Weird/scary telemarketing call

[DrSally]

Yesterday my mom was home recuperating from surgery. The phone rang (a 000000 number), and she answered. The gist of it is that she asked if the person was selling anything and the person wouldn't answer her, she got very stern with the person on the other line and said she didn't accept calls from telemarketers and hung up. The person called back and my mom said again that she doesn't take calls from people trying to sell something. The person yells at her to "Go to h#ll" and my mom starts in on a lecture about how we all have to meet our maker and she is NOT going to h#ll, etc.

THEN, the person on the other line says, "I know where you live, address 123, street xyz, town, state, and I'm going to come and kill you"!!!!

My mom is shaken (lives alone, widowed), calls the police. The police officer is at her house talking to her and the phone rings AGAIN. He answers it this time and says "town X police, how can I help you" and the lady hangs up. IMO, he should've answered, listened to whatever she had to say, get her company and name if he could, and call her supervisor or go and give her a visit!

I don't know what to say, other than I'm hoping it was a frustrated telemarketer and not some random weirdo targeting my mom. I've never seen 0000000 numbers come up on my caller ID, but supposedly they're telemarketers with their numbers blocked. I advised my mom to call her phone company and see if they have a way to block calls from people who have their own number blocked. Also, I told her not to answer any of the 0000000 calls and *don't* get into it with telemarketers. I just say "no thank you", and hang up. I see no reason to get into any kind of conversation with them--wastes both of our time. I have never heard of a telemarketer calling a house back to make threats AND as much as 30 minutes later, to call back?

[elektra]

THat's horrible! Chances are it was just a disgruntled telemarketer but that is just crazy. I wish I knew of a way to trace the call.

[DrSally]

THat's horrible! Chances are it was just a disgruntled telemarketer but that is just crazy. I wish I knew of a way to trace the call.

Oh, I know. With no way of tracing the call, I really think she should just block all unknown (blocked number) calls. She said she usually isn't home to answer them, but why even let those calls into your house, KWIM?

[gatorsmom]

Oh, how scary for your mom! She needs peaceful rest to heal after surgery, not threatening phone calls!

Yeah, she really needs to use her caller ID function and put her number on the no call lists. Also, I don't know if this is available through her phone company, but our neighbors have an automatic recording that plays while the line is dialing saying something like, "this number does not accept solicitations." Our neighbors swear it works wonders.

Hopefully the rude caller was thrown for a loop when the police picked up. Hopefully that will be enough for them to not call again. I honestly think this telemarketer was having a bad night and decided to take it out on your mom. I don't think your mom has to worry about being stalked.

[DrSally]

Hopefully the rude caller was thrown for a loop when the police picked up. Hopefully that will be enough for them to not call again. I honestly think this telemarketer was having a bad night and decided to take it out on your mom. I don't think your mom has to worry about being stalked.

That's what we're both hoping. The way she relayed what the woman said was very chilling, but what bothered me the most was the fact that she would go to the trouble of waiting 30+ minutes (whatever it took for a non emergency police officer to get there) and call back. I've worked in telemarketing in college, and you just have to move onto the next call on the list, it's not like there's time to sit around and contemplate things.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

SCARY. I would call the phone company and maybe the police, just to see if there is anyway the call could be traced. Poor mama!

[infomama]

I would call the phone company and place a trap on her phone. She can also dial *57 (NOT *69) after the caller hangs up to initiate a call trace. The officer should have given you information on these services but if not just call your phone company. Also, have her keep a phone log.

[bubbaray]

The police definitely CAN trace that call, even if they telemarketing company has caller ID blocked on their outgoing calls. The police need a warrant and to serve it on your mom's phone company. But, its definitely doable.

GL, that is CRAZY and I would raise holy hell with the cops until they deal with this.

[DrSally]

I would call the phone company and place a trap on her phone. She can also dial *57 (NOT *69) after the caller hangs up to initiate a call trace. The officer should have given you information on these services but if not just call your phone company. Also, have her keep a phone log.

Thanks, I didn't know you can initiate a call trace. I really encouraged her to call the phone company and have them advise her on how to block the call. I will mention the *57 to her. I wonder why the police officer didn't know about it.

[DrSally]

The police definitely CAN trace that call, even if they telemarketing company has caller ID blocked on their outgoing calls. The police need a warrant and to serve it on your mom's phone company. But, its definitely doable.

