Telemarketers aren’t simply the annoying dinner-interrupters they used to be.  Things have changed. There are fraudsters out there on the other end of these calls who can go so far as to manipulate recordings of your voice, then use those recordings to take over your accounts. They use programs that “spoof” phone numbers – making your caller ID show fake numbers that appear to be cell phones, local calls, 800 numbers; they  even spoof your own phone number – all to get you to answer the phone and talk to them.

The FTC advises you to hang up on these calls, don’t speak to them.  But, this advice is a couple of years old.  Did you know those phantom calls, the one’s you answer and no one is on the other end, are the first step for many of these fraudsters? According  All Tech Considered author AArti Shahni, just answering those calls can put you on a list of live bait for scammers:

Here’s an experience some of us have had. The phone rings. You pick it up and say “Hello. Hello. Helloooo.” But nobody answers. It turns out there could be someone on the other end of the line: an automated computer system that’s calling your number — and tens of thousands of others — to build a list of humans to target for theft.

Collecting numbers that reach live people is the first step.  After your number is established as a working number, next come the calls that can really create problems.

Those calls you answer that play a recording are coming from scammers who are hoping you will not only answer the phone, but that you will try to speak to someone, even if it’s just to get your name removed from their call list.

The call I’m familiar with begins with “This is Rachel from card services calling with important information about your credit card.”  In an article titled, “What’s the deal with ‘Rachel from Card Services?’ Your top 3 questions answered” Bikram Bandy, Do Not Call Program Coordinator for the FTC writes:

Rachel and her cohorts — Anne, Tiffany, Michael, Heather and others — from ‘Card Services’ have been annoying people for years with their illegal robocalls. And the FTC is working hard to stop them — both bringing cases and hosting competitions to develop robocall-blocking technology.

The article tells you where to report these calls, but the best piece of information is simply:

Hang up. Don’t press any buttons on your phone. Don’t press 1 to speak to someone — or to be taken off the call list. You’ll just get more annoying calls. And never give any of your financial information, like your credit card or bank account numbers.

As Bandy explains, “It’s a scam. If you press ‘1,’ you’re connected to a scammer who will ask for your credit card number and other personal information.”

But even worse, your voice might be used to gain access to your accounts!

If you speak to a recording or even a human being, fraudsters may be using recordings of your voice.  Like something out of a futuristic scene in a scifi movie, your voice can be manipulated and used to gain access to your credit card or bank accounts,  according to Shahni,  “Internet-based phone services divide your voice into little packets, wrap them up and ship them across the network.”

Advice from here? If you don’t recognize the number, don’t answer the phone. If the call is legitimate, they will leave a message.

And the advice that this site will be persistent about – REPORT IT!  The only way regulatory agencies can truly know how many of us are getting these calls is if we report them. The more reports, the more patterns emerge and proof of these scams is available to support changes in laws and policies.  In this case file a report with the FTC here: complaints.donotcall.gov

Part II – what can you do to stop robo calls?

Telemarketers are no longer those people who interrupt your dinner to sell you a new phone service, mortgage loan or insurance …. the goals are much more sinister now.