"Strange" TS calls

[aka Julie]

My parents (late 70s) have been receiving strange calls within the past week regarding timeshares. They don't own any timeshares. The caller(s) have accents and in some cases an "operator" is on first and asks them to hold for a long distance call. I've told them to not divulge any kind of information and to either not answer or hang up immediately.

I checked their caller ID record and wrote down the phone numbers -- Aberdeen, MD and Miami, FL. I tried calling both numbers and I get a recording that "the numbers are not in service."

I can't understand why they would call back repeadetly at all hours and am worried that this is some kind of phone scam.

Has anyone received strange calls like this?

 

[Tia]

Of course it's a scam sounds like to me. Wonder if you can call the phone company and report this?

 

[theo]

I can't understand why they would call back repeadetly at all hours and am worried that this is some kind of phone scam.

It is clearly the beginning steps of an attempted scam of some sort, likely an effort to extract personal information either for the purpose of credit card fraud or identity theft (...or both). If the calls are truly "...repeatedly at all hours...", report the matter to the telephone company as a harassment issue and the phone company can (after a certain threshhold number of incidents over a defined period of time) put a "trap" on the line to identify the true source of the calls and potentially intervene.

Unfortunately, the technology exists today to "spoof" caller i.d. readout info, so you can't really conclude much of value from the numbers you see on the caller i.d. display. The calls may very well (and most likely do) originate from a source and/or location having no connection whatsoever, geographically or otherwise, to the numbers actually seen on the caller i.d. display.

Meanwhile, you've already given your folks the very good advice to disclose absolutely nothing over the phone --- not even a verbal confirmation of the spelling of their name. They should provide nothing except the "click" of a telephone handset being promptly placed right back into its cradle...

 

[geekette]

It is clearly the beginning steps of an attempted scam of some sort, likely an effort to extract personal information either for the purpose of credit card fraud or identity theft (...or both). If the calls are truly "...repeatedly at all hours...", report the matter to the telephone company as a harassment issue and the phone company can (after a certain threshhold number of incidents over a defined period of time) put a "trap" on the line to identify the true source of the calls and potentially intervene.

Unfortunately, the technology exists today to "spoof" caller i.d. readout info, so you can't really conclude much of value from the numbers you see on the caller i.d. display. The calls may very well (and most likely do) originate from a source and/or location having no connection whatsoever, geographically or otherwise, to the numbers actually seen on the caller i.d. display.

Meanwhile, you've already given your folks the very good advice to disclose absolutely nothing over the phone --- not even a verbal confirmation of the spelling of their name. They should provide nothing except the "click" of a telephone handset being promptly placed right back into its cradle...

I might say "I'm calling the police" right before that hang up.

 

[aka Julie]

Thanks for the replies. Just confirms my thinking. Older folks tend to be so trusting (no offense to any older folks out there). I'm going to ask them to keep a log of the calls if they continue.

 

[Marvin]

Phone calls

If you still have those numbers, pull up http://whocalled.us/list/, and do a search on them. This will, in most cases, identify the caller if they are problem callers, as well as maybe providing more info about them.

Hope this helps.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Have your parents change their phone number right away to an unlisted number. This may be the quickest and easiest way to deal with this issue.

 

[aka Julie]

Have your parents change their phone number right away to an unlisted number. This may be the quickest and easiest way to deal with this issue.

Their current number is unlisted.

 

[aka Julie]

If you still have those numbers, pull up http://whocalled.us/list/, and do a search on them. This will, in most cases, identify the caller if they are problem callers, as well as maybe providing more info about them.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the website link. That was one I did not have.

I did check on the 2 numbers that have been calling. There were entries for both numbers and people reported the same type of calls my parents are receiving.