Hell-o...!

[ameerat42]

[Mechanical sounding voice]
"...This is a call from the Australian Taxation Office..."
[/Mechanical sounding voice]
---HANG UP!---

The calling number was (03) 9015 4338, which I am about to report as soon as...

[Hawthy]

You will find that while that number may be a genuine Australian number, the phone call will have come from overseas. Google "phone spoofing".
They hack legitimate phone numbers to make the call appear more genuine and to put some distance between them and the crime.
Bad luck indeed if they choose to use your number.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ameerat42]

I've only had the number a month!

[John King]

Most common scams IME:

1) "Telstra Technical Support"

2) "Microsoft Technical Support"

3) "Australian Taxation Office"

All want access to your computer.

The first two do not have "technical support" departments.

None of them ever cold call (initiate calls). In over 10 years as a CPA in my own practice, the ATO never cold called me once ...

[agb]

I have yet another telstra ring about my internet. After I said "thank you" in respose to each of his suggestions he hung up. Bit rude of him I thought.

[ricktas]

If they do get through to me (I usually just ignore the ringing phone), I ask them if they are from Telstra etc, what is my date of birth. When they start with crap, I say 'Look, Telstra has my date of birth on file, what is it". they hang up.

[ameerat42]

This was definitely a recording. I think it was activated by my "Hello", as there
was a bit of silence before I spoke.

Next time I'll say "Yes, what?"

[Hawthy]

My wife, somewhat unwisely, has provided her mobile to any number of charities who have on-sold her number to other charities. She now has the charity numbers saved on her phone so that when the Municipal Crippled Fireman's Children's Charity calls, she just doesn't pick up. She could just block the number and spare us both. But she doesn't want to do that.

So...when the charities call on her mobile, she passes the phone to me and I say, "Sorry, (sniff) she doesn't live here anymore." ..... AWKWARD SILENCE ..... "oh..Sorry to hear that..."

And that is the last you hear from them.

[ricktas]

My wife, somewhat unwisely, has provided her mobile to any number of charities who have on-sold her number to other charities. She now has the charity numbers saved on her phone so that when the Municipal Crippled Fireman's Children's Charity calls, she just doesn't pick up. She could just block the number and spare us both. But she doesn't want to do that.

So...when the charities call on her mobile, she passes the phone to me and I say, "Sorry, (sniff) she doesn't live here anymore." ..... AWKWARD SILENCE ..... "oh..Sorry to hear that..."

And that is the last you hear from them.

HAHA. Many moons ago, I was being sent 'readers digest' in the mail for no reason (had not subscribed). So I wrote on the plastic 'Deceased" and sent it back. A few weeks later the phone rang... the home phone.. landline. I answered and this person said can I speak to Rick..."Yes that is me"..to which the voice said 'Oh..we were told you were deceased"... I quickly realised who it was and replied... "Yes I am, I died weeks ago"... and hung-up. Never did get another readers digest... so it worked.

[ameerat42]

Hadn't they heard of "The Rick and the Dead"?!

[John King]

If they do get through to me (I usually just ignore the ringing phone), I ask them if they are from Telstra etc, what is my date of birth. When they start with crap, I say 'Look, Telstra has my date of birth on file, what is it". they hang up.

Rick, I ask them for my account and last bill numbers ... .

- - - Updated - - -

This was definitely a recording. I think it was activated by my "Hello", as there
was a bit of silence before I spoke.

Next time I'll say "Yes, what?"

Am, never use the word 'yes' with these parasites, that response can be recorded and reused .

[ameerat42]

I serpose you're right, JK.

I know it's a lost cause, but what an asin3² pursuit

[John King]

Asinine - yes!

Unproductive - no ... Australians (and others) tip bucket loads of cash into the bank accounts of these vermin, year after year. Don't even start me on identity theft ...

[ameerat42]

I won't To me it's a bit of a joke, but I pity others who get taken in because of being elderly or so.
As for those who "should know better" - there was a case of an IT worker recently... - well, too bad 4 u!

[ameerat42]

Oh, BTW, this number and another from today have been added to the "reject" lists of all phones

[Liney]

I used to get a few of these calls, each time I tried something new to p!$$ them off but the best response I had was to pic the phone up and using my deepest voice and best phony Russian accent say "Da?.....How did you get this number.......Do you know who you are talking to?.......We know where you are, wait there, Boris will some get you....."

A friend used to answer the phone in a gasping voice and say "OK it's done but it's a real mess. You need to bring the cleaning materials over now and next time we use a bigger plastic sheet..."

Many years ago a former colleague had an answering machine message that was a recording of him answering the phone with the vacuum cleaner in the background, apologising and asking them to hang on for a second, putting the phone down followed by sounds of him switching off the vacuum cleaner and picking the phone up, then the door bell goes, so another apology and sounds of him putting the phone down again, leaving the room, opening the front door, quickly apologising to whoever is at the door that they have someone on the phone , closing the door, walking back and picking up the phone and saying "Sorry about that, it's all go around here today. Now before you start I had better warn you that this is a recording" in a wonderfully lilting welsh accent.

[Mark L]

I don't know about all this. If there is more than a 1 1/2 secound delay after I answer the phone then I hang up.

[Tannin]

I should do as Mark does.

I always intend to do as Mark does.

But I hear that silence, and I think "Hey, you never know, some people win $8,000,000 in a lottery, some people find gold nuggets in their back yards, some Nigerian dictators really do want to deposit $US 1,000,000 (US DOLLAR ONE MILLION) into your account, some people really do find diamond rings in the street, some golfers really do hit holes in one, maybe this dreaded-1.5-second-silence-call really will have a real person I really want to talk to". Million to one chance, sure, but why not spend one extra second just in case it really is a real call?

Not because I care about the real call, you understand. If the call is genuine and I hang up, they will ring back anyway. And if they don't, who cares? My mother will still love me, my girlfriend won't leave me, anyone else doesn't matter so much anyway. So there is nothing to gain by waiting 1.5 seconds. It is pure idle curiosity. What if I got a 1.5 second delay call one day and it was a real call? Wow! That would be more special than my mate Dave's hole-in one! More memorable than dropping an egg onto a tile floor and seeing it bounce! Why not give it a go?

But it would be stupid to do that every time. So I only ever do it once. One more time. Each time I think "This one will be the last one. I can give it up any time I want."

So far, I have answered roughly one thousand three hundred and seventeen 1.5 second silence calls and every single one has been a spammer. But ... who knows? ... Call #1318 might just be the one!

Then I double down and make a bet with myself. I bet that within the first 15 seconds, the caller will say "And how are you today?"

I'm on a pretty good wicket here: out of 1317 bets, I have won 1317 times.

[Mary Anne]

I refuse to answer the landline so its hubby's job though I do laugh at some of things he tells me that the other person or recording said.
Though the strangest and often is *Goodbye* and then hang up. No, Hello your Internet is being cut off this afternoon unless you.....
No, your Wife rang us about about selling your house what time would you like us to come around tomorrow

I get blamed for everything and I did not do a thing, if I answered the landline I guess they would say your husband did it
Still wondering when they will start referring to one of us as your Partner..

[John King]

Mary Anne, that "*Goodbye*" call is fishing for unused numbers so that said number can be used for spoofing.

I often ring the number back when it's a scammer. Funny how I almost always get "This number is not connected. Please check the number before calling again". If I get an answering machine or person (on very rare occasions), I give them an earful about Do Not Call registers ...