OT: Spam Calls.....

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

OK. I am getting just inundated with spam calls from whatever. Constantly. Over and Over and Over again. I finally found a way to fight back. I called back the number...and actual people answered. I told them I am Guido's Pizza and I need to know where to deliver the pizza they ordered. They would say "this is a business" and I would say "businesses order pizza for lunch and you called me". The guy would get pissed and finally hang up. So I called again, and again, and again...19 total times. I finally would get an operator, and she said "we are a business" I would say "I know I am in the lobby with the pizza I need to know where to deliver", She would respond, "we didnt call you" I said "Yes you did I have the record of it on my phone".

Here's the best thing...they were a timeshare operation, we all know how much of a scam it is....and I just kept on calling and calling. I don't know if this got my number off of their call list, but it was extremely satisfying considering the number of spam calls I get. I am in sales, I have to answer. So...in fact, I think I am calling again. I think they ordered Chinese food this time!!!

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

OK. I am getting just inundated with spam calls from whatever. Constantly. Over and Over and Over again. I finally found a way to fight back. I called back the number...and actual people answered. I told them I am Guido's Pizza and I need to know where to deliver the pizza they ordered. They would say "this is a business" and I would say "businesses order pizza for lunch and you called me". The guy would get pissed and finally hang up. So I called again, and again, and again...19 total times. I finally would get an operator, and she said "we are a business" I would say "I know I am in the lobby with the pizza I need to know where to deliver", She would respond, "we didnt call you" I said "Yes you did I have the record of it on my phone".

Here's the best thing...they were a timeshare operation, we all know how much of a scam it is....and I just kept on calling and calling. I don't know if this got my number off of their call list, but it was extremely satisfying considering the number of spam calls I get. I am in sales, I have to answer. So...in fact, I think I am calling again. I think they ordered Chinese food this time!!!

So sick of these calls. Now apparently, someone is spoofing my number so its my number appearing on the caller ID and these people will call me back and say "hey, I had a missed call from you." Last week, this happened all day. I'd just answer and before they said anything I'd say, "I didn't call you, my number was spoofed." Also, who the heck calls back unidentified numbers?

 

[RaleighPittFan]

So sick of these calls. Now apparently, someone is spoofing my number so its my number appearing on the caller ID and these people will call me back and say "hey, I had a missed call from you." Last week, this happened all day. I'd just answer and before they said anything I'd say, "I didn't call you, my number was spoofed." Also, who the heck calls back unidentified numbers?

I’ve had my own number call me. Twice.

 

[Pitt1975]

Ignore, block, swipe left. Takes a second. If legit, they leave a message.

 

[andypappas]

OK. I am getting just inundated with spam calls from whatever. Constantly. Over and Over and Over again. I finally found a way to fight back. I called back the number...and actual people answered. I told them I am Guido's Pizza and I need to know where to deliver the pizza they ordered. They would say "this is a business" and I would say "businesses order pizza for lunch and you called me". The guy would get pissed and finally hang up. So I called again, and again, and again...19 total times. I finally would get an operator, and she said "we are a business" I would say "I know I am in the lobby with the pizza I need to know where to deliver", She would respond, "we didnt call you" I said "Yes you did I have the record of it on my phone".

Here's the best thing...they were a timeshare operation, we all know how much of a scam it is....and I just kept on calling and calling. I don't know if this got my number off of their call list, but it was extremely satisfying considering the number of spam calls I get. I am in sales, I have to answer. So...in fact, I think I am calling again. I think they ordered Chinese food this time!!!

You are just calling back a random person/business who has no idea their number was being spoofed.
There actually is a way you can get back at the spammers. If you have time and patience you can actually turn around and sue the spammers.

There is a guy named Doc Compton. Look him up online and take a look at what he does.

 

[razzaba]

You should watch the HBO documentary miniseries “telemarketers” about these call centers that swindled people for the Fraternal Order of Police, Firemen, cancer charities, and all sorts of other stuff. Pretty fascinating.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I don't know what is spam and what is legitimately outsourced, but when I use a job search website I get bombarded with calls from offshore people who I can barely understand. As if the recruiters who speak fluent English weren't relentless enough.

