A new scam to beware of

[springyzone]

A friend's son just had a bad experience selling on ebay.

(Not that this is ebay's fault)

The man is in his mid 20s and has this new phone worth $1500 but soon after buying it, he decided he wanted a swisher model (I know, it seems ridiculous to me too but then again i still have a flip phone, so I'm hardly up with trends).

Anyway, he has sold a few things on ebay in the past with good results & decided to list his phone.

Got a message from a man who said he was very interested but would he be able to look at it first.

Man called around, luckily was on the front porch, had a look and said yes, just what I am after, I will take it, but can you give me a receipt. The seller looked to the side just for a second and the man took off, ran away. Seller is young and brawny, took off after him.

Man jumped in a car down the street where a driver was already at the wheel and car roared off.

Seller got number plate.

Went to police station. Number plate doesn't check out-stolen.

But here is the rub. The police said this is happening a fair bit, people turn up to 'have a look' and then do a runner.

The phone has been blocked but police said because it is new, some other buyer will buy first, find that out later.

My friend wanted people to just know to beware of people who come to your home, especially if it is something small & valuable you are selling.

[the_great_she_elephant]

We are on the Do Not Call register. We also have caller ID on our phone. if it shows "Private Caller" or Overseas Private Caller" we simply let it go through to voice mail. Computer generated (scam) calls disconnect immediately and on the very rare occasion it is genuine we pick up as soon as they start to leave their message. 

[cathyjoyjoy]

Yes, that is a good idea for those who do not have a silent number.  But, many call centres now use a "random dial" thing whereby the numnber they are phoning is autogenerated ........... so it can be the luck of the draw.

The best one at the moment is the call "Hello, I'm calling from the ______ Insurance company regarding a recent car accident involving a person at your residence .........."  I immedidately ask "Can you give me the name and account number of the person involved in the accident?"  Call doesn't last very long after that.

The issue with this, is that if someone in your household DID have a car accident, you may be so upset and traumatised dealing with insurance companies, etc, that you might think a call like this is from one of the many people you are dealing with ....... and end up revealling some private information.

So, we must be on guard AT ALL TIMES and qualify everyone who phones you.

[cathyjoyjoy]

I have always had a silent number and many people I know have a silent number.  It has always been a way to avoid the copious sales calls.

[springyzone]

We have had a silent number too and have about 3 other friends and family who do.

Trouble is, most of the call centres now say silent number, so i am always wary about picking up the phone as we have had a spate of calls lately, I think it is the same place.

If it shows overeas caller ID I let it ring out.

I wish silent numbers had a facility to enable nominated others to see their name/number. That way your friends could be visible and 'other' silent numbers could be ignored.

[*tippy*toes*]

Springy, you could always do what we did in the olden days before caller ID and mobiles. Get your friends to ring 3 times, hang up and call straight back. Each of my friends had a different calling code. One was ring 3 times, hang up, call back. Another was ring twice, hang up, ring twice, hang up, call back. And so on. It meant I knew who was calling. If I didn't want to speak to anyone else, I wouldn't answer if the phone just rang out.

The other option is, if you've got a mobile, tell your friends to send a text first to say they are going to ring. I've done that before when I know the person I'm ringing doesn't have caller ID and is vetting calls.

[imastawka]

I have a silent number, but when I want to ring family or friends

I dial *32 then the phone number.   It turns off the private number

that they see at the other end, and know it is me.

This is for Optus, there must be one for Telstra and others.

*32 only turns off the private number for that one phone call.

You don't have to turn it back on again.

[imastawka]

A quick google tells me to dial 1832 to override any network.

Maybe try it?