Scam/Potential Fraud Numbers Keep Calling Me

Ldisco deeva on 23/03/2023 - 17:29
Last edited 25/03/2023 - 09:46 by 1 other user

**UPDATE: followed 7ekn00's suggestions and guess what? Phone doesn't ring when scammers call. Goes straight to voicemail (so long as it's already been flagged as fraudulent).
WOO HOO!
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR RESPONSES. Not having my phone ringing incessantly has been fantastic. I'm so happy 😊 **

Since my personal information was breached in the Optus debacle, I've had many unsolicited calls to my mobile.
In the past two weeks, there has been a significant increase. They're calling me at all hours, all the way up to 11pm and as early as 6am.
I keep blocking and reporting every call, but they just use another number (namely prefixed with 02 followed by an 8…etc.)

Can anyone give me advice on what to do to make this stop? They're driving me crazy!
I just got ANOTHER scam call while writing this. I was so frustrated I answered the phone and screamed at the top of my lungs right into the reciever… twice. I hope it damaged their ear drum! They hung up immediately LOL.
Now I've got a sore throat, so looking for alternatives that will be annoying to them and kinder to my throat!
Thanks in advance 😁

Mobile

Comments

  • CyberMurning on 23/03/2023 - 17:41
    -3

    so, are you still with optus ? i said before, all the optus customers in australia must stand together, and cancel their services when the breach happened.
    just cancel for 6 months or so if you really fans of optus. but during that 6 months, optus will have zero customers in australia.
    that will teach optus and others that customers can "do something" because well obviously government cant.

    • shangoz on 23/03/2023 - 19:05

      you need to cancel your OLD phone number and tell all your friends etc the new number, but again, if you tell someone like booking airplane ticket or booking for accomodation, or join Medibank private etc, if they get breach, you lost your new phone number again, just can't win unless you stop use all phone including landline, otherwise no way to fix it.

    • penguincat on 23/03/2023 - 23:47

      all the Optus customers in Australia must stand together, and cancel their services when the breach happened.

      The mass exodus that people claimed to be happening was a massive fizzle. Optus now have the same amount of customers now as they did before the breach. So the reported numbers say anyway.

      I'm leaving Optus in 1-2 hours as my pre paid sim is about to expire. That is due to their BS creditcard protection that is too sensitive/configured incorrectly. So it wouldn't let me recharge. That is a nice and simple way to get me to leave lol.
      Me: Here have money! Optus: Creditcard protection says no. Me: fine you don't have to have it I guess.

      Where do people go?

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:15

      Yes I did leave, but only because they also had terrible reception in my area and this was the straw that broke the camel's back!

  • John Kimble on 23/03/2023 - 18:06
    +11

    You actually answer your phone when it rings and use your phone for calls? 🤔

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:16

      LOL yes! I use my phone for work and have quite a few people calling me throughout the day 😁

  • DashCam AKA Rolts on 23/03/2023 - 18:08
    +1

    I answered the phone and screamed at the top of my lungs

    Might mean you feel better by doing this, but has no effect on the volume of the received end since the death of analogue phones. IIRC

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:18

      You don't think it would hurt their ears and reverberate in their headphones? 😂

      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 24/03/2023 - 09:28

        No, your volume has no effect on the volume heard, the phone auto-adjusts. Easily tested. Call someone you know and try it. Ask them how loud the call was. I think you'll be disappointed.

      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 24/03/2023 - 09:34

        I believe automatic gain control may be what limits the effect of you shouting on a mobile phone. Someone with more knowledge of this than me may be able to explain it better.

  • DashCam AKA Rolts on 23/03/2023 - 18:10
    +11

    We receive quite a few calls, but unless we recognise the number, we don't answer. If it's important, the caller will leave a voice message. No message, move on.

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:18

      Noted, thanks!
      Have you noticed a decrease in calls by doing this?

      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 24/03/2023 - 09:23

        Seems to go in waves. Currently, only an occasional random number.

  • Nugs on 23/03/2023 - 18:15
    +6

    "They're calling me at all hours, all the way up to 11pm and as early as 6am"
    as above, don't answer unknowns
    If you are trying to sleep, turn phone off (or use do not disturb with exception number list)
    .

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:19

      I've done that, thanks. Now using separate alarm clock instead of using my phone 👍

  • Iluvfreebies-freeDel on 23/03/2023 - 18:53

    Use apps like truecaller

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:20

      I'll look into it, thanks! 👍

  • djsweet on 23/03/2023 - 19:36

    You can do whitelisting on iPhone. But that only works if you don’t receive any important calls from numbers not in your address book.

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:21

      I have an Android phone and can't block numbers not saved in my phone as I could have work calls coming through 😩

      • BewareOfThe Dog on 24/03/2023 - 11:15

        You should be able to? I can on a Galaxy
        I don't enable as I am job hunting atm.

  • Hybroid on 23/03/2023 - 19:42
    +2

    The more you pick up these calls, the more you get flagged as an active number and the more calls you get.

    Ignore any unknown numbers. Anyone important will leave you a voicemail.

    Also learn to use Do Not Disturb feature.

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:22

      I was doing this but it was unrelenting 😩
      I got sick of reporting and blocking…

  • Some Human on 23/03/2023 - 20:17
    +4

    Let them run through their entire pitch, then say "oh sorry, can you repeat that again, my hearing aid wasn't in properly."

    Rinse and repeat.

