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Hopefully this subject is appropriate for the Retirement forum, considering that scammers preferentually target seniors.
So, for about a month or longer, I have been receiving a daily call, generally from a different number every time, from different states. I let it automatically go to the voicemail. They always leave a "message", ie, there is no message, just a sound that sounds like an engine, or hairdryer, or a dead channel on TV, or something like that. I listened through the "message" the first time, and there was no message, just that continuous sound. Subsequently, I deleted the message after the first fraction of a second, as soon as I hear what it is (since these weird "voice" messages that contain just mechanical sounds (though usually crackling/chirping sounds, not the sound of an engine) can apparently contain commands - not discernible to human ear but discernible by sound analyzers - that make Alexa or similar voice-activated electronic assistants do various harmful things).
I can't block the caller because the obviously spoofed phone number of the caller is almost always different, they have called from about 30 different numbers in different states. What is this? Has anyone else received these calls, or does anyone know what they are? What is the purpose of calling daily, now over about 6 weeks or so, and leaving a voice message that contains the sound of an airplane engine or hairdryer?
OMG i get 4-5 a week from the India speaking turds saying they are from Medicare.
I block the number and they just use another one. What pisses me off is how in the hell did they get hold of my medical information?
Next time i going to ask them to send me some Viagra or x-lax meds!
Here’s a guess. Maybe they realize that careful end users won’t pick up an unknown number and will wait for a voicemail to “determine if the call is legitimate”. And then perhaps a fraction of those recipients will pick up the call once the voicemail starts, just knowing there will be one.
The noise might just be “filler” so the system doesn’t cut off the *sound-mail*. Hope it’s no more nefarious than that.
And why you are targeted so often is a mystery. Except it’s no effort on the spammers part since it is all automated until they get a victim to pick up and hear their lies.
OMG i get 4-5 a week from the India speaking turds saying they are from Medicare.
I block the number and they just use another one. What pisses me off is how in the hell did they get hold of my medical information?
Next time i going to ask them to send me some Viagra or x-lax meds!
I got those calls from India in the past too, but they didn't call every day, and they quit after about 15-20 calls, seeing that I was not reacting. But these calls I described in the OP have been daily for like 6 weeks now, and the weird thing is that there is no message of any kind - they are not asking for anything, not saying anything, only leaving about two minutes of engine-like noise.
Up to recently, when I have answered the phone, I have answered with a dean monotone of "House of Usher" but I have switched that to being cheerful with the time of the day greeting. The basic point is that it gives me joy to be like that.
Now, once the purpose of the call is established, if it is something not important to me, I hang up. Even if it is something important to me, such as law enforcement, I hang up because, essentially, "You may say you are for my cause, but I don't know you from Adam and you could be an enemy confederate data mining.".
Finally, A and B. A: I answer with time of the day greetings and not "Yes" (ie, them asking "Can you hear me?" for I have read that can be a scam where they record you saying yes to sell you what they are selling. Secondly, I was hit with an extortion attempt the other month when I let someone on the Net take our conversation to my smart phone. It was a phishing attempt to make it look like they had penetrated the firewall, but once burned, twice shy. Now, I am wary more about things.
Hopefully this subject is appropriate for the Retirement forum, considering that scammers preferentually target seniors.
So, for about a month or longer, I have been receiving a daily call, generally from a different number every time, from different states. I let it automatically go to the voicemail. They always leave a "message", ie, there is no message, just a sound that sounds like an engine, or hairdryer, or a dead channel on TV, or something like that. I listened through the "message" the first time, and there was no message, just that continuous sound. Subsequently, I deleted the message after the first fraction of a second, as soon as I hear what it is (since these weird "voice" messages that contain just mechanical sounds (though usually crackling/chirping sounds, not the sound of an engine) can apparently contain commands - not discernible to human ear but discernible by sound analyzers - that make Alexa or similar voice-activated electronic assistants do various harmful things).
I can't block the caller because the obviously spoofed phone number of the caller is almost always different, they have called from about 30 different numbers in different states. What is this? Has anyone else received these calls, or does anyone know what they are? What is the purpose of calling daily, now over about 6 weeks or so, and leaving a voice message that contains the sound of an airplane engine or hairdryer?
keep blocking - they will run out of number sooner or later. I did that. Nothing now.
I have a recording of a fax machine on my phone. It’s always open. If the number of the caller is suspect, I start the recording and then answer the phone. In seconds the caller hangs up.
We still have a landline (what?) and I do the same thing when that phone rings.
It has drastically cut back on spam calls. We are down to a couple of calls a week.
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