I hate when police or firemen call for charity or donations... it feels like an extra pressure...
But I just say " I don't donate over the phone..too many scammers"

Or I don't answer....

I know......but seeing "Police SWAT" in the caller ID sort of alarmed me. With oldest DS being a former policeman I still have that "reaction" in me when I see something like that. I do hate the pressure I feel, too, when they call but they don't have anything to do with the local law enforcement......so I don't feel too bad.

I remember in the 90's, when living in LA, hearing stories about scammers targeting elderly people on the phone for money. Apparently they were calling from what were known as "Nevada boiler rooms" - something to do with the laws there making it easier for them to escape prosecution.

Eventually we started getting calls where I lived and at the time I was between contracts and at home a lot so I would engage the callers in conversation, pretending to be somewhat dumb, to string them along for about 20-30 minutes. At the end I would just bluntly say "I know your call is a scam but I've just stopped you from targeting several other vulnerable people". And then I'd hang up. They stopped calling after a while.

Recently I've been getting calls from the Nigerian computer scammers pretending to be from Microsoft saying there is a problem on my computer and they want passwords etc for remote access, (this has been well publicized here in NZ). I either do the above or better still because I don't get a lot of calls normally on my landline, if I suspect it might be a scammer, when I pick up the phone I'll say "Good Morning, Microsoft New Zealand, How may I direct your call" The response is usually a moment's stunned silence then a hang up.

That's pretty funny. Those scammers will fall for anything.

Lol! Funny!

This one just does not stop. The calls had kept coming in, no matter what. Very bold approaches and will not stop if asked to stop and will not stop if called out as a "scam."

They try to comfort the person they are scamming by saying things like, "Your children are not giving you the best advice. I don't want any money. I want you to know your computer is broadcasting your private information to the internet. I can help you to stop the privacy breach." I'd get on the phone with them and confront them, instruct them to never call again. They had continued to call anyway.

I had instructed my mother to then tell them their information must be wrong, as she does not have a computer.
That seems to have taken her number off their list.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Vehicle Service Centers Set Monthly Profit Quotas to be Met at Your Expense? Is this happening in your neighborhood?


The scam attempt which seemed most betraying of trust, so far this year:

My parents have been doing all of their vehicle business with a particular dealership for 25 years. They purchase (no lease) vehicles quite often. After my stepdad had passed, the dealership had tried to take advantage of my mother.

She took her vehicle in for an inspection, as required periodically by law. Due to her ongoing loyalty, according to policy, her inspection should have been free. The service department does her ongoing vehicle maintenance; thus it would be unusual for the vehicle to suddenly need major work.

Suddenly, they were claiming the vehicle was unsafe and would not be allowed to leave their service station without almost $900.00 worth of work.

My mother had called me because she needed a ride home from the dealership.
I had asked about the nature of the work and could easily see, on the internet, the job would not cost as much as they had proposed, if it needed to be done at all. I could additionally see the nature of the issue would not be likely one of a vehicle being suddenly "unsafe to drive."

I had advised her to obtain a detailed estimate of the work needed, all parts, labor, etc. She had some time left before her inspection sticker was void, so I told her to obtain the estimate and leave with her vehicle, despite whatever they were telling her.

Since they had not yet removed the inspection sticker, she could easily (and legally) leave their dealership.

The dealership/service center had continued to tell her she could not leave with her vehicle, due to safety issues which needed repair. My husband called the service writer, requesting a detailed explanation of the proposed repair -- the service writer did not want to talk with him and, suddenly, my mother's vehicle was fine to drive. She was then told she could drive her car; however, she needed to have the job done within a few days. She then left the dealership with their "detailed estimate," which had been changed by them (after DH's phone call to them) to simply a total dollar estimate for job completion. (All previously written job estimate details had been removed from the original estimate shown to my mother. The service writer knew enough to not allow the details of the proposed repair scam out of his possession before the job was completed.)

My mother was very concerned her vehicle was "unsafe" to drive. The service center had tapped into fear as a part of their scam tactic. Safety is a legitimate concern, of course. It was important to obtain other opinions and to also get her vehicle inspection done before the deadline, as required by law.

We took the vehicle to two other service stations. Neither service center could find any reason to do the work proposed and passed the vehicle for inspection without any reservation, at all. One large service center had 3 different certified mechanics look over the vehicle, independently. All three at that service center and the one at a second service center could not find one thing wrong with the vehicle.
They all made written statements accordingly.

My mother was very hurt to have this experience after having shown many years of ongoing loyalty to the service center at her (now formerly favorite) dealership.

This practice by major dealerships, we are told, is not unusual --

My BIL was a service writer for a major vehicle dealership in another large state. He had told us he had to resign, as he was told he had to write up repair jobs totaling a certain figure for each month, whether or not the vehicles coming through needed the repairs or not. He could not live with ripping people off in order to meet those monthly quotas. He had reported these types of requirements for service writers to meet monthly quotas are not unusual in service centers of major dealerships throughout the country.

My mother, as an elderly person (and a widow) feels "unsafe," in the sense that she feels she needs me or my DH with her to protect her best interests.
This shook her confidence in a major way.

It's sad for the people being "targeted" by the scam artists.

As Jo*Mar has mentioned, approach by phone and email...and I will add... in everyday life, in our own neighborhoods (some of the people/businesses we least expect/suspect).

Luckily, we all have some well-meaning, honest, sincere people in our lives.

I appreciate the experiences and knowledge everyone has shared in this thread.

Warmly,
DejaVu

I can't find the phone number now, but there is federal agency where you can put your number on the federal 'do not call' registry. Doesn't stop them. but does cut the number.

Aren't these a pain???

https://www.donotcall.gov/