PG&E says this is not their number scammers are using it to obtain financial info saying you are passed due.

July 8, 2024

This is the legitimate phone number for Pacific gas and electric Company

June 21, 2024

Looks like this is a spoofed caller id for PG&E - https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/customer-service/help/scams/scams.page

November 8, 2023

Legit; local utility company

July 6, 2023

Beware of scams that show PG&E on the caller ID 1-800-743-5000 or falsely claim to represent PG&E.

May 22, 2023

They’re alerting people to work in the area while they struggle to regain the trust of the people they serve. It’s not working.

May 19, 2023

This was identified as PG&E but was a scam attempt.

April 14, 2023

Someone used this number as Scam impersonating PG&E

March 31, 2023

Ok

March 8, 2023

Ok

February 15, 2023

Unknown

December 28, 2022

They are always allowed to call me on this

December 13, 2022

No other info. 800 number

October 18, 2022

10/17/2023 next cut off.

October 17, 2022

Fake utilities "disconnection of service" or rebates/savings scam by madarchod criminals phoning from India and spoofing the actual number for PG&E on Caller ID. Automated recordings from utility companies are ONLY valid if they state outages/restorations/repairs. All recordings that say your electric/gas/water will be disconnected because of an unpaid bill or that you are due a rebate are SCAMS! This scam begins with a recording that is generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this India scam. The recording may say: "This is a disconnection notice from your electric company. Please be aware that your electric service will be disconnected within the next 30 minutes due to non-payment on the account. Immediate action is required to avoid disconnection today." These fake service suspension scams have used in hundreds of India phone scams to say either your Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, DirecTV or cable TV, Comcast, or various utility services has been or will be disconnected/suspended unless you press 1 or call back. The India scammer states your bill is overdue or your account will be suspended, and they try to steal your Social Security number, credit card number, or bank account/routing number under the pretense of verifying your account information and demanding that you pay the fake past due amount. All real disconnections of electric/gas/water, phone, Internet, and television service are always preceded by personal notices sent to you by paper mail or email that detail the exact amount that is unpaid. This India scammer also runs electric savings/rebate scams that pretend to offer savings or rebate checks where the call begins with a recording that says: "This is an apology call from your electric utility. You got overcharged by your third party supplier. You will be receiving a rebate check along with a 30% discount on your electric and gas bill. Please press 1 to get a rebate check." or "Since you have not missed any electric bill payments in the last 3 months, you are eligible for 15% discount on your bill. If you need the discount on your electric bill, press 1." Again with this fake electric savings/rebate scam, the scammer tries to steal your credit card, SSN, bank account number, and personal information. About 55% of North America scam calls come from India and 40% come from the Philippines. India scammers run hundreds of fraud, extortion, and money laundering scams every day such as posing as a fake pharmacy, fake Social Security officer saying your benefits are suspended, IRS officer collecting on fake unpaid back taxes, debt collector threatening you for fake unpaid bills, fake bank/financial/FedEx/UPS/DHL scams, pretending to offer fake health insurance, car warranty, student loan forgiveness, credit card and debt consolidation services, posing as Amazon to falsely say an unauthorized purchase was made to your credit card or your Prime membership was auto-debited from your bank, posing as Microsoft/Dell/HP/Apple to say your account has been hacked or they detected a virus on your computer, fake "we are refunding your money" or "your account has been auto-debited" scams, fake Google/Alexa listing scams, posing as electric utilities, Verizon, AT&T, or Comcast, fake solar panel and home purchase offers, fake fundraisers asking for donations, fake phone surveys, and the scammers try to steal your credit card, bank account/routing number, Social Security number, and personal information. India scammers often rotate through fake Social Security, subscription auto-renewal, pharmacy, and pre-approved loan scams on the same day. Philippines scammers run more auto/home/health/life insurance, Social Security and Medicare identity theft, and fake charity donation scams. Scammers use disposable VoIP phone numbers (e.g. MagicJack devices) or they spoof fake names and numbers on Caller ID. Anyone can use telecom software to phone with a fake CID name and number. Scammers spoof thousands of fake 8xx toll-free numbers. CID is useless with scam calls unless the scam asks you to phone them back. CID area codes are never the origin of scam calls since scams use spoofed CID numbers from across the US and Canada, numbers belonging to unsuspecting people, invalid area codes, and fake foreign country CID numbers; e.g. fake women crying "help me" emergency scams often spoof Mexico and Middle East CID