RoboCalls

[Cow Poke]

I seem to get a lot of them, so I'm immediately suspicious when a "cheery voice" greets me on the phone. They're working hard to make them sound more "natural".

This one just a few minutes ago....

Phone Rings - out of state number

Me: Hello?
Cheery Voice: Hello, is this [first name, albeit my formal first name, which I don't use ]
Me: Yes
CV: How are you doing today?
Me: My dog just ate my baby sister.
CV: That's GREAT... Would you be interested in receiving a free home security system with the only condition being that you have a small yard sign in your yard?
Me: You don't care about my baby sister?
CV: Excellent, please hold while I transfer you to...

[Carrikature]

I received one last year from the Texas State Troopers Association. I couldn't tell if it was a real person that stuck religiously to scripts or a really good computer. I was leaning towards real person until I received a second one with a different voice but the same script/mannerisms/etc.

What gets me is the automated responses at drive-thru windows. When they first started coming out, I was one of the only people I knew that believed they were computers. We were driving to San Antonio for Thanksgiving and stopped at the McDonald's drive-thru. It was early, and I was surprised they were actually open since no one else was, but there was a line of cars. Sure enough, people had driven up, heard the automated response, gave their order, waited and waited, then gave up and moved on. And since they were waiting, everyone else made the same assumption I did and fell victim to it. Vindication is not always fun. >.>

[Cow Poke]

A lot of times, if the caller ID is not a number I recognize - particularly if it's out of state - I'll just push the button to "answer" the phone, but not say anything... in many cases, after 10 seconds or so, the line goes dead. If it's a real person, they'll sound a bit confused, and say "Hello?" I can generally tell that's not a script.

[rogue06]

What gets me is when my phone rings and my caller ID says its me calling from the phone I'm picking up

[Cow Poke]

What gets me is when my phone rings and my caller ID says its me calling from the phone I'm picking up

There's a lot of that "spoofing" going on. I got a call last week from a number I didn't recognize, so I let it go to voice mail. This very angry man was cussing threatening to track me down and whoop my !#$!^! if I didn't stop calling him.

Yeah, you guessed it. I called him back! But this time, I said, "hold on for just a minute, OK?.. let me explain".

He calmed down, and I told him I had never called him, I was just returning his call, and apparently, somebody was spoofing MY number, trying to collect money from him. We talked for a little while, and he apologized, and said I didn't sound anything at all like the voice on the phone. He said, "even when I heard your 'greeting' on the phone, I thought something was odd".

But, yeah, with today's technology, it's not hard at all to spoof (an actual technical term ) a Caller ID.

[DesertBerean]

I received one last year from the Texas State Troopers Association. I couldn't tell if it was a real person that stuck religiously to scripts or a really good computer. I was leaning towards real person until I received a second one with a different voice but the same script/mannerisms/etc.

What gets me is the automated responses at drive-thru windows. When they first started coming out, I was one of the only people I knew that believed they were computers. We were driving to San Antonio for Thanksgiving and stopped at the McDonald's drive-thru. It was early, and I was surprised they were actually open since no one else was, but there was a line of cars. Sure enough, people had driven up, heard the automated response, gave their order, waited and waited, then gave up and moved on. And since they were waiting, everyone else made the same assumption I did and fell victim to it. Vindication is not always fun. >.>

I guess I never experienced this the few times I used the drive thru. I'm not understanding what happened.

[Bill the Cat]

I get calls from "Windows Support" frequently. I love to have fun with them.

[Cow Poke]

I get calls from "Windows Support" frequently. I love to have fun with them.

Have you had any of the "ransom" ones? I haven't, but some friends have gotten calls where "we see there's a problem with your computer, and it will shut down with several days, but we can help you...."

One of my friends - an older gentleman - allowed them to talk him into a support plan, and they remotely installed their ransomware on his computer. I had to convince him it was a con, and remove the offending software.

[Bill the Cat]

Have you had any of the "ransom" ones? I haven't, but some friends have gotten calls where "we see there's a problem with your computer, and it will shut down with several days, but we can help you...."

That's the one.

One of my friends - an older gentleman - allowed them to talk him into a support plan, and they remotely installed their ransomware on his computer. I had to convince him it was a con, and remove the offending software.

I "confessed" that it was probably my porn server messing up again and asked if he would be interested in starring in one of my future movies. Haven't heard back from them since...

[DesertBerean]

I received one last year from the Texas State Troopers Association. I couldn't tell if it was a real person that stuck religiously to scripts or a really good computer. I was leaning towards real person until I received a second one with a different voice but the same script/mannerisms/etc.

What gets me is the automated responses at drive-thru windows. When they first started coming out, I was one of the only people I knew that believed they were computers. We were driving to San Antonio for Thanksgiving and stopped at the McDonald's drive-thru. It was early, and I was surprised they were actually open since no one else was, but there was a line of cars. Sure enough, people had driven up, heard the automated response, gave their order, waited and waited, then gave up and moved on. And since they were waiting, everyone else made the same assumption I did and fell victim to it. Vindication is not always fun. >.>

I guess I never experienced this the few times I used the drive thru. I'm not understanding what happened.

DERP! Never mind, I got it. They thought it was open for business, and it wasn't.

[Jedidiah]

I get calls from "Windows Support" frequently. I love to have fun with them.

The most fun I have had was pretty mild. I just asked, "How many calls do you have to make on average to get a sucker for this?"

[Sparko]

A lot of times, if the caller ID is not a number I recognize - particularly if it's out of state - I'll just push the button to "answer" the phone, but not say anything... in many cases, after 10 seconds or so, the line goes dead. If it's a real person, they'll sound a bit confused, and say "Hello?" I can generally tell that's not a script.

arrgh I just got one from Marriott Hotel while reading this thread!!!

The thing that ticks me off is that I am on a no-call list and cell phones are supposed to be no-call by default. So I am no-call doubled. Yet I seem to be getting more of these calls lately. I guess they figure there is no way to trace them even if you report them because they are probably using phoney caller id numbers.

If they do get caught, it is a $10K fine for EACH CALL. So I try to report them anyway hoping to at least cost some of them some money.

https://complaints.donotcall.gov/com...aintcheck.aspx

[Sparko]

Windows support? Great!! I was just going to call you. I tried to open my window but it seems to be stuck. I think I might have painted it shut last fall when I touched up the house. Should I use paint thinner on it?

[Cerebrum123]

I get calls from "Windows Support" frequently. I love to have fun with them.

We got a call from a guy "from Windows", it was pretty obviously a scammer. A well known one apparently. We reported him to th Better Business Bureau.

[Carrikature]

I guess I never experienced this the few times I used the drive thru. I'm not understanding what happened.

There's a detector that rings the people inside that a car is at the speaker. It's set to trigger an automated message. It usually says something to the effect of, "Hi! Welcome to [fast food joint]! Can I interest you in a [whatever they're pushing]?" It's almost always a woman's voice.

You might not even notice it. You probably just start giving your order (assuming you know it) and a real person comes back with the total or asks whatever questions, etc. It's most obvious when there are obviously different voices in play. One voice asks you what you want, and another voice does the rest. The second voice is the real person. The first voice is probably a machine.

Since it's set to trigger automatically, the message will go off even if the place is closed. So you'll give your order to the machine and sit there for a few minutes wondering why no one is talking to you. You'll probably yell hello a few times and then start to drive off in a huff only to discover the lights are off when you drive by the window.