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How to Get a Timeshare Spammer to Hang Up on YOU! :)

amycurl

amycurl

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Just now, I got a call from someone at "Travel Services" that "handles booking for Marriott and other RCI resorts." My immediate response was, "Well, Marriott doesn't trade in RCI, so that's incorrect information already." And then she HUNG UP ON ME, LOL! Hilarious! Just thought I would share my mid-afternoon chuckle with you.

And, yes, I picked up the phone, because it didn't come through as "spam risk," and some professional contacts do have my cell phone that aren't necessarily in my phone.

Knowledge is power people, LOL. :)
 
Gotta love it when you catch those callers in a scam. I had a call yesterday from a guy saying he was with the IRS and I was being investigated due to money owing. I said oh really, I am Canadian living in Canada and we do not have the IRS up here! Click! That is the 3rd or 4th time DH or I have had a call supposedly from the IRS -don't they look at the area code they are calling to see if it even in the USA? Guess not!


~Diane
 
The only scammers we get calling us now claim that we have some outstanding travel package that we failed to book. They claim to be from Wingate Resorts. A non existent company. Wingate is part of Wyndham. Sometimes I string them along for a little while. They have a strange way of working the call. The first person does some pitch about what they are offering and if you show interest you are transferred to someone else. It all seems strange. I usually hang up when I hear "Wingate Resorts". The last time I hung up it was after I was transferred to the second person. They actually tried calling me back. I didn't answer.

When my wife answers and they say we have some promo package we failed to book, she tells them we travel 30+ weeks in timeshare and that would be impossible.
 
will usually ask them to hold on and then just set the phone down.
 
Brian that is the way to do it. The quick hang up is fine with them. They are dialing for dollars. I let them start the pitch and then set the phone down. Huge time waster for the scammer.
 
Maybe we should connect them to AI and let AI talk with them. There is usually an "are you still there" somewhere in there.

edit: I found this (it looks interesting):

 
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A few months ago I received one of those calls from the "Sheriff's Office." They were calling because I had missed Jury Duty and an Active Warrant was about to be issued. My response was: "That is weird because I am the Sheriff." Click.
 
@TUGBrian, I think that we need to develop an AI voice chatbot for TS scammers who are calling us all the time. Maybe we could get funding from ARDA (because I am sure that they would want to help us TS owners).
 
My late dad used to engage the scammers. He was lonely, just wanted to talk to somebody and thankfully knew they were scammers. We were at his house one day when somebody called about his computer and said there was a problem with windows. Dad said no the windows are fine, we just got new ones all through the house a few years ago, but they are dirty, do you know who I could get to clean them? He kept asking more questions, DH & I were laughing and the caller eventually got so frustrated they hung up.

Another time he got a call saying he had won a new car and a big cash amount. He just needed to go to the store and get some VISA gift cards to cover the processing fee. He started asking questions about the car, what colour was it, well I dont like that colour, I want this colour. What kind of gas mileage does it get? When will you deliver it because I would need to sell my current car first so there is room in the garage for the new one. On and on. His favorite was the duct cleaning guy. Dad got to know him quite well, where he was from, where he was living now and all about his family. Dad ended up in the hospital for a week or so and when I went to check on his house there were messages from the guy wondering if dad was ok because he always answered. He even left his personal cellphone number for dad to call him back and let him know he was ok. I left that for dad to do when he got back home! When dad moved into a retirement home he told the guy he was moving to a place where there were no ducts so he didnt need to call any more, but the guy still called a few more times just to chat with dad!


~Diane
 
I remember years ago there was an audio on UTube where a home owner received a telephone solicitor call. He kept the guy on the line forever pretending to be a Detective investigating the murder of the Home Owner. It was pretty hilarious.
 
geist1223 said:
I remember years ago there was an audio on UTube where a home owner received a telephone solicitor call. He kept the guy on the line forever pretending to be a Detective investigating the murder of the Home Owner. It was pretty hilarious.
Click to expand...
That is the famous Tom Mabe recording:

Kurt
 
Since the iPhone is now what I always use and it does not put through calls from unknown numbers, I seldom get these anymore, though sometimes the leave voicemail which is fun to listen to.
 
moonstone said:
My late dad used to engage the scammers. He was lonely, just wanted to talk to somebody and thankfully knew they were scammers. We were at his house one day when somebody called about his computer and said there was a problem with windows. Dad said no the windows are fine, we just got new ones all through the house a few years ago, but they are dirty, do you know who I could get to clean them? He kept asking more questions, DH & I were laughing and the caller eventually got so frustrated they hung up.

Another time he got a call saying he had won a new car and a big cash amount. He just needed to go to the store and get some VISA gift cards to cover the processing fee. He started asking questions about the car, what colour was it, well I dont like that colour, I want this colour. What kind of gas mileage does it get? When will you deliver it because I would need to sell my current car first so there is room in the garage for the new one. On and on. His favorite was the duct cleaning guy. Dad got to know him quite well, where he was from, where he was living now and all about his family. Dad ended up in the hospital for a week or so and when I went to check on his house there were messages from the guy wondering if dad was ok because he always answered. He even left his personal cellphone number for dad to call him back and let him know he was ok. I left that for dad to do when he got back home! When dad moved into a retirement home he told the guy he was moving to a place where there were no ducts so he didnt need to call any more, but the guy still called a few more times just to chat with dad!


~Diane
Click to expand...

That's great. I always liked this guy's routine. Scamalot on youtube. I tried to post a video but the link was broken.

 
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jorcus said:
That's great. I always liked this guy's routine. Scamalot on youtube. I tried to post a video but the link was broken.

Click to expand...
The link still works, the channel is just forcing you to watch the video on YouTube. One can do so by clicking the "Watch on YouTube" link. Creators may do this because embedded videos don't get the same advertising playback rates as videos watched through the YouTube app or website.
 
I have been timeshare-less since the first of this year. I/we still get 2-3 calls A WEEK . . . people offering to help us rent our unused "RCI timeshare weeks." When I start asking questions about what timeshare resort they're calling about, they say "The RCI ones." LOL
 
I also had one from one of those travel clubs who target TS owners probably figuring we like to travel a lot. When he identified what company he was with I tactfully responded, "Okay, but just to let you know, I don't do business over the phone with people I don't know. I'm not giving you my credit card number and I'm not wiring you any money. Now, what is it you want to tell me?" His response was, "to tell you , 'Goodbye'!" and he immediately hung up.
 
GT75 said:
Maybe we should connect them to AI and let AI talk with them. There is usually an "are you still there" somewhere in there.

edit: I found this (it looks interesting):

Click to expand...
I've had "Jolly Rodger" for forever, and they've done stuff like this including AI for years. Unfortunately, somehow the spammers never actually talk to the robot. Actually I think they just hang up immediately even when I've tried to answer. At this point I think they just want to annoy me for some reason.
 
duplicate post
 
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