Oh Nooooo! My Social Security Is Being Suspended

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
NOT!! But I just started getting those spam calls about two weeks ago telling me my SS would be suspended due to suspicious activity or some such nonsense. For almost a week, they were coming in every day. They are from a 205 area code (Alabama) but not the same number every time. I answered the first call because I have a cousin who lives in Alabama and she changes her phone number a lot. The AI says push 1 I pushed end call instead and just ignored the rest of the calls. Have you ever gotten these calls?
 
I get them. Also I am going to jail for various reasons. Not many now as I read that if you just don't say anything and just hang up it stops some of them. Now I don't answer if I don't recognize the #. That can be a problem if you are expecting a call from a new doc or someone else. I ask what # to expect a return call now.
 
I never answer any phone calls where the number is not in my address book. If it is important, they will leave a message and I will call back. But, yes, they leave "urgent messages" on a regular basis and send texts. Delete, delete, delete. However, the frequency of the calls and texts have slowed way down since I never answer.
 
terry123 said:
I get them. Also I am going to jail for various reasons. Not many now as I read that if you just don't say anything and just hang up it stops some of them. Now I don't answer if I don't recognize the #. That can be a problem if you are expecting a call from a new doc or someone else. I ask what # to expect a return call now.
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You're right about when expecting a call from a number you may not be familiar with. But I figure if it's important, the person will leave a message. I saw a funny (true) video about a sheriff who got a call, which she put on speaker, saying she'd be arrested if she didn't (whatever scam it was). She just let them talk for awhile and whatever she said made them hang up quick. If I remember correctly I don't think she let them know they were speaking to law enforcement though....that would have really been funny.
 
Just to be on the safe side......

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The nuisance calls we've been receiving seem to be mostly dedicated to reducing our credit card debt. I guess whoever supplies data to those hackers doesn't know that we haven't paid a nickel in interest in over 30 years, and our credit score hovers between 800 and 810. Once in awhile, I like to answer one of these robocalls, and play along with them for several minutes, eating up their time. They all seem to share a common trait....speaking English as if they are from somewhere in SE Asia.
 
Catlady said:
Just this morning I got an email that my internet provider had 18 messages that could not go through and to click the button. I deleted it and have been getting messages anyway. The email looked SO legit!
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Yes Catlady. Spammers and scammers are getting more sophisticated. Such that I never click a link that (may legitimately) be from my bank, brokerages or credit card companies I go directly to the sites to look for whatever the email is notifying me about.
 
Scam and phishing schemes via phone can mimic your area code so you think it's legitimate or someone you might know. They also try to scare people and instill a sense of need to take immediate action; I've gotten messages from the "U.S. Government" and the "Tresury Dept." When they throw out innumerable lures, they only need to successfully con a few people to drain their bank accounts and get themselves a big payday. The real government and law enforcement need to somehow locate and shut down these criminals permanently...
 
mathjak107 said:
we got a scam e-mail that looked identical to the chase website ... they wanted a password update . it was brilliantly done . the tip off though was the website was not chase.com but echase.com
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I'm careful to not click on email links, even when they look legit. I have a second layer of protection though. Even if I got fooled by a phisher, my locked password manager wouldn't. It recognizes sites and prompts me to log in, at which point the PW manager supplies individual site passwords.

I only log into my PW manager when necessary and log out when done with banking, etc. In any event, it logs out automatically after an hour or when the browser is closed.

Marlene said:
I never answer any phone calls where the number is not in my address book. If it is important, they will leave a message and I will call back. But, yes, they leave "urgent messages" on a regular basis and send texts. Delete, delete, delete. However, the frequency of the calls and texts have slowed way down since I never answer.
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Ditto. And I'm very stingy about giving out my mobile number. The ringer on my landline is turned off.
 
I was getting those kinds of phone calls just about every day, too, mostly trying to sell me a different insurance plan, or a new car windshield (neither of which I am in need of).
After upgrading my iPhone to iOS 13, they now have a spam-call protection option, and it sends any unknown calls straight to voicemail. Most of the time, this works great for me, because I seldom get unexpected calls, and all I have to do is add the number to my contacts if it does turn out to be something that I don’t want to miss a call from (like my doctor office).
If the caller leaves a voicemail, then I can listen and call them back (and add the number to contacts when needed), and if they are just a spam caller, they seldom leave a voicemail anyway.
 
They ALMOST fooled me the other night. It was an email to my husband from a financial institution that we use, saying that a phone number had been added recently. It was in the evening and my brain was a little fuzzy. I had added a phone number a few weeks ago to MY account. Since I never click through links, I logged into the account. Of course there was NO activity. They are getting better at copying legit emails from these places.
 
Duster said:
They ALMOST fooled me the other night. It was an email to my husband from a financial institution that we use, saying that a phone number had been added recently. It was in the evening and my brain was a little fuzzy. I had added a phone number a few weeks ago to MY account. Since I never click through links, I logged into the account. Of course there was NO activity. They are getting better at copying legit emails from these places.
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Good call! I always do that, no matter how legit the email looks. Every time, there was NO problem with my account when I logged on the usual way.
 
Marlene said:
I never answer any phone calls where the number is not in my address book. If it is important, they will leave a message and I will call back. But, yes, they leave "urgent messages" on a regular basis and send texts. Delete, delete, delete. However, the frequency of the calls and texts have slowed way down since I never answer.
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Ditto...

...
 
We got a call yesterday from a scammer that forgot his opening line. He said he was our oldest son not one of our grandchildren.

I played along recognizing him as Alfonso. He had the same sad story he was in jail because of a traffic accident. I asked him if he was at a wedding recption and had a few drinks. He was and the alcohol was the reason for being jailed. I asked where he was jailed & if he had a lawyer. He did but didn't have the money for bail or to pay the lawyers fee. I asked the lawyers name & where I could send the money to bail him out. He had that ready.

He sounded really happy that we were going to take care of his legal expenses. Or at least until I told him this was his 5th. time & we weren't going to help him again so he would learn his lesson.
 
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