What is it with scammers, eh?

Had a phone call earlier. It went something like this.

CALLER: Hello, I am calling from your bank. But I need some details before I can progress the call.
ME: Which bank is that, then?
CALLER: I cannot give you the details until we’ve gone through some security questions.
ME: So you can’t even tell which bank? Why not tell me the name of the bank at least?
CALLER: We have to do security questions first.

I’ll leave the rest of it to your imagination. My final word rhymed with “duck”.

These people make me sick. I saw through this guy’s charade. But some don’t, many people have been ripped off for being too trusting. I suppose this evil person wanted my sort code and account number (or PIN). How they sleep at night, I do not know.

I do. If landlord sends tradesmen to my house, some might ring from an unknown number. One company who was repairing my gas boiler rang from an unknown number, so I feel I have to answer, sadly.

I suppose that makes sense. On the one occasion, my boiler had been out of operation for 2 days, and I was anxious that it’d be fixed, so when an unknown number called, I wanted to answer quickly in case it was the British Gas repairman.

It’s a shame scammers have created a certain mindset in a lot of us.

Maybe I am too private...I don't get these kinds of calls and rarely give out my phone number, except where I want a call back. I also have very little internet presence, beyond here and a few other spots and no social media accounts.

I used to get a bunch, but always had caller ID and never answered if I didn't recognize it. Once in a great while there will be something on the answer machine; but, 9 times out of ten it is a wrong number, not a solicitation.

I'm also a suspicious bastich, so I assume it is a scam until convinced otherwise.

Now, I used to get solicitations at work, from toner salesmen, when I worked for Barnes & Noble. They would ask to speak to the person that orders supplies. That was all done internally, through an order set up within or company intranet, so there was no reason for a vendor to call us, since the home office placed the specific order. So, I'd tell them "No, because you are not an authorized vendor. Good day."

We used to get scam attempts via the TTY network, for the deaf. We'd get phonecalls, supposedly from a deaf customer, wanting to order a case of hardcover books, usually something with a list price greater than $30, for overnight shipping. I would start asking questions, which the operator would have to relay and usually when I asked why they were calling Springfield, IL to order books to be shipped to somewhere in Colorado, when there were B&N stores within state I wouldn't get a response and then I would tell the operator (who would respond they cannot answer me unless the other person types something) that I considered this a scam and was terminating the call. I stopped an order that one of my booksellers was putting through, for this, at another time and made sure everyone was aware that this was a scam and not to ship any phone orders without verifying the credit card as being valid, for one and nothing bulk out of state without a manager's approval. We soon got alerts from Loss Prevention about the scams. Luckily, I caught it quickly, for us, so out store was never taken, but some others were.

I used to mess with other business solicitors, when they called, offering to list our business in their directories and such. I'd cut them off and say we were a publicly traded company and didn't need their directory to list us.

I've had a cellphone since 2014 but I've never really become used to the whole phone culture we're all expected to take part in now, where people expect you to be available practically 24/7, or at least during waking hours, no matter where you are or what you might be doing. So I miss a lot of calls and texts because I don't always have my phone with me or I don't have the sound turned on or whatever, so I might not see a message until later, sometimes quite a bit later.

You have a phobia about the phone, most of society went the other way and can't stop scrolling on their phone. Most people nowadays lose their minds if they forget their phone at home.