Area Code 666

[Uncle Duke]

Got a call this morning from a phone in the "666" area code.  No one on the other end, just a strange noise that reminded me of the "woodpecker" I use to hear years ago on shortwave.  I knew there was no 666 area code in the US, so I looked up 666 calls on line, apparently they come from Thailand.  Anyone have any insight to these calls?

[Ciardelo]

Interesting. I don't have any insight to it but I think you should try to call Art about it.

[Richard Groyper]

Got a call this morning from a phone in the "666" area code.  No one on the other end, just a strange noise that reminded me of the "woodpecker" I use to hear years ago on shortwave.  I knew there was no 666 area code in the US, so I looked up 666 calls on line, apparently they come from Thailand.  Anyone have any insight to these calls?

Probably a Thai prince wanting to ask you about an "investment" opportunity.

[paladin1991]

Got a call this morning from a phone in the "666" area code.  No one on the other end, just a strange noise that reminded me of the "woodpecker" I use to hear years ago on shortwave.  I knew there was no 666 area code in the US, so I looked up 666 calls on line, apparently they come from Thailand.  Anyone have any insight to these calls?

Ever been to T-land?  Maybe you 'left' something and now something is all growed up and looking for papa?

[starrmtn001]

Interesting. I don't have any insight to it but I think you should try to call Art about it.

+1 

[Uncle Duke]

Ever been to T-land?  Maybe you 'left' something and now something is all growed up and looking for papa?

No, never had the opportunity.  No chance a deposit is coming back to haunt me, at least from Thailand. 

[albrecht]

From what I can tell a majority of the calls from spoofed caller-ids are attempts to verify there is a valid phone number and person. Then they are sold or forwarded to the other outfits who want to 'fix your computer,' 'save your credit rating,' 'help with your credit card after you verify the number,' and other such scams. I suspect also that sometimes the scammers simply hangup or use their pidgin English quickly and hangup (or get hungup on) because they are paid by number of calls made, not success in the scam?

[GravitySucks]

Got a call this morning from a phone in the "666" area code.  No one on the other end, just a strange noise that reminded me of the "woodpecker" I use to hear years ago on shortwave.  I knew there was no 666 area code in the US, so I looked up 666 calls on line, apparently they come from Thailand.  Anyone have any insight to these calls?

Maybe it was that caller from Thailand trying to explain that whole ejaculate into your bladder thingy.

[Caruthers612]

From what I can tell a majority of the calls from spoofed caller-ids are attempts to verify there is a valid phone number and person. Then they are sold or forwarded to the other outfits who want to 'fix your computer,' 'save your credit rating,' 'help with your credit card after you verify the number,' and other such scams. I suspect also that sometimes the scammers simply hangup or use their pidgin English quickly and hangup (or get hungup on) because they are paid by number of calls made, not success in the scam?

            Albrecht, you have taught me something. This would be similar, then, to spam e-mail which, if you're dumb enough to click on the enclosed links, confirms the existence of your e-mail address or of a person at that address, which is then sold to still other spammers, i.e., the King of Nigeria wants you to sleep with his ten teenage daughters and will reward you with two billion dollars and a sheep farm.

[Caruthers612]

Maybe it was that caller from Thailand trying to explain that whole ejaculate into your bladder thingy.

        <gulp> You just had to say that, Gravity, didn't you.

[Uncle Duke]

From what I can tell a majority of the calls from spoofed caller-ids are attempts to verify there is a valid phone number and person. Then they are sold or forwarded to the other outfits who want to 'fix your computer,' 'save your credit rating,' 'help with your credit card after you verify the number,' and other such scams. I suspect also that sometimes the scammers simply hangup or use their pidgin English quickly and hangup (or get hungup on) because they are paid by number of calls made, not success in the scam?

Makes sense to me.  In that case, then voice mail or an answering machine serves the same purpose, confirms a valid  phone number?

[Brewhound]

If they call back, order me up some Pad Thai.  It is awesome stuff.

[albrecht]

Makes sense to me.  In that case, then voice mail or an answering machine serves the same purpose, confirms a valid  phone number?

Maybe? I'm not sure. I try to block numbers and certainly won't answer any number unless I know the person. On my landline (yes I still have one) I can block- but only for a certain numbers. And the spoofing the scammers can do has, basically, defeated caller-id, individual number block, or anonymous block. With the cellphone the blocker seems to be easier and I get less scam/spam calls (I guess the ol' White Pages is still being used by some people.)

[cweb]

Reminds me of something that happened to one of my employees while I was in the room.

He got a call from a robot of some sort trying to sell him a cruise, asking all these pre-programmed things.

So he decided to have fun with it and lead it on. Eventually, the robot forwarded him to an overseas call center.

The girl at the call center asks him what cruise he was "calling about." He says "no, you called me." She insists that she didn't.

So she asks for permission to terminate the call, which he gives. Except it dumps him back to the dialer, which dials him back to the same call center and the same girl!

My question- do people actually take them up on this and buy the cruise? I suppose some people are that stupid.

[Original Larry]

From what I can tell a majority of the calls from spoofed caller-ids are attempts to verify there is a valid phone number and person. Then they are sold or forwarded to the other outfits who want to 'fix your computer,' 'save your credit rating,' 'help with your credit card after you verify the number,' and other such scams. I suspect also that sometimes the scammers simply hangup or use their pidgin English quickly and hangup (or get hungup on) because they are paid by number of calls made, not success in the scam?

I would agree with that, I have gotten phone calls from 000-000-0000, and from MYSELF using my own phone number. Thank God for caller ID. I blame APPLE for this intrusion. A phone spoof to a friend of mine almost got someone killed.
not funny.