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One-Ring Phone Scam on the Rise
- username223 13y agoInteresting. I just got a call from 268-762-0013 today. I did what I usually do with numbers I don't recognize -- ignore it and look up the area code -- and figured it was some kind of scam when I saw it was from Barbados. But it's nice to know why they hung up after one ring.
- jonheller 13y agoSame here. Was very surprised to happen upon this article explaining it.
- throwaway420 13y agoYou should Google unknown phone numbers before calling them, because there are a lot of shady people out there. This isn't guaranteed protection, but a lot of times if they're a habitual scammer, their number will show up on Mr. Number, Dirtyphonebook, 800notes, or other similar sites with some info about them. You'll be amazed at how spammers operate and how often they succeed. I tried to warn my father about answering unknown numbers, but he was one of the ones stupid enough to fall for the "Microsoft called me to fix my computer" scam. (the only reason it didn't work is that he couldn't figure out their instructions to give them his credit card, but he was trying to) :(
- pstack 13y agoMy aunt did this, too. Not a stupid person, either. A doctor. She believed that the indian on the phone was from Microsoft and somehow detected that her computer (and every other computer in the house, including the 27" iMac I bought my mom for mother's day) were infected. They pinched her for $250 bucks per machine ($750 total). Gave them her credit card number. Let them install shit on the machines. Everything. Even after I called her and explained to her what just happened, she took a ton of persuading to cancel her credit card (I don't even know if she ever did that), because she was STILL worried that despite what I (a software engineer of two decades) told her, it "might still be legitimate". Also, who calls back numbers they don't recognize? If you're a number I don't recognize and you don't leave a voicemail, then fuck you!
- BorisMelnik 13y agothis is a much bigger and more widespread scam that is happening. where I live, there are at least 2 call centers dedicated to doing this all day every day. I know this because I went in for a job as a network teck (For their own internal systems) and saw what was going on.
- sneak 13y agoThere are many stupid doctors.
- mikeash 13y agoWhat do you call the person who graduated at the bottom of their class in med school? "Doctor."
- larrywright 13y agoI've gotten two of these calls. I tell them I don't have any Windows computers, only Macs. They stutter for a minute and then hang up on me.
- girvo 13y agoI dragged one along for 15 minutes trying to "follow" his instructions, before confessing it was an Ubuntu laptop. He told me "go f* yourself, and your mother is a whore!" and hung up on me. Made me giggle :)
- GuiA 13y agoOr just don't call them back in the first place. The onus should never be on you. As a rule, I just don't pick up my phone anymore (it's always in Do Not Disturb mode, the best thing Apple ever implemented). People I work with know that email is the fastest and best way to get ahold of me. If I really need to have a live talk with someone, we can schedule a time to meet for coffee or talk over Skype. If it's really important (i.e. taxes or something), I figure they'll leave a voicemail (I still listen to those) or that it'll get to me by the mail in some form. The phone is a completely obsolete communication medium. It's the technological equivalent of jumping behind someone and screaming "Hey I need your attention now, drop everything that you are doing and talk to me". 30 years ago, when only your close friends and family called, the compromise was worth it. In 2014, when most calls are telemarketing BS, it's just outdated.
- DanBC 13y agoThere are a bunch of websites that contain every single phone number possible and a lot of ads. Web searching phone numbers is not a fun experience. Any search engine people reading: you might want to investigate this because I can't understand how some of these sites legitimately rise in the rankings.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- unclebucknasty 13y agoAwesome. Now, if we could only get the BBB to put out a scam warning on itself.
- cglace 13y agoCan you explain?
- username223 13y agoI'm guessing the OP is referring to the shady ads and attempt to use geolocation. I haven't dealt with the BBB in a long time, but I thought they were less bad.
- tptacek 13y agoA lot of people consider the BBB a protection racket. Businesses pay the BBB to ensure that they have a good "rating", no matter their actual business practices.