numbers. Scammers often spoof the actual phone numbers of businesses such as Apple, Verizon, and banks to trick you into thinking the call is valid. How can you avoid being scammed by phone calls? NEVER trust any unsolicited caller who: sells something (most unsolicited calls are scams so your odds of saving money are very poor); asks for your Social Security number; offers a free gift or reward; threatens you with arrest/lawsuit or says you need to reply back soon (pressure tactic); asks you to access a website, download a file, wire transfer money or buy prepaid debit/gift cards; claims suspicious activity on your account; says your subscription is being refunded or auto-renewed/auto-debited; and all pre-recorded messages. Recordings are far more likely to be malicious scams and not just telemarketer spam. All unsolicited callers with foreign accents, usually Indian or Filipino, are usually scams. Filipino scammers tend to speak better English than Indian scammers. Filipinos speak English with a subtle accent having a slight trill. Scams often say that you inquired about a job, insurance, social security benefits, or that you previously contacted them or visited their website. A common India scam plays a fake Amazon recording. Amazon account updates are emailed, not robo-dialed. Many banks use automated fraud alert calls to confirm a suspicious purchase, but verify the number that the recording tells you to phone or just call the number printed on your credit card. India scammers impersonate AT&T DirecTV, Comcast, or a cable/Internet company, offering fake discounts or service upgrades. Indians impersonate the IRS and Social Security Administration. The IRS/SSA never make unsolicited calls and never threaten to arrest you; they initiate contact via postal mail. Real lawsuits are not phoned in, especially not using pre-recorded threats lacking details; legal notices are mailed/couriered. The police, FBI, DEA never phone to threaten arrest; they show up in person with a warrant. Scammers try to gain your trust by saying your name when they call, but their autodialer automatically displays your name or says your name in a recording when your number is dialed using phone databases that list millions of names and addresses. Scammers often call using an initial recording speaking English, Spanish, or Chinese that is easily generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of their India phone room. Some speech synthesis software sound robotic, but others sound natural. To hide their foreign accents, some India scammers use non-Indians in their phone room. Scammers often use interactive voice response (IVR) robotic software that combines voice recognition with artificial intelligence, speaks English with American voices, and responds based on your replies. IVR calls begin with: "Hi, this is fake_name, I am a fake_job_title on a recorded line, can you hear me okay?"; or "Hi, this is fake_name, how are you doing today?"; or "Hello? (pause) Are you there?"; or "Hi, may I speak to your_name?" IVR quickly asks you a short question to elicit a yes/no reply so it hangs up if it encounters voicemail. IVR robots understand basic replies and yes/no answers. To test for IVR, ask "How is the weather over there?" since IVR cannot answer complex questions and it keeps talking if you interrupt it in mid-sentence. IVR usually transfers you to the scammer, but some scams entirely use IVR with the robot asking for your credit card or SSN. A common myth is IVR calls record you saying "yes" so scammers can authorize purchases just using your "yes" voice, but scammers need more than just a recorded "yes" from you - credit cards and SSN. Phone/email scams share two common traits: the CID name/number and the "From:" header on emails are easily faked, and the intent of scam calls is malicious just as file attachments and website links on scam emails are harmful. Scams snowball for many victims. If your personal/financial data are stolen, either by being scammed, visiting a malicious website, or by a previous data breach of a business server that stores your data, then your data gets sold by scammers on the dark web who will see you as fresh meat and prey on you even more. This is why some receive 40+ scam calls everyday while others get 0 to 2 calls per day. If you provide your personal information to a phone scammer, lured by fake 80%-discounted drugs or scared by fake IRS officers, you receive even more phone scams and identity theft can take years to repair. Most unsolicited calls are scams, often with an Indian accent. No other country is infested with pandemics of phone room sweatshops filled with criminals who belong to the lowest India caste and many are thieves and rapists who were serving jail time but released early due to prison overcrowding. Scammers often shout profanities at you. Just laugh at their abusive language. Google "Hindi swear words" and memorize some favorites, e.g. call him "Rundi Ka Bacha" (son of whore) or call her "Rundi Ki Bachi" (daughter of whore). Scammers ignore the National Do-Not-Call Registry; asking scammers to stop calling is useless. You do these scammers a favor by quickly hanging up. But you ruin their scams when you slowly drag them along on the phone call, give them fake personal and credit card data (16 random digits starting with 4 for Visa, 5 for MasterCard), ask them to speak louder and repeat what they said to waste their time and energy.

