Robo calls

[Lordosis]

I get them in spurts.  Sometimes 5-6 a day.  Then nothing for a week.  90% of the time the area code is the same as my number (which is not the area I live now)  Lately I have been getting them from my phone number.  Kinda weird.

VISA/Mastercard alert.

Anne to lower my CC rates

Kelly, informing me my line of credit was approved

Trish, my patient advocate to get me medicaid services

Rachel, somehow goes straight to voicemail "Oh I just misses you" then something about prescription coverage

 

 

Anyways  I have noticed that the vast majority of these are about money or healthcare.

Any other trends noticed?

Any solution to get it to stop?  The do not call registry I signed up for 3 years ago does not seem to help.

I miss the good old days of real people.

 

https://youtu.be/hllDWSbuDsQ

[CordMcNally]

Lordosis wrote:

Anne to lower my CC rates

Click to expand...

@anne , you got something to share about great credit card rates?

 

I get them, too, and I hate it. They're always from the same area code as where my phone number is from but I live in a different place now so they're easy to spot and ignore.

[HikingDO]

I love the calls I get that are prerecorded and start halfway through the message (oh my God, I missed part of the message, I better call back right away!) telling me that I owe the IRS money, and I need to call back immediately or the “local police” will arrest me. Part of me wants to call back just to mess with them!

[Anne]

I got some great deals for you Lordosis. I don't understand why you never call back.

[artemis]

HikingDO wrote:

I love the calls I get that are prerecorded and start halfway through the message (oh my God, I missed part of the message, I better call back right away!) telling me that I owe the IRS money, and I need to call back immediately or the “local police” will arrest me. Part of me wants to call back just to mess with them!

Click to expand...

I get that one, too.  Apparently I have four outstanding charges against me.

And I keep getting offers to refinance my student loans, which is interesting since I paid them off years ago.

I feel very sorry for the people who get taken in by these scammers.

[SerrateAndDominate]

Last year, my co-fellow and I would mess with these guys in the late afternoons when we were winding down. He was a super nice guy with a pretty thick accent so he would gladly mess with them and act like he had trouble giving out a fake card number. It was a great way to bond and take out some stress on objectively horrible people.

[Lordosis]

I am just surprised that there are enough people out there falling for it to keep it going.

[Peds]

Anne said they are taking my social security away. ..

[nephron]

The people that fall for robocalls and send them money drive me crazy because they make the rest of us keep receiving robocalls.  It is especially frustruating for physicians who have to answer every call when you are on call.  most of mine call during clinic hours and I let them go to voicemail, but then parents miss calls from schools thinking that they maybe robocalls as well.   I am hopeful that they will come out of some legislation to force the telephone companies to use their technology to block these calls.   I don't understand why they can't prosecute more of these companies that are the beneficiaries of these robocalls either (security systems, credit card loan people, etc).  Most of my robocalls don't seem to be originating from some foreign country looking to scam people but seem to be actual business trying to sell something deceptively.

[southerndoc]

Always love the ones that start out with "please, do not hang up" or "this is not a telemarketing call."

One thing I've noticed is that if I answer with "this is dr so and so" instead of "hello" it doesn't say anything.  After 2-3 seconds, I just hang up.  If it's a live person, they will start speaking.  Unfortunately, I have to answer every phone call because the paramedics call me all the time (medical director of a busy ALS fire department).

[CordMcNally]

Peds wrote:

Anne said they are taking my social security away. ..

Click to expand...

She may be somewhat right about that one.

[Anne]

Peds wrote:

Anne said they are taking my social security away. ..

Click to expand...

Peds just verify your full SSN for me and I'll get you set up correctly.

[ENT Doc]

It’s ludicrous that this can’t be addressed legislatively.

[CordMcNally]

ENT Doc wrote:

It’s ludicrous that this can’t be addressed legislatively.

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I thought I had read something recently where the US government was able to levy some outrageous fine on a large offender and that they thought things would get better...but I guess not.

[pierre]

According to John Oliver, the FCC can do something to stop it, but they choose not to.

NSFW

https://youtu.be/FO0iG_P0P6M