- unclebucknasty 13y agoYes, this. How can they objectively rate businesses that are paying them? But, they go even further. That is, they will collect complaints, etc. and give the business a bad rating if the business does not respond using the BBB's system. So, even if the business is legit and has worked earnestly to resolve customer issues, they must add value to the BBB scheme (and thus also reinforce the BBB's perceived "legitimacy"), otherwise risk their own reputation. In fact, we received our first complaint after several years in business and they opened a "file" on us. We then received threatening letters from the BBB indicating that we had a window in which to respond, else receive a negative rating. Worse, even before we had a chance to respond, they'd already given us a C-minus; citing as the reason that they did not have enough info on our company. Why not a more neutral C? Better still, why not a "no-rating", indicating the actual truth that they'd acknowledged: they didn't yet have enough info to rate us? Why, instead use their qualitative scale to misrepresent us as somehow subpar? Again, they want you to submit more information and respond on their terms, thereby increasing value for them. It's the perfect racket. Worse, most people think the BBB are the good guys and many actually believe they are government-affiliated. So, they effectively use their own reputation against companies (many of which are lesser known small businesses) to force them to add value to the BBB's own scheme or outright pay them. It really is a racket and should be illegal.
- oinksoft 13y agoI was wondering what these phone calls were on my landline, it seemed like a buggy robo-caller. Amazing that just dialing a number can cost $20.
- mikeash 13y agoNow that I think about it, given that it's 2014 and smartphones are ubiquitous and free calls are the norm and so forth, it's amazing that there isn't a standard screen that pops up before making any paid call asking to confirm the cost. "Calling this number will cost $3/minute. Do you wish to proceed?" Of course, such a thing could only cost carriers revenue, so why would they ever do it....
- noyesno 13y agoIn the mobile domain (under the 3GPP standard), there is something called "Advice of Charge" that would give such functionality but most carriers do not deploy it unless local regulations demand it.
- DerekL 13y agoIf I don't recognize the number and they didn't leave a message, I won't call them back. It's probably just a telemarketer or someone else I don't want to talk to.
- __david__ 13y agoMore than that, if I get unknown numbers that don't leave message then they go onto right onto my blocklist.
- leobelle 13y agoIsn't there any way to tell the telephone provider you never want to connect to a pay for service so they just wont let the call go through?
- nathancahill 13y agoNo, that would be too simple and logically. We're talking about telcos here.
- JoshTriplett 13y agoSeems like that would raise the same conflict of interest as wanting the post office to stop delivering spam: "but that makes us money".
- jrockway 13y agoThat's not really a conflict of interest, but rather a core part of their business model. I got some spam from my local post office advertising how you can just drop off some spam, unaddressed, and they'll just shove it in everyone's mailbox. It would be a conflict of interest if the postal service said "we hate spam" or something, but they don't, so I don't see the conflict.
- mikeash 13y agoHe's saying it would be a conflict of interest if they offered some sort of service to not get spam.
- whathappenedto 13y agoEven better if there was a short menu prompt telling you the price if you want to connect, to give you the option to decline.
- nathancahill 13y agoJust like collect calls!
- PhasmaFelis 13y agoWho calls back on an unrecognized number with no message left? That's bizarre.
- PhearTheCeal 13y agoI recently did a job interview and I'm waiting for a call. So, honestly, I might call back if this happened to me.
- nmodu 13y agoYea, this is probably when [otherwise cautious] people are most susceptible to falling for these scams. When applying for jobs, there is nothing more irritating than seeing a missed call, getting excited/anxious, and calling back...a #%*@^ telemarketer. On the flip side, I briefly forget that I am unemployed, since all I think about for the next 5 minutes is inflicting the most sadistic forms of torture on every telemarketer that has ever lived. Seriously though, googling unknown numbers does help.
- Houshalter 13y agoI blame the phone company. Absurd that you can be secretly billed just for calling a number back.
- userbinator 13y ago> Calls typically originate from outside the United States It surprises me why someone would ever call back a long-distance number they didn't recognise. Sure, the Internet has made long-distance communication seem like it doesn't cost any more than local, but that doesn't mean the same rules apply to more traditional phones.