August 26, 2022

Scam call

August 26, 2022

Known PGE scam

August 11, 2022

PG&E

August 11, 2022

Unknown caller

August 6, 2022

I personally don't have an account with pg&e. This number called me and the caller ID showed up as "Public Service" This is from the PG&E website: "PG&E customers report telephone scams with calls that show PG&E on the caller ID 1-800-743-5000. Or, the caller may falsely claim to represent PG&E. Some of the fraudulent calls have included: Telling customers their bill is past due and that power will be shut off within the hour unless payment is made immediately."

July 30, 2022

Scam call saying bill is passed due

July 23, 2022

Scamer

July 17, 2022

Fake PG&E utilities "disconnection of service" or rebates/savings scam by madarchod criminals phoning from India and spoofing the actual number for the utility company on Caller ID. Automated recordings from utility companies are ONLY valid if they state outages/restorations/repairs. All recordings that say your electric/gas/water will be disconnected because of an unpaid bill or that you are due a rebate are SCAMS! This scam begins with a recording that is generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this India scam. The recording may say: "This is a disconnection notice from your electric company. Please be aware that your electric service will be disconnected within the next 30 minutes due to non-payment on the account. Immediate action is required to avoid disconnection today." These fake service suspension scams have used in hundreds of India phone scams to say either your Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, DirecTV or cable TV, Comcast, or various utility services has been or will be disconnected/suspended unless you press 1 or call back. The India scammer states your bill is overdue or your account will be suspended, and they try to steal your Social Security number, credit card number, or bank account/routing number under the pretense of verifying your account information and demanding that you pay the fake past due amount. All real disconnections of electric/gas/water, phone, Internet, and television service are always preceded by personal notices sent to you by paper mail or email that detail the exact amount that is unpaid. This India scammer also runs electric savings/rebate scams that pretend to offer savings or rebate checks where the call begins with a recording that says: "This is an apology call from your electric utility. You got overcharged by your third party supplier. You will be receiving a rebate check along with a 30% discount on your electric and gas bill. Please press 1 to get a rebate check." or "Since you have not missed any electric bill payments in the last 3 months, you are eligible for 15% discount on your bill. If you need the discount on your electric bill, press 1." Again with this fake electric savings/rebate scam, the scammer tries to steal your credit card, SSN, bank account number, and personal information. About 65% of North America scam calls come from India and 30% come from the Philippines. India scammers run hundreds of fraud, extortion, and money laundering scams every day such as posing as a fake pharmacy, fake Social Security officer saying your benefits are suspended, IRS officer collecting on fake unpaid back taxes, debt collector threatening you for fake unpaid bills, fake bank/financial/FedEx/UPS/DHL scams, pretending to offer fake health insurance, car warranty, student loan forgiveness, credit card and debt consolidation services, posing as Amazon to falsely say an unauthorized purchase was made to your credit card or your Prime membership was auto-debited from your bank, posing as Microsoft/Dell/HP/Apple to say your account has been hacked or they detected a virus on your computer, fake "we are refunding your money" or "your account has been auto-debited" scams, fake Google/Alexa listing and work-from-home scams, posing as electric utilities, Verizon, AT&T, or Comcast, fake solar panel and home purchase offers, fake fundraisers asking for donations, fake phone surveys, and the scammers try to steal your credit card, bank account/routing number, Social Security number, and personal information. India scammers often rotate through fake Social Security, subscription auto-renewal, pharmacy, and pre-approved loan scams on the same day. Philippines scammers focus more on auto/home/health/life insurance, Social Security and Medicare identity theft. Scammers use disposable VoIP phone numbers (e.g. MagicJack devices) or they spoof fake names and numbers on Caller ID. Anyone can use telecom software to phone with a fake CID name and number. Scammers spoof thousands of fake 8xx toll-free numbers. CID is useless with scam calls unless the scam asks you to phone them back. CID area codes are never the origin of scam calls since scams use spoofed CID numbers from across the US and Canada, numbers belonging to unsuspecting people, invalid area codes, and fake foreign country CID numbers; e.g. fake women crying "help me" emergency scams often spoof Mexico and Middle East CID numbers. Scammers often spoof the actual phone numbers of businesses such as Apple, Verizon, and banks to trick you into thinking the call is valid. How can you avoid being