Scam calls

I just got a call from a number with the prefix (038), it said Ireland, I answered and there was nobody on the other end.

Presume it’s a scam but where even is 038 in Ireland, not sure that exists as a prefix?

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862657#Comment_117862657

It doesn’t exist, most likely inserted an invalid fake number. I wonder if they mistyped 083 as 038?

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862657#Comment_117862657

could be a masked number pretending to be from ireland but really from the back arse, could also be an automated call testing for active numbers, answering confirms this, i.e. as others have said, dont answer unusual numbers or blocked numbers, they ll leave a message if important

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862321#Comment_117862321

If you report a number as a scam number in a call blocking app, then anyone else using these apps could find that the real owner of this number is blocked.

Wheety

Anyone getting a load from 'London' now? Initially I thought I had missed a genuine call but 4 in 2 days and all different numbers make me think it's more scam calls. If it was a business surely it would be the same number.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862738#Comment_117862738

a lot of 0044 calls coming in, but i suspect most arent actually uk calls at all, all masked numbers

Wheety

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862747#Comment_117862747

Ah yeah, I understand the number spoofing, that's why I put London in quotes. It's not only me getting these ones then.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862593#Comment_117862593

Yeah thats just messing.

Something can be done, but only at the govt level. As per the link I posted early. They can chase the money.

But it will get to the point where it makes the phone systems dysfunctional.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862761#Comment_117862761

no i know others getting them also, apparently rampant at the moment, very frustrating

interesting podcast on it

https://player.fm/series/in-the-news-2930202/irelands-phone-scam-plague

Loafing Oaf

I've been getting scam parcel delivery notice texts on my iphone. Had never heard of this before. Obviously a very minor irritant but I'[m wondering is there some virus on my phone that's enabling it...

Allinall

I have a very simple policy.

Only answer calls from a contact in my phone.

I have a voicemail message that states this clearly.

Hector Savage

hmmm, all this talk about similar numbers makes me think, I keep getting calls from +44 numbers - I live in Spain , the scam calls are in Spanish but I wonder am I listed as an English speaker on some database and they try and bait me with a +44 prefix ..?

Also another thing, if you hear a pause - hang up , means they are using autodiallers....

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862812#Comment_117862812

Nothing on your phone enables this, they are just trying random numbers and they will eventually move on if you don't click on the links in the texts.

bennyl10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862657#Comment_117862657

its the new 'your pps has been hacked' number. they seem to have realized the department don't use mobiles

had the pleasure of it this morning

ellejay

I've received two scam calls from Dept of justice in Brighton!

0044 1273 004 232

0044 1273 004 185

First time ever getting spam calls. Completed online travel documents last night wonder if that's the connection.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862765#Comment_117862765

But it will get to the point where it makes the phone systems dysfunctional.

Well this is the thing. I was on the point of cutting out a legit call the other day and wonder if I've actually done this in other cases. When businesses find that people are not answering or hanging up on important calls, will they not put pressure on the government/regulator/Eir whoever to sort this out? Or will they just give up on conventional voice calls as a dead loss, switch to Skype or something?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862657#Comment_117862657

03 seems to be a spare prefix.

You’d wonder why the hell we have about 60+ area codes for a rapidly dwindling number of remaining landlines. Only 1,056,682 landlines using PSTN or ISDN, and about 2.2 million landlines in total, the rest made up of residential and business VoIP.

That compares to 5.2 million mobiles or 7.1 million if you include machine-to-machine uses and mobile broadband accounts.

Obviously change is expensive and landlines are a dying tech, but we could have rationalised it years ago and just had:

03 + 8 digits = landlines

08 + 8 digits = mobiles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117862902#Comment_117862902

Yeah, that’s a totally believable scam.

The Irish Department of Justice is obviously based in England and are often unable to remember their own department’s name.

They really must be hitting some kind of total morons.

It’s a numbers game though. They make tens of thousand of calls, at very little cost. They pay their scam telephonists a pittance and the call is almost of no charge at all, so they just need to get 1 credit card wielding moron out of every 200 calls.

There's actually a theory that when people make these kinds of scam calls or send phishing emails that they deliberately make them look a bit ropey, because the people who don't notice how dodgy looking the scam is, are far more likely to actually hand over credit card details.

It works a bit like a pre-filter. They don't waste their time with savvy callers who've already long since hung up on the call from the Department of Social Security Protection Services with the fake +33 number, that doesn't know your name, but just wants you to pay that urgent fee...

Black Swan

Block scammers. Across the pond the California governor is facing a recall election in one week. Scam calls have been going up markedly. Calls from all over the states. Lots of folks complaining over here. Republicans using as a test case for 2022.

Do you have caller ID? If unknown Do not open. If you do they will share your number with others.

There are also programmes that help you block scammers. Black list knowns and bot-like configurations.

Caller ID here is a standard service and has been for many years. Unless you’re using some absolutely ancient rotary dial phone with no display you have Caller ID and it’s baked into all mobile services.

The problem with the majority of the scam calls hitting Ireland at the moment is the numbers are fake and being randomly generated, so they’re not on spam lists.

Political marketing calls here aren’t a thing and unsolicited marketing calls within the EU are illegal and doing so carries a huge fine, so the callers are not at all legitimate sales stuff, they’re phishing scams originating somewhere well beyond the reach of European regulators.

