If you still remember, the US government is doing something to stop the skyrocketing robocalls, there are bills in Congress waiting to be voted next month. In the US, we receive billions of robocalls per month, and monthly money loss amount to 128M last year. Of course, it is promising if the bill passes in the summer, however, we should also pay attention to the latest information about phone scam in the mean time!
Picture from FTC
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This week’s batch all want your card details if the truth be told. Fight back by quite simply not giving them up. Here are some sneaky new adversaries on the scene to look out for…
A new entrant to the IRS scam arena (someone stop these guys already!) is 5303802641. Highly active within the last week, they’ve got a tellows score of 7 (possibly due to one misunderstanding of the scoring system – remember, 1 means TRUSTWORTHY!) and have no respect for public holidays!
Dan’s got his detective hat on…
This dumb scammer calls me on Thanksgiving day pretending to be an IRS lawyer claiming that I have an ‘Tax deficiency’ issue. What kind of idiot will believe an IRS lawyer works on Thanksgiving day and will call his ‘client’??
Very true. People calling you out of the blue about a ‘legal issue’ is more often than not quite fishy!
On the other end of the credibility spectrum is the gentleman (note the irony) calling from 3362286986. This is a guy who ostensibly really takes offence to non-credit-card-owners; he really flies off the handle if you don’t give him the answer he’s looking for. We’re not sure if he’s working ‘freelance’ or is part of a larger agency but he intersperses his survey questions with other, rather inappropriate enquiries.
Darron indignantly tell us about his experience…
I finally picked up from this number and some guy wouldn’t tell me who or where he was calling from. then I asked to be taken off his calling list and was then called several names and asked to give him a kiss. he said are you drunk? he really irritated me do not listen to him!!!!!
Cold-call flirting is a new one on us but this is exactly what this guy is doing… Albeit ineptly. And angrily.
Check out the link above for a few more entertaining stories.
With a tellows score of 8, 8608227440 is offering ‘better credit card rates’ and has absolutely no explanation of how it’s doing so.
Luckily, Aurora recognised the call for what it was…
The caller talked about better interest for my credit card and wanted to have my credit card number…I left her waiting until she hung up. As if anybody would fall for that kind of scam
…well someone must be if they’re still doing it! If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it weekly, DON’T give your card details out willy-nilly!
Keep your heads up, block those numbers and report them on tellows and we’ll be back with more nerve-grating numbers next week!
Take care,
Your tellows team
Here are the most annoying spam numbers that have been harassing US citizens during the last week:
1. 3604615083 from Port Angeles with a tellows score of 7
2. 7574479265 from Norfolk with a tellows score of 8
3. 07788209043 mobile phone number with a tellows score of 9
Luckily, the phone preacher did not return so far and, of course, we hope that our work contributed to make an end to this nuisance.
But there are other spammers and scammers only waiting for you to pick up the phone. Both numbers on rank 1 and 2 were one rank lower last week.
There are no new reports on last week’s spam number 1. The only thing we can say for sure is that this is an automated dialer.
We have got very useful comments on the scammer on rank 2. Everybody watch out, this is a number phishing for information!
TH3 reported:
Text sd Please contact 7574479265 BofA 435603XX Card Issue. I don’t have a BofA card. Sounds fishy to me.
Mad in Dallas added:
Scam trying to get Bank of America account information. New version of scam tried about 2 weeks ago.
And finally mchoate had fun with this number:
someone that is trying to get debit/credit card numbers. it is a scam. I called BOA. they took the information. when you call the number back it ask for you to put in your cc/dc. I had fun with it and just put in random numbers… about 50 times! Then I BLOCKED their text.
Did the PPI scam wave already reach the US? So far, we have only heard of this happening in the UK. The 3rd most wanted spam number is offering clients to claim back money from their PP-insurance. Read more about this scam method on our UK blog.
Kind regards!
Team Tellows
And here we go again with last week’s 3 most annoying spam numbers:
1. 0016466166770 from New York with a tellows score of 5
2. 3604615083 from Port Angeles with a tellows score of 7
3. 7574479265 from Norfolk with a tellows score of 8
Well, seems as if our campaign against the phone preacher was successful. There were no new reports on last week’s spam number 1. However, another candidate in the telemarketing scam business took its place. There were reports about the green card scam going on over this number. But obviously the aim of these calls turned out to be phishing.