scammed by phone calls? NEVER trust any unsolicited caller who: sells something (most unsolicited calls are scams so your odds of saving money are very poor); asks for your Social Security number; offers a free gift or reward; threatens you with arrest/lawsuit or says you need to reply back soon (pressure tactic); asks you to access a website, download a file, wire transfer money or buy prepaid debit/gift cards; claims suspicious activity on your account; says your subscription is being refunded or auto-renewed/auto-debited; and all pre-recorded messages. Recordings are far more likely to be malicious scams and not just telemarketer spam. All unsolicited callers with foreign accents, usually Indian or Filipino, are usually scams. Filipino scammers tend to speak better English than Indian scammers. Filipinos speak English with a subtle accent having a slight trill. Scams often say that you inquired about a job, insurance, social security benefits, or that you previously contacted them or visited their website. A common India scam plays a fake Amazon recording. Amazon account updates are emailed, not robo-dialed. Many banks use automated fraud alert calls to confirm a suspicious purchase, but verify the number that the recording tells you to phone or just call the number printed on your credit card. India scammers impersonate AT&T DirecTV, Comcast, or a cable/Internet company, offering fake discounts or service upgrades. Indians impersonate the IRS and Social Security Administration. The IRS/SSA never make unsolicited calls and never threaten to arrest you; they initiate contact via postal mail. Real lawsuits are not phoned in, especially not using pre-recorded threats lacking details; legal notices are mailed/couriered. The police, FBI, DEA never phone to threaten arrest; they show up in person with a warrant. Scammers try to gain your trust by saying your name when they call, but their autodialer automatically displays your name or says your name in a recording when your number is dialed using phone databases that list millions of names and addresses. Scammers often call using an initial recording speaking English, Spanish, or Chinese that is easily generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of their India phone room. Some speech synthesis software sound robotic, but others sound natural. To hide their foreign accents, some India scammers use non-Indians in their phone room. Scammers often use interactive voice response (IVR) robotic software that combines voice recognition with artificial intelligence, speaks English with American voices, and responds based on your replies. IVR calls begin with: "Hi, this is fake_name, I am a fake_job_title on a recorded line, can you hear me okay?"; or "Hi, this is fake_name, how are you doing today?"; or "Hello? (pause) Are you there?"; or "Hi, may I speak to your_name?" IVR quickly asks you a short question to elicit a yes/no reply so it hangs up if it encounters voicemail. IVR robots understand basic replies and yes/no answers. To test for IVR, ask "How is the weather over there?" since IVR cannot answer complex questions and it keeps talking if you interrupt it in mid-sentence. IVR usually transfers you to the scammer, but some scams entirely use IVR with the robot asking for your credit card or SSN. A common myth is IVR calls record you saying "yes" so scammers can authorize purchases just using your "yes" voice, but scammers need more than just a recorded "yes" from you - credit cards and SSN. Phone/email scams share two common traits: the CID name/number and the "From:" header on emails are easily faked, and the intent of scam calls is malicious just as file attachments and website links on scam emails are harmful. Scams snowball for many victims. If your personal/financial data are stolen, either by being scammed, visiting a malicious website, or by a previous data breach of a business server that stores your data, then your data gets sold by scammers on the dark web who will see you as fresh meat and prey on you even more. This is why some receive 40+ scam calls everyday while others get 0 to 2 calls per day. If you provide your personal information to a phone scammer, lured by fake 80%-discounted drugs or scared by fake IRS officers, you receive even more phone scams and identity theft can take years to repair. Most unsolicited calls are scams, often with an Indian accent. No other country is infested with pandemics of phone room sweatshops filled with criminals who belong to the lowest India caste and many are thieves and rapists who were serving jail time but released early due to prison overcrowding. Scammers often shout profanities at you. Just laugh at their abusive language. Google "Hindi swear words" and memorize some favorites, e.g. call him "Rundi Ka Bacha" (son of whore) or call her "Rundi Ki Bachi" (daughter of whore). Scammers ignore the National Do-Not-Call Registry; asking scammers to stop calling is useless. You do these scammers a favor by quickly hanging up. But you ruin their scams when you slowly drag them along on the phone call, give them fake personal and credit card data (16 random digits starting with 4 for Visa, 5 for MasterCard), ask them to speak louder and repeat what they said to waste their time and energy.