GL, that is CRAZY and I would raise holy hell with the cops until they deal with this.

IF she dares to call again, #1 that will be *really* weird to keep calling a day after the original call, #2, I will tell her to get the police on it. They did say to keep them informed and they will take further action if needed.

[AshleyAnn]

Wow that is very scary! It doesn't sound like a telemarketer to me but more like a scammer. I used to have scammers call my office line and get rude/borderline scary and refuse to give me any info about who they were or thier company (or gave an obvious lie).

[DrSally]

Wow that is very scary! It doesn't sound like a telemarketer to me but more like a scammer. I used to have scammers call my office line and get rude/borderline scary and refuse to give me any info about who they were or thier company (or gave an obvious lie).

Ahhh, scammer. Yeah, she didn't sound too professional to begin with (before the threats), and aren't telemarketers supposed to identify themselves if you ask. I wonder if they got her info from some AARP directory, and now she's going to be the target of scammers now that she's getting older and retiring.

[amldaley]

I actually had something similar happen to me on Sept 10.

I received a call from an area code 876 and it said Kingston on the caller ID. My DH's family ALL live in the town of Kingston. I grabbed the phone just as the call rolled to voicemail, so I immediately called back. It was KINGSTON JAMAICA.

The guy (? may have been a woman but I think it was CREEPY guy) began to say he had talked to my husband earlier, and he wanted me to do something, my husband told him to call me. Well, my husband is in Afghanistan. I did not tell the guy that, I just said that he had a wrong number. He was insistent and rude and told me to "just LISTEN." He was rambling in a very hostile tone about money and I repeated a couple of times that he had the wrong number, told him I was ending the call. He finally hung up on me when I said I was calling the police.

He then called back 5 minutes later and started screaming at me. He told me he knew where I lived and he was going to come kick my F'ing @$$. He also used some incredibly vulgar phrases and told me to go F my mother. Yeah, nice. I hung up.

I called my phone service. The just recommended to block all Anonymous calls. Which made no sense as this was not anonymous. It had a full number listed. And I can't block anonymous calls as when DH calls from Afghanistan it does not register. The also advised me to make a police report. I called the police the next day and was told there was nothing they could do for me. They advised I call the Federal Trade Commission.

I googled and found an entire webiste FULL of reports of similar incidents. These people typically target senior citzens. What freaked me out was that one week earlier, the same thing happend to another woman whose DH is deployed. I am concerned that I somehow on a deployed military family list, even though I am careful to whom I disclose that info.

If you mother can block Anonymous Calls, I think it is *72? I would do so. Callers will hear a message that says she does not accept calls from Anonymous Callers. A legit caller can unblock their number and call her back.

I would not worry about someone actually coming to the house...they were likely in another state or country when they called.

[DrSally]

Interesting Amldaley! How scary for you. based on PP and your post, I'm beginning to think it was a scammer who was possibly targeting senior citizens (and maybe apparently military families). Maybe they're trying to use intimidation tatics to get money out of people? Like a Nigerian scam, but via phone rather than email?

ETA: And quick thinking of you not to mention that DH was deployed.

[amldaley]

Interesting Amldaley! How scary for you. based on PP, I'm beginning to think it was a scammer who was possibly targeting senior citizens (and maybe apparently military families). Maybe they're trying to use intimidation tatics to get money out of people? Like a Nigerian scam, but via phone rather than email?

ETA: And quick thinking of you not to mention that DH was deployed.

The most common scam was to say they were a telemarkter first to get personal info, then say that they were calling b/c the person had won a cash prize and they needed a fee to deliver it. Total scam. There are reports of Senior Citizens being bilked out of thousands of dollars. If you Google the 000000 number and add telemarketing or scam, you will see lots of sites that have complaints and info.

The site I was on about the Jamaica call said they often use software to alter how their number appears to caller ID, or even can make it look like it is coming from a legitimate source.

There were a couple of things that said they target a "suckers" marketing list: people who have bought over the phone previously, contributed by phone, signed up for info or contests, etc.

If she is not already, I would also add her to the National Do Not Call Registry.

[DrSally]

Thanks again, I sent some links to my mom about the scam. I don't think she'd give any info away, but you never know, they might be smooth, and the longer you stay on the phone with them, the easier it is to let something slip. I hope she can just block the calls and not even answer them!