- mikeash 13y agoI have no concept of "long distance" anymore. Neither my cell phone nor my "land line" (actually a VoIP box) care where in the country the destination number is, it all costs the same (minutes for the cell phone, nothing for the land line). The trick here is that these are numbers that appear to be American but are actually international. That's a whole different level beyond "long distance" and people would generally not call those without checking, but it's not well known that there are certain area codes that are mapped to other countries entirely.
- mindslight 13y agoThe numbers are American. North American. From the NANP :P
- nknighthb 13y agoWorse, there's no more real mapping between number and location within the US anyway. My cell phone account has five numbers from three different area codes in two different (non-adjacent, even) states. Only two of the numbers are from the "right" area code, and even those are "from" a city >150 miles away from where we live.
- wzy 13y agoI live in one of the countries mentioned in the article and people living here normally get these calls from European or African numbers. We also report these calls to our version of BBB and telecom providers. You get a call, answer it, the line cuts off, you call back the number, your credit finishes. Normally its just elderly folks who get caught by these calls Don't call back strange numbers
- FollowSteph3 13y agoArticle is redirected on mobile to generic home page...
- eloff 13y agoThat website is horrible. Completely unusable from mobile.
- Killah911 13y agoBBB's mobile website strategy is hopelessly broken, I'm on my iPhone & can see the post for a second before it redirects me to this minimalist web UI home page... Just leaving the standard site as is would've been a better UX strategy
- alecsmart1 13y agoThis is pathetic. I can't read the article at all on mobile.
- nostromo 13y agoConcord, NH (January 30, 2014) - Consumers around the country report an increasing number of what is known as the "One-Ring Phone Scam." Perpetrators of this scam program their computers to blast out thousands of calls to random cell phone numbers, ring once, and then disconnect. This scam relies on consumers calling back missed calls, which then connect them to a paid international adult entertainment service, 'chat' line, or other premium service located outside the country. Victims who return the call are billed a $19.95 international call fee, along with per minute charges for the unwanted "premium service," which can be $9 per minute or more. In some cases, the scammers may only put through a small charge of several dollars, so it won't arouse suspicion. Calls typically originate from outside the United States. One woman told BBB her caller ID indicated the call originated in Antigua or Barbuda (area code 268). Other consumers across the country report calls from the Dominican Republic (809), Jamaica (876), British Virgin Islands (284) and Grenada (473). The practice of third parties placing unauthorized charges on wireless accounts is called "cramming." The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have reviewed thousands of complaints about the practice, and expect the problem to grow. Better Business Bureau recommends if you don't recognize an out-of-state telephone number on your caller ID, ignore it and if you do answer, do not call back. Also you should check your cell phone bills carefully and inform your carrier if you spot any unauthorized charges. The earlier you document the fraud, the better your chances of having some or all of the charges removed.
- rbritton 13y agoIt also wanted location access when viewing it on an iPad the first couple times I loaded it.
- ryen 13y agoWhat a coincidence, just received a one-ring call from a Grenada number (473 area code) a few minutes ago.
- espinchi 13y agoFor Android phones, there are caller ID applications (built-in in Google KitKat, or third-party apps like Contactive or Truecaller) that recognize telemarketers and scam callers with reasonable accuracy. Sure, this has its fair share of privacy concerns.
- jemeshsu 13y agoNormally when I receive scam-sounding calls especially from foreign country unknown number, I'll just tell them I'm a casket shop and ask them how many coffins he/she wants to order. And then hear their screaming/scolding at the other end.
- darren0 13y agoThis scam is particarily annoying on the iPhone. They call and hang up so it shows as a missed call on the lock screen. If you are not careful when you unlock the phone and you swipe where the phone number is, it immediately dials back. I absolutely hate that functionality of iOS 7.
- aggie 13y agoHow often do you get a scam call AND the lock screen notification has been pushed to the bottom (within careless swiping range of the actual slide to unlock zone) AND you are swiping without aiming? Does avoiding that extreme edge case really seem worth removing a useful shortcut?
- __david__ 13y agoI love that functionality myself, but I have the opposite problem—too often I'm trying to swipe a text or phone call and instead it just unlocks. Maybe we should trade phones. Or fingers.