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:22
      +1

      😂😂😂😂😂
      This is genius LOL

      • Some Human on 24/03/2023 - 10:27
        +1

        The more of their time you waste, the more it costs them in phone cards and lost opportunity.

        • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 10:45
          +2

          And less time they waste on others! 😆

  • PensionerXXL on 23/03/2023 - 21:07
    -1

    give them what they want and theyll stop calling

    • EightImmortals on 24/03/2023 - 07:59

      Like your banking passwords?

      • PensionerXXL on 24/03/2023 - 13:01

        oh they ask for your bank passwords? mine are just dumb indians who want me to repay all of my debts with giftcards

        • EightImmortals on 24/03/2023 - 13:54

          Lucky guy. I had an 85 year old the other day got caught by 'Telstra' who were going to send her out a 'new router' but she had to pay $4.95 to cover shipping. But first they needed to check her internet speed so can she please go to this site where they can log on remotely to do the tests. In the process they installed a keylogger. She gave them her CC number but they said that the payment didn't go through can she do a direct deposit to the given bank account? So as she transferred the $4.95 they logged her banking PW and also logged the 2FA from her fob after which they cleaned her out for about 6K's worth.

          Absolute rock-spider grubs.

          So now she's waiting to hear back from the bank. She should get it back as she only transferred the initial $4.95, the rest was stolen by the low-lives.

          Had another guy 'almost' got caught after calling the phone number on the 'invoice' from 'McCafee's' for around $400, luckily he clicked before getting to the payment phase and unplugged his PC.

          Had another elderly lady get scammed by 'microsoft' to the tune of $500 as well.

          I don't what's going on lately.

          • PensionerXXL on 24/03/2023 - 14:15
            +3

            @EightImmortals: yeah that's disgusting

            honestly, those types of people need to be hung in public, the world would be such a better place without them

          • CheapskateQueen on 24/03/2023 - 21:56
            +1

            @EightImmortals: stuff like this really upsets me.

            you literally can't trust any phone call you get.

            we have robots on Mars and AI replacing humans and we can't figure out how to stop international cold calling

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:23
      +1

      Can I give them my bills? 😂

  • 7ekn00 on 23/03/2023 - 21:15
    +6

    Get a Pixel, the number will be auto detected as SPAM / SCAM and blocked before it even rings …

    If that doesn't cut it, put the phone face down when you go to bed, this initiates "Do not Disturb" and you won't get woken (you can setup that "contacts" will be able to get around DnD if "on-call" or have emergencies from relatives) …

    If neither of those sound good, use the Google Assistant "Call Screening" (it will answer the phone, hold a conversation and log it as text you can read later - all without even ringing if setup that way - the text from such conversations is hilarious)!

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:25

      I have a Samsung, but will look into the features you've mentioned. They sound very helpful.
      Thank you so much! Wish me luck 🤞

      • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 10:48
        +1

        Update - had no idea these features existed, so thank you!
        Downloaded the phone app and applied the features you've suggested. So far, no spam calls recieved this morning. They must be sleeping in 😂

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 24/03/2023 - 11:17

      Biggest issue is I see numbers coming through with the same prefix as mine, only the last 4 digits a different.

  • penguincat on 23/03/2023 - 22:53
    +3

    In the past two weeks, there has been a significant increase. They're calling me at all hours, all the way up to 11pm and as early as 6am.
    I keep blocking and reporting every call, but they just use another number (namely prefixed with 02 followed by an 8…etc.)

    They generally go in 2-4 week cycles of targeting a particular number set 041X to 042X give up and then move onto another block of numbers.
    I get random text messages saying "your toil was not paid and to pay it now or else" at 1 to 3am which I assume is on purpose. Half a sleep person checks phone but to tired to look at the link for abnormalities = more likely to fall for it?

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:27

      I've been getting these scam text messages, too. It's particularly annoying when there's no number to block, but easy to delete and ignore.

  • AustriaBargain on 23/03/2023 - 23:20

    You can pay for an answering service where a human answers the calls. It is pretty freaky though for your friends calling in, makes it feel like they are telling your professional sounding receptionist to give you the message that you want to punch some cones after work.

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 08:28

      LOL! I'm actually considering this option! 😂

  • mrkorrupt on 24/03/2023 - 09:11
    +1

    you cant block the numbers,
    yes technically you can, but they are just spoofing the numbers, If you search some of the scammer payback videos on youtube, the scammers user a software which spoofs a local number or your number + random three last digits

    eg. your number 0412 123 132
    caller number 0412 123 456

    or Random Au local number eg 0X Xxxx xxxx Number

    • disco deeva on 24/03/2023 - 10:46
      +1

      So these are genuine numbers of real people who have no idea their number is being used for these scamming purposes?

      • BewareOfThe Dog on 24/03/2023 - 11:22

        Yes. Sorry, I made a similar post above, and just saw this.

    • Jono05 on 26/03/2023 - 15:38

      I’ve had a message from my own number. Had to blink a few times.

  • payless69 on 24/03/2023 - 09:22

    Optus made no difference to me,
    Lattitude gives them scammers my money anyway.
    I tell all male scammers that I already had an email from their mothers. None of them ever calls me back when I tell them what their mother is missing out of!

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 24/03/2023 - 11:22

    But one of these. I had something similar @ 15 years ago, as our shop would get a couple of calls a day from telemarketers/scammers

  • Muzeeb on 24/03/2023 - 12:59
    +1

    I just leave do not disturb active 24/7 with a filter for my favourite contacts.

    The rest will leave a message if it's important and I'll call back when I feel like it.

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