Don't Get Mad - Get Even

[Tyghress]

I am SOOOO mad, so I've decided to get even instead.

First let me say that my phone numbers are on the National 'do not call' list, but I'm the victim of a phone scam that is driving me to drink.

4-5 times a day I get a call 'unknown name' and 'unknown number'. (Okay, I've already had to get up and check the phone to get this info). If I answer it I get that 'Hello? please call 1-800-469-0136 for an important message'. If I DON'T answer it, it comes on my answering machine.

If you call the number, you get an Indian call center that says it has important personal information, and claims that you owe money. They will not remove the number from their list. They want you to pay up (provide personal info...etc).

The phone company will charge me $3 for call blocking. The 'annoyance call center' says they will not pursue a collections call as harassment. My local attorney general said it isn't something the state can pursue.

So I'm stuck with this !@#$%^&*( call.
And so I ask for your help. As often as you can, please call the number above. Please give that number to anyone who might want to use it. Please ask your neighbors to call that number. When you're lying awake at night with nothing to do, please give that wonderful Indian call center a ringy-dingy and tell 'em Tyg sent you.

Thanks for your cooperation.
Tyg

[Jack]

No, DON'T call that number, because then they'll have your number, too.

Sorry.

[fearfaoin]

I've also heard that outside the country, they can charge you for the
call, even if it's an 800 number. I'd check your phone bill, Tyg.

[chrisoff]

Automated messages cold calling tend to result in hefty phone bills if you call them back or push touch tone buttons when they ask you to. Don't call them back.

[I.D.10-t]

It sounds more like a phishing scam.

Some comments here
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-800-469-0136
http://whocalled.us/lookup/8004690136

It looks like they claim to be a collection agency called Worldzen Holdings Limited.

[Tyghress]

Upwards of 4 calls A DAY I get from them. Yes, phishing, no question about that. No, 800 numbers can't get billed to you.

Email is one thing, I can ignore email as much as I'd like, but phone calls I cannot simply ignore. I hate that they're making me screen 100% of my calls, and that the phone company won't consider it a crank call because they CLAIM that they're a collection agency. This is so bogus I'm spitting mad. Why should I pay a cent to have them blocked?

What if this call came to an elderly relative of yours? EVERY DAY 4 times a day? And the phone company wouldn't do anything about it? And the FCC forwards you to a 'leave your number and we'll call back (they haven't), and the state DPUC says there is nothing they can do?

[djm]

I try to be handy to a phone all day for work purposes, so when I see unknown name and/or unknown number come up on the phone I quickly pick up and then drop the receiver again. This prevents them from leaving a message. If I do this a number of times in a row most automated calling machines will give up and treat me like a disconnected number and drop me from the call list.

Human callers are much stupider than the machines and keep calling even though I drop them every time. It can take a human caller up to a week to come to the realisation that I am not going to answer their call, nor am I going to let them leave a message. Eventually they give up.

On my Call Answer (not a personal answering machine - the service offered by the phone company), I can speed through a message I don't want to listen to by repeatedly pressing 3 to fast forward, and then delete the offensive message.

They may be annoying, but I am much better at being annoying and have had much practise. I can outlast a mere telemarketer by leaps and bounds.

djm

[fearfaoin]

No, 800 numbers can't get billed to you.

Within the US, they can't, but internationally they might get away
with it. This happened to my cousin who was given an 800 number
to dispute some charge, and was charged for the 800 call, which
ended up in the Caribbean somewhere.

http://www.bbbsilicon.org/topic110.html

[Scott McCallister]

If you actually get a live body on the phone, try these 7 little words.

"I'm sorry, but I speak no English."

Say it clearly and hang up.

On the flip side, given the number of low paying somewhat technical jobs that have gone overseas, if it is say, a collection agency, it could be a pretty simple (albeit irritating) reason for their calls. Even if you have never missed a payment in your life.

Example:
James Brown(1) in Zip Code 80206 owes a credit card debt that has gone to collection. He has moved out of the state and has not left forwarding information and because of the nasty phone calls from the credit card company prior to it being sent to India he hasn't let the creditor know he has moved.

The account goes to collection.

Indian collection company calls the last known number for James Brown(1) and get the disconnected beeps so they run routine skip tracing techniques and find James Brown(2) in the area. Now they are calling him. The longer they pursue it the further down in the notes section of their collection file goes the record of their skip tracing efforts. After a bit, the most recent information on the file is a bunch of unreturned calls from James Brown (2) and now they don't even know they have the wrong guy.

Worse than that, a flunky at a credit reporting bureau, doesn't get complete information from a credit issuer for an account that has gone to collection so they just tack it on James Brown(2) in 80206.

The collection agency runs a credit report and finds their account on James Brown(2). Again wrong guy, and often times it takes a couple of conversations to get this squared away

It is not necessary at all to have access to a Social Security number in order to access or append a persons credit report. If this is what is happening then your credit could be in jeopardy (temporarily) even if you are not the person who legally owes the bill.

You may do well to get to the bottom of this.

Or it could just be a phishing scam.

[Bloomfield]

Complain to the FTC.

[chas]

I was getting 2-3 calls a day from someone claiming to be something-or-other mortgage. The first question was always "Do you have a mortgage?" I'd point out that I was on the do not call list, please take me off your list, and they'd promise to take me off the list. Two hours later another call. After a half-dozen calls, I started asking for a supervisor each time. They'd "transfer" me to a supervisor, at which point the call would be dropped. Or they'd put me on hold and tell me the supervisor was in a meeting (this happened upwards of a dozen times). I looked for this company, tried the callback feature (out of area), and a gazillion other things. They started calling themselves something-or-other-else mortgage, but I still recognized the voices. I started reporting it to the Do-Not-Call database every single time they called. It's tapered off. After a couple of months of this, it trailed off to a few a week under a third name, and I think the other day was the first time in a couple of weeks.

I hate them.

[anniemcu]

Perhaps it might be more effective to give a 'canned horn' blast into the mouthpiece each time you answer *their* call. Hey, you've got whistles, right?

[Wombat]

Perhaps it might be more effective to give a 'canned horn' blast into the mouthpiece each time you answer *their* call. Hey, you've got whistles, right?

It's what the Generation high G was made for. Go straight for the third octave.

[buddhu]

With sales calls I either:

* pretend to be a crazy person and talk nonsense until they hang up (they rarely call back)

* say "can you hold the line please" then go for a walk, watch TV or clean the car or something. Never had anyone wait more than about 10 minutes.

It deters some and gives me a measure of childish revenge on the others.

[avanutria]

I wonder if the phone company would block it if you claimed the caller was being abusive?