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Ok, first of all:
If you type your name (or the name of anyone you know well if you don't want to use yours) into Google, you will get any number of sites that (for a price) will give you info on anyone.
They will give you enough "teaser" info that you can be sure you've got the right person.
This info WILL include: their name in full and any aliases or former name/s that person has used; their age (either exact or "40s"); 'know associates' ( this will be family members full names, spouses, exspouses,); and any address they've had (as in ALL of them where they had to record they lived there); and ALL phone numbers they have or had.
If that scares you.. well if you click on that link, they will, for a monthly fee, even give you know background info.
The White Pages website (which years ago was free, but now charges you if you want more info) is one notorious for that.
When it was free it acted like the white pages of a phone book, it didn't include any extra...just name, known current address and known current phone number.
(Which could be outdated if that person moved before they got the update.
Second: you know all that junk mail..the one with your address and the words/numeric phrase beginning with "CAR RT PRE SORT 63964"? ABOVE your name and address?
Well that's either something you subscribed to...past or present..or a local business...or a new catalog or some such...who paid the post office for a list of names/addresses within certain criteria....and are now kindly letting you know where you can shop, subscribe to, go visit...even whom to vote for.
It may also be the town/city/state they bought targeted addresses from, or other business that can state "this person/address bought from us in the past" so they can send you a catalog of their own.
For those who don't know: tne advantage of a smart phone is you can program in names and numbers of everyone you know who might call you.
I'm sure apple iphones are the same as my android phone..there's like 20 lines in a saved contact that can be filled in on any person/business you save as a contact.
You can even, in the profile on that number, select what type of number it is (work, home, summer/winter home numbers, addresses) and a whole lot more.
Do they have an "international name" that by looking at you don't know how it's pronounced? It has a slot for "phonetic pronunciation"!
But...when call, unless the theives are spoofing a number, you will know who it is 99.9% of the time.
Got a scam call where they knew my name, address and phone number.
Should i be concerned
Or take any action?
It was obviously a scam
Not a cell phone
Not hard to get ones Name, address and phone number. Especially a land line. One can just look that up for free in many cases. Especially if you are a home owner. County records.
Got a scam call where they knew my name, address and phone number.
Should i be concerned
Or take any action?
It was obviously a scam
Not a cell phone
I just delete and sometimes I block, sometimes, I don't. I must have 100 blocked numbers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Play_Poker
I want to joke around , and say be concerned , and yes take some action , do something. But I am not.
But it is good you are prepared to do something because you are aware those scammers are out there. That is how they can con people if they are not expecting it and start answering questions , giving out info. Good for you to be on top of it.
I still have landlines , and paper phone books , Landlines are my favorite phones. And I don't have to charge them. I still read real books too. I use my phonebooks too.
I love this. Same here. I have a cell and landline and answering machine. The machine is full and the phone rings several times a day. Since friends and relatives call my cell, I know it is a junk call. I just let it go to the full answering machines. If I need to use the landline, I pick it up and call. I have a friend that does the same thing.
My DH was once caught in the "yes" reply to sign up for something he wasn't aware of. It was tied in with our Verizon phone line. Took us months to get it off our bill.
And, yes, sometimes I pick up local newspaper for some local news and for using the paper for many other things..........
My iPhone shows "potential scam" for some calls.
Well Mr. Potential Scam has been calling a lot more than ever.
I'm now thinking that the Fed sold the "Do not call list" to them
Do not call lists applied to legit businesses. Scam callers don't care about that. I have a phone app also that does a decent job blocking these calls. I have a simple rule for incoming calls. If I don't know who is calling I let it go do vm. They can leave a message or text me. If they do neither it was a scam or not that important.
Location: Unlike most on CD, I'm not afraid to give my location: Milwaukee, WI.
1,791 posts, read 4,157,802 times
Reputation: 4094
I know a site that I use occasionally, where I can easily find an address and phone number using just a name and a state. It even shows middle initials and a rough age (i.e. 50's) to help narrow down if there are multiple possibilities I have tracked down some old friends from the military and civilian jobs. And it seems quite accurate and up-to-date.
There is a lot of info about people available on the net, if you just hunt around a little bit. Very hard to achieve a high degree of privacy anymore.
I have a friend who would pretend to be hard of hearing and would yell, "Sir, you want to do WHAT? I can't hear you, what do you want to do?! until they hung up.
Anyone getting the calls from insurance companies and Medicare Adv. plans, who get around the DNC list by having someone off-shore call you and then connect you to the business in the US? I REALLY let them have it when I get to the US person. They offer to hang up, and I'm like "You already bothered me!!! DNC list is so no one bothers me!!"
I accidentally gave you reputation instead of reply. But what you say is pretty much nonsense. I have had nomorobo for a while, and occasionally go onto their site to make sure I am still on their service. I still get LOTS of soliciting calls. The scammers (mostly in India) have it down to a science. They are constantly changing/spoofing their originating phone number, and spoof the caller name in various ways to make it look like a local call (i.e. a local high school, hospital, hotel or whatever in your area). Nomorobo seems to catch very few.
It has gotten really hard to beat the scammers/solicitors. All you can do is ignore ANY number or name you don't recognize, and in the event it is a legit call (like for something you are selling on Craigslist) they will leave a message. The scammers rarely leave messages. I also reduced the number of rings for incoming calls before going to voicemail. Went down from 6 to 4 rings. That's at least a couple less incessant rings I have to hear for these calls.
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