Totally FAKE "your personal/business/payday/VA/student loan, hardship loan, mortgage or home equity loan, debt relief, debt consolidation, tax debt or government grant application has been pre-approved/approved or needs to be finalized" scam by criminals phoning from the Philippines. This is a massive fake financial services loan scam by Puta'ng Ina Ka criminals calling from the Philippines, stealing your credit card numbers, Social Security number, bank account and personal information. There are thousands of these scams where they pretend to be fake debt collectors threatening you for debts that you do not owe, offer to lower the interest rate on credit cards or a fake student loan that you do not have, offer you a fake home equity loan based on a request that you did not inquire about, consolidate all your credit cards and debts at 0% interest, or give you an unsecured $100,000 line of credit. This call may begin with a huge variety of pre-recorded messages generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this Philippines scam. This scammer uses hundreds of fake company names, speaks your full name to try to gain your trust, and may falsely tell you that they previously mailed you a loan application or that you had previously applied for their loan. The scammer tells you that because of your good credit history, he can offer you lower interest rates on personal and business loans. He asks for your SSN "for verification purposes" and asks for your credit card or bank account number "so they can deposit your (fake) loan". Or the scammer says that to prove your credibility, you must first buy a prepaid gift card and give him the card number and PIN code. This Filipino scammer also uses these same thousands of phone numbers to run many other scams including offering fake Medicare, health insurance, auto insurance and car warranties, pretends to be debt collectors, impersonates Google, AT&T DirecTV or Comcast, or pretends to be fake fundraisers collecting for various charities but they keep all charity donations for themselves. About 50% of North America scam calls come from India and 45% come from the Philippines. Foreign scammers run thousands of fraud, extortion, 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, posing as utility/phone/internet companies, 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, 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, fake solar panel and home purchase offers, fake fundraisers asking for donations, fake phone surveys, and the scammers try to steal your financial and personal data. Indian scammers often rotate through fake tech support, subscription auto-renewal, and fake pharmacy scams on the same day. Filipino scammers run many loan and tax/debt relief, Social Security and Medicare identity theft, auto/home/health/life insurance, and fake charity donation scams. Scammers use disposable VoIP phone numbers (e.g. MagicJack) and telecom software to spoof fake names and numbers on Caller ID. 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/Canada, numbers belonging to unsuspecting people, invalid area codes, and fake foreign country CID numbers; e.g. fake women crying "help me" emergency scams spoof Mexico and Middle East CID numbers. Scammers often spoof the actual name and number of businesses such as 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 Medicare or Social Security number; offers debt relief, loan services, Medicare assistance (people who are old or desperate in debt often fall for scams); offers a free gift/reward; threatens you with arrest/lawsuit; asks you to access a website, download a file, wire transfer money or buy prepaid debit/gift cards; claims your account is frozen or has suspicious activity; says a subscription is refunded or auto-renewed/auto-debited; and all 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 mostly scams. No other countries are infested with phone room sweatshops filled with criminals. Most Filipino scammers speak better English than Indian scammers. Filipinos speak English with a subtle accent that may sound Hispanic. To hide their foreign origin, some India scammers use non-Indians in their phone room. Scams often falsely say that you previously contacted them or visited their website. Indian scammers play fake Amazon recordings. Amazon account updates are emailed, not robo-dialed. Many banks use automated fraud alert calls to confirm a suspicious purchase, but always call the number printed on your credit card to verify if the fraud alert is real or fake. Scammers impersonate phone/cable/internet companies, 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 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; your name, address, birthday are public data. Many scammers, especially female Filipinas, use "romance scam" tactics of sounding really friendly as if they are your best friend or lover to try to gain your affection and trust, hoping that you let your guard down so they can easily steal your identity and money. Scammers often play recordings speaking English, Spanish, or Chinese that is easily generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of their overseas phone room. Some speech synthesis sound robotic, but most AI speech sound very realistic. Scammers often use interactive voice response (IVR) AI/NLP software that combines voice recognition with artificial intelligence, speaks English with American voices, and responds based on your replies. IVR calls begin with: "This is fake_name, I am a fake_job_title on a recorded line, can you hear me okay?"; or "Hi, how are you doing today?"; or "Hello? 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. One myth is that saying "yes" to IVR lets scammers use your voice sample for other scams. IVR understands basic replies and yes/no answers. To test for IVR, ask "How is the weather there?" since IVR cannot answer complex questions. IVR usually transfers you to the scammer, but some scams entirely use IVR with the robot asking for your credit card or 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 only 0 to 2 calls per week. If you provide your personal data to a phone scammer, lured by fake 80%-discounted drugs or fake loan and debt services, you receive even more phone scams and identity theft can take years to repair. Scammers often shout profanities at you. Google "Hindi swear words" and memorize some favorites, e.g. call him "Randi Ka Beta" (son of whore) or call her "Randi Ka Betty" (daughter of whore). Scammers ignore the National Do-Not-Call Registry. Asking scammers to stop calling is useless. Scam recordings often tell you to press a keypad number to be placed on their Do-Not-Call list or to unsubscribe from their scam texts/emails, but those keypad commands are fake and they say that just to sound legit. Scammers often provide a toll-free callback number to look like a real business, but they regularly shed old callback numbers so you can never reach the scammers once you have realized that you were scammed. Scammers tell you their callback number just to gain your trust long enough to steal your identity and money and then they frequently switch to using new callback numbers. You do these scammers a favor by quickly hanging up. YOU SHOULD SCAMBAIT ALL SCAMMERS -- slowly drag scammers along on the phone call, provide fake personal and financial 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 6, 2024