User Patt wrote the following comment weeks ago already:
She (Amely Johnson) called me and told me I HAVE WON A GREEN CARD LOTTERY and I have to pay $500. She even asked my VISA or Master Card number.
Rank two goes to an automated dialer of a company situated in Port Angeles that is giving silent calls. So we can be curious with what kind of offers the number is going to amuse people all over the country.
And another phishing number on rank 3, which is not only calling but also texting in order to gain confidential personal information. User TH3 wrote a helpful comment:
Text sd Please contact 7574479265 BofA 435603XX Card Issue. I don’t have a BofA card. Sounds fishy to me
Thank you for providing us with the worst spam and scam numbers! Together, we are strong!
Take care,
Your Tellows Team
Here are the top 3 most annoying phone numbers of this week:
1. 8003187853 toll-free number with a tellows score of 7
2. 3604615083 from Port Angeles with a tellows score of 7
3. 7162625942 from Rochester with a tellows score of 8
The crazy preacher business phone is back on rank 1! Oh my Gosh, are you sure this is what the Almighty told you to do? And who is going to save us from the spam preacher? The toll-free number appeared in our Top 3 ranking before. But this time it even made it on rank one. We call it: unbelievable!!!
Recent comment on the number by donna:
left me the same message creepy how do the assume i have hardships that require their interference i know where my church is
The second rank goes to a number that most probably belongs to an illegal, but yet very active telemarketer. We do not have much information on the spammer yet and therefore hope that Tellows users will provide us with more facts.
The goal of the scammers behind the number 7162625942 is to encourage consumers to buy sponsor offers, promising consumers they would get a gift card in return. Of course, this turns out to be a scam and either the worth of the sponsor offers is much less than the gift card or the consumers do not get any such card at all.
user Gomatthi reported:
Received a text message saying “Congratulations on winning $500 Target card. Click now http://www.prizewintowday.com. Claim your card now!
We are very glad you did not fall for it!
We count on your cooperation in the struggle against spam and scam!
Take care,
Your Tellows Team
Here are the top 3 most annoying phone numbers of this week:
1. +17675034697 from Dominica with a tellows score of 5
2. 4254069024 from Seattle – East suburbs with a tellows score of 6
3. 8003187853 toll-free number with a tellows score of 7
Last week’s top spam number 0012538203089 got expelled from the list of top spammers of the US. Now, the Dominica number moved from second to first rank! We did not find out any more information yet, except that this is another typical silent call or ping call number. Meaning: a callcenter is giving people automated calls from a list of numbers they probably bought. The automate is checking active numbers in order to provide them with telemarketing calls later.
For the Seattle number on rank 2 user Payback\’s a bitch reported:
A total scam. Called with offer to lower credit card interest rates. Attempted to obtain credit card account numbers and personal information. Keep them talking, waist their time as long as possible, act as dumb as you can. Let them explain everything. I faked a bad line and had the suckers call me back twice. How incredibly stupid are these people! Unbelievable!
Well, there’s not much to be added…
On rank 3 we arefacing probably the most ridiculous of all harassment calls and spam/scam methods… User Jack reported:
It’s some call from a preacher who claims himself a prophet, asking for entering his prayer. An unnecessary call to answer.
… and user Jayne added:
Left message on cell phone saying they were going to save me. I’m on DO NOT CALL LIST. This is an unsolicated call and seems to be calling many people.
Sad enough that these scammers count on the hopelessness and naiveness of religious people. Might be just a question of time until someone will read him the riot act.
Give us more information and help everybody to find out about and recognize scammers!
Take care,
Your Tellows Team
Here are the top 3 of the most annoying phone numbers of this week:
1. 0012538203089 from Washington with a tellows score of 7
2. +17675034697 from Dominica with a tellows score of 5
3. 7572146785 from Virginia with a tellows score of 9
Last week’s top spam number 0012538203089 stayed on first place and has about 3646 search requests by now.
Bad news for everybody who fell for it: this is another PC doctor scam number.
