New phone scam from India: Loan Consolidation

[GoldenTV]

I am sure you have heard of phone scams coming from India where they pose as IRS or security agents so they can personal and financial information from individuals. Now the scam is load and debt consolidation.

Going against my better judgment, I answered a number that seem to be local number. And a guy with Indian accent start babbling about how I can consolidate all my debts into one lump sum with a loan that his company provide. And then they start asking about my personal information such as email address and banks I do business with. So I played along and fed them bogus information.

The first red flag here was that he said his company can provide loans with zero interest. I mean which bank in the world will provide a loan with zero interest?!! They be out of business if they did. The second red flag was that there seem to be alot of noise and chattering in the background. So they are all in a cramp hidden basement chattering away with phones.

So be aware of the scam, especially if it seem to be coming from a local area code number.

[Penny Lane]

I have been getting 4-5 calls a day for the past year from so-called debt reducing people. I never answer unknown phone numbers but they do leave voice mails, I have blocked them and registered the numbers with Do Not Call Registry. But I am still getting calls. I think they are the same people just using different numbers. I have considered changing my phone number but I really don't want to.

[Caroline13]

Originally Posted by GoldenTV

I am sure you have heard of phone scams coming from India where they pose as IRS or security agents so they can personal and financial information from individuals. Now the scam is load and debt consolidation.

Going against my better judgment, I answered a number that seem to be local number. And a guy with Indian accent start babbling about how I can consolidate all my debts into one lump sum with a loan that his company provide. And then they start asking about my personal information such as email address and banks I do business with. So I played along and fed them bogus information.

The first red flag here was that he said his company can provide loans with zero interest. I mean which bank in the world will provide a loan with zero interest?!! They be out of business if they did. The second red flag was that there seem to be alot of noise and chattering in the background. So they are all in a cramp hidden basement chattering away with phones.

So be aware of the scam, especially if it seem to be coming from a local area code number.

This is what this falling apart world has come to..........

[stevea]

And long has the FTC been saying they're going to do something about this caller ID spoofing? And on it goes. Spam and scams of all kinds go right on with no end in sight.

[GoldenTV]

Originally Posted by Penny Lane

I have been getting 4-5 calls a day for the past year from so-called debt reducing people. I never answer unknown phone numbers but they do leave voice mails, I have blocked them and registered the numbers with Do Not Call Registry. But I am still getting calls. I think they are the same people just using different numbers. I have considered changing my phone number but I really don't want to.

I am in the same boat as you. Had the same number for past 15 years and don't want to change my number either as it will be a big headache to change it since it is tied to so many of my acounts. And as you said blocking the number doesn't do any good as they call back with different "local" number. May be having a phone with AI capability that can sort out incoming calls might be the answer.

Originally Posted by Caroline13

This is what this falling apart world has come to..........

This is really nothing new. Scammers been around since the "electronic" money and greedy people been around. They used to do with Money Gram and now it is with internet. Remember the Nigerian prince scam

Originally Posted by stevea

And long has the FTC been saying they're going to do something about this caller ID spoofing? And on it goes. Spam and scams of all kinds go right on with no end in sight.

One of the big problem here might be the App called Google Voice. You can open up a fake Gmail account, and Google will let you choose a phone number for that account with any area code in the US.

[Caroline13]

I'm finding more and more, the less sites I try to enter, the better off I am...more AI crap and just more fear and stress to load on the public.