Hey folks, I got the weirdest call today

[jmowreader]

I got woken up by the ring of my landline. (It's hard to buy DSL if you don't have one.) "Call (a company you owe money to, name redacted) at (toll-free number)."

So I called them up at that number; it was someone trying to sell me a cruise.

I hung up and tried the number again - maybe I misdialed it. Nope. Still someone trying to sell me a cruise.

I called the company it was supposed to be... "No, we didn't try contacting you. That's really strange you'd get called like that."

[bigwillq]

1. Just got rid of my landline.

I am so happy I did! I no longer get interrupted by spam callers at all hours of the day.

[Warpy]

2. Caller ID is the greatest invention, ever

I don't pick up anyone I don't recognize. At my age, dozens of calls trying to sell me burial plots and insurance to pay for my funeral gets depressing.

[rock]

6. ditto

[Brickbat]

3. If you have caller ID, google the number and you'll probably see similar stories.

[silverweb]

4. I got a weird call, too, the other day.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]My insurance agent called and asked if I'd received the auto insurance quote I'd requested. I told him I didn't have a car and didn't plan on getting one, so never asked for a quote.

He said he received an urgent message with my full name and correct phone number a few days earlier requesting same, so that's why he emailed it (which I didn't receive) and was curious why he didn't hear back from me yet. We were both baffled by this one.

It sounds like the relaxed privacy laws have allowed access to new personal information that's being used to trick people into responding to calls they'd otherwise ignore. The new "how we use your information" notices have come out and opting out of each one is (meant to be) very inconvenient. I must have missed one.

Because I reject unrecognized or blocked phone numbers, the annoyance is limited for me, but the email spam and junk mail have also increased.

Welcome to the next step towards full corporatocracy!

[elias49]

5. Are you serious?

Sorry but you sound like a babe in the woods.
Your first telemarketing call?? Wow.
Maybe you just moved to the States...welcome to the US of A.

[jmowreader]

8. My first one like this...

Somehow this bunch got hold of the name of my creditor (it's not a normal one either) and claimed to be them. And seriously, I'm trying to figure out how. I pay by money order...unless the credit bureaus have started selling names to telemarketers, which would be completely fucked up but also, here in the Wild West where we have no consumer protections, totally legal.

[csziggy]

7. Got one of those a few weeks ago

Same as you, I called the company it was supposed to be after the scam call. They said they would report it as a scam. Apparently they've been getting a lot of complaints from customers.

[brooklynite]

9. ...but thanks for calling; now we can call you without violating "Do Not Call" registry.

[WiffenPoof]

10. Your Computer Is Sending Messages...

(I'm using a Swype app on my iPhone 6... So excuse any stupid typos)

I keep getting these calls from people with heavy accents telling me that my computer is sending them messages that I have a virus. I get these calls about once a week. They strongly suggest that I buy their program which will eliminate this problem. When I ask them if my computer is a PC or a Mac, they say Windows. WRONG!. I'm on a Mac. My computer our any computer is NOT communicating with you. A complete lie. I ask them how they sleep at nite.