Hi, Manassas!

[An Haddock]

For about the last month, we'd been getting a call from Manassas, Virginia, roughly once or twice a week. Usually I pick up the phone and it immediately disconnects.


A couple of times one of my employees has grabbed it and yelled "Hi, Manassas!" - expecting it would be a hangup. However, the couple of times he did it, there was someone with an "Indian accent" on the phone trying to sell some sort of Yellow Pages ripoff service.

Now, that would be the end of the story except they've called back a couple more times and at least once Dave got a person on the phone. Unfortunately he didn't know or didn't think to ask for their company info. I don't want them calling us any more but I have the distinct feeling it's probably going to happen again. I tried calling back the phone number on the caller ID but got a message that it was disconnected.

So here's a question: if these guys call back again what legal recourse do we have? If we can get a person on the phone instead of a hangup should we try to get their company info? If so, what can we do with it? Do I call our lawyer? Or should I call the local police so they can find the actual phone number these guys are calling from?

A little advice, if anyone knows of these things. Thanks

[PepperElf]

If you manage to actually get ahold of someone say "Do not call me again"

Then I recommend the following two sites:

800notes - it's become a nice place to look up scam numbers and comment about them. hell that company may already have an entry there.

file a complaint with the FTC - you can complain about them there. Note - you have to have your number on the registry for 31 days before you complain... UNLESS they call you with a recorded message.

[An Haddock]

Thanks, Pepper. I looked them up on the 800notes site and numerous people have gotten identical calls from them... they're claiming to be with the Yellow Pages but they're just scammers. But half the time when they call people they just hang up.

[Argabarga]

I'd file a complaint as soon as their behavior meets the minimum required for you to do so.

I had the same problem a couple years ago where I'd get calls at the house that came up on ID as from Manassas , but no matter what you did when you picked up the phone, it would automatically disconnect. No amount of yelling, screaming or stammering would get anything other than a *click* on the other end.

I was *this* close to calling the phone company, as the calls had reached 4 or 5 a day, when they suddenly and mercifully stopped. I never thought it was a scam operation, just some misdirected telemarketer or something.

[Merriweather]

no matter what you did when you picked up the phone, it would automatically disconnect. No amount of yelling, screaming or stammering would get anything other than a *click* on the other end.

I could be wrong, but hubby and I have reached the conclusion that the hanging up has something to do with automated systems - that they set things up to dial automatically, with the plan being to grab the phone when they get an actual person (vs voice mail or no answer). But if they are busy on another call when you answer, and they don't pick up their line, then it just hangs up.

[gerund]

I could be wrong, but hubby and I have reached the conclusion that the hanging up has something to do with automated systems - that they set things up to dial automatically, with the plan being to grab the phone when they get an actual person (vs voice mail or no answer). But if they are busy on another call when you answer, and they don't pick up their line, then it just hangs up.

This.

It's called a predictive dialer and when it is not set up properly it will ring you and hang up when there is no scammer at the other end to talk. It is used lots by the really large call centers overseas. You can tell it is an overseas call center by the accent of the caller, the fake caller ID and the hollow sound on the phone line from an international call.

Do not give anything to these maggots. They will rip you off and you will get on their suckers list if you do.

[EricKei]

That's why I love the Do Not Call list (applies to the US only)...Once you've been on it for a month, any incoming calls from business numbers MUST be either a place you've done business with in the past (including creditors and places you called first), politicians/other government agencies, or charities, generally speaking. I WISH I could block political ad calls/surveys. Basically, if I get a call from an unrecognized number, I am immediately in "could be a scammer" mode, and I act accordingly.

I still get the damn credit card scammers quite often, tho (the recorded message saying "this is account services, with an important message/alert about your credit card") -- the few times I've gotten a human on the line, they hang up FAST if they hear me so much as say "take me off---*CLICK*", and I've told them one simple fact more than once: I cut up my last credit card nearly a decade ago. More to the point, an actual credit card company would, at the very least, know what type of card they're calling about. Are these people really THAT stupid? Do they think we are? ... On second thought, don't answer that.

Every time I get 5 or so of these numbers, I report them to the FCC in a batch.

The odd thing is, I don't know if it was these guys or someone else, but I've gotten calls that register as coming from "0" (may have been a collect call, but doubtful) and from "000-000-0000" once, each. I think I have anonymous call block set up, not sure if my phone company offers it >_>

[rose_metal_nz]

I know nuzzink about legal stuff , especially in other countries, but I do know that 4+ calls (so long as the times are noted) should be sufficient cause to log a malicous call complaint with your telco. Legal boards etc may take a while to shut down the actual company, but if the telco gets [enough] complaints, they can shut off the lines/calls (bearing in mind a LOT of these are fake caller-ID & are actually international calls i.e. out of your own country's jurisdictions). IE stall the scammers, and buy you some piece of mind for a while

[EricKei]

The "credit card scam" seems to get new numbers as often as daily. Most of the time, they really DO dial in to the same company, which surprises me. They still hang up if they even suspect I'm going to tell them to remove my number from their lists -- In the US, at least, if you're on the DoNotCall list, a company MUST remove you when you request it...Of course, if they're not a legit company, it's not happening anyway, I don't understand why they bother hanging up if they're not gonna comply anyway. They're also bright enough to not ID themselves as anything other than "Cardholder Services".

[Racket_Man]

we get one of those calls every now and then and the CallerID says xxx-xxx-xxxx PHONE SCAM

at least they are upfront about it.

[EricKei]

RM - Noice. ^_^

I actually keep track of these on my cell as .CC-scam1, 2, 3, etc. When I run out of numbers to list, I report the batch to the FCC

[An Haddock]

Just for fun I emailed a cop I know in our local police department. Unfortunately they need more info to proceed, but either me or the sidekick will try to keep them on the line next time they call and get their info. "We are interested in your service but we need to send a check... what's the address?" or something like that.

If I can get some sort of contact info, we can try to get them nailed.