Beware of strangers bearing gifts...

[hawkman]

I know this is long but maybe worth reading.

I have reieived a couple of phone calls recently. On my cell phone, which was a red flag to me. Any time I have to give a phone number I give my home #, couldn't figure out how they got my cell # & name Both were people with heavy accents & hard to understand. First one wanted to give me a $25 Walmart card, something about a recent purchase I had made there with my debit card. I was at work & the fact that they called on my cell bothered me so I just hung up. The second was this afternoon, she wanted to give me a $50 gas voucher & a "discount card" for something or other, supposedly because of a recent purchase on my Visa card. When I started asking questions she gave answers that I couldn't understand or ignored them completely & continued with her sales pitch. When she got to the part about it was only going to cost me $30 for this "gift package". I said no, no, no, I'm not paying anything & put me on your do not call list, she hung up then. It still bothers me that they had access to as much info as they already had, I just hope the phone calls were to get more before they could do anything else. I will keep a close watch on all my accounts & suggest everyone does the same.

This is what I got when I googled the # they called from.
(616) 980-2600 / 6169802600

[horseshoer]

Good heads-up Hawk. I swear, with supposed regulatory agencies such as the BBB and just in this day and age of modern conveniences it seems to me to be completely against all that technology has advanced us by having freakin telemarkers and bilkers ringin yur own private phone #s trying to sell stuff or scam.
What ever happened to Privacy Act? You can go online and reads terms of agreement about marketing yur e-mail address, get an unlisted phone #, etc, but seems a pitiful state that we as a nation cant enact a law or see fit for the need of one that you cant sleep or relax or read a book for 5 min. without some hokey sand gigolo trying to sell you Sears vinyl siding. I could go on but would just go downhill from here. Take the number of households in this country and number of times and time spent in each one each day erasing bogus junk off yur machine, screening unknown #s, or just simply being bothered by the dang phone ringing for no just cause? How much total mayhem and bother does this stuff cause the average household every day? I think if a dude had a mind to he could be elected president just by promising no more bogus phone calls and get the bicycle riders off our roadways, where nobody else is allowed to operate without a test, headlights, a license plate, and a horn.
Aw shucks Hawk, I am on the war path now.

[Crappie Reaper]

Websites are just as bad. There are popups that ask you to take a "free quiz". Once you complete the quiz, you have to insert your cell number so they can text you your results. On THAT same page, usually in a darkend corner, in small print, you will see a notice of a $9.99 a month subscription fee charged to your cell phone. The bill will appear on your phone bill each month until you get square in the middle of your carriers face.

I know this to be true with three teenagers that freely roam the internet. I have found bills like this on my account and have had to have them removed. There should be legislation against such prctices.

[father of 4]

Get on your computer and go to this website National Do-Not-Call Registry put in your number and most places wont call any more

[Ga_redland]

Call 1-888-382-1222 and register cell phone number you have to be calling from your cell phone you have to call from each cell phone that you wish to register. takes 31 days to go in effect

[big "E"]

I had the pleasure of working for a company for five years that did direct mailings. These were the mundain sort of "you may have won 10 million dollars" send us $10 service fee for processing. Kind of like the lottery right?? Wrong! These guys are data sellers. The $10 service fees that they charge are only to cover the cost of the mailings. The money is made when they compile your name and everyone elses names on a list. A "sucker list" is what its referred to in the business. The majority of these names will be from the elderly and this too is by design because they are much easier to get talking on the phone and easier to bilk out of their account numbers etc. Now the federal government has gotten involved with the direct mail industry and these guys have moved on to the internet where it's a lot easier to "harvest" the data. I can't stress enough to all of you that no matter how convincing these emails sound or how many people's smiling pictures and testimonials tell you about the free ipod they recieved for filling out this survey.......IT'S A SCAM. Every time it's a scam. Even if you are lucky enough to be one of the 10,000 that they HAVE to send one to in order to keep it legal, Your name is now in the mill and you can expect to have a mailbox full of jumk on both your home and your computer. Be smart and diligent folks. Remember what your folks taught you, it's too good to be true.

[Cane Pole]

get the bicycle riders off our roadways, where nobody else is allowed to operate without a test, headlights, a license plate, and a horn.

Hey,

They all wear that cute egghead hat and they all set on type seats and what cute tiny butts you view when passing. Think positive...

[hawkman]

get the bicycle riders off our roadways, where nobody else is allowed to operate without a test, headlights, a license plate, and a horn.

Hey,

They all wear that cute egghead hat and they all set on type seats and what cute tiny butts you view when passing. Think positive...

And that is just the guys. :D :D :D

[yankee doodler]

I had the pleasure of working for a company for five years that did direct mailings. These were the mundain sort of "you may have won 10 million dollars" send us $10 service fee for processing. Kind of like the lottery right?? Wrong! These guys are data sellers. The $10 service fees that they charge are only to cover the cost of the mailings. The money is made when they compile your name and everyone elses names on a list. A "sucker list" is what its referred to in the business. The majority of these names will be from the elderly and this too is by design because they are much easier to get talking on the phone and easier to bilk out of their account numbers etc. Now the federal government has gotten involved with the direct mail industry and these guys have moved on to the internet where it's a lot easier to "harvest" the data. I can't stress enough to all of you that no matter how convincing these emails sound or how many people's smiling pictures and testimonials tell you about the free ipod they recieved for filling out this survey.......IT'S A SCAM. Every time it's a scam. Even if you are lucky enough to be one of the 10,000 that they HAVE to send one to in order to keep it legal, Your name is now in the mill and you can expect to have a mailbox full of jumk on both your home and your computer. Be smart and diligent folks. Remember what your folks taught you, it's too good to be true.

Yeah everythin' you say BigE...isn't a shame that the general attitude of the american public anymore is when I get a call from someone I don't know it's gotta be a SCAM!...

[[email protected]]

if I get a call on my cell phone an dont know the number I discardit and erase and forget it.