We get this call every morning and every night, really get annoyed how they got our number and why they call us, my dad even spoke to a person but then the guy hung up on my dad, what a jerk! Hope you and me get this removed soon!
This call came at about 7 PM to a land line in a small town in NW Arizona. As the telephone in question is a "life line", there is no caller ID. The sole "extra" is "Caller Blocking" purchased precisely for scammers like this. The man for whom the land line is needed is disabled and is not very intelligent. I've explained to him dozens of times about software which "listens" for human voices and have told him that when the line is silent when he answers, he must not say "Hello" repeatedly and loudly and respond when a voice suddenly begins to speak with a "Hello" in response. This is a dead giveaway that one is dealing with software that is programmed to listen for a human voice. This man does not listen to me or learn. He is suckered EVERY TIME.
Tonight, he answered to silence and repeatedly said "Hello." He became incredibly excited when this software became an apparent human speaking with him about enormous savings he could enjoy with "Green Energy". Up to 50% a year! $5,000! I tell him "Hang up! It's a scam! Do not give them any information!" He proceeds to ignore me. Fortunately, one of my CATS fortuitously jumps up on the side table, presses the button and cuts off the call! Good kitty! This man, whom I regard as a potential idiot, is now upset.. he STILL believes the call was legitimate! I use caller blocking. I retrieve the number. I Google it. I find, as I suspected, that it is entirely bogus. I block the number. I am now about to call Frontier Communications (our only local telephony provider) and report this number as a harassment caller based out of Phoenix. I appreciate those of you who have caller ID having given me location information.
FYI: I assume that Caller Blocking is offered by most, if not all, Telephone Companies. Frontier Communications charges $2.50 per month to block 12 numbers on the life line phone in this man's home. You may be able to get a more extensive and/or less expensive version of this same service through providers in areas with larger population. As stated, we live in Mohave county in an area of very low population and there is no alternative to Frontier (yes, there are cell phone providers, but for land line and DSL, Frontier is the "only game in town.")
Please, when you receive calls like this, don't just get angry and "opt out" -- block them and call whoever provides your telephone service (including cell phone service) and report the number for harassment calls. Because you know the calls originate from Arizona, contacting the State of Arizona's Attorney General's Office and lodging a compliant is another possible way to stop these nuisance callers. This has really gotten out of hand since the economy has been so bad and people like my friend, who are not so smart and who are living hand to mouth and are unable to work due to disability -- these are the people who get fooled and defrauded and robbed of their identity.
This poor guy is not a senior citizen -- he's 53 years old! He's just sick, in pain, recently had fairly major surgery and with the holidays coming up, feels terrible that he cannot afford to buy gifts for people. These scams prey on people like this and on the mentally ill and elderly. The way to stop them is to create obstacles to them making any profit from victims. Block them, help gullible friends and family to protect themselves, report suspicious calls to the Telephone Company. If any web sites or email addresses are provided, locate the ISP and report the "business" to the ISP by locating the IP addresses of the server machines to the ISP (Google for instructions if this process is unfamiliar to you...it isn't difficult or scary!).