Scams

[IC Khari]

Anyone heard of any new ones? I just got the old "I am interested in buying your item but need your Pay Pal" on Kijiiji recently. Don't respond to their so called payment email.

[The Unknown Poster]

I get the Westjet call several times per week on my work phone.  And ofcourse the usual e-mail ones.

 

Not quite a scam, but I saw the Erin Selby debit-card skimming incident this past weekend.  I found it interesting that she indicating her entire account had been cleaned out which leads me to wonder, did she not have much money or did she not have daily ATM withdrawal limites?

[Mike]

[sweep the leg]

We've gotten a few calls from "Microsoft" telling us there's a problem with our computer. They want us to turn on our computer and they'll walk us through how to "fix" it.

[Atomic]

I got the weirdest call a few weeks ago.  They said they were a survey company, but I looked up their name afterward and couldn't find anything.  Can't remember what it was now.  K & M or some sort of acronym.

 

They said it was a survey about recycling and then they asked me just a few questions... only the first was about recycling.

 

"Do you recycle?"

 

"What is your marital status?"

 

And a couple other questions that seemed to not be linked together in any way and the answers seemed pretty inconsequential.  Like I don't understand why anyone would want to know the answers.  And the questioner was very weird.  I'm not sure if it was a guy or a woman, and they seemed to have some kind of accent.  Responded to my answers in an almost flirtatious way.  "Oh, you're single, like me!"

 

Finally they asked me my first name for "record-keeping."  I told them a different first name than my real one and the surveyer was like "Oh, you have a very handsome name."  Then they said "Thank you for being nice to me!", said goodbye, and hung up.

 

If it was a scam, I have no idea what the purpose was.  They didn't ask for anything I would consider sensitive info.  Anyways, it was really weird.

[mbrg]

I got the weirdest call a few weeks ago.  They said they were a survey company, but I looked up their name afterward and couldn't find anything.  Can't remember what it was now.  K & M or some sort of acronym.

 

They said it was a survey about recycling and then they asked me just a few questions... only the first was about recycling.

 

"Do you recycle?"

 

"What is your marital status?"

 

And a couple other questions that seemed to not be linked together in any way and the answers seemed pretty inconsequential.  Like I don't understand why anyone would want to know the answers.  And the questioner was very weird.  I'm not sure if it was a guy or a woman, and they seemed to have some kind of accent.  Responded to my answers in an almost flirtatious way.  "Oh, you're single, like me!"

 

Finally they asked me my first name for "record-keeping."  I told them a different first name than my real one and the surveyer was like "Oh, you have a very handsome name."  Then they said "Thank you for being nice to me!", said goodbye, and hung up.

 

If it was a scam, I have no idea what the purpose was.  They didn't ask for anything I would consider sensitive info.  Anyways, it was really weird.

 

Modern surveys often combine 3 different topics.  The idea is to make it difficult for respondents to determine what they are being surveyed about and who has commissioned the survey, so people can't shape their answers and skew the results.  There will often also be some throwaway questions just to trick the respondent.  It's about as close to creating a double-blind study as a phone survey can get.  And combining 3 makes it more efficient and saves money.

 

The "thank you for being nice to me" was probably just genuine as these people get a lot of profanity directed their way.  "You're single just like me" - odd, likely just friendly chitchat, but probably should have been left out.

[Atomic]

I'm just saying, it was very... odd.  And when I looked up the name of the company on the internet, all I found were similar stories from other people.  Some said they tried to find out more about the surveyer and then the surveyer would become very evasive and in some cases quite rude.  I wish I could remember the name of the company because I would look it up again.

[sweep the leg]

I got the weirdest call a few weeks ago.  They said they were a survey company, but I looked up their name afterward and couldn't find anything.  Can't remember what it was now.  K & M or some sort of acronym.

 

They said it was a survey about recycling and then they asked me just a few questions... only the first was about recycling.

 

"Do you recycle?"

 

"What is your marital status?"

 

And a couple other questions that seemed to not be linked together in any way and the answers seemed pretty inconsequential.  Like I don't understand why anyone would want to know the answers.  And the questioner was very weird.  I'm not sure if it was a guy or a woman, and they seemed to have some kind of accent.  Responded to my answers in an almost flirtatious way.  "Oh, you're single, like me!"

