I have started a few other posts, but I’ve had some friends ask me to post about my telephone scammers first because I hinted in my post about online scammers post that it was coming soon. So…here we go!
Several of my friends and I have decided to let some of the phone scammer calls we receive be pure entertainment for us. Don’t worry – some, but not too many of them. Every now and then, it really can be entertaining. Here are a couple of those we had not too long ago.
One of the responses I’ve heard from a friend still has me giggling. My friend received one of those ‘robo’ calls and on this occasion, he decided to play along, so he pressed 1 to be connected to someone. He waited a short time (which is rare), and then someone came on the line and said ‘hello.’ He remained silent. As the person did not hear anyone on the other end, they had to try again before they just gave up. So this time when person on the other line tried to confirm someone was there, my friend responded with ‘Now you know what it’s like to have someone waste your time.’ And then of course, the person hung up abruptly!
Not too long ago, I received a call with someone screaming at me ‘don’t hang up’! They were calling me to let me know I had been chosen to have the opportunity to lower my credit card rates. Now, that’s good news, right? I don’t like starting a conversation with anyone I know, and especially with a stranger, who kicks it off by yelling at me. But I’m glad I didn’t hang up! What are the odds that, of everyone in the world, I’d be en chosen? And who couldn’t use a few extra dollars to spend on their credit card?
With good news like this I had to play along…oops, I mean I had to press 1 to learn more. Almost immediately someone came on the line and greeted me very excitedly, and our conversation went a little like this: (Now, I can’t take credit for this being my idea – someone else shared it with me. Nevertheless, doing it was quite a bit of fun!)
Them: ‘Ahh, so you’d like to reduce your credit card rates?’ (Would I have pushed 1 if I wasn’t interested?)
Me: ‘Sure, I’ve been looking for a way to do this for a while! Which credit card?’
Them: ‘Great!’ (no response to my question). Then they made some mention that I would need to have my card close by.
Me: ‘Ok give me a second – ok, I have it.’
Them: ‘Why don’t you read me the number first and then I can tell you what it is?’
Me: ‘It’s 4567 891011 12131.’ (Of course, I’m asked to repeat it so I oblige): ‘4567 891011 12131.’
Then, in what turns out to be an unexpected wrap up of our call, the person on the other end offered to read it back to me just to ensure they got the number right. They read the entire number back to me again then, all of sudden – there was a dial tone.
Guess they were off to the next lucky person!
Celebrating Goodness 