 

[Tucker99]

A few years ago, I was at work and received a call that I had a warrant for my arrest. At the time, I was working for the District Attorney's Office, so obviously I knew I did not have a warrant, and had the means to confirm if I did. So of course I played dumb, then bombarded them will calls until they blocked me

 

[pittbb80]

OK. I am getting just inundated with spam calls from whatever. Constantly. Over and Over and Over again. I finally found a way to fight back. I called back the number...and actual people answered. I told them I am Guido's Pizza and I need to know where to deliver the pizza they ordered. They would say "this is a business" and I would say "businesses order pizza for lunch and you called me". The guy would get pissed and finally hang up. So I called again, and again, and again...19 total times. I finally would get an operator, and she said "we are a business" I would say "I know I am in the lobby with the pizza I need to know where to deliver", She would respond, "we didnt call you" I said "Yes you did I have the record of it on my phone".

Here's the best thing...they were a timeshare operation, we all know how much of a scam it is....and I just kept on calling and calling. I don't know if this got my number off of their call list, but it was extremely satisfying considering the number of spam calls I get. I am in sales, I have to answer. So...in fact, I think I am calling again. I think they ordered Chinese food this time!!!

Funny. I don’t answer any calls I don’t recognize. I hit the canned response that I’m not able to answer the phone. If they don’t leave a message I block the call. Has cut down on the number I get

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

You should watch the HBO documentary miniseries “telemarketers” about these call centers that swindled people for the Fraternal Order of Police, Firemen, cancer charities, and all sorts of other stuff. Pretty fascinating.

I have the FOP and State Police call me all the time.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

Funny. I don’t answer any calls I don’t recognize. I hit the canned response that I’m not able to answer the phone. If they don’t leave a message I block the call. Has cut down on the number I get

I do too. But it is relentless. I mean relentless. And it is amazing, they seem to mimic calls from area code numbers that might be a customer or people I am dealing with. I mostly don't answer, as you said, if it is legit they leave a number. But I am tired of my radio going off in my car as the bluetooth shows calls coming through.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

You should watch the HBO documentary miniseries “telemarketers” about these call centers that swindled people for the Fraternal Order of Police, Firemen, cancer charities, and all sorts of other stuff. Pretty fascinating.

Those are real charities though. These spam calls are legit fraud. I get several calls for "senior benefits" every day and I'm not a senior citizen.

 

[cruzer]

I love the calls you get from India. Guy with a heavy accent gets on the call and announces "Hello, this is Bruce" I realize they never use their real names, but seriously Bruce??? At least say your name is Srinivas or Bhanu.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Those are real charities though. These spam calls are legit fraud. I get several calls for "senior benefits" every day and I'm not a senior citizen.

I used to get calls all the time about "senior benefits" where they tried to get me to tell them my medicare card number. Which is funny, because even all these years later I'm still not old enough to have a medicare card. I even said to the guy who called one time that you'd think that if they were trying to scam old people on medicare that they'd at least call people who were old enough to actually have medicare.

But fortunately I haven't gotten any of those calls in years.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

I used to get calls all the time about "senior benefits" where they tried to get me to tell them my medicare card number. Which is funny, because even all these years later I'm still not old enough to have a medicare card. I even said to the guy who called one time that you'd think that if they were trying to scam old people on medicare that they'd at least call people who were old enough to actually have medicare.

But fortunately I haven't gotten any of those calls in years.

I am getting those constantly. I obviously am not on medicare. I even tell them "take me off the list, I am 28 years old" and they say they will but they don't. I even say "why would you waste time calling me 3-4 times a day when I tell you this". They hang up. I get another call. Obviously these folks must have a call quota, so it is not in their interests or concerns that I am not going to be scammed. They are just interested in making quotas so they keep their jobs.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

I am getting those constantly. I obviously am not on medicare. I even tell them "take me off the list, I am 28 years old" and they say they will but they don't. I even say "why would you waste time calling me 3-4 times a day when I tell you this". They hang up. I get another call. Obviously these folks must have a call quota, so it is not in their interests or concerns that I am not going to be scammed. They are just interested in making quotas so they keep their jobs.

