o/t got a weird cell call

bobs old iron · Feb 27, 2015

missed a cell call, # 877-437-7411,, called back it's toll free, to see who calling, to tell them not interested, wow," they said it was the federal police, what is my emergency",, told them your number called me, could hear other dispachers, someone is playing tricks with a computer------ever get one

bill mart · Feb 27, 2015

Report Suspicious Activity to Federal Protective Service

Life-threatening and Non-Life-threatening Emergencies in Federal Buildings (Police Response and Security Issues)

Federal Protective Service (FPS) Headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. Regional offices are geographically located in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Fort Worth, Kansas City, and Washington, D.C. Other sites include the Far East and the Caribbean.

National Toll Free Number: 1-877-4FPS-411 (1-877-437-7411)

Zachary Hoyt · Feb 27, 2015

I have never called a number back because it called me if I did not know who it was or they did not leave a message. There are a lot of crazy things people can do with phone numbers nowadays so that the number that appears on your phone is not the actual number from which the call was placed. One thing that happens to me a lot is someone will ask me to call them about an ad I have on craigslist. When I call they do not answer, usually. I leave a message and explain who I am and why I am calling and five or ten minutes later the person calls back and says "Your number is on my phone". I can't say it to them because I don't want to drive away customers, but I wish they would smarten up and get themselves together.
Zach

49716 · Feb 27, 2015

I run out-of-area numbers thru google to make sure I don't ignore an important call. one of the strangest responses is when is says, you have a fake number. how do the scammers do that?

CKain(MI) · Feb 27, 2015

I also 'google' any tool free number that calls me. Never found it to be an important call.

MarkB_MI · Feb 27, 2015

Scammers can spoof caller ID. Which is what happened to you.

rrlund · Feb 27, 2015

Since you brought up strange calls,I have a follow up to one.
A year or so ago,somebody called and told my wife that he was Phil Lund and was looking for me and that my mother died. I have a cousin Phil,but this guy said he was my nephew. After some talk,he said the name of the woman who died was Pam. When the wife said he had the wrong guy,he apologized all over the place. The guy he was looking for even had the same middle name as me and had a sister Linda.

Today I got a hand written card in the mail with an Omaha Nebraska return address that started out "Dear Randy,I'm the daughter of Carl Lund but he would have been your uncle. Was your dad Arnold and your mother Erma?"

Carl was my grand dad's name,not my uncle. Dad had an aunt Emma,but not Erma. She went on to name a bunch of other relatives of hers,some that were names or relatives of mine,some that weren't. Then she mentioned Pam,and that was the name of the woman that the caller said was my mother.

She gave me her phone number and address at the end of the note,so the wife called her and told her she had the wrong guy. They talked for quite a little while. When she hung up,she said the gal was kind of an odd duck.

I called a place in Wisconsin one time to order some parts and when I gave the guy my name he said that was his brother in law's name.
It's scary to think that there are that many of me out there,but apparently I'm not the only one. It's just funny how many other names of relatives come up.

Two Dogs · Feb 27, 2015

I have had several nuisance calls show my own name and phone number on my caller ID. Depending on my mood at any particular time I either ignore the calls or wait until I get a live one on the line and hone my cussing skills for the couple of seconds before they hang up. Yes, I know people need jobs, but those whose job is harassing people don't get much sympathy from me. TDF

super99 · Feb 27, 2015

Randy, not a phone call but down that same road. 30 or so years ago, I went into a local lumber yard to get some lumber, paid the old man at the counter with a check. He looked at the check for a minute and said that my name was the same as his father in laws was. He had died years ago, no relation at all. Chris

rrlund · Feb 27, 2015

This keeps up,I'm going looking for my other families in Wisconsin and Nebraska. lol

GeneMO · Feb 27, 2015

The scammers have found out that with caller ID, people are not answering their phones if the dont see a local number. They are now able to latch onto local #'s somehow and make it look as if the call is coming right from your town.

