Fake Georgia Power "disconnection of service" or rebates/savings scam by madarchod criminals phoning from India and spoofing the actual valid number for the Georgia Power! 888-660-5890 is the valid number for Georgia Power, so this may be a valid call. However, India scammers spoof this Caller ID number for a scam that begins with a robotic recording that is generated using text-to-speech translation software to disguise the origin of this India scam. The recording says something like: "Disconnection of service today within 30 minutes due to non-payment on the account. Please contact the headquarters as soon as possible to avoid service interruption at a_different_phone_number" A very common India scam tactic is to phone you using various spoofed Caller ID numbers where the recording tells you to call them at one or a few different phone numbers that the scammers actually monitor. 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% discount on your electric and gas bill. Please press 1 to get a rebate check." 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 (e.g. 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); 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 tactics); asks you to access a website, download a file, wire transfer money or buy gift cards; claims suspicious activity on an online account; says your subscription is 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, or that you 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.

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Automated system claiming to be power company tells you to call 888 535 1460 to pay past due bill or power will shut off in 30 minutes.

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