hrj: (Default)
hrj ([personal profile] hrj) wrote2009-01-09 12:04 pm
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Hmm, am I suspicious?

Got an interesting phone call (on the land line, being as I'm at home waiting for the cue to take off for Kirkwood for the ski weekend). Recorded message saying they've been trying to get ahold of me about lowering my credit card interest rate and would I press "1" to speak to an agent or press "2" to decline the offer. What the heck; pressed 1. Live person comes on the line and asks if I'm calling about the interest-lowering offer. I say, "Yes, but first I'd like to get some confirmation that you actually are my financial institution and this isn't a scam." (I have, in the mean time, realized that the recorded message never actually mentioned the name of my financial institution.) Sounds occur that might be a call being switched. Long silence. Dead line. So ... you suppose maybe it was a scam? (This is meant to be a silly rhetorical question with an obvious positive answer.) Y'all practice safe phoning out there.

All the time

[identity profile] kahnegabs.livejournal.com 2009-01-09 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
They call me all the time, and if I try to get any information about who they are, or if I try to get them to put me on their 'do not call' list, they just hang up. I suppose they like the power? Pushing 2 doesn't de a darned thing. They just keep calling!

[identity profile] wulfsdottir.livejournal.com 2009-01-09 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I wonder what would have happened if you'd said "No" in response to "Are you calling about the interest-lowering offer?"

[identity profile] blaurentnv.livejournal.com 2009-01-09 09:02 pm (UTC)(link)
If you are heading up/down route 88, wave as you go by. We're about a mile and a half off of hwy 88 now.

Have fun a Kirkwood. I suspect that "break a leg" is not the appropriate way to wish you luck there.

[identity profile] dame-cordelia.livejournal.com 2009-01-09 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
My new housemate got a call recently about the expired warranty on her car. She though it was pretty funny because she hasn't owned a car in over 10 years.

A lot of creative thinkers out there to be avoided.

[identity profile] scotica.livejournal.com 2009-01-11 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I got the car warrantee one (again) just recently. First they asked about some kind of car nobody in my family has ever owned, and when I said I didn't know what he was talking about, he switched to "jeep cherokee" -- the kind of car my dad last owned 8 or 9 years ago.

Makes me wonder how successful they are at their scam, given how bad their seed information and/or operatives are. (I mean, he started out asking about a specific kind of car, rather than waiting to see what I said my car was...)

[identity profile] goldenstag.livejournal.com 2009-01-09 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Dontcha' just love these folk? And since they don't leave any info (company name, etc.) you can't get them for calling you if you're on the "Do Not Call" list. Sigh.
Edited 2009-01-09 21:49 (UTC)
loup_noir: (Default)

[personal profile] loup_noir 2009-01-10 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
They call every day around 11:40. Twice now, I've waited on the line to talk to a shyster, and twice I've told them a) they call every day, b) we're on the do not call list (which apparently doesn't count if you're a business of any sort) and c) not interested and take us off the list. Next day, another call.
zeborah: Map of New Zealand with a zebra salient (Default)

[personal profile] zeborah 2009-01-10 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
I gather there are some nasty phone-phishing scams out there particularly in the US at the moment, and other phone scams trying to hard-sell insurance or debt amalgamation or whatever. And there are things which are legal but evil. Be careful about saying 'yes' to even the most apparently innocent question.

[identity profile] aastg.livejournal.com 2009-01-10 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
I got autodialed by those same jerks multiple times last week. IMO it's a scam, or it's near cousin, predatory lending.
madfilkentist: My cat Florestan (gray shorthair) (Default)

[personal profile] madfilkentist 2009-01-11 01:34 pm (UTC)(link)
No, that's not being suspicious. "Suspicious" is when you start wondering if the credit-card scams and the debt-collection scams are being run by the same people.
(Deleted and re-posted to fix typo)