They called me while at work today. Not allowed to use cell at work do I didn't answer. Tried calling the number when I got off and it went straight to a recording saying something like thank you for calling......all of our representatives are busy but please hold. I hung up.
MY PHONE ID said "TMG GASES"...
BUT when I answered (because I was expecting a call from a repair technician), the voice said, "Hi, this is Jerry calling on behalf of JMS Marketing on a recorded line (I didn't tell him I was recording him, too -- IN MY STATE IT IS LEGAL TO RECORD CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN TWO PARTIES, AS LONG AS ONE IS THE PERSON RECEIVING THE CALL).
The caller asked: <<<<"CAN YOU HEAR ME OKAY?"<<<<
(PLEASE NOTE: I DID NOT SAY "YES") TO HIS QUESTION... INSTEAD, I SAID... WHAT ARE YOU CALLING ME ABOUT?
He said, "The reason for my call is because we're looking for qualified travellers who'd like to occupy unused cabin space aboard one of our magnificent cruise-liners, and generate positive word of mouth advertising for free. So, we give you a free cruise, simply to show you a good time and all we ask in return is that you tell your friends and relatives about us, when you get home. <<<<YOU CAN GO THAT, RIGHT?">...
I answered, "YEEEEEEEAH ("yeah"... really stretched out), "...but I don't have time for this. Thanks for calling".
(AND I HUNG UP!)
NOW... THE CATCH IS... THEY WANT YOU TO SAY "YES" AFTER EITHER ONE OF THEIR QUESTIONS -- WHILE THEY RECORD THE CALL -- AND YOUR "YES".
BIG SCAM!!
THEY CUT EVERYTHING ELSE OUT OF THE RECORDING, EXCEPT FOR THE WORD "YES". THEN, SOMEONE FOLLOWS-UP, LATER, TO LET YOU KNOW THAT YOU OWE HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS THAT YOU AGREED TO WHEN YOU SAID "YES"... AND THEY HAVE A RECORDING TO PROVE IT!
BUT... JUST RECORD THEM. IF THEY ATTEMPT TO SCAM YOU, WITH A RECORDED "YES", ASK THEM TO WAIT (while you pull up your own recording) THEN, PLAYBACK THE RECORDING OF THEIR ORIGINAL SPIEL TO THEM... AND REPORT THEM TO THE FCC (Not that the FCC will do much good, but at least you get the scam in the system).
Remains to be seen if they're skilled enough to pull a "yes" from "Yeeeeeeah". In any case, I'll have my trusty Voice Memo recorder up and running, again. AND my phone, with the CALL BLOCK capabilities.