Don’t Get Spoofed (Also, Why Curses Aren’t the Best Response to Getting a Call From a Scammer)

Did you just recently get a weird phone call from your own number?

Most likely what happened is the caller ID is being switched to that of another phone number–sometimes just that of someone in your area or, occasionally, to your own phone number. This is called spoofing.

In the last few days, multiple people in the Emerald Counties and beyond are getting calls that show the ID of the person being called. When the person called answers, a voice recording, purportedly from AT&T, requests the last four digits of their social security number on the pretext of dealing with a problem with their service.

Scammers use the ID of the person being called hoping curiosity will make their intended victim pick up the phone.

The Marin County Sheriff has issued a warning about this in the Facebook post embedded below.

This reporter has received two such calls. An attempt at entering a curse word in response was abruptly broken off when the first entry, a number “3”, was pushed.

According to this Federal Trade Commission advice, the best suggestion is to not answer the phone at all as this can lead to more calls. Sigh, we knew our mother would not approve of us responding with swear words. Now we find out that the Federal Trade Commission thinks we are idiots, too.

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Doc Brown
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Doc Brown
6 years ago

Kym thank you for posting this. I thought that if I answered the call to myself, the time-space continuum would collapse and we would cease to be.

Pike Mortar
Guest
Pike Mortar
6 years ago
Reply to  Doc Brown

This only applies if you answer the phone at the corner of 1st and 1st, aka the “nexus of the universe”…

guest
Guest
guest
6 years ago

I got one of those yesterday on my cell phone. Live in Eureka. I did answer it but immediately hung up when it was clear it was some kind of scam.

What happened to "you can hear a pin drop"?
Guest
What happened to "you can hear a pin drop"?
6 years ago

My cell phone rang and its very own number showed. Did not answer. In fact, I don’t answer any phone anytime unless I really know who it is… I think I am changing that rule to ‘speak to the machine’ and I will pick up if it is valid.

Aunt Jackie
Guest
Aunt Jackie
6 years ago

So far I haven’t received any phone calls from myself, but I have received several from my own little town (Blue Lake)…if I don’t recognize the number or name, and no one leaves a message, I don’t pick up. They seem to consider this encouraging as they continue to call me (in the hopes I’ll give in and answer?) but they don’t know me if they think that’s going to happen! I used to hear that if you blew a loud whistle into the phone, the caller would hang up, so you might consider that next time, if you just feel you MUST answer the phone.

Isa
Guest
Isa
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Don’t want to egg anyone on, lowering myself to their lowliness.

I’ve had two calls from the Treasury Dept. telling me that I needed to get a hold of them right away, blah blah blah. I hung up! Didn’t want to hear anymore. Just Don’t Answer!!!

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Isa

The trouble with not answering is that someone you really want to talk to may call from a different or unrecognized phone. I missed a call from my veterinarian because he was calling from his mobile phone which has a blocked number. There are no right answers for every situation. The curse of living in a fraud ridden world.

One thought
Guest
One thought
6 years ago

The whistle mimics the audio of a fax line so maybe that triggers a do-not-call..

Ice
Guest
Ice
6 years ago
Reply to  One thought

Or just sign up at http://www.donotcall.gov on the Federal Do Not Call registry..

Karen Lawson
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  One thought

Clever thought, thanks, re mimicing fax. I wonder.

ADréanen
Guest
ADréanen
6 years ago
Reply to  One thought

The whistle came long before the use of fax machines. It was simply meant to bust the ear drum of the prank caller/scammer. Or at least to give them a nasty headache.

Livin' Easy
Guest
Livin' Easy
6 years ago

Over the last year, I have received over 100 calls from over 50 different #’s from a 768-_ _ _ that says ID Hydesville. (Home phone as no cell where I live.) At first I answered a couple, and was an add for winning a free 6 night trip. Voice was identical to a live girls voice, but automated. I began blocking them, but just keeps coming with a different 768-_ _ _ #. I stopped blocking when it was at 40 #’s; and redial says it is “Not in Service”. One # was actually a friend’s home #, with their name ID, but they were not aware of anything. Just constant random 768 #’s. Pretty strange..? I still get them from many different Hydesville 768-_ _ _ #. AT&T hasn’t a clue what to do, so I just don’t answer…………???

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Livin' Easy

Yes. I tend to hang up whenever that excessively perky female voice comes on after a pause. One of these days I’m sure I’m going to rudely hang up on a perfectly lovely lady looking to be helpful.

HoaxHotel
Guest
HoaxHotel
6 years ago

Lol i would simply waste the scammer’s time😂 i have an app that provides fake incoming phone numbers so i’d be harrassing them

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
6 years ago

>”The whistle mimics the audio of a fax line…”

You can download the fax (or modem) ‘sound’ from the internet.
Save it, then play it back as the leading signal on your answering machine.
Robot calls will hang up, and put your number on an internal ‘do not call list’.

Ice
Guest
Ice
6 years ago
Reply to  Bozo

Or just sign up on the Federal Do Not Call registry at http://www.donotcall.gov

UnCommonSense
Guest
UnCommonSense
6 years ago
Reply to  Ice

We have been on the ‘do not call’ list for 5 years or more. The scammers have no respect. We still get calls at least twice a day. The list is a joke; unenforced and recourseless.

Gazoo
Guest
Gazoo
6 years ago

I got one yesterday, kinda sets off a panick a little, I didn’t enter any didgets and it hung up, I tried to call back but it just activated my voice mail 😂🤣😂🤣😂
An hour later I got another call, this time they asked for my wife’s ex husband and said that name was wanted in a fraud case and to call this number back but no one would answer….

Ann Hall
Guest
Ann Hall
6 years ago

When there are enough of us in the room our preferred response to a human scammer, particularly Microsoft “Support”, is to stage a murder.

Fred
Guest
Fred
6 years ago

I’ve won the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes five times over the past month, according to calls I receive. The amount is something like $550k, plus a new car. I tell them the address they have is wrong, and give them the address for an FBI office, then ask them to meet me there… and I offer 10% if they will. After a few calls I tired of the game, and have been blocking the calls.

lorrie neuenfeldt
Guest
lorrie neuenfeldt
6 years ago

I wait and see if the unknown number leaves a voicemail and then call them back if it is legit.

Glenn
Guest
Glenn
5 years ago

The do not call registry is useless when 90 percent of the calls are from magic carpet drivers calling from spoofed numbers to steal your credit card info.