July 9, 2022

Phishing scam

July 6, 2022

Trying a different “hook”

July 4, 2022

Notification

July 3, 2022

Caller requests to secure dogs inside and leave gates unlocked for them to inspect the gas meter

June 11, 2022

Work area notification

June 6, 2022

Accept this number

June 1, 2022

I no longer have service with PG&E.

May 24, 2022

5th call today. supposedly from pg and e wanting to inspect my gas line. my neighbor works for pg and e and said it is positively a scam.

May 21, 2022

Fake threat of shutting off all utilities

May 20, 2022

Unknown

May 4, 2022

Fraudulent Caller threatening to shut off service

April 23, 2022

Did this twice already. Let me delete!

April 14, 2022

Spanish

April 14, 2022

Following up with recent work

April 12, 2022

Scam

April 8, 2022

My company’s IT callback number

April 6, 2022

This man called asking to speak to my Son who just turned 8 YRO, and when I told him "NO" in no uncertain terms he got very hostile and threatened me. I can't say for sure but his behavior leads me to believe that he is a pedophile and searching for young boys to abuse. Needless to say I asked him to stop calling by house, hung up and reported him to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office to report his sorry *%#.

April 6, 2022

Bad

April 6, 2022

Spoofing a legit number and wants money so your electricity won’t be turned off

April 4, 2022

not really PGE, scam call, threatened disconnect unless I pay... Im not a PGE customer, they dont even offer service in my part of the state.

April 2, 2022

Spanish Language

April 2, 2022

Had same call several times now

April 1, 2022

message is in Spanish

March 31, 2022

Threat to disconnect utilities in next 45 mins. This is the 3rd time in a week.

March 30, 2022

Pretending to be PGE

March 30, 2022

Pretending to be a disconnect from PG&E

March 27, 2022

Pieces of shit

March 25, 2022

Scamming people for payment or power be cut off. We are always current w/ bills. It’s a scam in our county right now.

March 18, 2022

Speaks only in Spanish

March 16, 2022

Mandatory service

February 26, 2022

Said my electricity would be disconnected in 30minutes if I didn’t pay an unpaid balance. There isn’t an unpaid balance.

January 27, 2022

This cannot be from PG&E , it shows their num but it has to be a fraud, I can log into my account for. Valid info n the message left was I must say Pledge, sounds not normal

January 18, 2022

Power company scam threading to disconnect power for nonpayment

January 17, 2022

SCAM

October 22, 2021

Threatening calls

September 30, 2021

They said they were PG&E

September 9, 2021

This is PG&E

August 31, 2021

Allow it

July 24, 2021

They don’t need to talk to me

July 15, 2021

I mistakenly thought this was a scam and notified you. Please allow this number to reach me. Thanks

July 12, 2021

Public safety message

July 8, 2021

Spam

June 16, 2021

https://www.pge.com/en_US/residential/customer-service/help/scams/scams.page

May 15, 2021

Possibly spoofed.

May 8, 2021

Customer Service

April 22, 2021

Electrical power supplier

April 15, 2021

Weird says he got a call from the irs using my number.

April 14, 2021

Public Notification

April 14, 2021

Ben

April 7, 2021

This was my scheduled callback from PG&E.

April 5, 2021

PGE recorded message around covid 19 precautions (really one year after we don’t know about precautions that PGE is unnecessarily calling customers to indicate what they are doing). And at no point they indicated if it’s for an appointment so leaving customers guess is this generic message or someone is planning to come and visit.

