For the past several months I have been getting many phone calls from different telemarketers ranging from winning a cruise vacation, a weekend getaway, spas, Cancun, Duct Cleaning, Surveys, Alarm Systems, Medical Surveys, so on and so forth. I am just so sick and tired of these telemarketers who call my home during dinner hours, or during the day. I am getting so frustrated and when I say I am not interested, they still keep calling and I keep saying do not call here anymore. I am extra careful when answering these phone calls. No pressing of numbers on my phone, no nothing because these people are trying to steal your identity and make fraudulent crimes, and your whole bank account and savings can be wiped clean. It is very important to keep yourself safe from these phone calls. It is getting out of hand and I am so fed up of everything. I am not happy at all. One time I did go on the do not call list and then again these phone calls started coming back again. For a while we didn’t have any, but recently, its been getting out of hand and I am so extremely tired of answering unimportant calls. sometimes I am taking a nap or doing something important, I rush to the phone to pick it up to a stupid phone call and I get so mad. Today was unbelievable. I can’t take it anymore. Something needs to be done.
I always see these crazy types of numbers appearing in my caller ID, and it is ridiculous to see all this all the time. I want to give you tips on how to stay safe on the phones:
1 – Never give out your credit card information
2 – Never press on numbers they ask you to press on your phone
3 – Never give out your personal information and answer surveys,
4 – say, I am not interested, and or do not say anything and just hang up when they start talking.
5 – Do not ever assume they are real companies that are calling you, and ask you for your energy bill or your cable and phone account. These companies should know what you have, so why are they calling you right?
6 – If you believe that its a legit call, ask a few questions and play at their game.
7 – NEVER ever say you don’t have an alarm security system. ALWAYS SAY Yes we do.
8 – Always make sure that you don’t say anything extra on the phone because it can be recorded, so you just hang up and say bye
9 – When Duct cleaning services call, I say Sorry we have not ducts(ducks), you can clean our chickens. Most of the time they hang up before I even do. Its pretty funny.
Always stay safe and don’t give into phone calls that easy.
They always find tricks to trick you. Do not be fooled.
Stay alert and stay safe.
Talin Orfali Ghazarian 
I have caller ID. If I see a number I don’t recognize I pick up & hang up without saying anything if I don’t wanna’ deal with the ringing (That’s if I pick up). Otherwise it goes to vm & if there is garbage for a message…Delete!
Reblogged this on grandfathersky and commented:
I would be remiss if I did not share this – If you get a call from ANYONE you don’t recognize, and choose to answer the phone regardless of what they say to you tell the: Please put me on the do not call list, for this and and other service you call center supports”
These are not small organizations, these are literally “call centers employing hundreds sometime thousands of well trained call center reps.
Also read you privacy statements from your credit card companies, there are phone numbers you can call to prevent being solicited for more credit cards. The credit bureaus have to honor this request, and block unsolicited access to your credit information – Name and address.
Always respond to your privacy statements limiting companies that do business with you, from providing your information to their ‘affiliates’ – meaning anyone who will pay for your name and number.
Good advice, Talin.
I get three of these day. I like to mess with them… act excited about their offer, when they ask for the credit card I’ll tell them “lemmie go get” and then set to the phone down… lettting them wait and wait. I’ll pick it up “Still looking” eventually most of them get the joke. Several have realized what I’m doing and gotten really mad at me, which makes it fun. They get paid by the call so wasting their time is always a good way to get them angry.
Awesome advise.
my cell stops all these calls LOOOL
We say the same thing about the duct cleaning. All good advice you gave, thanks!
It’s also good to remember that for some of the people calling you, they are working for real companies, or at least, that is their one job. Keeping yourself safe is smart, but “messing with them” is only causing harm to someone who is unfortunate enough to end up with that job that they most likely do not enjoy. So, please, just remember that everyone is human and the people on the other end of the line have spouses, kids, pets, or are lonely, and probably are not the ones benefiting from the sales that they may or may not get. Keep your information safe, but also keep your heart and spirit safe and remember to be nice to people. Don’t take your aggression out on someone just because you aren’t face to face with them.
This is so true! I used to do telesales because I needed what little money it brought in – and you don’t get paid for every call, only the ones who call back to claim their timeshare or whatever.
