let me say this NEVER GIVE OUT ANY INFORMATION OVER THE PHONE-they can be nice and steal everything you have. I personally don't answer 888 numbers. this day and age they spoof, steal and try to pretend to be just anyone that can get next to your information.. The minute they ask for you information HANG up..Call the cops and report the number. I had a call threatening my arrest if I didn't give my personal info. I told them come on.. They had my address. Called cops and they set up a trap on the phone and caught the people because the called again.. so be careful people
Call is from a woman named 'Rebecca'. Caller ID shows only "Houston, TX". She says she "needs to qualify me for a free cell under the US Govt Program called Life Line". She tells me that I qualify for a free cell phone if I am on Medicare, Medicaid, or Food Stamps. She asks my name, address, date of birth, the last 4 of my Social Security number, and what sort of government assistance I am receiving. She tells me that if I qualify, "the phone will be shipped within 30 days to the address" I provided. I asked for the name of the company. She says "TAG Mobile". I verify this by asking, "T like tango, A like alpha, and G like ghost?" and she confirms, "Yes, T-A-G". I asked 'Rebecca' for their customer service phone number. She gave me 518-380-6354. I verified the number by reading it back to her. She also gave me the web site -- www.fcc.gov/lifeline. I asked her, "Is your company authorized by the US Federal Communications Commission to administer this free cell phone program?" She responds, "Yes, that's right." The company is unknown to me but it appears to be based in Houston, Texas. I'll see if this is a scam. If it is, I will make an updated report on this site.
You said the caller "... asks my name, address, date of birth, the last 4 of my Social Security number, and what sort of government assistance I am receiving" but you didn't say whether or not you gave her that information. If you did, you'd better watch your credit accounts very closely. You might have just given away your identity.
After disconnecting from this call, I called TAG Mobile. One of their representatives affirmed that 281-888-0835 is NOT a phone number that belongs to their company. The representative also stated in no uncertain terms that TAG Mobile does NOT operate a free Life Line phone give-away program in the manner described in my original post.
Conclusion: Calls from 281-888-0835 are being done by SCAMMERS. So beware!