I guess they don't teach this stuff anymore. .

[Ranger99]

A lady called my phone today and left a
voice mail message that said " Please
call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX "
No other info.
Then just a short time later,  I get a text
from her with the identical message.
I  don't know about other folks, but if
I had an employee that didn't leave
extensive information about the reason
for calling, company information,
time and date of call etc.,  they'd
be on the carpet.


I guess folks these days never learned
the correct and proper way to leave a
message or to take a message,  or to
properly do small things such as making
change or figure simple change in your
head or to give back the proper configuration
of bills and coins, etc.


We used to be taught these things in
school as well as by our parents.


I guess people don't care anymore.
One of the many things dragging the
country in the ditch

[Graybeard]

So did ya call her back and see who she was and why she wanted you to call her.

[Ranger99]

I did not.
She should have identified herself and
said who she was calling on behalf of,
and the purpose of her call.
That's standard procedure for any
business telephone call.
Or it's supposed to be.

[Graybeard]

I agree but maybe it wasn't a business call.

Until this year we ran a blueberry orchard and you'd be amazed at some of the messages folks left for us to return a call to them. Most at least mentioned blueberries in some way but for sure not all.

Mostly I don't return calls from folks who don't know how to leave a proper message either tho at times will. I have found most of those with no real message other than to call them back aren't business calls and are in fact wrong numbers, they thought they were calling someone else.

[Ranger99]

I always leave my name even for a casual
phone call. That's just common courtesy.
" Hi. This is Ranger99 calling for Roadrunner.
It's Thursday July 23rd at 11pm. I saw
Wylie Coyote today and he asked about you.
Give me a call tomorrow after 9am "

[Ranger99]

Writing down a phone message is
supposed to be pretty standard too.
Name of party calling,  where they're
calling from, time and date of call,
Any message the caller wants to leave,
and any number(s) of course

[Dee]

Well, I got a text message from "Lori" a couple a days ago saying she was helping "Beto" organize Texas  voters, and wanted to know who I was voting for for president.


I let read Linda it, and already had my response typed in, but she erased the message. Said we didn't need the problems.


I guess it was like one of those auto-dial call things trying to sell auto warranty extensions, only a text message.
Never got a text like that before.

[ironglows]

I may be wrong, but I understand that just calling some numbers can cost the caller something.


  I received a call from a pleasant sounding lady about 2 weeks ago.  She said rather quickly after a short explanation, that for records purposes she needed the numbers from my private health care card.
  I explained to her.."I don't feel comfortable giving such information over the phone".  She said she would send me a letter.
    I haven't as of yet, received a letter....

[The Old Man]

Spam calls and flat out calls seeking personal information have become so commonplace anymore, I really wonder why I keep a land line.


The ones I really get suspicious of are the ones who have a tiny bit of prsonal info, and "need" me to fill in the blanks to prove they have the right person....for MY protection. When they won't tell me the name of the party they are contacting, I laugh and hang up.


Oh yeah! My Social has been compromised so my benefits will be placed on hold unless I talk to the representative immediately. Got four of those calls recently.


And like Ironglows said, some of those numbers they try getting you to call back on are pay as you play numbers, so much money per minute, and they will keep you on there as long as they can. NEVER call a number left on your machine. If they need to talk that badly they'll call back, and a friends' number is on your speed dial already.

[Argent 88]

I had to change my email address because of all that spam nonsense. 85 spams in one day is enough.
Then I was hacked from what Trans Union called the Dark web.

[Bob Riebe]

I still enjoy the good old fashioned phone answering machine but also have caller I.D. on a land-line, we have no cell phones.

The phone will ring, a name, often with middle initial will show on the phone but I let it ring through, 3 rings; there will be nothing just a beep letting me know it was a robo call.
When the caller has a Minnesota town as location, I will get a taped message for a auto warranty scam or some thing similar.I almost never answer the phone if it is not a number or a person I actually know.
At the other house, no answering machine, I tell people let that phone ring at least 7 time as I will not answer it before that. (with rare exceptions)Most robo calls do not last longer than 5 rings.

