New telemarketing phone scam (with Australian accent!)

[Master Splinter]

A phone scammer rang me this morning, with a new sort of scam. Picked up the phone and a recorded female Australian accented voice said,

"Hello, this is a call from Telstra for Master Splinter. This is not a telemarketing call. Please press 1."

The voice goes on 'confirm' my identity by asking for my day/month of birth (they already had my year of birth) to state that my account is overdue by $68 and my service will be cut off if I don't pay. It then goes into a 'to pay using a credit card...' speil.

This was all very authentic sounding, except for:

I don't use Telstra.
The calling number ID was blocked.
The speed of delivery was not the usual oh-god-do-I-really-have-to-wait-for-the-next-word rate, it was fast and aggressive.
The 'get my card number' attempt ended after about 45 seconds of very slow response from me.

This one almost had me, except for the whole not using Telstra part.

So beware!

[A Duke]

Hi,
Had a call yesterday, your first line describes the voice but it said "This is Virgin Australia, you have been chosen as one of ### people to get $940 off your next trip for more details press 1.
I wasted some breath saying some choice words and hung up.
We have been getting repeated calls claiming to be from Telstra technical department telling us that our service is going to be cut off because our computer is causing many faults on their system, that's as far as I have been able to listen to with out exploding, but yesterday I nearly fell off my chair because when I paused for breath , the female (it is sometimes male) operator apologised most politely for wasting my time.

May your anti virus always protect you and you spell checker never embarrass you.
Regards

[wheelinround]

I had a similar call supposedly from Telstra regarding my Bigpond account being suspended for 6 mths in a very strong Indian accent so bad thats all I could understand. When I asked him to repeat what he said he rambled on so fast I just hung up. However I did contact Tesltra seems they have been inundated with calls checking and reporting the instance.

I guess thats what we get for selling off the National Data Base of numbers to OS companies eh Telstra. These people then sell them back to such as Real Estate etc etc and they skirt round the "Do Not Call" register. One local Real Estate has been warned anymore calls and they'll be looking at harassment charges.

[FenceFurniture]

"Hello, this is a call from Telstra for Master Splinter. This is not a telemarketing call. Please press 1."Surely the most concerning thing was that they knew your forum name.

[Master Splinter]

The thing that got me was that it wasn't an indian accent - it was a proper (recorded) Aussie voice, so the usual 'oh, india telescammers, why are you so lame' didn't kick in.

[Cliff Rogers]

Nobody ever should call you & then ask you to identify yourself.

How do you know that you didn't just give away your identity to a scammer? :oo:

[Glenn.Visca]

Cliff,

This happens quite a lot.

I have had callers from both the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra call me and then ask for confirmation of details. Neither of these are recent either. The CommBank scenario occurred more than 15 years ago I reckon. I am extremely confident both were legitimate calls

I was gob smacked, and asked them why I had to identify myself to them when THEY called me.

I respectfully declined to confirm my details and promised to call them back ... which I did .. and sure enough the call was legit.

BUT .. the scenario described by master splinter is an interesting one.

[Glenn.Visca]

I should clarify, neither of them ever asked for credit cards etc. Just name etc. But that still makes me uncomfortable.

[smidsy]

The thing I find funny is the legit Telstra callers.
My standard response is that I wouldn't use Telstra if there was a gun held to my head, now this is a pretty definate no, yet they still want to argue and try to talk me round.

[dabbler]

I should clarify, neither of them ever asked for credit cards etc. Just name etc. But that still makes me uncomfortable.

Surely they just confirming you are, well, you ?

Would you rather your financial institution proceeded to discuss your current financial arrangements with your boarder, brother, child or anyone that might answer the household phone. Even more possibilities exist with mobile phones.

Asking who you are, is in fact necessary in many cases. Sure, there are a number of ways it can be done and some may be more palatable than others. In itself, its a harmless piece of information. As you suggest, what else they ask, is really of concern.

[dabbler]

The thing I find funny is the legit Telstra callers.
My standard response is that I wouldn't use Telstra if there was a gun held to my head, now this is a pretty definate no, yet they still want to argue and try to talk me round.

They won’t be from Telstra. They may not even be a Telstra only dealer. Same goes with Optus, Optus business and even Foxtel. They are certainly not representing these companies but on-selling their services (and you’ll never get them to admit it).

They persist because they have nothing to lose and a possible commission to gain.

I have know idea where they source their info. I assume they use a form of data matching to get names, numbers and carriers. In most cases however, they will fall down when you ask them to tell you what account number they mean. If you even let them get that far.

I never do. Just say no and hang up.

[mrjhodges]

This is why we don't answer the phone, and if we do I hand it directly to the 2 year old.
Anyone who knows me calls the mobile or gets me on FB.


Jason

Only one signature on Tapatalk for so many forums is annoying.

