Useless Conversation

[Merusk]

Hm.. evidently the NCSoft hack of a few years back netted my e-mail address.  Got a notification yesterday from Arena Net (GW2) that someone was trying to change my password on the account.  Amusing since I was hacked & locked out 2 years ago and I haven't bothered trying to restore it.

[ghost]

Automated marketing phone calls are getting out of control.  

Also-  on vacation this week and decided to have a beer at 11:00.  Now it's 12:48 and I'm plowed.     I should really get out more.

[Hammond]

My god I have gotten 4 calls within the last 4 hours for people saying I applied for a car loan.  It apparently is some type of weird solicitor/scam judging from looking up the phone numbers.  The callers can barely speak English and when I ask them what company they were working for they hang up...

[Reg]

Heh, I've been getting calls from people speaking broken English who are from "The Computer Company." Apparently my PC has viruses and they want to tell me how to fix it. 

[Khaldun]

Yes, we've been getting the "Computer Company" calls too in the last week. Always someone with a South Asian accent.

Do Not Call List was a great thing while it lasted. It's pretty clearly failed as a system now, though--we're getting 2-4 robo solicitations a day now.

[WayAbvPar]

I love the computer ones. I always act very concerned and see how much bullshit I can get them to spew and then hammer them.

[Paelos]

What are they after exactly?

[Hammond]

Yea so the next one I get is going I am REALLY going to screw with.  They actually do not even have my name.  It boggles my mind that whatever companies are behind this can actually make money at this. I guess it only takes scamming a few people to pay wages but shesh....

[ghost]

Most of the ones I get seem to be automated calls, meaning there's some robotic voice that says, "if you want to take advantage of this sleazy offer press 1, if you'd like me to continue to annoy you press 2, if you'd like me to call back tomorrow press 3" and so on. 

[MuffinMan]

Get rid of the landline, old man.

[ghost]

If you show up on my lawn I'm spraying you with the hose.....

[Reg]

I actually got a spam text message containing a web link on my cell phone the other night.  I dread the idea of this becoming common.

[ghost]

It's going to.  I get spam texts all the time.

[MuffinMan]

I was going to post about how great Google Voice is at blocking spam for me but I just got "You are the #16723 winner of the BestBuy Prize for alot!" I've always wanted to win alot.

[Samwise]

[Minvaren]

I've been getting spam texts on and off for almost 3 years.  One place about 2 years ago I had to track down via the internet for an hour or two, and then put them on speed-dial for an hour to reach a person who could stop them.  They were texting me every 2-3 hours, 24/7...

[Trippy]

On my first phone that could receive text messages (Motorola Startac) I started getting text spams almost immediately. So I called Sprint and asked them what I could do about that since text messages in the US are a fucking racket as I was getting charged for each of those spam messages. They said, of course, there was nothing I could do to block those messages so I turned off the SMS service

On my current phone number I get these fucking Bahamas cruise robocalls on a regular basis and of course at the beginning they play this fucking loud ship horn sound that will blow your ear drums out if you have the phone up to your ear

[Hammond]

I get those cruise callls every so often and I know them well enough that I pull the phone away before that stupid horn part.  I also get the txt messages, emails etc. At least judging from the amount of people that I know that get this crap I am not alone.

I really wonder what the idea is behind these texts / phone calls. Seriously I am NEVER going to buy anything from anyone that cold calls me.  All they are doing is wasting resources (probably not many in the grand scheme of things).  Ugg.  I am not a violent man but if I could track down the people behind this stuff I would probably kneecap them.

[Minvaren]

There's 0.5 to 1% that bite, and that's all they need to keep wardialing everyone out there (with spoofed caller ID to boot).

[Selby]

Meh, unless I recognize the number or have an ad up for something, I don't answer the phone.  Text messages from people I don't know that don't ask real questions get deleted right away.  Luckily free messaging took care of being charged.  I may get 1 a month, not sure why I get so few compared to some people.  Probably because I have no friends ;-)

[ghost]

I think the calls that irritate me the most are the fraternal order of the police calls.  Fuck that.  

[Salamok]

This is where Mr Number comes in handy, has an internet blacklist database and a local blacklist.  When you block a number your phone doesn't ring and you don't even have a missed call in your call log.

[Signe]

Nobody ever calls me.

[Ironwood]

Well, when you call me, you can call me Al.

And I'll probably tell you there's no-one here by that name and hang up.

[Yegolev]

I think the calls that irritate me the most are the fraternal order of the police calls.  Fuck that.  

[Murgos]

I used to get a lot of, "Your warranty on your car is expiring, please hold (or press 1?  I forget) to speak with a representative about extending your warranty."

So, one time I waited and talked to the person who picked up and asked them, "Which cars warranty is expiring?"  yeah, no clue, it was just a blind call to trick someone into buying an extended warranty over the phone that I am sure would never, ever pay out for anything.

I've also gotten texts saying my billing account was hacked and to call the service number in the text or reply with old password and new password to change the passwords.  Yeah, right.

[Sky]

Mine is "This is Cheryl, from Credit Card Services. We're calling you in regards to your current credit card account. There's no problem with your current account..."

My fiancee always knows when it's roboCheryl, because I talk to her. "Oh, Hi Cheryl! How's my credit account? No problem? Great thanks!" click

[schild]

I still get calls from crack-addled shitbags in Prince George's County Maryland trying to reach their old drug dealer Mike Max, as I adopted his phone number apparently when I switched to Sprint in 2001.

Some of these are repeat callers over the past 12 years. Some of them I play along with and give them random places in Washington DC to meet me. Sometimes I give them a cash deaddrop location, shame I can never check up on it.

[Lantyssa]

You should set up a PO Box at a mailbox place, and have them forward you packages.

[ghost]

That sounds a little risky, really. 

[Yegolev]

Continue using trash bins behind convenience stores.  That's how Warren Buffet avoids the IRS.

[Trippy]

I used to get a lot of, "Your warranty on your car is expiring, please hold (or press 1?  I forget) to speak with a representative about extending your warranty."

Yeah I used to get those too until the government cracked down on that type of scam.

[Minvaren]

Entire jury pool tossed today.

All I know is that it was a criminal case, and the only two questions asked of the pool was "is anyone a lawyer/know a lawyer" and "is anyone in the police/fire department or know someone who is."  Half the pool of 75 raised their hands to those two questions.  The judge refused to mention any details of the case, except that "it's in the news."

I pulled today's docket for that court - 25 people.  The only hint I have is that someone was there with a "property of protect the children (?)" sticker on their case folder dolly.

Ah well, back to submitting resumes...

[WayAbvPar]

I actually enjoyed my stint in jury duty. I would have been happy to sit on the case, but it was going to run about a month and my employer pays for 5 days a year. Also, I am the only person who does my job, so I was working nights and weekends after jury duty to keep up.

[Yegolev]

Executives are going to "accelerate our momentum".