+- Tendo City (https://www.tendocity.net)
+-- Forum: Tendo City: Metropolitan District (https://www.tendocity.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=4)
+--- Forum: Ramble City (https://www.tendocity.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=44)
+--- Thread: I won the publisher's clearing house! (/showthread.php?tid=7182)
I won the publisher's clearing house! - Dark Jaguar - 4th April 2019
Apparently...
So this was a fun little scam. Some extremely asian man named John Peterson (Sweet Christmas that's generic) calls to tell me I won. I have to admit unlike most of these scam calls, this one was persistent. Normally, all I get is an instant hangup at the slightest hint of my suspicions, but this guy, no this guy was more than willing to answer my questions. Sure it was all lies, but it was almost charming in comparison. I told him I don't gamble and never entered that contest, nor was I even aware it was still around. He tells me that I was "entered automatically for my prompt bill payment". I suppose this is meant to appeal to some sense that "good behavior is rewarded", which I guess is meant to make it seem like I'm getting my "just reward" for being a good little consumer, rather than raising my suspicions even more than they already were.
I was told to write down all this stuff on a piece of paper:
John Peterson
00mj56
$2.5m
689121001501uspch
black Mercedes Benz with a hard top
Let me break that down. He gave me his obviously fake name, followed by his "badge number", then the amount I "won", then a "ticket number", and then finally had me pick out from a few colors from a list he had for a car, exterior color, interior color (leather only, what a gip, I prefer some sort of fabric upholstry, literally anything BUT leather really) and whether or not it was a convertible. I honestly had trouble not laughing here. What a cute and meaningless touch.
What was this scrap of paper with all these things for? This is the best part. This is what I will give the guy with the novelty check apparently, to prove it's me and so they get me the right car. That's right, apparently they'll have every single one of those cars parked outside my home and I have to give over this piece of paper to get one. And apparently I get to decide how much money I won! Wonderful!
So, then came what I knew was coming, the questions. At that very first one, I told him it's been fun, but I'm done with this scam and I'll be going. I hung up, and he called back again. Seriously, that's dedication! Of course, I hung up right away. As of now, the only information he's got is my gender, revealed by my voice. I never even confirmed my name, in fact he never even asked. I mean, of course he didn't. My phone number was randomly generated and he doesn't care who he gets, but it is pretty telling that he'll just accept literally anyone that answered my phone before spouting off all those "confirmation numbers".
And of course my caller ID showed nothing, nor would there be anything the phone company could track if I reported it. Phone spoofing is pretty much bulletproof, and the FBI has no way to track these calls to their source at all. I just thought it was entertaining.
RE: I won the publisher's clearing house! - A Black Falcon - 6th April 2019
Yeah, it's pretty insane how many phone scam calls there are these days. Whether it's something like that, "IRS", "about your credit card", "car insurance", or various other scams, they're constant! For a little while there the battle against phone advertising seemed to be going somewhat positively, with the federal do-not-call list and such, but the scammers seem to have won, because they now just hide their numbers and call everyone, constantly, every day. Pretty annoying stuff, or worse for the poor people who fall for the scams...
RE: I won the publisher's clearing house! - Dark Jaguar - 6th April 2019
They are untraceable. There's literally nothing we can do short of completely rebuilding how the telephone system works from the ground up.
RE: I won the publisher's clearing house! - A Black Falcon - 8th April 2019
There used to be so many fewer calls like this, but in the last few years it's definitely ramped up hugely. It's probably almost a daily thing now...