I didn’t take that job because I wanted to; most people don’t. People seem to forget sometimes, that a rude response is being delivered to a real person with feelings and that the person doing their job might well be going home in tears after taking hours of verbal abuse.
Great post, Jennifer. I was a fraud investigator for many years before I started writing full-time and know a few things about fraud. If you have caller ID and don’t recognize a number, let it go to voice mail. We found that most of the telemarketing fraud in America originated in Canada.
Check out http://www.ACFE.com, the best resource for fraud detection and prevention
The husband and I simply say “No thank you” and hang up. It’s the door-to-door salespeople that we keep having to deal with!
Some years ago there was a scam going on with an Indian company pretending to be British Telecom. I went on red alert as soon as they asked for my card details, and they continued insisting that they must have them. I hung up, called BT and was told that they were aware of this but the police hadn’t been able to trace where the calls were coming from.
Honestly; some of these scam artists really do seem to think we were born yesterday!
We are lucky in Australia to have a Do Not Call Register but that excludes charities and political parties. Of course you get the con merchants from India etc.. I just simply hang up without saying a word!
Good advice. Although messing around with callers is a bit mean. I think it’s better that you hang up the phone right off the bat. Less time wasted for both of you. I worked at a telephone survey company for a little while and it’s expected that people will get irritated but it’s not really pleasant to be made fun of when you’re being respectful.
I do what RoSy does and just don’t answer. If I don’t know the number I don’t answer and then listen to the message they leave
Why can’t we get a filter for this “low-tech spam”? I guess it’s like true low-cost automobile fuel. There are always “higher-ups” who keep us kowtowing to there financial interests.
I always hang up on them without saying anything. When my wife answers she says: “He/I died”, THEN hangs up! It seems to work most of the time.
I would never say who you are until they have told you who they are, and where they are calling from. I will even interrupt them when they start their spiel and ask again if they won’t tell me. If they don’t tell me, the phone goes down. If they do answer and I’m not interested, then I just get rid of most of them by stating “not for me thank you, but thanks for calling anyway”, then put the phone down before they get chance to reply. It might seem rude, but then they are intruding on your time so it is fair game.
10 – Pretend you have a bad connection and go like: ‘What…, sorry I can’t hear you!’ And hang up on them! 🙂
My son and I have both been telemarketers (desperation drove us to the one place hiring. Now, of course, most of those jobs are out-sourced and are usually in India.). We DO understand the poor person is just trying to do his/her job, BUT…we get annoyed, too. And, the scam/con artists HAVE made these callers dangerous.
That said, I usually announce “Not interested, please put me on your Do Not Call List. Thanks.” Click. However, son is a goofball and loves to mess with intruders. His responses can range from engaging in personal questions: “Hey, you need my personal info? Can I ask for yours? Where you from, are you married, did you have a bowel movement today?” Click. To his classic: “You want to speak to my parents? But, but, they’re DEAD!!! Wahhhh!!!” Click.
Door-to-door solicitors get invited to sit on the porch, have a glass of tea, and listen as he announces how he can tell your fortune by analyzing your poop. “If it floats, you’re lucky today. If it sinks, you need to eat more fruit!” He’s from New York, we speak swiftly, so, no, they can’t get a word in and usually back away then run as fast as they can back to whatever bush they were hiding behind. 🙂
Omg they are so annoying. Thanks for the advise!
A couple of things I did when I had telephone sales people. Bearing in mind I have all my body parts, and have only ever moved of my own volition.
A gym phoned me.
GYM: Hi, I was wondering if we could interest you in a cut price membership
ME: I don’t have any legs
GYM: Oh, um, err, sorry.
A windows sales company
WSC: Hi, I was wondering if we can interest you in a quote for new windows.
ME: I’ve just been evicted
WSC: *Click*
Another windows sales company (well could be the same one – it was a couple of years later)
WSC: Hi, I was wondering if we can interest you in a quote for new windows
ME: Oh, yes please
WSC: *blah blah blah (five minutes later) blah blah)
ME: Okay, I’ll tell my landlord.
WSC: WWHHHAAAATTTTT?????? *click*
This page may be helpful to some. Explains the FTC’s National Do Not Call List and how to register: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm
I work in a call-center doing political/local government surveys.You have no clue how much we get shit on just because it is our job to try to get people to do these surveys, and not just by the person on the other end of the phone. Not only do we get pay dangled over us like a piece of cheese, but the amount of bullshit we are fed in hopes of making it through the day and not getting cut is unreal. The amount of completed surveys that is expected of us by the hour is total bullshit and unrealistic. We have those who cheat and is praised for the hard work they are not doing, while the rest of us who literally try for fear of being caught that we will lose our jobs.
