I was gonna make a post in boolshit but this could be an interesting discussion. What are the weirdest scam calls you've gotten?

I just had a wild one but I'll post about it later

I’ve only had mild ones from memory

But a few years ago I got a wrong number call and the person left a voicemail and said something like..

“Hey John, just got to the lake house. Can’t wait til you get here. I’m standing on the edge of the lake now with the sand between my toes, etc” and she proceeded to get VERY sensual with her descriptions and her longing for John to arrive

I don't answer my phone unless I have the number saved in my contacts, or its a local number (my cellphone number is from another state), so I don't have any good stories.

However, my grandmother was scammed out of somewhere between $5-10k (I can't seem to get a final number from my mom), so there goes that part of my inheritance. Guess no more $5 bills in birthday cards for me!

Only SMS pretending to be a bank (most times where I don't even have an account) saying I won something or I have debts.

For the best scam phone call story, listen to part 1 and 2 of this pod. It’s worth it

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/6nh3wk

I once got a call from someone who sounded very Indian (Asian Indian not Native American Indian) and there were very audible voiced of KIDS CRYING IN THE BACKGROUND. He said he was from the IRS and was calling me about a police case being filed against me by the IRS. I remember actually laughing at it on call to him and him asking me why I'm laughing at which point I hung up because I didn't want to call him a stupid idiot.

Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual people calling from "Windows" to tell me I have viruses and they need to get me to go to my computer. Or yes, always the robotic voice messages telling me if I ignore the message, the police will come and I'll be "rested". Or someone made charges to your credit card but never any details. That kind of stuff.

One time though, someone called telling me I won a raffle prize and wanted to schedule a time to drop it off, which I don't remember putting in for, and I asked what was the name on the winning ticket or whatever and she's like, "it just says 'Mr.'. And I laughed because it was so obviously a ploy of some kind. Apparently when I googled the number afterwards, people were saying they just want to get into your house or whatever to test the air quality or something like that to try to sell you something.

Sometimes when I answer the phone and it's some cold caller or potential scam, I'll just go quiet for a bit like there's something wrong with the phone, until they hang up. Then I don't have to do it to them. lol

But I usually just don't answer it if I don't recognize the number.

I don't have any weird stories, but I've received scam calls from indian guys who pretend they work for Microsoft and wanted me to download and install stuff on my dad's computer. I was pretty young at the time so not all alarm bells went off, but thankfully nothing happened.

Two red flags.

- They sounded very indian but had stereotypical american names.
- Why would americans from Microsoft call people in Sweden for maintenance and security etc???

I always get the air duct cleaners

When it comes time to give my address I usually give them the police station or the police headquarters and after some time they hang up.

I also get the CRA scam where they tell me I owe government money and will be subjected to fines, or worse imprisonment.

All these callers spoof of regular local numbers.

Those cruise vacation ones are quite fun to listen too as well.

Mostly I get Chinese robocalls targeting Chinese immigrants or immigration scam mothers who probably don't speak any english. It happens so frequently I don't normally answer the phone anymore, but it goes to voicemail.

IIRC I got one where they knew my last name doing an IRS/Government scam, but they're very obvious.
Ah yes, have me pay it with Amazon cards, no prob.

Nobert @ 21/7/2021 19:21

I always get the air duct cleaners When it comes time to give my address I usually give them the police station or the police headquarters and after some time they hang up. I also get the CRA scam where they tell me I owe government money and will be subjected to fines, or worse imprisonment. All these callers spoof of regular local numbers. Those cruise vacation ones are quite fun to listen too as well.

that start with the ship's horn? lol As soon as I hear that, I hang up.

Christian @ 21/7/2021 20:04

Nobert @ 21/7/2021 19:21 I always get the air duct cleaners When it comes time to give my address I usually give them the police station or the police headquarters and after some time they hang up. I also get the CRA scam where they tell me I owe government money and will be subjected to fines, or worse imprisonment. All these callers spoof of regular local numbers. Those cruise vacation ones are quite fun to listen too as well. that start with the ship's horn? lol As soon as I hear that, I hang up.

lool yeah that one

Ya i usually just get the usual robocallers, plus the police charity calls, etc.

My grandma was always VERY insistent that we answer every single call we get, and if I didn't run for them she would try to (we both had every robo call greeting memorized), and in the past year she was having trouble walking, so this was a recipe for disaster. So now I have the habit of running for the phone every single time it rings, even tho shes gone and I don't have to anymore.

Since she died tho our calls have been getting weird. My parents and I went on vacation soon after the funeral (the reservations were made before things got bad and we all needed a getaway after everything) and when we got back we had a TON of answering machine messages from Motorworld, because someone calling themself JANE SMITH used our phone number, and they tried to buy multiple cars so multiple agents were trying to get appointments set up.

Then today I answered the phone, caller id has a name that looks a little like my Dad's. it's a dude's voice, sounds like maybe a slight spanish/new york accent. "Grandma Irene? Its been so long hello"

ME: "I'm sorry who is this"
HIM: "Grandma Irene don't you remember me its your oldest grandson"
[pause]
ME: "OH MY GOODNESS it's been too long! How are you?"
HIM: "Oh I'm not so good grandma. I had a car accident"
ME: "Oh heavens no! Are you alright?"
HIM: "No Grandma I got hurt I broke my nose and my jaw that's why I sound different."
ME: "Where are you?"
HIM: "I'm in New York City Grandma"
ME: "New York City??? You're supposed to be down in Florida!"
HIM: "yeah I drove up here to see Chris. You know Chris, my best friend, he just got diagnosed with stomach cancer grandma he's dying."
ME: "Oh I am so sorry to hear that. But I have to go get the cookies out of the oven!"
Him: "What. The cookies???"
Me: "Oh yes I have cookies in the oven they're going to burn. God bless you!"

and I hung up

Grandma doesn't have a grandson (:

I think she would have been proud of me for messing with the guy. She always liked to bullshit the calls with actual people

I haven't gotten any good scam calls but I always get these massive 20 person group texts of some kind of porn or dating site. Every now and then the texts get in contact with other people besides me so it's entertaining watching people yell and cuss at each other over these.

One time there was a woman that called me ready to raise hell for making these groups but she sounded disappointed that I was just as much a victim as she was.

I don't answer the phone unless I know who it is so I never get any (:

I do get them at work every so often. Lots of people try calling small bumpkin stores pretending to be someone from Home Office and asking us to "test the registers", which is a money leeching scam. I've only got it a handful of times and every time I just ask them what their extension number is from the main home office line so I can call on another phone and they pretty much hang up immediately. They've smartened up in recent years and only target service desk staff, as soon as management gets on the phone they hang up right away.