Beware of this scam

Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:44 am

There is a scam going around where someone calls your house. It is usally a lady. She called my house and said something like this on the answering machine.

Hey Paul, this is such and such. Listen, I am at the airport right now but I wanted to let you in on some news I picked up. Remember that stock I told you about, well I am looking at the current stats and it just shot up. You have to get in on it. In case you don't remember the one I was talking about, it is such and such.

Well anyway, I don't buy stock or anything. But the way this works is it is supposed to sound like she got the wrong number and she is talking to "paul" or whatever name she uses. And the person thinks "Oh lord, this woman got the wrong number, but she knows something. I better go get me some of this stock."

And it isn't even worth anything. But I think it makes money for them because they have some and they want to sell it and then if they can get a lot of people buying it, they can boost it or something. Anyway, I know people on neopets did this before. But this is real life. I saw this on the local news and then they actually called my house a few days after that.

Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:50 am

Where is this/ I live in New Zealand, so if it's in America then I'm probably safe.

Fri Sep 17, 2004 5:29 am

Thats rather creative though it still sucks. Not many people would invest in stocks anyway...

Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:14 pm

Well right now I think it is just for the U. S. I am not sure. I don't know who they target. I figure they just have a computer that calls a lot of random numbers. But anyway, It was on my local news, so it might be a local thing right now. I live in Arkansas, so maybe they think we are all dumb hicks looking to make a quick buck.

Website · Fri Sep 17, 2004 2:04 pm

Wow that sounds similar to this woman who called my place like a so many times I practically swore at her (it was a machine voice, so no worries XD). She claims that there was this important news and call this number and I was just sitting there listening and just slammed the phone down afterwards. Apparently my dad got rather angry about it 'cause we all heard him slamming the phone down loudly.

Fri Sep 17, 2004 3:25 pm

_jaye_ wrote:Wow that sounds similar to this woman who called my place like a so many times I practically swore at her (it was a machine voice, so no worries XD). She claims that there was this important news and call this number and I was just sitting there listening and just slammed the phone down afterwards. Apparently my dad got rather angry about it 'cause we all heard him slamming the phone down loudly.

One time I was just talking to one, going 'Blah blah blah, oh yeah, of course, I only wanted a chat, blah blah blah...' :p

Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:16 pm

Yeah, T-mobile,Verizon, and ATandT all said our number was chosen to win a free cell phone. I hung up on cell. Its annoying when they call, but isn't it satisfying to hang up mid-sentence on them?

Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:36 pm

I hate it when people call who I don't know. But actually that used to happen to me a whole lot. My mom used to run a business out of our house, so she got people calling all the time.

Recently a telemarketer called and asked for my mom by her full name, and I said "Just a second," then hung up. It made me happy.

Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:59 pm

Personally, I love my mum's name. Telemarketers always mispronounce it. "Sorry, there's no one here by that name." =D

Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:26 pm

Oo-I heard about this on World News Tonight on ABC a little while ago.

They say it's so effective because of the speaker's casual demeanor, and because statements are always more persuasive when we overhear them as compared to when they're directed to us.

Sat Sep 18, 2004 7:46 am

People must be pretty stupid if they go buy stocks without checking the stock themselves.

Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:29 am

Base wrote:I hate it when people call who I don't know. But actually that used to happen to me a whole lot. My mom used to run a business out of our house, so she got people calling all the time.

Aye..my dad gets load of calls..people think I'm always his wife, for some reason...O.o Or else they're all 'Can I speak to your daddy please?' and I'm like...uhh...I'll just go get him now..O.o

Sat Sep 18, 2004 5:10 pm

Thats stupid. If it was true and what not, who would leave a message on the wrong persons machine? Why wouldn't they listen to the message?

I think I heard about something like that while on the bus. Wonder how they heard about it, we're far enough away to be safe.

Sat Sep 18, 2004 7:20 pm

I'd just hang up....but seeing as how my dad's a minister, I can't because there's a chance it might be a crazy person who needs help.

Sat Sep 18, 2004 7:21 pm

Jen wrote:Thats stupid. If it was true and what not, who would leave a message on the wrong persons machine? Why wouldn't they listen to the message?

I think I heard about something like that while on the bus. Wonder how they heard about it, we're far enough away to be safe.

Yeah, i'm with you. If it were a real person, they'd listen to the message. I think i'm safe here in Canada unless they start one like it here