnects. Each time they called with a Washington area phone number, usually one with area code (425), which is where we are. It seems like they have stopped calling us, but it sure was weird.
-Three automated calls in six minutes from either PSE or Corix Utilities
Also recently I got a series of phone calls from an automated voice that claimed to be Puget Sound Energy, our local power provider. However, the Caller ID said "Corix Utilities" and the area code for their number is Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They said that they'd need access to our power meter basically. After some research, I've seen many other people get calls from this number claiming to be for their local power provider (Not PSE). Honestly, I cannot figure out what their angle is. I can't figure out what they are trying to accomplish with these automated calls. Also, these calls came in quick succession, and the 2nd one came in while I was listening to the first! And it was the same number, somehow. The third one came five minutes after the 2nd one, so all three were in a total of just six minutes. All said the same thing.
- How I could pocket $10,000 every two weeks
This one was while I was out of office, but it's a fairly common one from what I've gathered. It was an automated voice that had already started its spiel when it was time to leave a message. It said to press 3 if I was to find out exactly how to start putting $10,000 or more in my pocket every 10-14 days. He finishes with press 9 and I'll never hear from him again. I love how these automated systems don't know they're leaving messages that we cannot press buttons on our phones to interact with them. By the way, his voice sounded like someone crafted a salesman's voice in a lab until it was absolutely perfectly sounded like a salesman.
There have been quite a few others not as memorable, most of them being silent calls. I'd say about 2/3 of all scam/spam calls are just silent calls. Sometimes the line disconnects before I can even finish my greeting. I think there are some phone systems out there that are programmed to hang up unless they hear the word "Hello". That is the standard greeting for when an individual answers a phone, but not a business. And individuals are much more susceptible to getting scammed than businesses (or people at work, for that matter).
