# Scam calls from “legal department “



## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Usually I was getting scam calls from “legal department “ once per month or two. But last 2 days those scammers are driving me nuts! They called 3 times yesterday and 3 times today already! They also leave same message if I just disconnect. 
Is it possible to prevent those calls? Do you have same problem?


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

gibor365 said:


> Usually I was getting scam calls from “legal department “ once per month or two. But last 2 days those scammers are driving me nuts! They called 3 times yesterday and 3 times today already! They also leave same message if I just disconnect.
> Is it possible to prevent those calls? Do you have same problem?


Yes, happens, nothing you can do.
They call from fake numbers.

Also air duct cleaning, I'm going to start booking appointments.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

gibor365 said:


> Usually I was getting scam calls from “legal department “ once per month or two. But last 2 days those scammers are driving me nuts! They called 3 times yesterday and 3 times today already! They also leave same message if I just disconnect.


 ... what "legal department"? The one from the cop stations in Russia? IRA, CRA, cityhall or the spa? Almost all businesses have a legal department.



> Is it possible to prevent those calls? Do you have same problem?


 ... no and no. It's only a problem if you answer the call(s). Since you're so good at ignoring me, I'm surprised you can't ignore these calls.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

MrMatt said:


> Yes, happens, nothing you can do.
> They call from fake numbers.
> 
> Also air duct cleaning, I'm going to start booking appointments.


Air duct cleaning scam also are calling, but not such frequently, also this is not a real scam.,, “legal department “ is 100% fraud... they always calling from different numbers , all start 905-824-xxxx.
Was thinking to talk to them in Russian or Hebrew, do they realize that I don’t speak English and remove my number from their scamming list 🤣


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We are getting them. At least my spouse had one or two. She is wondering if it has anything to do with all those million dollar plus inheritances from Nigeria that she ignored.

I do not answer call from numbers that I am not familiar with. I ignore them.


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## dotnet_nerd (Jul 1, 2009)

Lenny to the rescue.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

ian said:


> We are getting them. At least my spouse had one or two. She is wondering if it has anything to do with all those million dollar plus inheritances from Nigeria that she ignored.
> 
> I do not answer call from numbers that I am not familiar with. I ignore them.


I answered couple of times yesterday as I submitted couple of dozens quotes to interlocking stone contractors....They start with recorded message and tell you press 1 etc.
While was typing this post, those bustards called one again 🤔


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Yea, I have been getting a pile of them the last few days as well.

Problem is that doctors, clinics, police, and other businesses use private numbers, so you don't know if it is important or not.


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

I got a call yesterday from the "Canada Border Services Agency". Call display showed call coming from "+1 (708) 967-9889 Chicago, IL, United States". It was a recorded message in a woman's voice, sounding oh, so serious, advising that the CBSA had intercepted a package addressed "in your name" (no mention of just what is my name, since I am sure they did not have it) and the package contained illegal substances, and suggesting I was in deep trouble, and "to speak with a CBSA agent press 1 now". I was tempted to have some fun, but I have heard that some of these calls, if you press 1, or whatever, you end up being charged some ridiculous sum on your phone bill for a long distance charge or something like that. So, I just hung up. I'll wait to be arrested, and say my piece then.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

sags said:


> Yea, I have been getting a pile of them the last few days as well.
> 
> Problem is that doctors, clinics, police, and other businesses use private numbers, so you don't know if it is important or not.


Exactly! All doctors call or from private numbers or No Caller ID, so usually you have to answer


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Mukhang pera said:


> I got a call yesterday from the "Canada Border Services Agency". Call display showed call coming from "+1 (708) 967-9889 Chicago, IL, United States". It was a recorded message in a woman's voice, sounding oh, so serious, advising that the CBSA had intercepted a package addressed "in your name" (no mention of just what is my name, since II am sure they did not have it) and the package contained illegal substances, and suggesting I was in deep trouble, and "to speak with a CBSA agent press 1 now". I was tempted to have some fun, but I have heard that some of these calls, if you press 1, or whatever, you end up being charged some ridiculous sum on your phone bill for a long distance charge or something like that. So, I just hung up. I'll wait to be arrested, and say my piece then.


I got the same call weeks ago, they must be working through the alphabet. And Visa callled about a fraudulant charge and when I asked what bank, they guessed wrong with BMO.


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## saskstu (Oct 21, 2013)

I'm rerired and sometimes enjoy talking to these people. When I answer, if it's a computer I hang up. A real person gets. "Sheriff's department, Fraud division how can I help?" 

Seems they take me off their lists.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

gibor365 said:


> Exactly! All doctors call or from private numbers or No Caller ID, so usually you have to answer


 ... so just how many times in the week do you expect your docs to be calling? And why would the cops be calling you? Did you run someone over and took off? As for clinics, booking app'ts can be done over email. And so who are you expecting with those many "mysterious" calls with private #s that you MUST pick up the phone on? 