April 5, 2021

Scammers

March 20, 2021

Recorded service message from PG&E

February 28, 2021

Block all calls, emails, texts from this call center scammers phishing for information

February 17, 2021

PG&E recording

February 13, 2021

Benign service updates for Pacific Gas & Electric

January 20, 2021

Southern cal edison our utility

December 11, 2020

Report outage

October 31, 2020

scumbag india goat herder stealing your money! this is the pg&e number, but scammers are faking the number to get your credit card information!

October 9, 2020

Announcement about gas line inspection

September 25, 2020

no scam

September 23, 2020

Recorded notification

September 14, 2020

Scam

September 14, 2020

Fake utility bill refund

September 11, 2020

Pge

September 8, 2020

First off, our electric company is NOT PG&E. Second, the scammer hung up when the message machine came on. Third, the scammer called on an American Monday Holiday. This is a well-documented scam caller that is spoofing the PG&E

September 7, 2020

Info regarding electrical shutdowns

September 4, 2020

Pg&e scam pay up or well shut off your electricity

September 3, 2020

Pge telling me about COVID

August 15, 2020

Bank card

August 12, 2020

PGE

August 12, 2020

PG&E

August 12, 2020

Pge

August 11, 2020

Gas service department with a message

August 11, 2020

Telemarking

August 10, 2020

Scam Pretending to be PG&E

July 28, 2020

Fake PG&E electric/utilities "disconnection of service" or rebates/savings scam by madarchod criminals phoning from India and spoofing the actual valid number for PG&E. This scam begins with a recording that is generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this India scam. The recording says something like: "This call is to inform you that you will be experiencing a disconnection of service today within 60 minutes due to non-payment posted on the account. Please contact the billing headquarters as soon as possible to avoid service interruption." or "This is a disconnection notice from your electric company. Please be aware that your electric service will be disconnected within the next 30 minutes due to non-payment. Immediate action is required to avoid disconnection today." These fake service suspension scams have been adjusted for hundreds of India phone scams to say either your Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, DirecTV or cable TV, Comcast, or various electric service has been or will be disconnected/suspended unless you press 1 or call back. If you respond to this call, the India scammer pretends to be a company representative and tells you that your bill is overdue or your account has been suspended, and they try to steal your Social Security number, credit card number, or bank account/routing number under the pretense of verifying your account information and demanding that you pay the fake past due amount. All real disconnections of electric/gas/water, phone, Internet, and television service are always preceded by personal notices sent to you by printed-on-paper mail or email that detail the exact amount that is unpaid, and all robo-calls playing recordings are always scams. Many phone scams use a pressure tactic saying that something will happen within 30 or 60 minutes. This India scammer also runs electric savings/rebate scams that pretend to offer savings or rebate checks where the call begins with a recording that says: "This is an apology call from your electric utility. You got overcharged by your third party supplier. You will be receiving a rebate check along with a 30 percent discount on your electric and gas bill. Please press 1 to get a rebate check." or "Since you have not missed any electric bill payments in the last 6 months, now you are eligible to get 20 to 25 percent savings on your electric and gas bills. Please press 1 to get your new discounted rates." Again with this fake electric savings/rebate scam, the scammer tries to steal your credit card, SSN, bank account/routing number, and personal information. More than 95% of North America phone scams come from India scammers who operate hundreds of fraud, extortion, and money laundering scams every day such as posing as a fake pharmacy; fake Social Security officer saying your benefits are suspended; IRS officer collecting on fake unpaid back taxes; bill collector threatening you for fake unpaid debts; fake bank, financial, or Fedex/UPS/DHL scams; pretending to offer fake health insurance, car warranty, student loan forgiveness, credit card and debt consolidation services; posing as Amazon to falsely say an unauthorized purchase was made to your credit card or your Prime membership was auto-debited from your bank; posing as Microsoft/Dell/HP/Apple and saying your account has been hacked or they detected a problem or virus on your computer; fake "we are refunding your money" or "your account has been auto-debited" scams; fake Google/Alexa listing and work-from-home scams; posing as an electric utility or Verizon/AT&T/Comcast to say your service is suspended; fake solar panel and home purchase offers; fake fundraisers asking for donations; fake political and lifestyle phone surveys; and the scammers try to steal your credit card, bank account/routing number, Social Security number, and personal information. One India call center may cycle through a fake Social Security, computer subscription auto-renewal, pharmacy, and credit card offer scam during one week. People often hear different scams from the same spoofed Caller ID number. Scammers often use disposable VoIP phone numbers (MagicJack devices) or they spoof fake Caller ID phone numbers. Anyone can use telecom