We kept getting calls like that showing up on answering machine. We called the local #, talked to a lady and she assure us she had not been calling. Next day it rang, same # and I answered it.. It was some outfit wanting to sell me the "help-I've-fallen-and-cant-get-up" deal. I asked them how come they were using a local # and I knew the ladys # they were using? They hung up. So I called the lady back, she said she was disgusted with land lines and was going to ditch hers, then we ditched ours.

It happens to a lesser extent now on our cell#

I think they should castrate scammers.

Gene

Traditional Farmer · Feb 27, 2015

Just be glad you're not a Jones or Smith.My Uncle by marriage was James Smith about a Zillion of them around.

huntingreen2day2 · Feb 27, 2015

Answered the phone for my mother one day when I was at her house. Some guy claiming to be a lawyer on the other end saying he was trying to settle an estate of a cousin to my mother. I thought it was scam. He called back later when someone answered that would actually listen to what he had to say. Mother had a cousin that died and had somehow not designated where some of his money went. My mother being one of the nine cousins got over 32K from the estate.

fixerupper · Feb 27, 2015

Gene, Marilyn started getting angry calls on her cell phone with people she didn't know telling her to never call them again. Some scammer had gotten hold of her number and was using it to call people. Marilyn called Verizon and they told her all they could do about it is give her a new number. I still haven't memorized the new number.

TL (Va) · Feb 27, 2015

I had a missed call on cell phone at work Tuesday, looked at the number, 0000000000. ?

Hobo,NC · Feb 27, 2015

(quoted from post at 03:47:52 02/28/15) Since you brought up strange calls,I have a follow up to one.
A year or so ago,somebody called and told my wife that he was Phil Lund and was looking for me and that my mother died. I have a cousin Phil,but this guy said he was my nephew. After some talk,he said the name of the woman who died was Pam. When the wife said he had the wrong guy,he apologized all over the place. The guy he was looking for even had the same middle name as me and had a sister Linda.

Today I got a hand written card in the mail with an Omaha Nebraska return address that started out "Dear Randy,I'm the daughter of Carl Lund but he would have been your uncle. Was your dad Arnold and your mother Erma?"

Carl was my grand dad's name,not my uncle. Dad had an aunt Emma,but not Erma. She went on to name a bunch of other relatives of hers,some that were names or relatives of mine,some that weren't. Then she mentioned Pam,and that was the name of the woman that the caller said was my mother.

She gave me her phone number and address at the end of the note,so the wife called her and told her she had the wrong guy. They talked for quite a little while. When she hung up,she said the gal was kind of an odd duck.

I called a place in Wisconsin one time to order some parts and when I gave the guy my name he said that was his brother in law's name.
It's scary to think that there are that many of me out there,but apparently I'm not the only one. It's just funny how many other names of relatives come up.

I have 3 customers with the same name and zackly the same car down to the color and engine size... None of them know each other... It never crossed my mind till this week when one that had 414K (Yes that's 414000 miles) was in for service and needed belts that showed I had installed a set 60K ago but they were not not what I use...

Nate V. IA · Feb 27, 2015

Actually there are 51 of you in the US.
51 Randys

qwertyell · Feb 27, 2015

Yeh!..... with a back hoe.

Ian Beale · Feb 28, 2015

Maybe widen your horizons and read some of Bernard Cornwell's King Arthur series?

rrlund · Feb 28, 2015

I wonder how many have my middle name. The guy who called had it right and this card that I got is addressed to Randy R Lund.

jimg.allentown · Feb 28, 2015

Just my little bit to add....
I think it is time for the FCC to step up to the task and make the phone companies take steps to prevent spoofing the caller ID. The callers are representing themselves as somebody that they are not.
The FCC could mandate that every call be traceable - and the phone companies have the technology to make that happen. Time to put an and to one more form of harassment.

GVSII · Feb 28, 2015

Not a phone call or E mail but a guy where I worked had the same name as mine, right down to the same M/I.Not a common last name.Guy is a very distant relative.
One instance involved a loan at the credit union.Got that straightened out quickly.
Second involved a young lady who crashed the gate and drove all the way to the hangars before being rounded up by the guards.She gave the guards my name when asked who and why.I didn't know the girl and told them who to check with.

o/t got a weird cell call

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