Scams today...

[Tin Pot]

...aren't always the well thought through, specific, personalised deceptions, professionally designed to garner money from the unsuspecting:

Thief: Hi is that Mr Pot?
TP: Hi, who's calling?
Thief: I'm calling from NE ltd. From our database I see you may have had some credit in the last twenty years, and you're due a refund.
TP: "Any" Ltd..?
Thief: Yes.
TP: "Some credit in the last 20yrs", that's a bit vague isn't it?
Thief: Yes, could be a loan or a mortgage or something.
TP: "May have"? What information exactly do you have on me?
Thief: Well, that's what the database says.
TP: You haven't thought this one through have you?
Thief: <carrier tone>


To cap it all, caller ID showed me his name and number:

01526 563581
Martin

What would we do if they were smart?

 

[screenman]

Same area code as myself, I do not recognise the next 3 numbers though which normally helps us pin it down closer. Martin is an area, or in this case a village.

 

[Tin Pot]

Same are code as myself, I do not recognise the next 3 numbers though which normally helps us pin it down closer. Martin is an area, or in this case a village.

Ahah! iPhones scan for references to put names to numbers, so I often get names even when I have no Contact set up.

 

[SD1]

I think I had one yesterday. They (3 different people) all with thick indian accents but phone says ringing from Cardiff. Something about not wanting to sell me something and living???. They stuck at it but I am a little deaf, it was blowing a gale and there was shotguns going off all round me. Suspect they will get back to me

 

[Brandane]

01526 563581

How can we use this number so that he gets inundated with nuisance calls himself?
Use it on insurance comparison sites when looking for fictitious quotes? That's a bit tame, but it's early in the morning!

 

[vickster]

Pass the number into other well known scam sites

You can't kid a kidder, but you can scam a scammer

 

[Thomk]

How can we use this number so that he gets inundated with nuisance calls himself?
Use it on insurance comparison sites when looking for fictitious quotes? That's a bit tame, but it's early in the morning!

I suspect Tin Pot has somehow got hold of @User phone number.

Anyway, that aside, how CAN we we use this number so that he gets inundated with nuisance calls himself?

 

[Brandane]

I suspect Tin Pot has somehow got hold of @User phone number.

So it's like a phone-in version of Encyclopaedia Brittanica* then?

*For younger readers, Encyclopaedias were things we had before Google** was invented.

**For older readers, Google is the place where User gets his information; and a lot of mis-information too.

 

[DaveReading]

How can we use this number so that he gets inundated with nuisance calls himself?

Or just call it (withholding your number). If it answers, say something like "Sorry to bother you, I was just checking whether this number takes incoming calls".

 

[TVC]

The sensible answer to the OP is to pass the details onto your service provider and let them deal with it

 

[Tin Pot]

The sensible answer to the OP is to pass the details onto your service provider and let them deal with it

...If only the OP had posed such a question.

 

[Tin Pot]

Or just call it (withholding your number). If it answers, say something like "Sorry to bother you, I was just checking whether this number takes incoming calls".

"Hi, my database tells me you are due a refund!"

 

[Tin Pot]

How can we use this number so that he gets inundated with nuisance calls himself?
Use it on insurance comparison sites when looking for fictitious quotes? That's a bit tame, but it's early in the morning!

Although I am not crediting this particular schemer, it is perfectly possible to send a false number through on CallerID.

Retributive, or vigilante, action isn't something I'd recommend

 

[Brandane]

Retributive, or vigilante, action isn't something I'd recommend

No, no, of course not! It's not something I would ever do myself .

 

[SD1]

I think I had one yesterday. They (3 different people) all with thick indian accents but phone says ringing from Cardiff. Something about not wanting to sell me something and living???. They stuck at it but I am a little deaf, it was blowing a gale and there was shotguns going off all round me. Suspect they will get back to me

Rung again while I was in the shower. Hope they don't give up, I am beginning to get interested in their scheme.... or may be they don't want to con me...... I will be so disappointed!