The most aggravating instance was a day when I had to deal with them at home then rush off and pick up grandson. Low and behold, we just get in the door of my son’s house, when same people on the phone. Luckily my grandson was present or I would have abused them with foul words!
5 Likes
I run my business from home and they’re calling my business number… we actually ended up unplugging the home phone due to all the sales calls… friends and family know to contact us on our mobiles.
An answering machine is good if you’re not relying on calls for income 
2 Likes
Just an addition to this… Organisations like the ATO use voice printing now to “identify” you. Every scam call you get where they get you to answer could be recording your voice which could then be used as a “voice print”.
Never say “Yes” to anyone who calls that you don’t know… say something like “Ah huh” instead… if it is legit, no harm done… if it’s a scam… phew!
3 Likes
You should never say anything but vague “hmmm” “maybe” “dunno” on the phone: for some this will come very easily. The reason being that the men in the black helicopters could be recording. You could find your words re-edited to say that you are going to bomb Parliament. Under current security laws you could spend weeks in custody trying to explain that you were just wishing Grandma happy birthday and that you were shouting madly because her hearing aid was off.
This is another reason why Choice needs to test aluminium foil strength. How can we make sure our hats are good enough with no objective evidence of the ability to shield thought-control rays? And where are those tests of face masks to exclude the psychoactive spray emitted by high flying planes in their chem-trails that keep the population sedated and compliant?
7 Likes
‘Yes’ is a scam that was widely circulated.
but is it real?
7 Likes
when people ring and ask if I can hear them I always reply no, either they are smart enough to realise I can or they’re so silly I don’t want to talk to them anyway
9 Likes
I receive these types of calls weekly. People purporting to be from Australian Taxation Office, Insurance Companies claiming I’ve had a motor vehicle accident and so on. I don’t even give any of these criminals the chance to give me their spiel. I just hang up immediately and won’t engage in their criminality.
4 Likes
They do leave messages. We had the ATO tax scammer leave a message on our answering machine. We have also had the Telstra cutting off internet one as well.
I think they are becoming cluey that many of those who are calling aren’t picking up and leaving it the answering machine. As a result, they may leave messages.
The two messages which have been kindly left on our answering machine do provide a good laugh, but is concerning that some who may not be aware of such scams fall for it thinking that scammer’s don’t leave messages.
8 Likes
@marloo2 In addition to having an answering machine, I’ve been getting these and similar calls on my mobile. I discovered a great little app called “Should I answer?” which catches those sneaky annoying callers. The app is free, has an octopus as its logo and is easy to use.
3 Likes
Yep, same thing here. 14 Feb - received a call on the land line from “Telstra” saying they were going to cut off my internet. We are not with Telstra and I know these calls are scams anyway so I said “go right ahead”. click, end of call. 15 Feb received a call from “Telstra” saying they were going to cut off my internet. I said (in a friendly way) “Oh, I haven’t heard from you guys since yesterday when you called to tell me you were going to cut of my internet”. click, end of call. I really wish there was a way to stop these people. I guess once we get rid of the land line we might get fewer of these calls. Need to keep the land line so various luddites in the family can contact us.
4 Likes
Hi, for my (silent) land line I have slowed them up to maybe 2 calls about 3 monthly 1 male and only sometimes a female. I think they check to see if things have changed BUT they have not. I hope that will eventually end, I started my new dealings with my frequent callers about may/june last year and I was getting from 6 to 10 calls a week. So if anyone is interested in how, well send me an e-mail and we can share our thoughts more on this never ending story. (this goes for anyone reading this) They even got my mobile, HOW I do not know, so be were. So vax2000 consumer defender, if you wish to contact me please do so then if you like you may want to spread the news too, thank you.
2 Likes
Mobile phone numbers can be generated the same way as land line ones. The computer just rings numbers until one answers and so on it goes. The other ways they obtain these numbers is through someone selling their contact database, through theft/hacking of client/contact databases, or by the user supplying their details for competition or other entry reasons. See my entry further above in this thread:
That’s just the automatic calling system. It rings a series of numbers each time and when one of them is answered before the others the rest get dropped, so in answering one of these dropped calls you don’t get to speak to anyone. After the call that answered completes the system starts dialling numbers again until one answers…rinse and repeat.
3 Likes
Hi, I did ring Telstra about the same thing and They explained to me that there is a process in action to try and catch them but it takes time so it was no good to keep ringing because they can’t get there any quicker.
2 Likes
Hi, when I have asked them for proof of who they are, they have given me a phone number. I rang this number and it was a legit number and business and I let them know why I rang and the poor man was upset (that’s if he was telling the truth) he did sound seriously shocked. It has not stopped them ringing but it has cut the phone calls to 1 or 2 every 3 months compared to 6 to 10 in a week. Hay you could take up playing a good quality whistle to pass your time away to relieve the stress of these calls, that’s what I have done and hay It has helped my stress levels?!?!? Can you understand what I am saying.
2 Likes
Are you sure who answered from where? Did you confirm the veracity of the phone number by an independent search? It may well have been a legit number, but a scammer can give you any number manned by a person that will tell you they are not scammers.
6 Likes
I actually answered one of the “we’re ringing about your accident” ones some time ago and had a lovely conversation with the caller about my alleged accident. He didn’t seem at all phased when I asked him which accident he was referring to as I told him I’d had a few lately!
8 Likes
Is anyone else heartily sick of receiving calls from an obviously Indian call centre, claiming to be from Telstra?
I have zero accounts with Telstra and these calls are exacerbating my interest in them!
3 Likes
They are scammers and not from Telstra.
https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/site-search/Telstra
Ignore their calls as they will only want to scam money from you.
6 Likes
Yes, you may also get the from “The Windows Department”, claiming to be the NBN and other technical sounding nonsense. They want to steal your personal details, money or to enslave your computer. Just hang up. There is nothing you can do to stop them calling. There are various ways you can make strangers leave a message if your machine supports whitelisting, blacklisting doesn’t work. The powers that be seem impotent to do anything systemic about it.
6 Likes
and now its “National Bank credit check” - again, I have zero accounts with NAB
5 Likes