Totally FAKE "your personal/business/payday/student loan, hardship loan, mortgage or home equity loan, debt relief, debt consolidation, tax debt or government grant application has been pre-approved/approved or needs to be finalized" scam by criminals phoning from the Philippines. This is a massive fake financial services loan scam by Puta'ng Ina Ka criminals calling from the Philippines, stealing your credit card numbers, Social Security number, bank account and personal information. There are thousands of these scams where they pretend to be fake debt collectors threatening you for debts that you do not owe, offer to lower the interest rate on credit cards or a fake student loan that you do not have, offer you a fake home equity loan based on a request that you did not inquire about, consolidate all your credit cards and debts at 0% interest, or give you an unsecured $100,000 line of credit. This call may begin with a huge variety of pre-recorded messages generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this Philippines scam. This scammer uses hundreds of fake company names, speaks your full name to try to gain your trust, and may falsely tell you that they previously mailed you a loan application or that you had previously applied for their loan. The scammer tells you that because of your good credit history, he can offer you lower interest rates on personal and business loans. He asks for your SSN "for verification purposes" and asks for your credit card or bank account number "so they can deposit your (fake) loan". Or the scammer says that to prove your credibility, you must first buy a prepaid gift card and give him the card number and PIN code. This Filipino scammer also uses these same thousands of phone numbers to run many other scams including offering fake Medicare, health insurance, auto insurance and car warranties, pretends to be debt collectors, impersonates Google, AT&T DirecTV or Comcast, or pretends to be fake fundraisers collecting for various charities but they keep all charity donations for themselves. About 50% of North America scam calls come from India and 45% come from the Philippines. Foreign scammers run thousands of fraud, extortion, 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, posing as utility/phone/internet companies, 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, 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, fake solar panel and home purchase offers, fake fundraisers asking for donations, fake phone surveys, and the scammers try to steal your financial and personal data. Indian scammers often rotate through fake tech support, subscription auto-renewal, and fake pharmacy scams on the same day. Filipino scammers run many auto/home/health/life insurance, Social Security and Medicare identity theft, loan and tax/debt relief scams, and fake charity donation scams. Scammers use disposable VoIP phone numbers (e.g. MagicJack) or they spoof fake names and numbers on Caller ID. Anyone can use telecom software to phone with a fake CID name/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 spoof Mexico and Middle East CID numbers. Scammers often spoof the actual phone numbers of businesses such as 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 Medicare or Social Security number; offers debt relief, loan services, Medicare assistance (people who are old or desperate in debt are often scam victims); offers a free gift/reward; threatens you with arrest/lawsuit; asks you to access a website, download a file, wire transfer money or buy prepaid debit/gift cards; claims your account is frozen or has suspicious activity; says a subscription is refunded or auto-renewed/auto-debited; and all 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 mostly scams. Filipino scammers tend to speak better English than Indian scammers. Filipinos speak English with a subtle accent that may sound Hispanic. Scams often falsely say that you previously contacted them or visited their website. Indian scammers play fake Amazon recordings. Amazon account updates are emailed, not robo-dialed. Many banks use automated fraud alert calls to confirm a suspicious purchase, but always call the number printed on your credit card to verify if the fraud alert is real or fake. Scammers impersonate phone/cable/internet companies, 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 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; your name, address, birthday are public data. Scammers often play recordings speaking English, Spanish, or Chinese that is easily generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of their overseas phone room. Some speech synthesis sound robotic, but most AI-speech sound very realistic. To hide their foreign origin, some India scammers use non-Indians in their phone room. Scammers often use interactive voice response (IVR) AI software that combines voice recognition with artificial intelligence, speaks English with American voices, and responds based on your replies. IVR calls begin with: "This is fake_name, I am a fake_job_title on a recorded line, can you hear me okay?"; or "Hi, how are you doing today?"; or "Hello? 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 there?" since IVR cannot answer complex questions. 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" reply, but scammers need more than just a recorded "yes" voice sample from you. 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 only 0 to 2 calls per week. If you provide your personal data to a phone scammer, lured by fake 80%-discounted drugs or fake loan and debt services, you receive even more phone scams and identity theft can take years to repair. Most unsolicited calls are scams, often with Indian or Filipino accents. No other countries are infested with phone room sweatshops filled with criminals. Scammers often shout profanities. Just laugh at their abusive insults. Google "Hindi swear words" and memorize some favorites, e.g. call him "Randi Ka Beta" (son of whore) or call her "Randi Ka Betty" (daughter of whore). Scammers ignore the National Do-Not-Call Registry; asking scammers to stop calling is useless. Scam recordings often tell you to press a keypad number to be placed on their Do-Not-Call list or to unsubscribe from their scam texts/emails, but those keypad commands are fake and they say that just to look legit. Scammers often provide a toll-free callback number to look like a real business, but they regularly shed old callback numbers so you can never reach the scammers once you have realized that you were scammed. Scammers tell you their callback number just to gain your trust long enough to steal your identity and money and then they regularly discard callback numbers and get new ones. You do these scammers a favor by quickly hanging up. YOU SHOULD SCAMBAIT ALL SCAMMERS -- slowly drag scammers along on the phone call, provide fake personal and financial 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 1, 2024

