Unknown Phone Numbers

Jules said:
Do you call them back when you see them on call display?

A local discussion group had numerous complaints of someone unknown answering the phone when they redialled. Even before spoofing was common, I never called back an unknown number.

Years ago I accidentally dialled a number and hung up when I realized it. A couple of hours later I went through an inquisition from the woman who I had mistakenly called.
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I did the same thing and the woman kept calling me and hanging up!
 

I generally answer my phone if I can... I only call back missed calls if they left a message...
I a few robocalls a month and hang up....
but if its a live person... and I have a minute.... HANG ON!!!!! let the fun begin...
Once while responding to a call, Had the lady on the line convinced I was arrested and on my way to jail...siren in the background.
My all time favorite was a lady calls and I say
"hello"
"I'm sorry but I have the wrong number"
"Are your sure?"
"Well you dont sound like my daughter"
"Well Mom.... There's something I need to tell you"
We ended up chatting for about 20 minutes after the laughing died down.
 
Lately we have been getting Unknown and Private Number (??)..We let them go to voice mail if they really want us..
 

My phone number had once been issued to a craft store. I kept getting calls asking if I had candle wax. That waxed old pretty quickly, I'll tell 'ya! I won't answer calls from unknown numbers, and have blocked over 200 telemarketer numbers, although they simply switch to another line...
 
horseless carriage said:
You make a valid point there Marg, but telecom providers can only do so much. For example, I saw one of those investigative TV shows recently. They traced scam callers to the UK back to India. What the crooks were doing was somehow dialling through some device that gave a UK number to the receiver.

You might wonder where these odious individuals get our information, fact is, we give most of it away, quite freely, not just on social media sites but on simple things like on line purchases. When you buy on line you have to give an email address, ever wondered why?

The way to deal with it is to believe nothing. Recently I had a letter from my credit card company asking me to call them most urgently because they believed that my card had been compromised. Being suspicious, instead of calling any of the numbers given in the letter I called the number that's on my card and asked the customer services if they had sent me a letter. It turned out to be true. They told me the problem, cancelled my card and issued me with a new one. But it could so easily have been a scam.

Admission time, that finger dial phone was issued to me at my first address back in 1968, I bought it from the phone company, after privatisation for the princely sum of one pound. It still works but like everyone has said, it's important to know the incoming call and to that end the old phone is linked to a modern one. There's another good reason to have a modern handset, finger dials are useless for voice menus. When asked to press one for the money, two for the show, doing that with finger dial just cuts you off.
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Great post, Horseless.

I absolutely live by your advice and adage, by not believing a thing until I know for sure.

We had a similar experience where a 1-800 call came into our home, and it was our bank claiming that dear husbands ATM card had been compromised, and to change the pin # at the first available opportunity.

We called Customer Service right away, and sure enough the pin # had somehow been compromised, so a pin # change was done, and problem solved.

We've also started answering suspicious calls with "hello", and then letting the other party carry the conversation forward, and we don't respond to anything with a "yes".

Pathetic that it's come to that as a paying customer.

P.S. Love that 1968 rotary telephone of yours! :love:
 
Sometimes there are legitimate callers who block their numbers. Our doctor doesn’t display his name. We ignored the call unfortunately. He left a message but we really needed to talk to him.

My phone has Do Not Disturb set until 8:20. If I had insomnia, I sure don’t wanted to be wakened by a Robo call. See I missed a call at 7:05. There’ve even been some at 6 AM. I won’t call back, even if it’s local.
 
My landline is an unknown number, and I’m ex directory.....
 


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