Oct 3, 2014
I've received so many scam calls in the past month that I called my phone company (US Cellular) to report them. The person I originally spoke with (after I refused to change my number, refused to accept: "There's really nothing we can do," and a fair amount of prodding) told me he would have their fraud department call me on the following Monday. On Tuesday, a woman did call me and explained what to do (without changing my number) in such simple terms that I do not understand why these words are not appearing as public service announcements on every newscast.
In short, she said: DO NOT ANSWER CALLS FROM A NUMBER YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE. (I'd been doing so because I have medical issues and feared not receiving important information.) EVEN IF YOU HANG UP IMMEDIATELY WHEN YOU SUSPECT FRAUD, THE CALLER, OFTEN A ROBOT, NOW KNOWS THAT HE/SHE/IT HAS A "LIVE" NUMBER. (Because I'd been answering calls and hanging up, I was receiving calls up to three times daily from the same caller!) DON'T ANSWER. GOOGLE THE NUMBER. IF IT'S A PERSON OR BUSINESS YOU DEAL WITH, CALL THEM BACK. IF NOT, DON'T.
I hope this information will be helpful to others. Thank you enormously for the service you provide--and for the short, simple way you do it. I am "elderly" and a technological idiot. Had this been long and/or complex, I would not have done it--and it is important that people/companies band together to fight crime.
Thank you,
Lynn Ross