very strange phone call

[vaskidmark]

"Hello.  This is the [strangled noise] Group.  We require a return phone call from you immediately.  Call us at 1-800-theirnumber.  That is the [strangled noise spelled out] Group. 1 - 800-theirnumber.  You must call us back immediately."

And the reason for you telling me I must call you back right now is --- what?

Last I heard I had to check the lottery numbers myself to see if I lost again.  If thee is a rich relative out there who has croaked after naming me in their will there is a lawyer looking for a finder's fee who will tell me about the former if not also the latter.

If it's the cops, they already know where they can find me, and the general hours I'm available.

So the [strangled noise] Group will just have to do without a chance for scintilating conversation with me.

Anybody else ever get a call like that?

stay safe.

skidmark

[AJ Dual]

Debt collectors, probably with the wrong info.

Get that cell number any time recently within the past year or so?

[MillCreek]

When I have gotten those sort of calls, it is often a collection agency.  There are something like 26 people in my state with the same first name and surname as I.  Apparently, my name and phone number are very close to the top when the agencies do a Google or ZabaSearch under my name.  So I think they just start going down the list and call all the people on the list.  

I used to call them back to tell them that they have the wrong person, but I don't do that any more.  

PS: I see that AJ and I were typing at the same time with the same idea.

[gunsmith]

this guy has the answers, all the answers.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jim+florentine+telemarketers&aq=f

[vaskidmark]

Land line, not the cell.

Now that you mention it, there was a debt collector trying to get me to help him get $$ from the disowned/disinherited daughter about a month ago.  Was never sure if it was her debt of that of the felon she married.  Never cared, either.

They can call back - it will go to the answering machine just like almost every other call.

Anybody remember Tom Mabe who pranked the telemarketer by pretending to be a cop investigating the murder of the cold-call target?  http://www.maniacworld.com/Best-Telemarketer-Prank-Ever.html

stay safe.

skidmark

[TechMan]

I love Tom Mabe!  That one is the best.

[sanglant]

my favorite was the mexican(i assume ) that was calling my cell phone trying to sell green cards. "hello IMS, how may i help you?"

[Devonai]

I've been getting calls like that from a Florida area code, once or twice a week for a couple of weeks now.  I've just ignored them.

[eyebrows]

Sounds like a collections call.
I don't have caller ID and I get them constantly for a Willa Critchfield and a John McRenyolds. At first I tried to explain they had the wrong number but it doesn't work. They just keep calling.
So I went and bought one of those airhorns you see people using at sporting events and it sits right next to the phone. Have no idea if it actually hurts their ears(i doubt it) but it makes me feel better.

[grampster]

I liked Mabe's bit when he screwed around with the burial plot guy.

[Jamisjockey]

Jason Baird is a dead beat.  I was getting several calls a week for him, and they were exactly like your call.  Got into it once with a debt collector who caught me on the phone.
"is Jason there?"
"Yeah, that's me, Who the eff are you?"
"You owe us money!!! We're going to cut your manhood off and take your firstborn!"
It went downhill from there.

[lee n. field]

I liked Mabe's bit when he screwed around with the burial plot guy.

"Can you get blood out of a carpet?  Can you come now?"

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Yep, debt collectors.  It's a common, if dubious, debt collector phone message strategy to mumble or slur the name of the company and then give a very clear and forceful message to call back.  It gives 'em plausible deniability on both their legal obligation to ID themselves and their legal obligation not to reveal anything about the outstanding debt to strangers, not even the existence of the debt or the involvement of the collections agency.

Call 'em back and hang on the line just long enough to find out who they are.  If they're a legit outfit, they'll ID themselves first thing when they answer.  If they don't, you're probably best off ignoring their calls.

[BridgeRunner]

I have gotten calls like that looking for my sister or her husband.  He feels he is not obligated to pay on his student loans unless he feels like he's gotten his their money's worth, ditto his car loans.  I've found that ignoring them eventually works, but it works even better to say something along the lines of "Yeah...you're looking for X.  She used to be related to me, until <insert horrific tale of hyperbolic family woe>.  Haven't spoken to her for years, don't ever intend to."

Of course, that requires that they actually call you, not merely have a machine hassle you electronically.

[RocketMan]

Used to get those calls after the ex- and I bought our house in Hillsboro, OR.  The previous owner of the phone number was a deadbeat that had the same first name as me.  Pain in the nether regions as they never believed I wasn't the guy they were looking for.  We finally just started hanging up on them.  Problem solved.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Debt collectors. Annoying people. I was once in charge of manning the phone to allow people entry to a gated establishment, and there were always debt collectors calling for a former employee.
And when I moved in to an apartment in Dallas, they called for a former owner of the landline phone #.
The weirdest call was the one about a relative having died. It came in the early morning, with a computer-generated voice. No relative was named, but it woke me up pretty well.

[KD5NRH]

Debt collectors. Annoying people. I was once in charge of manning the phone to allow people entry to a gated establishment, and there were always debt collectors calling for a former employee.

A friend used to answer the phone at a mental health facility.  They had a patient who handled all the telemarketers and debt collectors for them.  He could tell stories for hours. 