If you want to really piss them off and you have the time, keep them on the line as long as you can. I don't know if they are all like this, but some of them are clearly told to never hang up the phone, that as long as you are on the line they might be able to complete the scam, so don't ever hang up on someone.

Years ago I had a guy on the line and I just kept talking him around in circles. And he was getting more and more pissed off at me. At one point he told me I was wasting his time, and I said to him hey, I didn't call you, you called me. You can end this call whenever you want. But he wouldn't hang up the phone. By the end he was literally cursing me, which of course just made me make a comment about how I didn't know if I would want to buy something from someone who talked to me like that.

I probably had the guy on the phone for ten minutes before he finally cursed me one last time and hung up the phone.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

If you want to really piss them off and you have the time, keep them on the line as long as you can. I don't know if they are all like this, but some of them are clearly told to never hang up the phone, that as long as you are on the line they might be able to complete the scam, so don't ever hang up on someone.

Years ago I had a guy on the line and I just kept talking him around in circles. And he was getting more and more pissed off at me. At one point he told me I was wasting his time, and I said to him hey, I didn't call you, you called me. You can end this call whenever you want. But he wouldn't hang up the phone. By the end he was literally cursing me, which of course just made me make a comment about how I didn't know if I would want to buy something from someone who talked to me like that.

I probably had the guy on the phone for ten minutes before he finally cursed me one last time and hung up the phone.

I did just that when someone from "Microsoft" called me and told me they have spotted viruses on my computer and they can fix them for me. I kept on acting like they were following their instructions, playing along, but also playing like I was 80 years old and completely ignorant to a computer/keyboard it went on for 10 minutes when I finally started laughing at the guy and told him "do you think I am stupid" and he said "well you were stupid for taking this long with me" I said, "you moron that was intentional. Now go worship a cow!"

 

[OH Pete]

I have the FOP and State Police call me all the time.

Yeah. Roy calls me from there all the time. He doesn’t listen so well.

 

[OH Pete]

I did just that when someone from "Microsoft" called me and told me they have spotted viruses on my computer and they can fix them for me. I kept on acting like they were following their instructions, playing along, but also playing like I was 80 years old and completely ignorant to a computer/keyboard it went on for 10 minutes when I finally started laughing at the guy and told him "do you think I am stupid" and he said "well you were stupid for taking this long with me" I said, "you moron that was intentional. Now go worship a cow!"

Did he F bomb you? I kept one on the phone about 15 minutes once giving him fake numbers. Eventually I told him that I’m much smarter than he is. He asked why. I said because I’ve known for 15 minutes that you’re trying to scam me and you still haven’t figured out that I’m doing the same to you. He went on a tirade about me wasting his Fing time and that I should go F myself. I really enjoyed that.

 

[razzaba]

Those are real charities though. These spam calls are legit fraud. I get several calls for "senior benefits" every day and I'm not a senior citizen.

Watch the documentary. Basically, they are not legit at all. A lot are unions or social clubs, some are fronts with real-sounding names. But essentially these call centers signed contracts to call on behalf of the FOPs and others, and the agreement was that they’d keep 90% of the money raised. The other 10% went to the FOP or whatever, and then they didn’t use the proceeds for anything resembling what the call centers were saying it’d be used for (officers killed in the line of duty, families of children with cancer, etc).

The call centers hired convicted felons, murderers, drug addicts, and all sorts of criminals.

The sad part is the FOPs and other charity fronts were complicit in this. They weren’t being taken advantage of.

 

[razzaba]

Did he F bomb you? I kept one on the phone about 15 minutes once giving him fake numbers. Eventually I told him that I’m much smarter than he is. He asked why. I said because I’ve known for 15 minutes that you’re trying to scam me and you still haven’t figured out that I’m doing the same to you. He went on a tirade about me wasting his Fing time and that I should go F myself. I really enjoyed that.

You’d love the Reddit forum about screwing with telemarketers. People post their text message threads with these spam texters. Some are really funny.

 

[cease10]

Funny thing, I started getting spam robo calls from PITT after I donated a couple times. They got so annoying that I had to block them. Even after blocking them they still call repeatedly. Sometimes I check the log for my spam blocker app and would see like 5-10 calls from them in the span of a minute or two. And I know it's a Pitt number because it's a 412-624 prefix.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

I get robo calls to save me money on TV service.

