We just got a phone call (husband answered) from some guy, who said he was a sheriff, that said there was a bench warrant out for DH’s arrest because he didn’t respond to a jury duty notice. (We never got one) He said it could be taken care of if DH paid $1000 fine. He couldn’t go to the courthouse to handle it either. DH would have to go to a drugstore and buy two “green cards” for $500 each and then call this guy back and give him the number on the cards. Then DH would have to go to to have the info scanned at the courthouse on Tuesday.
DH said no way in hell was he giving money info over the phone. The guy said he’d have to send a cop to our house and arrest DH. My DH basically said bring it on that he was not giving financial info over the phone and said it sounded like a scam to him.
After he hung up on the guy he actually went out front with his ID just in case, but I suggested he call someone. He called the sheriffs office and the sheriff kinda laughed and said it was a nationwide scam.
Sooo don’t be fooled into giving your private info over the phone!
Thanks, Jan, and kudos to your DH for not falling for it. If my phone doesn’t tell me who it is calling, I probably won’t answer it. If it’s a legit call then they’ll leave a message and I can call back. I had an actually legitimate call from someone with my health insurance wanting me to give them info and I kept saying, I don’t know who you are and I’m not giving out info over the phone on a call I didn’t initiate. She finally hung up. At the time I thought it could be a scam, it was only later that I found out it wasn’t. I prefer overly cautious to gullible.
DH rarely looks at the caller ID so he unfortunately answered it. If they don’t say who they are I just let it go to the machine or pick it up and immediately hang up.
Call screening…those old fashioned answering machines had their drawbacks but I did love being able to pick up a call if I wanted to whlie someone was leaving a message.
My computer locked up one morning with a similar message from the “FBI”. Go to the drugstore and buy two cards, etc. Seemed a giggle that the FBI was now taking these cards in payment and of course, it was a scam. The eerie part was that they posted a photo of the top of my head and the room I was in on the screen. It was taken through the camera on the laptop. I’ve now covered the camera lens. No one should have to see me early in the am.
These scammers and hackers are definitely a colossal pain! :hair: Seriously, why don’t they use their mad computer and communication skills for good instead of being ginormous creeps?!
I have heard there is another phone scam out there as well. It’s a one ring scam and the caller hangs up. If you happen to call back to see who it is, it is a foreign call and people have had to pay up to $20 for a one minute call.
So as many of us do… don’t answer unless you know who it is. And don’t call back unless they leave a message.
If I don’t recognize the number or if it’s private or unavailable I don’t answer either. I figure if it’s important they’ll call back.
Just saw another scam on TV last night similar to what we got hit with. This one was claiming to be the IRS and wanting you to put in your debit card number.
Somebody called my mother and said my son (her grandson) had gotten into an accident in Florida. He had only been drinking one glass of wine. The person who was with him was hurt and he was in jail. Send money. My son wasn’t in Florida. I assured Grandma that he had been working nights and was sleeping in his apartment downstairs as we spoke. We knew it was a scam immediately, mainly because my son never drinks wine. lol