 

Finally they asked me my first name for "record-keeping."  I told them a different first name than my real one and the surveyer was like "Oh, you have a very handsome name."  Then they said "Thank you for being nice to me!", said goodbye, and hung up.

 

If it was a scam, I have no idea what the purpose was.  They didn't ask for anything I would consider sensitive info.  Anyways, it was really weird.

Was the company called Winnipeg Health Systems?

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeggers-get-vacuum-sales-pitch-after-doing-health-survey-1.1307286

 

I got that survey call as well.When they called back to tell me I won a prize for doing it, I was a little skeptical. When they told me the options were a travel voucher or a Slapchop, I was pretty certain something was wrong. I asked them to call back later and googled them. That's how I found this story about them.

 

*if you don't want to follow the link, it's a ploy to get a salesman in your house for a vacuum sales pitch. To get your prize you have to give them $50 and your credit card info.

[Atomic]

No!  I just remembered.  They said they were from SBT and they were a market research company.

 

If you look them up, you can't find much.  They have a LinkedIn page which links to their website which was obviously created in about half an hour.

[The Unknown Poster]

I used to work for Ipsos Reid doing phone surveys.  I thought I'd really enjoy it as I like that sort of thing.  But reading the same thing from a script repeatedly takes the shine off.  People were mostly polite, usually just hung up if they didnt want to answer.  One campaign had me calling deep south U.S. and they were always friendly when they found out where I was calling from ("you live in igloos up there?").  I quit after they buttered me up about becoming a supervisor and then my supervisor told me what he made.  Yikes.

[Jpan85]

[Logan007]

We hang up the second we don't hear someone say hello on the other end.  If there's any kind of delay it's an automatic hang up.  I don't do any of those stupid survey's or listen to any of that crap.

[mbrg]

We hang up the second we don't hear someone say hello on the other end.  If there's any kind of delay it's an automatic hang up.  I don't do any of those stupid survey's or listen to any of that crap.

 

At work I usually answer with "So what are you selling?"

 

Oddly enough they hang up about 30% of the time when I do that.  Like the plan was to trick me, and now I've seen thru it so there's no point in continuing.

[HardCoreBlue]

Anyone heard of any new ones? I just got the old "I am interested in buying your item but need your Pay Pal" on Kijiiji recently. Don't respond to their so called payment email.

I've always said fight fire with fire when it comes to these types of people/groups.

 

When it's obvious it's not a legit call, play along acting the part of a buffoon with great 'interest' in their 'offer'. Things like not understanding their instructions having them repeat them over and over again, providing them with fictitious numbers one number short in what their asking (e.g., visa, account numbers), putting them on hold while you go 'get' what they ask for talking in the background so they can hear you, the list goes on and on. I'm guessing comedygeek has a few he could share. Keep them on the line as long as you can to waste their human resources so they can't hook someone else who may fall to their scheme.

 

The more of us who take this approach would help shut some of these outfits down and you can have some fun while you do it. Win Win :-). 

[Rich]

 

Anyone heard of any new ones? I just got the old "I am interested in buying your item but need your Pay Pal" on Kijiiji recently. Don't respond to their so called payment email.

I've always said fight fire with fire when it comes to these types of people/groups.

 

When it's obvious it's not a legit call, play along acting the part of a buffoon with great 'interest' in their 'offer'. Things like not understanding their instructions having them repeat them over and over again, providing them with fictitious numbers one number short in what their asking (e.g., visa, account numbers), putting them on hold while you go 'get' what they ask for talking in the background so they can hear you, the list goes on and on. I'm guessing comedygeek has a few he could share. Keep them on the line as long as you can to waste their human resources so they can't hook someone else who may fall to their scheme.

 

The more of us who take this approach would help shut some of these outfits down and you can have some fun while you do it. Win Win :-). 

 

 

I simply don't have the time or patience to do this.  Sure this wastes their time, but it wastes my time too.

[Rids]

Best answer for a telemarketer is a teething baby. When my oldest was a couple months old I had a guy call 3 times in a night and finally the last time I just put the phone in the cradle with her screaming at the top of her lungs. That got us off the list for a few years. 

[Brandon]

Biggest scam I fell victim to was my wife saying that once we get married that I would be getting appointments on a frequent basis!!  It was all a lie!!  

[Logan007]

Biggest scam I fell victim to was my wife saying that once we get married that I would be getting appointments on a frequent basis!!  It was all a lie!!  

I think she meant prostate exams.