User Bear from Switzerland reported:
Got 2 calls (Switzerland)
Just someone telling you your computer is infected by viruses, and asking you to give him direct connexion to your computer to repare it!!
Do not answer any request from this number/person
He is absolutely right, for this is a widespread scam.
We have reported about this scam method before:
These wannabe Microsoft employees will spin tales about the most malevolent of software and the ways your PC system was infected by it. According to the American computer forum bleepingcomputer.com the fraudsters will try to lure you on onto their website to download a software called Teamviewer. This program enables the scammers to access your PC directly and, therewith, provides them with the opportunity to download and install malware, manipulate your system settings and spy for personal data. However, Microsoft will not call to warn you of a potential viral infection and offer support for free. Microsoft is not ignorant of the scam and was quick to publish an article on their investigation into the matter on their windows blog.
For further information see our blog article on PC doctor scam
We count on you in the struggle against phone spam and scam! We need you to share vital information about fraudulent phone numbers.
Take care,
Your Tellows Team
Here we go with this week’s most wanted: a PC Doctor from Washington, a bank details phishing company who apparently gives out green cards for 500 $ and somebody who introduced herself as AmVets. Here they are:
1. 0012538203089 from Washington – Tacoma with a tellows score of 8
2. 0016466166770 from New York/Manhattan with a tellows score of 6
3. 3176888617 from Indiana with a tellows score of 7
This week’s number 1 is a PC doctor number – one of the most recent scam methods that combines phone and computer spam and scam. As we already reported in our blog, the callers claim to call on behalf of Microsoft or an anti-virus programme company and explain that they will now direct you to delete the virus on your computer with the help of a bogus anti-virus software that you should download for a fee. It is quite an old story, though it still seems to be active, so beware!
For the number on rank 2: no news, just an increasing number of search requests: 1095
And last, but not least, user annoyed reported:
Woman asked for me by name and claimed she was from AmVets. I told her she had called my office number and she responded “well this is the number they gave me” I told her I didn’t know who “they” were but not to call me at my office any longer. Then I blocked her number on our office phone system.
So, do not let them spam the rest of your week!
Yours,
team Tellows
This week’s top 3 include an unknown caller whose number has been known to us for some weeks now, a greencard scam number from New York and an incompetent telemarketer on rank3. Have a look yourself:
1. 3023573644 from Delaware with a tellows score of 6
2. 0016466166770 from New York/Manhattan with a tellows score of 6
3. 3176888617 from Indiana with a tellows score of 7
The number on rank 1 is known to us for a couple of weeks now it seems still very active!
For the number on rank 2: some news, even the number’s Tellow score has risen from 5 to 6. User Bouzeb warned:
Hey Guys,
They call me too asking for credit card hahaha.
please check this link:
https://secure.tasim.com/Contact.aspxthe number is mentioned for a telecommunication company.
so be careful.
Gimme, gimme, gimme some news on spammers 🙂
Yours,
team Tellows
This week’s top 3 include an unknown caller whose number has been known to us for some weeks now, a greencard scam number from New York and an incompetent telemarketer on rank3. Have a look yourself:
1. 3023573644 from Delaware with a tellows score of 6
2. 0016466166770 from New York/Manhattan with a tellows score of 5
3. 3176888617 from Indiana with a tellows score of 7
The number on rank 1 is known to us for a couple of weeks now. Unfortunately, since then no new comments were given for this number, but the number of search requests has reached 1364 by now.
For the number on rank 2 Patt reported:
She (Amely Johnson) called me and told me I HAVE WIN A GREEN CARD LOTTERY and I have to pay $500. She even asked my VISA or Master Card number.
Pauline wrote this later:
yeah, they called me too, but unfortunatelly I thought my friend from uk makes joke on me, so I told them I do not speak english at all ;D than i decided to check the number and what i found out was shocking…now i regret hat i’ve done 😛
On rank 3 we have a very crude telemarketer.
User scott reported about the caller’s incompetence:
wanted to talk to my wife, when i asked who was calling she said i was a nosy idiot and hung up
Enjoy this nice summer’s weekend and beware of scammers!
Yours,
team Tellows