[TechMan]

A friend used to answer the phone at a mental health facility.  They had a patient who handled all the telemarketers and debt collectors for them.  He could tell stories for hours. 

LOL 

[RoadKingLarry]

4 or 5 years ago I started getting calls on my cell phone looking for a woman. Turns out she had kited a bunch of hot checks in the area. It also turned out that she had my cell # printed on her checks.I had several long chats with different business owners and 3 different county sheriff's offices. Turned out that I had a tenuous, peripheral association with the woman through a couple of loosely affiliated motorcycle associations. 
I did my civic duty and provided a location for her to the county sheriff in the county she lived in.

[coppertales]

One thing to remember.  Not all 800 calls are free.  If it is a bogus call, they can tag your phone bill for big bucks and there is nothing you can do about it.......chris3

[MillCreek]

I have gotten calls like that looking for my sister or her husband.  He feels he is not obligated to pay on his student loans unless he feels like he's gotten his their money's worth,

I have read some hilarious postings on Above The Law recently about some unemployed law school graduates who are trying the same thing with their law school loans.

[vaskidmark]

As insistant as they were in the original contact, there has been nothing indicating a second contact.

I'll go out later to see if a summons has been nailed to the door I don't use.  If not, it will be up to them to get back with me about whatever was so important.

stay safe.

skidmark

[erictank]

4 or 5 years ago I started getting calls on my cell phone looking for a woman. Turns out she had kited a bunch of hot checks in the area. It also turned out that she had my cell # printed on her checks.I had several long chats with different business owners and 3 different county sheriff's offices. Turned out that I had a tenuous, peripheral association with the woman through a couple of loosely affiliated motorcycle associations. 
I did my civic duty and provided a location for her to the county sheriff in the county she lived in.

My stepdaughter has gotten 19 calls from Chrysler Collections since the 19th, up until yesterday (well, I suppose it's technically the day before yesterday now...), on her cell phone.  They've called while she's at school, and gotten her voicemail message which she recorded when she first got that phone several years ago; they've called her when she's at home and able to pick up, as well.  They called FOUR TIMES on the 27th alone, and they're using two different numbers to do it.

Oh, this is pertinent - Alison, my stepdaughter, turns thirteen next month and has a name nothing like that of the woman they've been asking for.

They've ignored her voicemail message, in which she states her name clearly (well, she had a little trouble pronouncing the letter 'r' back then) and is very obviously a small child - she was not yet ten when she recorded it.  They've ignored her talking to them and telling them that she's not the person they're looking for.  They've ignored her father the lawyer who told them she's not the person they're looking for, and who's paying for the cell minutes they're burning by harassing her.  They've ignored me telling them she's a 12 year old girl who doesn't own a car or have credit, and to remove her phone number from their records.

They have apparently taken her mother's advice and stopped calling - SHE told them that not only is Alison a 12 year old, but that she was reporting their record of harassment - dates and times from her phone - to Chrysler and to the Better Business Bureau, and if they STILL didn't knock it off, that legal action would ensue.

Alison's cell phone hasn't rung once today (well, yesterday).

[KD5NRH]

They have apparently taken her mother's advice and stopped calling - SHE told them that not only is Alison a 12 year old, but that she was reporting their record of harassment - dates and times from her phone - to Chrysler and to the Better Business Bureau, and if they STILL didn't knock it off, that legal action would ensue.

If you can get a sympathetic ear at the local PD, it might be worth having them investigate a group of adults repeatedly calling a 12 year old girl.  You know, at least look into the records and make sure it's really mistaken identity.  That could get them scared enough to find and fix the mistake.

After all, how much information have you given them about her by now, thinking you were trying to convince them that she's not whoever they claim to be looking for?

[sanglant]

My stepdaughter has gotten 19 calls from Chrysler Collections since the 19th, up until yesterday (well, I suppose it's technically the day before yesterday now...), on her cell phone.  They've called while she's at school, and gotten her voicemail message which she recorded when she first got that phone several years ago; they've called her when she's at home and able to pick up, as well.  They called FOUR TIMES on the 27th alone, and they're using two different numbers to do it.

Oh, this is pertinent - Alison, my stepdaughter, turns thirteen next month and has a name nothing like that of the woman they've been asking for.

They've ignored her voicemail message, in which she states her name clearly (well, she had a little trouble pronouncing the letter 'r' back then) and is very obviously a small child - she was not yet ten when she recorded it.  They've ignored her talking to them and telling them that she's not the person they're looking for.  They've ignored her father the lawyer who told them she's not the person they're looking for, and who's paying for the cell minutes they're burning by harassing her.  They've ignored me telling them she's a 12 year old girl who doesn't own a car or have credit, and to remove her phone number from their records.

They have apparently taken her mother's advice and stopped calling - SHE told them that not only is Alison a 12 year old, but that she was reporting their record of harassment - dates and times from her phone - to Chrysler and to the Better Business Bureau, and if they STILL didn't knock it off, that legal action would ensue.

Alison's cell phone hasn't rung once today (well, yesterday).

i'd be sure to add stalking a minor if you take it to court. should cover her collage tuition.