Scam

**rudypoo98** · 04-21-2010, 07:11 PM

Last week I got a call for my seven year old grandson the Indian sounding man said it was a collection agency.He said my grandson owes for his Columbia House past due account.I asked him how old is this account he said over three years.I let him have it,asked him how my now seven year old grandson can owe anything.He asked are you the one that takes care of his financial business .I said no and he dosen't have any financial business he's seven years old you ****ing Dumba**. A couple days later got a call for my daughter saying she owed a Columbia House past account I said don't call here again she dosen't live here. Friday I got a call said this is a collection agency I hung up got mad and called the number back.A recording came on said punch in your credit card number now for payment of your bill or wait to talk to a represenative.I waited same Indian accent ,guy said how can I help you. I told him my name he said is this the phone number you recieved the call on. I said yes.I asked what is this about ,he said you owe past due amount on Columbia House account.I said I haven't had a Columbia House account since the middle 90's and you scammers called here for my seven year old grandson the other day then my daughter.You better not call here again because I know this is a SCAM!!! He said ok your account is now off I cancelled it.I said I'm turning you into the Missouri Attoney Generals office anyway because this is a scam.He hung up. Anyone here got any of these calls?

**Vanilla** · 04-21-2010, 08:13 PM

Nothing similar to yours. But I found it scary that they have your phone #, your grandson's & your daughter's names; that's not coincidence.
You are absolutely correct in filing a police report, that way, you have documentation of this incident.
Let's hope your 'columbia house account' is finally 'deleted' from their list.
Thank you very much for your post, so that we shall stay alert of similar scams.

Edit: Just reminded me, many weeks ago, around the time about the Cenus mailing, I received a letter from Secretary of Under Department of Defense, addressed to my dd, (she's given me authorization to open all her non-personal letters since she is stationed out of the country), asked her to log in a web-site to fill out a survey so that the department will know how to provide better benefits & support to the military family. With phone numbers, contact person, government seal & whatnot. I was very skeptical, but ignored it. Then a week later, another letter came as a reminder that she should do the survey to help all military families. I paid more attention this time & noticed that my dd's rank was incorrect, 'RED FLAG' raised, I used the work computer to log into that web-site (yes, I am selfish, didn't want to use personal one), the site was shut down already. Let's hope nobody got scam!

**daughter of pearl** · 04-21-2010, 08:46 PM

I got a call from California once saying that my car insurance was going to run out the following day, and suggesting that they could *help* me update it over the phone.

I told them the truth: I have never had a driver's license or owned a vehicle, and if you call me again, you parasite, I'm calling the police.

And suddenly, he hung up! Guess he got the message!

**frugalfranny** · 04-21-2010, 11:52 PM

Thank you very much for the heads up about it.

I haven't gotten any calls like that. But will be aware, now, if I do.

**Nada.Leona** · 04-22-2010, 06:16 AM

My co-worker got one recently. The lady on the other line asked for a man's name, which wasn't anyone my co-worker knew and said they had the wrong number. The woman on the other end rhymed off her number and my co-worker identified it as her own. The lady then told her that she was calling from a travel agency in Florida and because this number was the one they had on record, she was going to have to pay a bill for travelling through their agency! My co-worker told them she had no idea what they were talking about, that this was her private cell phone and was not responsible for any bill. She hung up and called the phone company to report the scam.

My DH received a call the other day, where a guy said he wanted DH to do a survey about his satisfaction with his bank. When my DH said okay, the guy then proceeded to ask him what bank he deals with. DH realized then that it was a scam and said that if the guy didn't know what bank he was dealing with, why would he be calling him to do a survey? And hung up.

**Liane** · 04-22-2010, 06:34 AM

If you google the number there are lots of complaints about this. Google also gives you the company name and other information. Screen your calls. Eventually they stop calling.

**frugalwarrior2** · 04-22-2010, 08:57 AM

Thanks for the heads up. They were saying on the news that this kind of scamming was up because of the economy. I hatethat they can sell old debts like this to sleazy firms.

**rudypoo98** · 04-22-2010, 03:50 PM

I don't owe Columbia house any old debt when I cancelled it my account was current.The only reason I used to belong to it was to get music cd's for my daughter.My seven year old grandson has never belonged to it either it wasn't an old debt it was a scam.When I called back and it said enter your credit card number to make a payment I thought how stupid do you think people are.