As for people who enjoys being chatty Cathy in the first place, then that's another matter.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

sags said:


> Yea, I have been getting a pile of them the last few days as well.
> 
> Problem is that doctors, clinics, police, and other businesses use private numbers, so you don't know if it is important or not.


ours have call display...the name of the caller lights up. If it does not, and I do not recognize the number OR if it is US or international number I simply pass. Cannot be bothered with the BS. Nor do I need duct cleaning or want to win a free vacation to a place of my dreams.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

saskstu said:


> I'm rerired and sometimes enjoy talking to these people. When I answer, if it's a computer I hang up. A real person gets. "Sheriff's department, Fraud division how can I help?"
> 
> Seems they take me off their lists.


Several years ago, I also was talking with such “legal department” 😁. I said that my name is Azzadin Al- Qasam and continue talking Hebrew with them. They hung up and for almost a year I didn’t hear from them 😁 Maybe i should do the same again. Today they called 5-6 times already


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

If we have an unknown number, we pick up and say 'answering'. 
A lot of the phone AI's seem to not kick in like they do when you say 'Hello'. 
It also throws off a lot of non English as a first language speakers, which it seems a lot of the call agents seem to be. 

I love the CRA calls- I say I have gotten lots of communications from them in the past and it is always in writing. That shuts them up. Truth is I did have a bit of a mess with CRA, on over-contribution to rrsp, and the communications was always in writing.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

but my Amazon Prime account getting charge $199 a month
do you want continue getting charge?


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

jargey3000 said:


> but my Amazon Prime account getting charge $199 a month
> do you want continue getting charge?


This scam is on the brink of fooling my aunt. I keep telling her that it's a fraud... don't talk to them, just hang up.

Even though I keep describing this, she still seems stressed out that she owes some money to Amazon and is clearly answering the phone calls.

These scam artists are the scum of the earth. They know the elderly people are vulnerable and often open to suggestion, and they prey on them.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

j4b: actually, sometimes I DO talk to them, I pretend I'm old & decrepit, senile..( well its not that much of a stretch) I just carry on, doddering along, until they finally get p**sed-off & call me names & hang up...lol
I look at it this way: by doing so, maybe I'm cutting in to their time - stopping them from maybe scamming people like your aunt.

something in me pities them though. we don't know THEIR situations. 
how low, or poor, or desperate do you have to be....to do this, to earn a few bucks?


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## pwm (Jan 19, 2012)

I've had some fun in the past with the "Our computer tech department as detected a virus on your PC" type of call. String them along for a while just for laughs. I can't be bothered anymore but what I do like to do is to say "I'm not at my computer now, can you wait? Then put the phone down and walk away from it. That way, it wastes as much of their time as possible before they give up and drop the call.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

james4beach said:


> This scam is on the brink of fooling my aunt. I keep telling her that it's a fraud... don't talk to them, just hang up.
> 
> Even though I keep describing this, she still seems stressed out that she owes some money to Amazon and is clearly answering the phone calls.
> 
> These scam artists are the scum of the earth. They know the elderly people are vulnerable and often open to suggestion, and they prey on them.


Several months ago , my mom was calling me hysterically crying and telling "That's it. I'm being arrested". She got same threatening call from so-called "legal department" ... It was very diffiluclt to calm her down and explain that this is scam. She got some similar calls later and also was very worried, but not to the same degree as first time. , My mom problem that she more or less understands English..... my MIL knows in English 10 words or so , so no problems for her  .... she tells "no english" and hungs up lol.

I've read that those scam calls are coming from India.... I don't get why Canadian law enforments won't collaborate with Indian police to stop those scammers


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

gibor365 said:


> I've read that those scam calls are coming from India.... I don't get why Canadian law enforcments won't collaborate with Indian police to stop those scammers


I don't understand why providers like Bell (who completely control their system) can't determine by monitoring the thousands of SPAM traffic incursions from specific sources, and shut them down. My assumption is that they're being paid handsomely to not do just that.

ltr


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

like_to_retire said:


> I don't understand why providers like Bell (who completely control their system) can't determine by monitoring the thousands of SPAM traffic incursions from specific sources, and shut them down. My assumption is that they're being paid handsomely to not do just that.
> 
> ltr


Or they just don't want to spend money to deal with it


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

The RCMP did shut down an Indian phone operation but they were operational the next week from a different location with different numbers.


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

pwm said:


> I've had some fun in the past with the "Our computer tech department as detected a virus on your PC" type of call. String them along for a while just for laughs. I can't be bothered anymore but what I do like to do is to say "I'm not at my computer now, can you wait? Then put the phone down and walk away from it. That way, it wastes as much of their time as possible before they give up and drop the call.


did that just yesterday morning, lol


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

I am still getting the calls, it's on my business phone, so I pretty much have to answer them if the number looks local (which the new systems seem to fake). Most of them are computers now, so I just hang up. However, occasionally I still get a human. When I do and if I have time and my head set is charged (so I can still do my work), I play a little game to see how long I can keep them on the line for and waste their time. Most figure it out in 10 15 minutes, but my record is 78 minutes. I also tell them if they keep calling me, I will continue to waste their time. 