Totally FAKE "your personal/business/payday/student loan, hardship loan, mortgage or home equity loan, debt relief, debt consolidation, tax debt or government grant application has been pre-approved/approved or needs to be finalized" scam by criminals phoning from the Philippines. This is a massive fake financial services loan scam by Puta'ng Ina Ka criminals calling from the Philippines, stealing your credit card numbers, Social Security number, bank account and personal information. There are thousands of these scams where they pretend to be fake debt collectors threatening you for debts that you do not owe, offer to lower the interest rate on credit cards or a fake student loan that you do not have, offer you a fake home equity loan based on a request that you did not inquire about, consolidate all your credit cards and debts at 0% interest, or give you an unsecured $100,000 line of credit. This call may begin with a huge variety of pre-recorded messages generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this Philippines scam. This scammer uses hundreds of fake company names, speaks your full name to try to gain your trust, and may falsely tell you that they previously mailed you a loan application or that you had previously applied for their loan. The scammer tells you that because of your good credit history, he can offer you lower interest rates on personal and business loans. He asks for your SSN "for verification purposes" and asks for your credit card or bank account number "so they can deposit your (fake) loan". Or the scammer says that to prove your credibility, you must first buy a prepaid gift card and give him the card number and PIN code. This Filipino scammer also uses these same thousands of phone numbers to run many other scams including offering fake Medicare, health insurance, auto insurance and car warranties, pretends to be debt collectors, impersonates Google, AT&T DirecTV or Comcast, or pretends to be fake fundraisers collecting for various charities but they keep all charity donations for themselves. About 50% of North America scam calls come from India and 45% come from the Philippines. Foreign scammers run thousands of fraud, extortion, 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, posing as utility/phone/internet companies, 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, 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, fake solar panel and home purchase offers, fake fundraisers asking for donations, fake phone surveys, and the scammers try to steal your financial and personal data. Indian scammers often rotate through fake tech support, subscription auto-renewal, and fake pharmacy scams on the same day. Filipino scammers run many auto/home/health/life insurance, Social Security and Medicare identity theft, loan and tax/debt relief scams, and fake charity donation scams. Scammers use disposable VoIP phone numbers (e.g. MagicJack) or they spoof fake names and numbers on Caller ID. Anyone can use telecom software to phone with a fake CID name/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 spoof Mexico and Middle East CID numbers. Scammers often spoof the actual phone numbers of businesses such as 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 Medicare or Social Security number; offers debt relief, loan services, Medicare assistance (people who are old or desperate in debt are often scam victims); offers a free gift/reward; threatens you with arrest/lawsuit; asks you to access a website, download a file, wire transfer money or buy prepaid debit/gift cards; claims your account is frozen or has suspicious activity; says a subscription is refunded or auto-renewed/auto-debited; and all 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 mostly scams. Filipino scammers tend to speak better English than Indian scammers. Filipinos speak English with a subtle accent that may sound Hispanic. Scams often falsely say that you previously contacted them or visited their website. Indian scammers play fake Amazon recordings. Amazon account updates are emailed, not robo-dialed. Many banks use automated fraud alert calls to confirm a suspicious purchase, but always call the number printed on your credit card to verify if the fraud alert is real or fake. Scammers impersonate phone/cable/internet companies, 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 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; your name, address, birthday are public data. Scammers often play recordings speaking English, Spanish, or Chinese that is easily generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of their overseas phone room. Some speech synthesis sound robotic, but most AI-speech sound very realistic. To hide their foreign origin, some India scammers use non-Indians in their phone room. Scammers often use interactive voice response (IVR) AI software that combines voice recognition with artificial intelligence, speaks English with American voices, and responds based on your replies. IVR calls begin with: "This is fake_name, I am a fake_job_title on a recorded line, can you hear me okay?"; or "Hi, how are you doing today?"; or "Hello? 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 there?" since IVR cannot answer complex questions. 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" reply, but scammers need more than just a recorded "yes" voice sample from you. 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 only 0 to 2 calls per week. If you provide your personal data to a phone scammer, lured by fake 80%-discounted drugs or fake loan and debt services, you receive even more phone scams and identity theft can take years to repair. Most unsolicited calls are scams, often with Indian or Filipino accents. No other countries are infested with phone room sweatshops filled with criminals. Scammers often shout profanities. Just laugh at their abusive insults. Google "Hindi swear words" and memorize some favorites, e.g. call him "Randi Ka Beta" (son of whore) or call her "Randi Ka Betty" (daughter of whore). Scammers ignore the National Do-Not-Call Registry; asking scammers to stop calling is useless. Scam recordings often tell you to press a keypad number to be placed on their Do-Not-Call list or to unsubscribe from their scam texts/emails, but those keypad commands are fake and they say that just to look legit. Scammers often provide a toll-free callback number to look like a real business, but they regularly shed old callback numbers so you can never reach the scammers once you have realized that you were scammed. Scammers tell you their callback number just to gain your trust long enough to steal your identity and money and then they regularly discard callback numbers and get new ones. You do these scammers a favor by quickly hanging up. YOU SHOULD SCAMBAIT ALL SCAMMERS -- slowly drag scammers along on the phone call, provide fake personal and financial 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 1, 2024