When I have time, I press “1” to talk to someone (they all have the same accent).

Sometimes I play with them, but usually I just ask them, “Does your Mother know you are a thief?”

I almost always get responses that are hilarious.

Recently one young guy admitted to being a thief, but justified it because he “Made a lot of money”. He asked me what kind of car I drove, so I told him, and he laughed, saying he had a Porsche, a Farrari, and a Lamborghini. I just said, “That’s great, but both of my cars are paid for, and I’m happy with them.” He then said all of his cars are paid for. I laughed and then said, “I bet you don’t even own a bicycle.” He stumbled around for a couple of seconds, and then hung up on me.

 

[OH Pete]

Funny thing, I started getting spam robo calls from PITT after I donated a couple times. They got so annoying that I had to block them. Even after blocking them they still call repeatedly. Sometimes I check the log for my spam blocker app and would see like 5-10 calls from them in the span of a minute or two. And I know it's a Pitt number because it's a 412-624 prefix.

Charities are relentless. I stopped caring about the tax break and do all of my charitable giving other than my Pitt donation anonymously.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

Did he F bomb you? I kept one on the phone about 15 minutes once giving him fake numbers. Eventually I told him that I’m much smarter than he is. He asked why. I said because I’ve known for 15 minutes that you’re trying to scam me and you still haven’t figured out that I’m doing the same to you. He went on a tirade about me wasting his Fing time and that I should go F myself. I really enjoyed that.

Yes he did! LOL

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Charities are relentless. I stopped caring about the tax break and do all of my charitable giving other than my Pitt donation anonymously.

You dont get a tax break anymore thanks to the 2017 tax act

 

[RaleighPittFan]

I did just that when someone from "Microsoft" called me and told me they have spotted viruses on my computer and they can fix them for me. I kept on acting like they were following their instructions, playing along, but also playing like I was 80 years old and completely ignorant to a computer/keyboard it went on for 10 minutes when I finally started laughing at the guy and told him "do you think I am stupid" and he said "well you were stupid for taking this long with me" I said, "you moron that was intentional. Now go worship a cow!"

I told a “Microsoft” employee who called me that I only used Apple products, and he told me to hold on, that he would transfer me to an “Apple” employee who sat next to him.

 

[ChiefJusticeMarshall]

I told a “Microsoft” employee who called me that I only used Apple products, and he told me to hold on, that he would transfer me to an “Apple” employee who sat next to him.

You want to know what is really sad, is that these things obviously works. I have to keep my mom from clicking on these links and when these people call, don't engage them, just hang up, she doesn't want to be rude.

 

[Pitt1975]

Why do you guys answer these call?
If it’s not a number I recognize. Block. Swipe left. Move on. Takes seconds.
It’s not that hard.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Funny thing, I started getting spam robo calls from PITT after I donated a couple times. They got so annoying that I had to block them. Even after blocking them they still call repeatedly. Sometimes I check the log for my spam blocker app and would see like 5-10 calls from them in the span of a minute or two. And I know it's a Pitt number because it's a 412-624 prefix.

That is strange, I get very few calls from Pitt. There is usually a call preceding the annual day of giving, usually from a student. Maybe a call or two a year from athletics to remind me about renewing season tickets. They leave a message and never call back.

 

[CrazyPaco]

You dont get a tax break anymore thanks to the 2017 tax act

Only payments for specific football and men's basketball seating are not tax deductible (so called scholarship seating membership...now starting to be referred to as fees to avoid confusion).

Gifts to sport-specific championship funds, student athlete success funds, facility drives, etc., are all tax deductible. And of course, any donation to the university outside of athletics is tax deductible.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Only payments for specific football and men's basketball seating are not tax deductible (so called scholarship seating membership...now starting to be referred to as fees to avoid confusion).

Gifts to sport-specific championship funds, student athlete success funds, facility drives, etc., are all tax deductible. And of course, any donation to the university outside of athletics is tax deductible.

He doesn't understand that the reason why the very large majority of people don't get an explicit tax break for them any more is that it is very much in their best interests to take the standard deduction rather than to itemize their deductions.