If we are busy, or on my kids phones, they like to put their phone in a metal pot and bag it. My youngest is just learning the French horn, and finds that the phone fits nicely in the bell. There seems to be a reduction of the their calls too.

I had one where I gave expired/made up card numbers, and told them I was dyslexic. That was kind of fun because the person would punch in the card number and then I would tell them they are wrong. I think they thinking they there going crazy. It helps our creativity. However, we did have one back fire where my daughter answered a phone that kept calling from the same number. She told them to stop calling and made up some story. The person started crying on the phone and demanded to speak with her boyfriend, and asked if my daughter was the other women. The person had a pretty good story that she was pregnant and suspected cheating. I looked up the number and it seems like it was a legit person. So my daughter felt a little bad. So back to banging pots for my kids.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

iPhone doesn't even ring for scam calls anymore

I just get a silent notification that I received a potential scam call

Does this not work in Canada yet?


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

m3s said:


> Does this not work in Canada yet?


Yeah, my Google Pixel does that, but it goes one better and talks to them and records both sides of the conversation using voice-to-text.

ltr


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Those “legal department “ calls are getting crazy ... last 3-4 days I was getting 5-6 calls daily! They tell you to press 1 to discuss your legal issues. I pressed. 1 today and was ask my name. I replied that if you call me , you tell me my name. The guy disconnected right away. Hopefully I got removed from the scamming list


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Nobody I know under the age of 50 answers the phone unless it's known/expected

Phone goes on do not disturb at night automatically. Important numbers like work and close contacts are set to favourite and can ring my phone

Anyone else can email or text. It's 2021. Stop wasting your time


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

m3s said:


> Nobody I know under the age of 50 answers the phone unless it's known/expected
> 
> Phone goes on do not disturb at night automatically. Important numbers like work and close contacts are set to favourite and can ring my phone
> 
> Anyone else can email or text. It's 2021. Stop wasting your time


As I said before, I'm currently looking for quotes for my home renovation and contacted dozens of contractors.... so I expecting some of them to call back.
Secondly, if I answer or don;t answer my iphone, those calls are disturbing when you get them every hour or two. 
I have no idea how to setup "get a silent notification that I received a potential scam call "
P.S. I'm older than 50 lol


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

There's an iOS update that filters them as spam. Not sure if it has to do with the cellular provider

It seems to work pretty good. I just see potential spam in recent calls even without do not disturb


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

m3s said:


> There's an iOS update that filters them as spam. Not sure if it has to do with the cellular provider
> 
> It seems to work pretty good. I just see potential spam in recent calls even without do not disturb


idk, yes, in the past, I;ve seen couple of calls that were filtered.... but last 3 days it's going crazy....all calls are coming through and all spam .... always from different local nunmbers and frequently it's different kind of scam.....sometimes some legal department, sometimes some benefits or bank activity....


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

The scammers and robocalls are wreaking havoc with consumers and affecting trust in government agencies.

They are spoofing local numbers to get around spam blockers. They even go so far as spoofing ID for government agencies in the phone number.

The CRTC ordered the telcos to crack down in 2019 but they got a 2 year extension. The system was supposed to be in place by June 2021 but it is delayed.

The CRTC needs to start leveling fines for every day the telcos don't implement the system. That will get their immediate attention.





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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Under Do Not Disturb>Allow Calls From Contacts


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

kcowan said:


> Under Do Not Disturb>Allow Calls From Contacts


Yup

Also under Phone>Call Blocking & Identification>Silence Junk Callers

I see now the spam callers are based on your cellular provider so YMMV

You can also just silence all unknown callers


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

m3s said:


> I see now the spam callers are based on your cellular provider so YMMV


They're not, of course, but they routinely spoof the caller-ID number to be similar to the one they are calling, in hopes of making it through the unknown caller filter. There's an effort to prevent arbitrary CID spoofing in the telecoms network. -- the CRTC and FCC have discussion documents and have mandated the carriers to get moving on it -- but it seems pretty slow going.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

gardner said:


> They're not, of course, but they routinely spoof the caller-ID number to be similar to the one they are calling, in hopes of making it through the unknown caller filter. There's an effort to prevent arbitrary CID spoofing in the telecoms network. -- the CRTC and FCC have discussion documents and have mandated the carriers to get moving on it -- but it seems pretty slow going.


Yes..

Up until recently I would get random calls frequently with an Alaskan area code and even a caller ID. I have an Alaskan phone number but I know these are scams because anyone I know in Alaska would text me because I'm on the east coast now

Note that "calls with a checkmark have been verified by the carrier" below and also under iOS settings Silence Junk Callers says "Call identified by Xfinity Mobile as potential spam or fraud will be silenced, automatically sent to voicemail, and displayed in the Recent list"

Therefore it is up to your carrier to filter and verify callers. I imagine the Canadian carriers will also get around to it soon..


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