[ironglows]

It seems that some robo calls utilize a local number. I have received robo calls that use my very local prefix..can't be more than 300-400 phones that use that same local prefix # !


  With caller I.D.,  I doubt many people answer the phone for unrecognizable numbers, so I suppose that is one of many circumstances that screw up "poll calls" !


  Ok, so they go to just calling cell phones... well, that in itself skews the outcome, just as so many other details do !


  One reason polls are inaccurate.

[Ranger99]

There's a lot of scammers that specifically target
the elderly. I found out about a lot of it while taking
care of my mother. Somehow,  they get your Medicare
info, and get you on the phone and get you to say "yes "
then put your yes on a recording that you authorized
some BS charges to your  Medicare account and
it's got your voice with you saying yes.
Her doctor clued me into that one


That,  and the ones that ask you to
" please confirm your address "

[The Old Man]

They passed laws to stop most of the annoiyance calls, problem is, a high percentage of these calls,(many using your area code), originate outside the USA, judging by the thick, incomprehensible accents, from India. If you want to annoy them back, appologize, then ask for someone who speaks english. The response of "I speak english perfect!" will have you rolling.


As for thre email scams, we had a "key stroke logger virus" somehow invade our computer a while back. These  nasty little buggers record every number and letter you type at their central location, and this includes credit card numbers. Most often it costs you thousands before you catch it, only we were lucky, and a segment on the evening news described the whole thing before we were taken for too much.


We purchased a program service that can eliminate it, but the virus also hides in folders that normally aren't used, so you simply don't know if it's still there. We cancelled all credit cards, except for the one, and never again will use the internet for bussiness dealings.

[darkgael]

I keep getting calls for:
Extended auto warranties
Unlocking my frozen Social Security account
Paying A fine for unlawful activity regarding my Income Tax (or i will be arrested within the hour. The warrant has been issued)
Medicare  supplements
A continuing series of call from a wide variety of area codes....all in chinese.
Pete

[ironglows]

I get some saying $760 has been charged to my Amazon account


  Another one to cut the interest on my credit card, by switching to their card.


  1. I have no Amazon account.


 2. I don't pay interest on my credit card, because I use it very sparingly, and pay it off each month, as the bill arrives.

[darkgael]

And yet....there are people who fall for these scams every time.

[Argent 88]

And yet....there are people who fall for these scams every time.

They are on a roll with scamming , even useing text messaging.

[Land_Owner]

" Hi. This is Ranger99 calling for Roadrunner.
It's Thursday July 23rd at 11pm. I saw
Wylie Coyote today and he asked about you.
Give me a call tomorrow after 9am "

WT*   I got that same message on my phone!  I'm not Roadrunner though I do know who Wylie is.  He's not a friend of mine.  Plus, I wasn't available on the 24th after 9am.  I figured it had to be a prank or misdialed call.  I didn't call back to ask either.

[Land_Owner]

I almost got scammed on fleaBay once, by a web site the "looked" legit.  I bit and got bit.  fleaBay stopped the processing of scammed purchasing because my credit information was protected by another password, which the scammers didn't have.  I was lucky.  fleaBay Security made me aware of the malicious content that had tried to rip me off.  It is prevalent across nearly every financial platform on the web in an unceasing attempt to steal.


My corporation started an internal IT campaign to frequently "scam" employees through business phone text messaging and email - as a lessons learned activity.  It was an eye opener (for some employees) with regard to how many took the bait.  It taught message and email handling (in particular).  It was similar to the scam I got bit by on fleaBay. 

If YOU didn't initiate the conversation, if YOU don't know the messenger, if the URL is not recognized, is misspelled, is a redirection, is "off" in any gut-wise sense, DON'T answer, DON'T open.  If someone wants to start a discussion, they will CALL YOU and leave a message or snail mail A BUSINESS LETTER.  The rest is suspect, particularly when an employee is handling sensitive corporate or client information.


No one was hurt or scammed, but some employee eyes were opened to the reality that external sources are operating that used the example tactics through which they got "bit" to scam them personally as well as steal corporate "assets".