Tuesday, February 21, 2006
801-542-3098 follow-up
I think I've got to the bottom of the mysterious calls from 801-542-3098. I haven't stopped the calls. But I think I've figured out who they are. Not exactly a case for CSI. But maybe it will help someone else out.
So I called the number they'd been leaving in the message -- from my office number (not my cell phone number where they'd been calling me.) I get a message which asks simply for my Discover credit card. Now I don't have a Discover credit card. But even if I did, how foolish would it be to enter it at a phone number some random stranger had given to me. I figured this was my first encounter with a textbook phishing scam.
I thought this would be the end of it. But I pushed 0 a bunch of times and actually got a rep. I asked her what company she was with and why her company was continually calling my cellphone and leaving messages for a stranger on my voicemail that didn't explain what they were for. She said that she was with Discover -- collections -- and that some state laws prevented them from stating that they were calling from Discover in voicemail messages. I asked which states. She said, um, New York. I said I don't live in New York... and the conversation deteriorated from there.
She asked me for my cell phone number so they could remove it from their list and although I believe she really was calling from a collections agency affiliated with Discover card, I figured, at the very least (after I'd been such a prick on the phone), she'd designate my number for special gratuitous harrassment by her army of phone flunkies, and at worse, well, they'd do something far worse with my number.
So a big fuck you to Discover Card for hiring complete morons to handle your collections. Your on the shit list:
shit index: Discover, 801-542-3098, 800-347-3397
So I called the number they'd been leaving in the message -- from my office number (not my cell phone number where they'd been calling me.) I get a message which asks simply for my Discover credit card. Now I don't have a Discover credit card. But even if I did, how foolish would it be to enter it at a phone number some random stranger had given to me. I figured this was my first encounter with a textbook phishing scam.
I thought this would be the end of it. But I pushed 0 a bunch of times and actually got a rep. I asked her what company she was with and why her company was continually calling my cellphone and leaving messages for a stranger on my voicemail that didn't explain what they were for. She said that she was with Discover -- collections -- and that some state laws prevented them from stating that they were calling from Discover in voicemail messages. I asked which states. She said, um, New York. I said I don't live in New York... and the conversation deteriorated from there.
She asked me for my cell phone number so they could remove it from their list and although I believe she really was calling from a collections agency affiliated with Discover card, I figured, at the very least (after I'd been such a prick on the phone), she'd designate my number for special gratuitous harrassment by her army of phone flunkies, and at worse, well, they'd do something far worse with my number.
So a big fuck you to Discover Card for hiring complete morons to handle your collections. Your on the shit list:
shit index: Discover, 801-542-3098, 800-347-3397
Anonymous comments:Hi - I googled this number because they were calling me as well. It appears someone is giving a fake number which is my real number for their Discover records. They were pretty polite and removed my number from the list.
Tomohiro Idokoro comments:Did they? Are you sure? Are you sure you're sure?
How do you know that the call wasn't just a ploy to confirm that the phone number they've linked to your credit card via your social security number is indeed valid?
Fake number? Yeah, right.
You better double check with ChoicePoint. Just to be sure.
How do you know that the call wasn't just a ploy to confirm that the phone number they've linked to your credit card via your social security number is indeed valid?
Fake number? Yeah, right.
You better double check with ChoicePoint. Just to be sure.
