Don’t Say Hello
They start about 9 a.m. and sometimes ends about 9 p.m. Land lines and cellphones are called all day long. Here’s just a few I get every week:
Who, just who, charged $299.78 on my Amazon account this morning?
Amazon account, no. What warranty is expiring on my 16 year old car? I won a vacation at a luxury resort. Will I vote in the 2022 election? Surely, you can identify.
In total, one day, my land line recorded 22 of these robo calls as they are unaffectionately known. My cell phone receives countless calls, some undoubtably from a foreign country as the voice indicates, but they have “American” names, Robin, Hannah, Phillip.
On very rare occasions I will answer a call. One such call, the caller said it was a very brief survey. Ok, I agreed. She asked what was the last movie I saw at a theater. I told her “Prairie Home Companion.” Immediately I got a dial tone.
Another one was someone that called me by my name and said I had been personally chosen to get a three night hotel and theme park vacation, all they needed was a valid credit card to confirm. Do people actually give her a credit card?
Do they really want my opinion on a survey? Come on, they have bought a call list from some company that had records I had bought something on line and was “phishing,” slang for getting some more personal information, and of course, a credit or debit card or bank account number.
Was it the ultimate huckster, P. T. Barnum, who said something like there’s a sucker born every minute. Today, this phrase has a pejorative connotation.
Some estimates are that a company or a politician or anyone can buy 4,000 robocalls for as little as a $1.00.
MarketWatch says 1 in 10 Americans have lost money to a scam robo caller. In 2019, $9.5 billion dollars was lost in total. No one is immune, don’t be bullied or feel embarrassed to hang up. Before giving these modern day thieves your money, call someone you trust to ask advice or call your bank or credit card company to check on validity, or if you are being harassed or threatened call the police.
Happy Spring, starts March 20.