The other issue I suspect is that they’re targeting anglophone countries, so there may not be the same scale of problem elsewhere in the EU, so I wonder if it’s getting discussed at all.

Had one from 01 666 0000 yesterday morning, phone ID'd it as "Garda Station" but it was actually the Garda HQ number when I looked it up.

quinnd6

My own phone number was spoofed and used in a scam call. I know because I got a call from someone who thought I rang them. So as the others were saying, no point in doing the block and report as they're using VoIP and spoofing and using numbers of people who are innocent and haven't done anything. It's bs and so annoying. Not only am I going to get calls from scammers but from people who think I rang them now. What a load of crap. Anyway just hang up and don't block the numbers because innocent people will get blacklisted.

Pintman Paddy Losty

I believe that the hackers have compromised the mobile phone databases and have stolen numbers. It's the same hackers that did the HSE.

Lewis_Benson

Had one just now trying to get people to sign uo to a crypto site.

Eurostandarte.com - a known scam site.

I kept them in the call for a good 45 min.

Kept having to put them on "hold" to take other calls and answer the door.

My Internet was very slow for some very strange reason too at the time of trying to open his website and to download any desk software, I even kept telling him the connection was going down, and kept playing the dial up Internet sounds from YouTube.

My hold music ranged from , the Knight rider theme, cops theme, sound of da police, little lies Fleetwood mac, liar by Henry rollins, karma police by radiohead.

I eventually got bored and told him I know what cold call scams are etc.

He went on a tirade of abuse and I eventually told him what a filthy kunt he was before he hung up.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^

like your playlist🙂

Lewis_Benson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117876504#Comment_117876504

I think it was apt for the situation.

Tork

I hope that story is true 😀

James 007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117876417#Comment_117876417

Not just the mobile phone databases. My mum got a call this morning & she could not understand the caller, so I took the call. Apparently my mum has just spent €250 through ebay & the girl on the line wanted to clarify if it was correct. I said to her (known that it was one of these calls) that she is spending like there is no tomorrow & not to worry about it & your one wished me a good day & that was it. I took a photo of the phony GERMAN number after just to see what was showing up on her phone.

Cordell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117876417#Comment_117876417

These calls were happening before the HSE attack, or to be more precise, before it was public. But those are russian backed hackers, these are lowlife scammers, totally different kinds.

Just hang up and keep blocking the numbers

Lewis_Benson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117876603#Comment_117876603

It is.

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117876182#Comment_117876182

Same - a missed call. At first I was trying to figure out why Garda HQ would be phoning me - never thought it could be a scam call with a 'genuine' number. But eventually figured that's what it must be.

That's my first one ever. I've never got the automated voicemail ones everyone seems to get.

Dramatik

Facebook got hacked back in April and you peoples phone numbers got leaked and are up online, that is why everybody is getting so many spam calls and messages lately

Tork

The scammers have probably computer generated millions of possible phone number combinations and are making their way through them.

fun loving criminal

I had one scammer call me today and got so angry with me because I kept telling them that they should know my name already because they're ringing me.

So I kept asking them what is my name. And told them that I know my name but did they know my name.

They hung up on me!!!

take everything

Getting these a lot nowadays as well.

Could the increase be related to the Russian HSE hack. Has to be.

Also why on earth can't the networks stop spoofing of numbers.

fryup

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902068#Comment_117902068

kinda like this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inbwbPeXRho

Cordell

Sometimes they will know your name so be aware of that, as it could led you to believe that it's a genuine call.

Mister Vain

I'm constantly getting those scam DHL texts.

Cordell

Funny thing is that I actually had a DHL delivery for which I had to pay import fees and I couldn't trust opening and paying from the phone, I had to open the link from a computer to make sure that I'm on the DHL site.

Atlantic Dawn

Its a new entry in to the list of crimes I see as needing the death penalty, ideally a public hanging for anyone involved.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117902893#Comment_117902893

Had a phone call from the bank a couple of years ago asking me for personal information... I wouldn't give it to them because I didn't know if it was a genuine call or not. Turns out it was genuine and was asked to ring AIB customer service number instead. The poor fella on the other line, but they must get it all the time.

Cordell

Well cold calling and then asking for personal information is bad form so it's on them.

OneEightSeven

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117900750#Comment_117900750

Facebook was hacked in 2019 and the database was available on the dark web since. The database became public in 2021.

kirk.

Is there a way to block 038 numbers on Android 11

I can see when u go into block numbers it just says add phone number ?

Cordell

Truecaller should be able to do this

Atlantic Dawn

Prime Time covering this tonight...

https://twitter.com/RTE_PrimeTime/status/1440392887452176384

maureencol

I'm in the US and was getting car warranty calls. I have a landline that I don't answer and my answer machine says, we do not answer this line, please leave a message and we will call you back ... unless you are telemarketers. They usually hang up before it finishes. I use this number on all applications etc. But I have started to get the car warranty calls on my mobile. They have pretty much stopped now and I think its because I put on an old persons voice and keep them on the phone as long as possible telling them about my children and grandchildren and finally tell them I have a 1998 Ford...they hang up immediately (much too old to qualify LOL) I made a personal best last time ... 10 minutes of their time and spoke to 2 different people!

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k25QGUhzODA&ab_channel=Scambaiter

From 9:50 - Indian scammer gets locked out of his pc (some bad language from the scammer)

Atlantic Dawn

On Prime Time now, sounds like one of the fools I strung along for 10 minutes last week.