**Michelle68** · 04-22-2010, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by rudypoo98

Last week I got a call for my seven year old grandson the Indian sounding man said it was a collection agency.He said my grandson owes for his Columbia House past due account.I asked him how old is this account he said over three years.I let him have it,asked him how my now seven year old grandson can owe anything.He asked are you the one that takes care of his financial business .I said no and he dosen't have any financial business he's seven years old you ****ing Dumba**. A couple days later got a call for my daughter saying she owed a Columbia House past account I said don't call here again she dosen't live here. Friday I got a call said this is a collection agency I hung up got mad and called the number back.A recording came on said punch in your credit card number now for payment of your bill or wait to talk to a represenative.I waited same Indian accent ,guy said how can I help you. I told him my name he said is this the phone number you recieved the call on. I said yes.I asked what is this about ,he said you owe past due amount on Columbia House account.I said I haven't had a Columbia House account since the middle 90's and you scammers called here for my seven year old grandson the other day then my daughter.You better not call here again because I know this is a SCAM!!! He said ok your account is now off I cancelled it.I said I'm turning you into the Missouri Attoney Generals office anyway because this is a scam.He hung up. Anyone here got any of these calls?

We had been receiving calls from a phone number and, going on a site I have bookmarked from the internet, I entered the phone number and read many stories that sound just like yours. It seems that this is indeed a scam.(They use different companies, such as Columbia House, AT&T,etc. saying that the person who resides there owes money to the company.)

As a result, I was prepared for the next time they called. It was a woman with an Indian accent and I told her that I had investigated their company and found out they were scamming people for money they never owed. The woman never even got a chance to say which company we supposedly owed, but when I also mentioned turning them into the Attorney General of Texas, she quickly hung upand they haven't called back since.

**mek42** · 04-22-2010, 08:51 PM

Not completely relevant, but I've heard that the Postal Inspectors make the old KGB look like a bunch of shrinking violets when it comes to mail fraud. Maybe just noncommittally ask them to mail you a bill for your records before you make a payment and then drop the wrath of the Postal Inspectors on them.

**Mrs. Piggy Bank** · 04-22-2010, 11:00 PM

I usually play with them for awhile. I act as if I'm mentally handicapped...I ask them stupid questions i.e. "Are you my friend? My mom says I can have a friend but she has to meet them first. Do you wanna come over to meet my mom? She makes really good meatloaf. I just bought new sandles today and they put a big blister on my big toe. You can see it when you come over! It looks like it will pop any minute!!!" etc etc. I carry on until they just hang up. That or I act like a "stoner" and act as if it's someone I know is playing a prank on me. I had one guy CRAZY, he kept saying in his indian accent "Diz iz not R-OOb! Diz iz (I wouldn't begin to attempt to spell his name) and I amz calling about insurance. NotA R-OOb!" lolol Cheap entertainment around here...

**Nada.Leona** · 04-23-2010, 06:53 AM

Originally Posted by Mrs. Piggy Bank

I usually play with them for awhile. I act as if I'm mentally handicapped...I ask them stupid questions i.e. "Are you my friend? My mom says I can have a friend but she has to meet them first. Do you wanna come over to meet my mom? She makes really good meatloaf. I just bought new sandles today and they put a big blister on my big toe. You can see it when you come over! It looks like it will pop any minute!!!" etc etc. I carry on until they just hang up. That or I act like a "stoner" and act as if it's someone I know is playing a prank on me. I had one guy CRAZY, he kept saying in his indian accent "Diz iz not R-OOb! Diz iz (I wouldn't begin to attempt to spell his name) and I amz calling about insurance. NotA R-OOb!" lolol Cheap entertainment around here...

My brother does that too. He has a really deep masculine voice with a "Canadian" accent, but he pretends he's a pregnant woman who just got back from whatever country he feels like that day. So he starts asking the caller questions and then he will do weird things like yell for Bob to come feel the baby kick, or ask the caller what kind of maxi pads they use (even if they're a guy). Usually they hang up on him.

I don't like to do that if I don't have to, especially when it's a telemarketer because I know these people are doing a job and I try to just politely end the conversation without taking up too much of their time. When they're persistent, though, or rude, that's when I get cranky.

On a related note, my big beef with the phone is when your bank calls but they use a machine to call you and it says, "Please hold for a customer service representative". Give me a break -- if you call me, have someone already on the other end of the phone! I just keep hanging up until they call me with a flesh-and-blood person.