4 ms·

I use the same strategy when I get an "authoritative" phone call: 1) what is your official website? 2) where is your phone number listed on that website? 3) wh

I use the same strategy when I get an "authoritative" phone call: 1) what is your official website? 2) where is your phone number listed on that website? 3) what is your name? then i go to the official website (irs.gov or whatever in this case) get the official number, and ask for the person by name. If it's the same person, then congrats it's all legit.

hkmurakami 12y ago
Yea this is also important when someone allegedly calls from your bank.
xenadu02 12y ago
Yup; got a call from NCIS once (not the show, the real thing). The agent was more than happy to tell me what office she worked for and her name. I then looked up the number on navy.gov independently and got transferred back to her. Fun fact: it was over a guy who was stealing equipment from the Navy and selling it online. Turns out they didn't want the equipment back (since it couldn't be re-deployed for security reasons). They just wanted me to testify against him. I believe he ended up pleading out once confronted so I never ended up testifying.
DanBC 12y ago
In the UK those protective measures don't work because of a difference in the way the phone systems work. In the US when either party hangs up the phone the line is cleared; the call ends. In the UK that only happens when the dialing party hangs up. The call is still connected if the dialed party hangs up. This used to be many hours. I think there's a 5 min limit now. So, the scammer calls you; gives you the phone number and extension and name, and website. You hang up. You go to the real official gov website and see that the phone numbers given match. You then pick up your phone -- and the scammers play a fake dial tone; and you enter the number and they play a fake ring tone; then they "answer" the call. This scam has been used to fleece people of their entire life savings - tens of thousands in one go, sometimes even hundreds of thousands of pounds. The scammers normally pretend to be the police investigating a criminal who works for your bank. They need you to transfer a bit of money into an account so they can trace it; then it builds up to a bit more. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6124056 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6124056 There's an interview with someone who handed over £15,000 to the Microsoft fraudsters. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7868166 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7868166 And these people do not get their money back! In England if you make a bank transfer to a fraudster it's your fault and you lost that money. I don't think it's about being smart or not. Most people are generally trusting and compliant and scammers exploit that with a refined process that they've iterated on over hundreds of other victims.
- cillian64 12y ago
  I just confirmed this works on my BT landline, albeit with a 60 second timeout. I can't believe I never knew this was a thing
cmdrfred 12y ago
Yeah that works until... http://www.spoofcard.com/ http://www.spoofcard.com/
- hayksaakian 12y ago
  The key part is that you're calling them back. If someone fakes their caller ID candy you call the number they claimed to have, you're not going to reach the faker, you'll reach the legitimate owner of the number.
  - cmdrfred 12y ago
    Unless you are in the UK. http://www.lbc.co.uk/why-dont-landline-calls-cut-off-when-you-hang-up-62565 http://www.lbc.co.uk/why-dont-landline-calls-cut-off-when-yo...

hkmurakami 12y ago

Yea this is also important when someone allegedly calls from your bank.

xenadu02 12y ago

Yup; got a call from NCIS once (not the show, the real thing). The agent was more than happy to tell me what office she worked for and her name. I then looked up the number on navy.gov independently and got transferred back to her. Fun fact: it was over a guy who was stealing equipment from the Navy and selling it online. Turns out they didn't want the equipment back (since it couldn't be re-deployed for security reasons). They just wanted me to testify against him. I believe he ended up pleading out once confronted so I never ended up testifying.

DanBC 12y ago

In the UK those protective measures don't work because of a difference in the way the phone systems work. In the US when either party hangs up the phone the line is cleared; the call ends. In the UK that only happens when the dialing party hangs up. The call is still connected if the dialed party hangs up. This used to be many hours. I think there's a 5 min limit now. So, the scammer calls you; gives you the phone number and extension and name, and website. You hang up. You go to the real official gov website and see that the phone numbers given match. You then pick up your phone -- and the scammers play a fake dial tone; and you enter the number and they play a fake ring tone; then they "answer" the call. This scam has been used to fleece people of their entire life savings - tens of thousands in one go, sometimes even hundreds of thousands of pounds. The scammers normally pretend to be the police investigating a criminal who works for your bank. They need you to transfer a bit of money into an account so they can trace it; then it builds up to a bit more. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6124056 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6124056 There's an interview with someone who handed over £15,000 to the Microsoft fraudsters. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7868166 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7868166 And these people do not get their money back! In England if you make a bank transfer to a fraudster it's your fault and you lost that money. I don't think it's about being smart or not. Most people are generally trusting and compliant and scammers exploit that with a refined process that they've iterated on over hundreds of other victims.

cillian64 12y ago
I just confirmed this works on my BT landline, albeit with a 60 second timeout. I can't believe I never knew this was a thing

cmdrfred 12y ago

Yeah that works until... http://www.spoofcard.com/ http://www.spoofcard.com/

hayksaakian 12y ago
The key part is that you're calling them back. If someone fakes their caller ID candy you call the number they claimed to have, you're not going to reach the faker, you'll reach the legitimate owner of the number.
- cmdrfred 12y ago
  Unless you are in the UK. http://www.lbc.co.uk/why-dont-landline-calls-cut-off-when-you-hang-up-62565 http://www.lbc.co.uk/why-dont-landline-calls-cut-off-when-yo...