We are bullshitted at the beginning of every shift by a supervisor who tells us the reason we get cut early in a shift is because we aren’t “trying hard enough” or we are not “thinking positive enough”. That the reason everyone says no is because we aren’t trying to “sell” the survey. Let that sink into your brain for a minute. We do political/local government surveys! Surveys! Asking for opinions! That are free, but we have to try to sell them as if that has any realistic fucking meaning. It is like having a Jedi mind-trick done on you, but in this case the Jedi Master is a fucking retard who has no clue what the semantic ramifications are that he is talking about. His head is too inflated with the bullshit that he thinks makes him “high and mighty”.
All we hear is how we inconvenience everyone, or every epithet that is thrown at us. Mind you the people we call are voters. The ones whose opinions are sought after and don’t want to give an opinion, but once something is approved or is passed that they do not agree with they are quick to bitch about how no one sought their opinion.
It also isn’t our fault that we have to call at the most inopportune moment of the day, if you want to blame someone for that blame the clueless companies that aren’t smart enough to understand that we should stick with calling people on our side of the continent instead of clear across to the other side in different time zones. I think it is funny every time I hear someone tell me they are on the “Do Not Call” registry and do not comprehend that it is only for sales telemarketing.
It also isn’t our fault that the surveys are so long and ask the same questions over and over just worded differently each time. If we had our way the surveys would only be so many questions and would only take five to ten minutes every time instead of five to ten to twenty to thirty, etc. They would be short, to the point, and be able for everyone in our center to be able to work a full shift without worrying about being cut and not making enough money by the next paycheck.
It isn’t like we make a commission on anything either, we make the bare minimum because half of the time we don’t get as many surveys completed to keep us going through a shift because we are either waiting tor the computer dialer to connect a call between five to ten minutes or we are being berated by the barrage of bullshit that I mentioned above. And if we do not make enough completed surveys we are cut for the day, instead of like everyone else who is guaranteed a full shift at their respective jobs.
You want an easy solution for our calls to stop coming to your phone; DON’T REGISTER TO VOTE! Dead serious, don’t register next time. Then the calls will probably stop.
Having to listen to a caller complain about how we inconvenienced them (or seeing it on your blog) while I am staring at people who range from young to old, from poor to homeless to handicapped, from every race, gender, and background next to me and across from me in the millions of other cubicles trying their damnedest just to get by and make enough money to pay rent, can barely afford new clothes, or clothes for their kids if they have kids, be able to eat, trying to pick themselves off of the ground from either alcohol or drug addictions, afford the transportation back and forth to work in our center makes you look like a literal “Whiny Bitch” compared to these people who probably have it far worse off than you. You will never know what it is like to walk in the shoes of any of these people that I work with, let alone would you be willing to help them out. They are the type of nameless/faceless people you pass by and are quick to shout at them to get a job.These are the people the system either doesn’t want to hire or deal with because they are either deemed undesirable or they just want to forget they exist.
Between food stamps and this shit job it is what I have at the moment that keeps me afloat and helps bring food and some form of income into our house in hopes to sustain us while trying to make sure food, rent, utilities, and bills are taken care of.
I won’t apologize if my comment pisses you off. You have a choice you can either read it and take something from it, or delete it. The person who owns this blog has that option since they moderate it. I have already taken enough shit from genetic, mental defective who thinks their myriad of verbal bullshit is means to dangle a job and wage over everyone they possibly can to make themselves seem superior.
Wooooooow thank you so much to tell it to me. Just a few days ago I made a stupid answer to the phone which I had received. It was lucky that I could confirm that had been a true company I had had a contract with, but it was after I had gave him some personal information. O how stupid I was Bakabakabaka of me, I should never forget. Your post confirmed me what I should do and shall not . Please keep being my good advisor!
I tell them almost nothing. This rule also works well when dealing with people who call, lie about one owing a large debt, offering a settlement, and threatening sue if one does not pay up immediately. Fortunately, there is a federal regulator (the FTC) in the USA to deal with those. Also, telling such predators to got to Hell then hanging up on them works.