My phone just rang and the caller id showed the call was from a local hospital.

[Siwsan]

So, of course I ran to the phone and answered it. And it was a SPOOFED CALL!?!?!?!? After the run of illnesses and deaths I've been through, over the past 5 years, a call from a hospital is a major trigger. To hear some pre-recorded blurb about help with unpaid utility bills (of which I have NONE!!!!), well, my adrenaline is pumping, and my RAGE is keeping pace.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. That's really sleazy!

Assholes know people will answer a phone call from a hospital.

[Indykatie]

5. I Get These Calls Too Sometimes From A Phone Number Very Similar To My Cell Number

I answer and it's a bull sh*t marketing call. I had one today from an East Indian telling me my social security number has been suspended. When I hand up and call the numbers back they're un-working Verizon numbers.

[SheltieLover]

2. Grrrrr!

So sorry to hear about this!

Is there someone you can report this to?

Take a few deep.breaths, my friend.

[Siwsan]

3. I just googled the number - close but no cigar to the actual hospital number

It got past Nomorobo. I'm going to block it, for good measure, and report the number to the service.

Deep breaths being taken.

[SheltieLover]

6. Did caller ID show hospital?

Glad you're decompressing!

[Siwsan]

8. Yup -

Made my heart skip a beat. All I have left is my brother, and he's the only one who has me listed as their next of kin contact.

The frustrating thing is, how many legitimate calls I haven't answered because they didn't have ANY sort of identifying name show up. Then finally a name shows up and it's a trash call.

[SheltieLover]

15. Not sure who you could report to?

Distric attorney?

Hospital security?

So sorry you were triggered.

[Siwsan]

16. I'm going to at least send the number to my robo call blocking service

They keep track.

[getagrip_already]

4. I've been called by own cell phone number before!

And I've had people call me and get angry I just called them when I never did. I've been called by hundreds of phone numbers in my cell phone exchange - most probably spoofed.

The carriers can stop that. They don't.

[TheBlackAdder]

7. I answer the phone, say 'hello' and put on mute. If you hear a slight bleep sound it's a scammer.

.

The phones check to see if someone is on the line and then when you speak, you can hear the switching.

I answer all of these calls and waste the callers time, as they continue to say, 'Hello, Hello, Are you there?'

.

[Siwsan]

10. This one was obviously a pre-recorded message

So I couldn't even swear at anyone!!!

[TheBlackAdder]

11. Yeah, but most will ask to press 1 or 5 to speak to an operator. I do that.

.

Then, I park the call on speakerphone & mute and listen to them.

.

[smb]

18. If I'm Not Too Busy, I Feign Interest And Jerk Them Around

It's cheap entertainment, and it wastes time that they can't use to try to scam somebody else.

My favorites are the "Rachel from Card Services" calls claiming to reduce your interest rate. I have a list of dummy VISA card numbers* (intended as test numbers for card-processing setups) which I read to them (in a halting "old geezer" voice, with as many pauses, backtracks, and mumbles as I think I can get away with) so they momentarily think they've got themselves access to somebody's credit card until they find out they can't actually charge anything to it.

Sometimes, I can get them back to square one by offering to read off the number from my other credit card. On one occasion, I got through four fake credit card numbers before the scammer realized I was messing with him and started yelling some highly undignified and anatomically dubious suggestions.


*There are several sources on the web; search for something like "test credit card number generator"

[agingdem]

9. I stopped answering my landline...I only use it to "find" my cell phone

all calls go to voice mail...when I say all calls I mean 40 to 50 a day...most are pre-recorded Medicare alerts..if I should contract Covid 19 not to worry because the last 90 of my life will be fully covered...the remaining calls are upbeat voices selling burial plans...I share your rage...

[Siwsan]

13. I get a lot of calls that don't make it past the first ring before they get trashed

I also get calls from placed that have a legitimate reason to call, but the calls aren't showing a company name. I just signed up with a new insurance, they called today but since the company name didn't show up on caller ID, I let the call go to voice mail.

[backscatter712]

12. Spoofing Caller ID is trivial for these scammers.

Probably yet another scammer boiler-room that's somewhere like India.

[womanofthehills]

14. I just had a call from LA go to my cell answering machine

The message was in Chinese.

[Retrograde]

17. Did they want to clean your air ducts

We get at least one of those a day, all from spoofed local numbers. Don't know why they bother to leave messages - even robots should be bored by now!

During my mother's last illness a few years ago I would pick up any call from her area code even if the caller wasn't identified, on the grounds that it could be from one of her doctors or a relative whose phone number I didn't recognize. Nope, all "The IRS" threatening me about some nonsense.

[Siwsan]

19. This was something about offering help with over due utility bills

That's as far as I listened.

The weird calls come to my mobile phone. And by weird I mean calls from convicts in California.

[Midnight Writer]

20. Spoofers used a number of one of my friends.

He started getting calls from angry people wanting to know why he kept calling their numbers.

My friend is 72 years old and had no idea there was such a thing as "spoofing".

One call he got was from a very angry mother demanding to know why this adult man kept calling her teenage daughter in High School.