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2 spoof calls in a row.

(19 Posts)
stree Tue 11-Dec-18 11:17:46

On my mobile.
First, very poor line, lady who sounded Chinese. Who knew my surname.

"Hello, is that Mr *

Who wants to know?

"I am calling from ( undecipherable) and your computer has big problem, we can fix now"

Oh No! I was wondering about that, with all the smoke, not usually that much.

"Can you be seated at front of you?"

I`ll try....is it dangerous?

"we can sort this quick, we help with simple do as I say"

It`s OK, I have sorted it.

"Wha` you mean?"

I put it in a bucket of water like you said.

"Why you do dat?? in water?

You told me to. Now the plug on the wall is on fire.

"You should not do this I not say do this"

Can I speak to your supervisor?

Call ended. Not sure why.

Next call, same again, asking for me by name.

I am the butler, I will just get him, he is on the roof getting a ball.
Pause.
Hello?
" Mr ***?

Yes?

"are you the vodafone account holder?"

I`m sure Vodafone has more than one account holder, but I am an account holder, why?

"I am pleased to tell you you are eligible for our special business rates promotion!"

Even my sort of business??

"What business is that? I am sure we have a package for you"

I have a business that specialises in tracing cold callers and forwarding the database to the appropriate authorities.

Call ended.

Never say bye bye properly these people.

gillybob Tue 11-Dec-18 11:19:30

Brilliant stree grin

Karanlouise Tue 11-Dec-18 11:28:15

Made me grin Stree

Anja Tue 11-Dec-18 11:36:39

Loved that!

I’m another who likes to wind these scam merchants up if I’m in the right frame of mind, but yours are especially creative ?

Anniebach Tue 11-Dec-18 11:47:11

If I get a call about my phone provider I just say ‘ I haven’t a phone’

Nonnie Tue 11-Dec-18 12:21:10

That's two more to add to my repertoire although 'butler' is not so different to my 'housekeeper'

MawBroon Tue 11-Dec-18 12:29:02

Well done!
I have just had a very (nearly) convincing email purporting to be from Apple regarding my ID and password and telling me that my payment card has expired.
I say convincing because the expiry of the card is possible, it was Paws so I cut it up when he died but didnt look at the expiry date. Also the “big” computer is currently with Apple for a new hard drive.
Fortunately something about the language alerted me, too many mistakes, too vague, clumsy wording so I just forwarded it to Apple scam checking and deleted it.
Made me uneasy though. I will ask them about it at the store when I go to pick it up tomorrow.
So easy to be taken in.

goose1964 Tue 11-Dec-18 12:36:30

we have sky shield and that stops these calls . Apparently the longer you keep the caller on the line the more likely you are to get repeat calls as they have lists which indicate the length of calls and the longer calls indicate you may be more likely to fall for the scam.

When we used to get these I would say would you like to speak to my son he works for the fraud department of the police, another quick call ender

MiniMoon Tue 11-Dec-18 16:04:46

I'm always very polite, but refuse to answer any questions. I say "thank you, goodbye", and press my big red button (call blocker) so that they can't call again.

janeainsworth Tue 11-Dec-18 16:38:30

I had one this afternoon. Foreign-sounding voice purporting to come from BT. Apparently my internet is going to be cut off tomorrow, so that might silence me on Gransnet for a while grin

EllanVannin Wed 12-Dec-18 10:04:56

Brilliant stree.
I think I scared my callers last year when I uttered two words, the last being " off ".

Teacheranne Wed 12-Dec-18 10:40:18

The sad thing about these spoof calls is that some people fall for them. My Mum, with Alzheimer's, will give out her bank card details to anyone with a convincing manner and I have had to cancel a couple of direct debits from scammers. Now that I have scratched off the numbers on the back of her debit card, the scammers cannot use her card but it does make me cross that we have to do such things to stop these criminals.

harrigran Wed 12-Dec-18 19:57:10

I had one two days ago telling me I had some dangerous downloads and malware on my computer, he told me to switch on the computer and give him the information he needs to correct it. I told him that would be very clever considering I don't have a computer.
DH is not as polite he tells them they are not working for BT, they are Indian/ Nigerian/ Russian criminals and to get off the line.

Jane10 Wed 12-Dec-18 22:53:44

They only get through to me once. After any unwanted calls I dial 1572 and press 1 to block that number. That's on a BT land-line.

Bathsheba Wed 12-Dec-18 23:24:38

I don't get any of these calls nowadays, as I have a BT phone which intercepts any caller not in my address book and asks them to announce who they are. I then get this announcement when I answer and have to press 1 to accept the call or 2 to reject it. Simples!
I do miss the fun I used to have with them though ?

Grandma2213 Thu 13-Dec-18 01:10:30

stree That is brilliant I wish I could be so creative without time to prepare. My best one consisted of telling someone who wanted to clean my carpets to bring up the pile as if it was new that if they could find any pile they were welcome!

I've also tried, 'Hello is there anybody there?' repeated response, pretending to be deaf but once got a mouthful of abusive language in response!

Anniebach I love the ' I haven't a phone' answer.

Mostly I do not answer unknown numbers (unless I am expecting a call) but maybe it could be quite entertaining!

EllanVannin Thu 13-Dec-18 10:07:33

My phone lights up the callers number and any I don't recognise,I don't answer,or just lift it up off its bed and replace to cut out the call.

harrigran Sat 15-Dec-18 11:44:35

Just had a call telling me that the warranty/insurance on my washing machine will expire tomorrow and should renew now. It was a bad line and had to ask him to repeat everything, I asked him to hang on while I asked DH but when he heard DH say there was no warranty he ended the call immediately. The number was one similar to several scam calls and I think this was an attempt at getting my credit card details.

Floradora9 Sat 15-Dec-18 22:33:55

We got a BT phone that screens every call . If the caller is not on our friends list they have to give their name and we then decide whether to answer or not . In 6 months we have not had one spam call .You can put a caller on the accepted list when they call so they do not have to be screened the next time they call and you can put a caller straight to the answering machine . I have done a 1471 and looked up numbers who did not get through and they were all spam calls.