I keep getting calls from a credit management agency

Do they ever call at inappropriate hours, like very early in the morning or at night? Or are they just day pests?
 

If you ever talk to someone you don't have in your Contacts List, just don't talk, but if you do and they ask you if you can hear them okay, don't say "YES". Hang up. Or at least say "NO"...and then hang up. They record your "YES" and use it in nefarious ways to get money.

It happened to me once and it happened so quickly I almost said yes but caught myself in time.
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I get several texts every day, supposedly about how one of the two major political parties is threatening to take over the country if I don't contribute to their fund. They always call me Deborah (which is not my name), and say they are from either party, about 50% of the time from each. Sometimes they are Donald Trump, sometimes they claim to be his son. They also claim to be Democrats.

I can't block these annoying texts, as the phone number they are using is different every time. Often it's my own area code, a well-known trick of scammers. All I can do is ignore them and delete their messages.

I don't think these messages are really coming from either political party. I think they are "phishing." If I answer, (click on their link) they'll probably ask for my SS number or a bank id, or maybe a password. If it wasn't so annoying, it would actually be funny, as they're getting very creative about the reasons this country is in grave danger unless I send them a donation. But I suspect they are not even really after my little "donation." They want my passwords.

The messages sound like A-I, so even if I wanted to talk to them and tell them to get lost, there's probably no person there.

There's probably no way to report them to anybody, as they're probably using some kind of throwaway phones. Or they may be from another country, But I bet plenty of poor souls get taken in. This kind of stuff is usually aimed at the elderly.
 
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Lara said:
If you ever talk to someone you don't have in your Contacts List, just don't talk, but if you do and they ask you if you can hear them okay, don't say "YES". Hang up. Or at least say "NO"...and then hang up. They record your "YES" and use it in nefarious ways to get money.

It happened to me once and it happened so quickly I almost said yes but caught myself in time.
`
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If I ever do pick up, I answer with "Who is this?" They usually hang up, or give me a phony credit company or something. Then I just hang up.

But I wonder how that "Yes" thing works. I've read about it often online, but never saw a news article or anything about it. Can a bank really take money out of your account just because somebody said, "Yes?" Sounds a little doubtful to me.

But I don't take any chances anyway.
 
Our landline has a "potential spam" feature similar to our Android cellphones. I don't pay any attention to the landline phone at all, and very little attention to the garbage calls & texts on my cellphone.
 
Sunny said:
But I wonder how that "Yes" thing works. I've read about it often online, but never saw a news article or anything about it. Can a bank really take money out of your account just because somebody said, "Yes?" Sounds a little doubtful to me.
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I've read that it's mostly an urban legend and there's been zero documented cases of anyone's accounts being hacked or credit cards being charged. Even the BBB acknowledges they've heard of no instances of fraud due to this, but they themselves nevertheless continue to warn people. No idea why. ❓❓❓
 
StarSong said:
I've read that it's mostly an urban legend and there's been zero documented cases of anyone's accounts being hacked or credit cards being charged. Even the BBB acknowledges they've heard of no instances of fraud due to this, but they themselves nevertheless continue to warn people. No idea why. ❓❓❓
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Probably because some crook will finally manage to do it, in some form or another.
 
Pepper said:
I get almost no spam on my cell phone. Maybe once, possibly twice, a year. My landline is getting less and less as for awhile I would curse them like crazy, and they seem to be giving up. My curses are not for sissies.
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Me too. Having said that just yesterday I had someone pretend they were affiliated with Canada Post and warn me that some part of my account was missing and my package can’t be deliver. It was a text on my phone.
I know Canada Post never uses text messages plus I didn’t have any packages waiting to be picked up. I deleted the text right away and reported it as spam. Having said that, it’s the only incidence I’ve had with my phone since getting it. Touch wood.
 
Pepper said:
So, I guess there is no 'statute of limitations' on debt? Only bankruptcy? There should be.

eta
@ohioboy?
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Sorry, just saw this. Every state has a limitations of action, criminal and civil. For example, in Ohio, the SOL to collect a credit card debt is 6 years. Other statutory provisions exist too for certain debts.

I'm not sure what the comment on bankruptcy means though.
 
I haven't received a call from Midland Credit Management in a while, but am still getting suspicious calls, at least once a day except Sundays and holidays. Some caller IDs say Comenity Bank and others are miscellaneous numbers form all over judging by the area codes. No caller ID web site recognizes these as legit phone numbers.
 
debodun said:
At least one every weekday. I haven't answered yet since I looked them up online and they are a debt collection agency. Some sites say they are legit and some say it's a scam. I don't have any debts of which I'm aware, I don't even have a credit card and pay all other debts by check or ACH. Seems to me I would have been contacted by mail.
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We only use cell phones, and abandoned our landline years ago. We also use a spam blocker or screening app. One layer of security is that calls from numbers in our contact list come through, and all others allow us to screen who we speak with. If we decline a call it goes into a blocked number file. You do need to maintain your contact list to avoid missing calls from new numbers you do want to accept. This has caused my an occasional issue when a person would attempt to call from a number other than the one on our contacts but we get fewer spam calls as well.
 
I don't like to use a blanket call blocker. My service has that option, but only allows 10 phone numbers to be approved. I'd probably have to allow at least 30 numbers - relatives, doctors, libraries, civic groups and some I can't think of at the moment.
 

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