If he really wanted to, he could, in fact, not take the standard deduction, and then all his donations would be tax deductible. Of course he'd also end up paying the IRS more money, but he could theoretically do that if not getting a specific deduction for his charitable contributions bothers him so much.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

Why do you guys answer these call?
If it’s not a number I recognize. Block. Swipe left. Move on. Takes seconds.
It’s not that hard.

I’m self employed, and would like to remain employed.

I hate to always have to leave a message when I’m trying to spend money, and I don’t want to risk losing customers. It’s a way that I differentiate myself.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Only payments for specific football and men's basketball seating are not tax deductible (so called scholarship seating membership...now starting to be referred to as fees to avoid confusion).

Gifts to sport-specific championship funds, student athlete success funds, facility drives, etc., are all tax deductible. And of course, any donation to the university outside of athletics is tax deductible.

Right but only 1 percent of people can deduct ANY charitable contribution now because the 2017 tax changes limited you to only being able to write off $10,000 of your state income tax, local income tax, and property taxes. That plus the increase in the standard deduction increase means that just about nobody can deduct charitable contributions anymore.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

He doesn't understand that the reason why the very large majority of people don't get an explicit tax break for them any more is that it is very much in their best interests to take the standard deduction rather than to itemize their deductions.

If he really wanted to, he could, in fact, not take the standard deduction, and then all his donations would be tax deductible. Of course he'd also end up paying the IRS more money, but he could theoretically do that if not getting a specific deduction for his charitable contributions bothers him so much.

When they made it so that nobody is able to itemize anymore, they should have moved charitable deductions over to the main form. You should not pay federal income tax on money you send to a charity.

 

[Parkview57]

I’m self employed,

God bless you. I mean it. How you self employed or small business people make it with all this type of stuff and/and or government interference/taxes ex. is beyond me. Just a lot of hard work.

 

[razzaba]

Right but only 1 percent of people can deduct ANY charitable contribution now because the 2017 tax changes limited you to only being able to write off $10,000 of your state income tax, local income tax, and property taxes. That plus the increase in the standard deduction increase means that just about nobody can deduct charitable contributions anymore.

Pretty much anyone that has rental property, passive income, a K1, etc would itemize and be able to deduct.

 

[razzaba]

When they made it so that nobody is able to itemize anymore, they should have moved charitable deductions over to the main form. You should not pay federal income tax on money you send to a charity.

Fair enough. I do itemize as it is, but wouldn’t be opposed to this. There’s also a way to bundle charitable contributions from multiple years, though, which is one way to get around this today if you don’t normally itemize. And also if you donate appreciable assets (like stock or property etc) you can donate without paying the normal capital gains (and you may also be over the itemized threshold at that point too)

 

[CrazyPaco]

Right but only 1 percent of people can deduct ANY charitable contribution now because the 2017 tax changes limited you to only being able to write off $10,000 of your state income tax, local income tax, and property taxes. That plus the increase in the standard deduction increase means that just about nobody can deduct charitable contributions anymore.

BS

Some people bundle two fiscal years of charitable donations (Pitt's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30) into one calendar year and then itemize their federal taxes every other year.

E.g. Pitt's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30th: 2023 fiscal year donations in January 2024; 2024 fiscal year donations in December 2024. Itemize on 2024 tax return. Standard deduction in 2025. Repeat in 2026 and itemize.

Please stop posting incorrect and misleading information. Forgot who I'm responding to. Ok, back on ignore.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

When they made it so that nobody is able to itemize anymore, they should have moved charitable deductions over to the main form. You should not pay federal income tax on money you send to a charity.

It's not that you can't itemize any more, it's that they made it so that you (and almost everyone else) save money by not itemizing. You could absolutely not take the standard deduction on your taxes next year, and that would give you the ability to write off your charitable contributions.

And pay more taxes.

Which would be kind of stupid, but apparently would make you feel better.

As to not paying taxes on money you send to a charity, an even better idea would be to get the federal government entirely out of that sort of thing in the first place. Whether someone donates to a charity or not is none of the federal government's business. And the tax code should reflect that.

And besides, the whole point of charity is that you aren't getting anything in return for your contribution (other than good feelings). If you take a tax deduction then it isn't charity any more. It's paying money in exchange for something else. No different than any other business transaction.