[AlexS]

Anyone who knows me ... gets me on FB.
That's one way of protecting your privacy.:rolleyes:

[FenceFurniture]

This is why we don't answer the phone, and if we do I hand it directly to the 2 year old.
Anyone who knows me calls the mobile or gets me on FB. JasonYebbutt in two years time the now 4 year old will say "Daddy, it's for you". :D



That's one way of protecting your privacy.:rolleyes:
So, Jason, you're a Todd Rundgren fan?

[Glenn.Visca]

Surely they just confirming you are, well, you ?

Would you rather your financial institution proceeded to discuss your current financial arrangements with your boarder, brother, child or anyone that might answer the household phone. Even more possibilities exist with mobile phones.

Asking who you are, is in fact necessary in many cases. Sure, there are a number of ways it can be done and some may be more palatable than others. In itself, its a harmless piece of information. As you suggest, what else they ask, is really of concern.
Dabbler,

I get that. My point is that these institutions do indeed ask for personal details (read the post from Cliff immediately preceeding mine) ... and quite routinely ... primarily due to privacy legislation.

Would I prefer they discussed my information with someone else ? Of course not. Besides .. its illegal.

However, when the calls arrive from blocked numbers, I don't think its unreasonable to be cautious. They identify me, but I have no way of identifying them.

I don't object to legitimate callers, but I would much prefer to call THEM.

[Sturdee]

I don't object to legitimate callers, but I would much prefer to call THEM.

All these kind of calls could be either scams or legit. What I do is to tell them immediately that if they are not scammers trying to fleece me but instead legit to put their proposition in writing and mail it to me and if I wish I may get back to them in writing in due course.

Seems to work for they never write to me. :U


Peter.

[dabbler]

Dabbler,

I get that. My point is that these institutions do indeed ask for personal details (read the post from Cliff immediately preceeding mine) ... and quite routinely ... primarily due to privacy legislation.

Would I prefer they discussed my information with someone else ? Of course not. Besides .. its illegal.

However, when the calls arrive from blocked numbers, I don't think its unreasonable to be cautious. They identify me, but I have no way of identifying them.

I don't object to legitimate callers, but I would much prefer to call THEM.

Apologies Glenn. I meant to quote both posts (and should have checked I had). I wasn’t suggesting you didn’t understand the need for basic ID.

Just to add to your last point re: you initiating the call. In our case, we recieve an increasing number of calls verifying transactions, usually small international internet transactions. Checking for card fraud.

Calls from CBA (debit Mastercard) are real people from known numbers.
Calls about our credit Visa are automated and have no caller ID.

[Skew's_Girl]

Skew and I get a lot of calls about 'Our Telstra Number" [insert strong Indian accent here] We don't HAVE a telstra number.
I'm polite most of the time. Only once, after a long descent into fury with an aggressive insulting Indian, when he asked me to "put my husband on the line" because 'he could talk some sense into him' did I lose my mind. I went shamefully bat- screaming postal.
You can ask Skew. It was scary.

Usually I'm "Thank you for your call, however we do not have a Telstra line. I am not interested in changing anything about my plan and request that you place us on your Do Not Call register. I hope you have a good day." and hangup.

Recently, when they called back the next day I make a point of saying:
"I requested yesterday to be placed on your Do Not Call register. Since my request is not being respected, I need your Name, agent ID, Business name, location and contact number to file a complaint with the Ombudsman." "Oh, i'm so very sorry, i will put a note on your file. so sorry" "Very well then, please do so, and do not call here again."

We'll see if that worked.

[smidsy]

What I find funny is when Telstra themselves call, my standard reply to them is that I would not use Telstra if they held a gun to my head.
Now that's a pretty definitive statement, it's not a maybe or an I'll think about it, yet they still want to argue - yes they're salesman, but doesn't sales training include knowing when to give up and move to the next call.
Cheers

PS: I've been with iinet 14 years and I worked for Telstra for 6 months and saw how badly they treat their staff so I am very anti Telstra...

[JDarvall]

I don't really care about the accent whatsoever. Could be a nice international student living in Australia for all I know.

So in an attempt to deal with the annoying time wasting (a dash from the shed, boots off without letting dogs in etc) I usually start with something like…..

' hi, you sound like a really nice person. I understand your just doing your job, and I respect that your trying to make a living, but I'm not interested. have a nice day, goodbye' . (Have to try and remember to try and say it really quickly else they'll cut in between sentences)

anyway, if they push after that, then its clear there to blame and hang up….nicely…. and put something different into my head as soon as possible.

Or you could maybe start talking dirty to them. But maybe that could backfire. They might actually like it. (insert some kind of smiley here)

just an opinion. I'm not an expert on telemarketing avoidance techniques. 2 cents worth.

[crowie]

Here's another similar thread...love Skew's Girls response but was on the floor laughing at the one "Dalboy" put up on the thread....

http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=184715&p=1802658#post1802658