Ty

October 10, 2022

🐼w

June 13, 2022

Personal Loan

June 7, 2022

Block and ignore...always.

April 26, 2022

They have several numbers

March 9, 2022

Calls if due date falls on holiday or one day late

January 3, 2022

Received call - I did not answer, did not recognize the number - no voice message left. most likely a scammer.

August 5, 2021

Knew my name and vehicle was asking me for my vin number

July 1, 2021

Fake loan financing scam by madarchod criminals phoning from India. This is a fake financial services loan scam by criminals calling from India, stealing your credit card numbers, Social Security number, bank account and personal information. There are hundreds of these India scams where they pretend to be fake debt collectors threatening you for debts that you do not owe, offer to lower the interest rate on credit cards or a fake student loan that you do not have, offer you a fake home equity loan based on a request that you did not inquire about, consolidate all your credit cards and debts at 0% interest, or give you an unsecured $100,000 line of credit. This call begins with a pre-recorded robotic message generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this India scam. The message says that either you are pre-approved for a personal or business loan with no upfront fees and no credit report needed, you qualify for 0% or 1.9% interest rate on all your credit cards due to your prompt payment history that they have been monitoring (fake!), or that you need to complete your application for a student loan forgiveness repayment plan that you previously contacted them about (fake!). About 80% of North America scam calls come from India and 15% 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. A India call center may rotate through a fake Social Security, subscription auto-renewal, pharmacy, and credit card offer scam within one week. 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 mostly 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 phone scam uses a fake Amazon recording about a purchase of an iPhone, but Amazon never robo-dials and Amazon account updates are emailed. Many banks use automated fraud alert calls to confirm a suspicious purchase, but always verify the number that the recording tells you to phone or just call the number printed on your credit card. Some scams ask for your credit card for purchase of their fake product or service. The scammer calls you back one day later to say their credit card machine is broken, so you must wire transfer the payment to them. After you have wired the money to them, they still overcharge your credit card after they change phone numbers, so they rob you twice before disappearing. Wire transfers and prepaid debit cards laundered through foreign bank accounts are untraceable. 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.

April 14, 2021