software or a third-party service to phone using fake CID names/numbers. India scammers often spoof fake "8xx-" toll-free numbers. The CID name/number is useless with scam calls unless the scam asks you to phone them back and the CID area code is almost never the origin of the call. You waste your time researching the CID number since scams use spoofed CID numbers from across the U.S. and Canada, totally invalid area codes, and also fake foreign country CID numbers; e.g. fake women crying "help me" emergency scams from India often spoof Mexico and Middle East CID numbers. India scammers also spoof the actual phone numbers of businesses such as Apple, Verizon, and U.S. banks to trick you into thinking that a call is valid. How can you avoid being scammed by phone calls? NEVER trust any unsolicited caller who sells something (most unsolicited calls are scams so your odds of saving money are very poor); offers of a free gift; legal or arrest phone threats or a caller/recording who says you need to reply back soon (pressure tactic); callers who ask you to access a website, download a file, wire transfer money or buy gift cards; claims of suspicious activity on an account; subscriptions being refunded or auto-renewed/auto-debited; and all pre-recorded messages. Recorded messages are far more likely to be malicious scams, and not just telemarketing spam. A common India scam phones you with a fake Amazon recording about a purchase of an iPhone, but Amazon never robo-dials and Amazon account updates are communicated in emails. Many banks use automated fraud alert phone calls to confirm a suspicious purchase, but always verify the number that the message tells you to phone or just call the number printed on your credit card. Any unsolicited caller with a foreign accent, usually Indian, should immediately be treated as a scam. Many scams tell a lie that you recently inquired about a job, insurance, social security benefits, doctor appointment, or that you recently contacted them or visited their website. Scammers try to gain your trust by saying your name when they call, but the autodialer is automatically displaying your name to the scammer or saying your name in a recording when your number is dialed using phone databases that have millions of names and addresses. India scammers often phone with an initial pre-recorded message speaking English, Spanish, or Chinese that is easily generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of their India phone room, but then you speak to the scammer when you press 1 or call them back. Some speech synthesis software sound robotic, but others sound natural. To hide their foreign accents, some India scammers use non-Indians in their phone room. India scammers use interactive voice response (IVR) robotic software that combines voice recognition with artificial intelligence, speaks English with American voices, and responds based on your replies. IVR calls begin with: "Hi, this is fake_name, I am a fake_job_title on a recorded line, can you hear me okay?"; or "Hi, this is fake_name, how are you doing today?"; or "Hello? (pause) Are you there?"; or "Hi, may I speak to your_name?" IVR quickly asks you a short question to elicit a yes/no reply so it hangs up if it encounters voicemail. IVR robots understand basic replies, yes/no/what answers, and basic questions. To test for IVR, ask "How is the weather over there?" since IVR cannot answer complex questions. IVR robots keep talking if you interrupt them in mid-sentence. IVR usually transfers you to the scammer, but some scams entirely use IVR with the robot asking for your credit card or SSN. A common myth is that IVR calls record you saying "yes" so scammers can authorize purchases just using your "yes" voice, but scammers need more information than just a simple recorded "yes" from you - credit cards and SSN. Phone/email scams share two common traits: 1) The Caller ID name/number and the "From:" header on emails are easily faked; and 2) The intent of scam calls is malicious just as file attachments and website links on scam emails are harmful. Scams snowball for many victims. If your personal/financial data are stolen, either by being scammed, visiting a malicious website, or by a previous data breach of a business server that stores your data, then your data gets sold by scammers on the dark web who then see you as fresh meat and prey on you even more. This is why some receive 40+ scam calls everyday while others get 0 to 2 calls per day. If you provide your personal and financial data to a phone scammer, lured by fake 80%-discounted drugs or scared by fake IRS officers, you receive far more phone scams and identity theft can take years to repair. Most unsolicited calls are scams, often with an Indian accent. No other country is infested with pandemics of phone room sweatshops filled with criminals who belong to the lowest India caste and many are thieves and rapists who were serving jail time but released early due to prison overcrowding. India scammers shout profanities at you. Just laugh at their abusive language. Google "Hindi swear words" and memorize some favorites, e.g. call him "Rundi Ka Bacha" (son of whore) or call her "Rundi Ki Bachi" (daughter of whore). Scammers ignore the National Do-Not-Call Registry and asking scammers to stop calling is useless. You do these scammers a favor by quickly hanging up. But you ruin their scams when you slowly drag them along on the phone call, always give them fake personal and credit card data (16 random digits starting with 4 for Visa, 5 for MasterCard), ask them to speak louder and repeat what they said to waste their time and energy.

