Scammer lady called this number. When I asked who she was calling she said you. I said what do you need and she spouted off that she provided electricity to my provider and needed to set up payments for electricity. I Stated to identify who she needed to talk to and who was the provider and again she couldn't tell me. I told her she was a scammer and that I knew how my real company sets billing up as I've been paying them for years. Before she could answer I told her that her number has been recorded and if calls again my lawyer would be in touch for breaking the Do Not Call law as I'm listed on it. Also told her the police would be called on her as well. BEWARE OF THIS IDIOT LADY SCAMMER.
You should add a sentence or two to your screed, making it clear that in the modern telephone system,
criminals can trivially forge a phony telephone number and name, so your caller ID device is not
at all certain to be telling you anything truthful. The criminals, and even the FCC, call this "Caller ID
Spoofing", to make it sound trivial, but it is forgery plain and simple. So to make a useful complaint,
you need information from the CONTENT of the call, and you should not assume that the Caller ID
info is valid. You may be maligning an innocent party if you believe it without further support.
Thanks for your suggestion (it is a valid one). I have something similar to that, ready for replies when folks suggest multiple callbacks to the supposed spammer, to "spam the spammer" or similar.
(See below)
(My information-laden posts, with citations, tend to get a bit long ... and some folks fall asleep after the first several multisyllabic words [grin])
We can no longer believe the phone number we see on our caller IDs (CID) belongs to the person who called! The bad guys are now using easily accessed technology to "spoof" the CID numbers, so their real number does not appear.
The problem has gotten so bad, the US government actually passed an Act, called "The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009", making such spoofing illegal. See http://www.fcc.gov/guides/caller-id-and-spoofing
for more information.
The FCC adopted that Act in June, 2010, stating that violators could be fined up to $10,000 for each violation.
However, the bad guys are ignoring this law ... after all, they are criminals, and that is what criminals do. Although we now have a "law" against spoofing, it is very difficult to enforce it.
So, if you see a CID number on your phone when you are called by some scammer or telemarketer, it might not belong to the scammer! It might be the number of some unsuspecting third party ... or, it might be one of those numbers that charge $25 (plus about $9 per minute) if you call it back, or the number might not be "real" at all.
This was our FORTY-SEVENTH call (47th) from this SCAM, although the first use of THIS number. Other (now BLOCKED) Numbers they use (and my tally for the # of calls) for this SAME scam are:
978-400-2559 "FITCHBURG, MA"(2x);
978-965-8961 "LAWRENCE, MA" (2x);
978-769-1293 "GEORGETOWN, MA"(8x);**
978-496-9936 "WESTFORD, MA";
617-446-4690 "DORCHESTER, MA";
413-382-7521 "SPRINGFIELD, MA" (4x);
413-271-7390 "SPRINGFIELD, MA"(2x);
458-201-1435 "EUGENE, OR";
916-312-2734 "SLOUGHHOUSE, CA";
669-237-3575 NO NAME;
669-237-3665 "CAMPBELL, CA"(3X);
440-721-4682 "PAINESVILLE, OH"(2x);
573-200-7004 "DELETED"(2X);
786-708-4154 "MIAMI, FL"(2x);
786-275-5313 "MIAMI, FL";
718-236-5500 "PENZA AFFILIATES";
651-309-8291 "RED WING, MN";
718-285-3984 "NEW YORK, NY";
555-555-5555 "OUT-OF-AREA"(5X);
206-312-5431 "BAINBRIDGE I, WA";
801-256-9874 "MIDVALLE, UT";
425-336-8436 "RENTON, WA";
605-550-0446 "MITCHELL, SD";
909-620-6597 "CALIFORNIA"
Probably also related to LONG TIME TELESCAM # 210-280-8487: Interest Rate Scam; Free Cruise Scam, Computer 'Fix' Scam; etc.
All MA #s: "Switch Electric Providers" *ELECTRIC BILL ACCT #* PHISHING SCAMS; Most of the Out of State #s: "Solar Panel" *CREDIT CARD* PHISHING SCAMS, although this one is CT and yet seems to be in the former category. But all are SCAMS, therefore it doesn't really matter what the RUSE is.
ALL these calls are likely from OVERSEAS INDIAN or PAKISTANI CALL CTRS: heavy INDIAN-ASIAN/MIDDLE EASTERN accents.
NOTE: We are seeing calls for an "NRG" that is advertising "Home Solar Panels" and uses an toll free number of 888-985-1414 to call in for that. Don't know if that is connected to either of these scams, or not. I believe I've seen SIMILAR commercials for the same entity claiming they can 'lower your electric bills' by switching your 'provider.' I'm going to 'mention' this company to the DNC in my next complaint.
Really great post. I'm going to start recording all the numbers I block and try to connect them as you have done.
I've received (and blocked) many of the spoofed MA numbers you listed, including some from Northampton MA that were also the energy scam. I did not keep a list of the numbers after I blocked them but I will do so in the future.
This reply feature doesn't allow you to mention the caller or the number at the bottom of the post , so here it is: