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Waited to speak with a rep. Identified himself as Alan. Asked how he "was able to reach out to me today" as politely as possible and was hung up on..
Missed call on landline, no message. Haven't talked to Bridget from Cardholder Services in a while.
FRAUD!
I just got a call and let it go to voice mail since I NEVER ANSWER UNRECOGNIZED NUMBERS. I listened to the last half of the voice mail the ROBOT had left saying "...press 3 to discontinue service."
SOUND FAMILIAR? THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON:
YES, IT IS A ROBOCALL USED TO DETERMINE IF "ANYONE" IS HOME AND IF YOUR PHONE NUMBER IS A VALID, WORKING NUMBER. IF YOU ANSWER, THE TELEMARKETERS/SCAMMERS LIST YOUR NUMBER AS A VALID NUMBER AND YOUR NUMBER IS THEN SOLD TO OTHER TELEMARKETERS/SCAMMERS.
HERE IS SOME ADVICE:
***First and foremost, DO NOT ANSWER CALLS FROM NUMBERS YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE!*** This is your best defense against further unwanted calls. Period, end of discussion.
DON’T EVER CALL THESE IDIOTS BACK OR ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR CALLS IN ANY WAY (i.e. press 1 to remove from list, press 2 to speak to someone, etc) as they will put your number on an "active number" list and you will actually get MORE calls from other scammers. Check out the November 2015 issue of Consumer Reports for more information on protecting yourself and the February 2016 issue of the same magazine for info on scams similar this as well as the notorious IRS SCAMS.
Also, IF YOU CALL THE NUMBER BACK, IT WILL BE VIEWED AS YOUR ATTEMPT TO DO BUSINESS WITH THE “COMPANY.” What does this mean? IT MEANS THAT YOU ARE NOT PROTECTED UNDER THE DONOTCALL.GOV umbrella and the scammer/telemarketer can then LEGALLY CONTACT YOU FOR THE NEXT 18 months and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Just BLOCK the number and go on with your life. There are free apps for both Android and iPhones that you can download in order to block further calls from that particular number. Landline customers can use the FREE service at www.nomorobo.com.
Robocaller. Left some partial message about discontinuing services. Block them. Not safe.