July 24, 2020

Gas company

July 22, 2020

No message but internet searches say they call about past due invoices. We are not served by PG&E, so scam.

July 15, 2020

This is a fake credit services scam call by criminals phoning from Russia, trying to steal your credit card number, Social Security number, and personal information. There are hundreds of these Russian scams where they offer to lower the interest rates on a fake student loan that you do not have, consolidate all your debts at "0% interest", or give you an unsecured $100,000 line of credit. This call begins with a pre-recorded robotic speaker who pretends to be a credit and loan service. The robotic English message is generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this Russian scam. If you respond to the call, then you get transferred to the West Russian scammer who tells you that because of your good credit history, he can offer you lower interest rates... he just needs your credit card number and SSN "for verification purposes". More than 95% of all North America phone scams originate from crowded phone rooms in Russia that run numerous fraud, extortion, and money laundering scams every day such as pretending to be a fake pharmacy, posing as fake Social Security or IRS officers collecting on "unpaid back taxes" or fake bill collectors threatening you for fake unpaid debts, pretending to offer fake health insurance, car warranty, and debt, student loan forgiveness, credit card consolidation services, posing as Amazon to falsely say that an unauthorized purchase was made to your account or that your Prime membership was auto-debited from your credit card or bank account, posing as Microsoft or HP to say that your software needs renewal or they detected a problem with your computer, pretending to be DHL, UPS, FedEx or a bank, falsely stating that they installed ransomware virus on your computer and you need to pay them money, etc, and the scammers try to steal your credit card, bank account and routing number, or Social Security number and personal information. Some Russian scammers try to gain your trust by looking up the name associated with your phone number and asking for you by name when they call. Many Russian scammers now phone you with an initial pre-recorded robotic person speaking English, Spanish, or Chinese that is easily generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of their Russia phone room, but then you speak to the West Russian scammer when you take the bait and respond to the pre-recorded message. Russian scammers often either use disposable VoIP phone numbers or they spoof fake Caller ID phone numbers. Anyone can use telecom software or a third-party service to phone using fake names and phone numbers that show up on Caller ID. Russian scammers often spoof fake toll-free Caller ID numbers. Russian scammers do not care about the U.S. National Do-Not-Call Registry and asking scammers to stop calling has no effect. Never give an unknown caller your credit card number or Social Security number. Companies who already have your information may ask for the last four digits of your Social Security number for verification. Some Russian scammers ask for your bank account and routing number or ask you to wire transfer them a payment, giving a fake explanation that they cannot accept a credit card or personal check. This is an instant scammer alert because scammers can withdraw money if they know your bank account and routing number (e.g. counterfeit cashed checks) and illegal wire transfers are far less traceable than unauthorized credit card charges. Russian scammers may threaten to have you arrested, but the IRS, Social Security Administration, and debt collectors cannot threaten to arrest or sue you on the phone; they are required to send you paper notices by registered mail. If the scam sounds very authentic, ask the scammer for their verifiable company name, street address, and a callback number, which all real businesses will provide. Every Russian scammer will immediately fail this test since they all use spoofed fake Caller ID numbers or Non-Fixed VoIP numbers (e.g. Skype or Google Voice) that they quickly dispose of. Never trust any unsolicited call because they are mostly scammers, usually with a slight or strong West Russian accent, and most scam calls originate from Russia.

February 22, 2020