detlef Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 This is really freaking annoying and it just happened again. The annoying thing is that it is going to force me to just ignore any and all text assisted calls to my restaurant. So, you get a call from someone explaining that they're an operator who is assisting a deaf person. They ask you if you know the drill, etc. Then the conversation starts up and it takes bloody forever. They ask if you sell a particular item, you say yes, they say it's their father's birthday coming up and they want to order enough for 100 people and they're going to give you a credit card number to pay for everything, plus tax, plus cash for the guy who's going to pick it up on their behalf. Once they get to that part, you are certain it's a scam. Only it takes like 5 minutes to get to that part and, often times, this call is at a busy time. I imagine the whole reason they use the whole deaf text assisted thing is to put you off-guard. I mean, you don't want to be a dick to someone who's deaf, right? Well, the problem is, these effers call like 10 times per week. So, basically, the only thing to do is hang up every time someone calls using text assist because, without fail, you will waste 5 minutes, often in the middle of the rush, only to find that it is a scam. And before you make light of 5 minutes, that's an eternity to have the host stuck on the phone in the middle of the dinner rush. Especially if you're nearly certain that it's BS. It happened this morning when I happened to answer the phone and, of course, after several minutes of trying to get them to cut to the chase, the person hung up when I told them they should burn in hell. But not the operator. I told her to stay on the line. I spent a few minutes with her trying to explain the deal and I might as well have been talking to a robot. She did say that they are unable to trace the call. She did give me the 800 number to talk to the them but they don't open for another hour on Saturdays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby's Hubby Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 this is just like the deaf guy who goes into a bar with a little note for you to read and then he sticks his hand out. Sometimes they give you a little flag if it is near July 4th or a holiday. I have always wondered if they were really deaf. Next time I will test this theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby's Hubby Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 Tell them you are on the no call list and that they are not a tax write off, anyway. Other than that, you are not gonna "get 'em" through the phone company. Eventually, they get reported and then stopped for awhile. This reminds me...never buy leads, you will then become a lead yourself. These guys are the worst. They make a business selling leads, everyone is a lead to them and pads their lead library. These deaf guys got jipped and bought leads. The lead sellers are the ones who really win. They are the real schysters. Every call they make the have a flash card in front of them with your info on it. everything you say to them gets putt on that card to build their knowledge of you. and then they re-sell you as a new lead. Those guys are the heart of this mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 What is the purpose behind the scam? To attempt to get you to make food for X number of people and it go to waste, or is there an economic incentive for them somewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sox Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 this is just like the deaf guy who goes into a bar with a little note for you to read and then he sticks his hand out. Sometimes they give you a little flag if it is near July 4th or a holiday. I have always wondered if they were really deaf. Next time I will test this theory. LOL My wife and I were at the May Richmond Nascar race a year ago,and some guy did exactly that out in the grass parking lot we were in. I shrugged and turned my back,and said to my wife (fill in the blanks as you see fit),"$%^% this %^^& scammer!He's not getting a %^&&* dime off me" My wife looked horrified,and I said,"What's he gonna do?Admit he can hear me?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 LOL My wife and I were at the May Richmond Nascar race a year ago,and some guy did exactly that out in the grass parking lot we were in. I shrugged and turned my back,and said to my wife (fill in the blanks as you see fit),"$%^% this %^^& scammer!He's not getting a %^&&* dime off me" My wife looked horrified,and I said,"What's he gonna do?Admit he can hear me?" Wimmen, they just don't get it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 I finally cancelled my home phone a couple of months ago and went all cell because my home phone number was about as worthless as a Yahoo e-mail account with all the scammers. I was on the do not call list...doesn't matter. They'd call all hours. The kicker was when I called my phone company for the code to block all unknown numbers and they wanted to charge another $5 a month. I said screw it. It's probably the way the internet is heading one day. Just one cesspool of scammers and fake debt collectors to Josh Gordon through so you end up not even using the service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 What is the purpose behind the scam? To attempt to get you to make food for X number of people and it go to waste, or is there an economic incentive for them somewhere? Like other scams along this line, there is always an amount of money they want you to add to the charge to tip the delivery guy. It's usually a pretty sizable amount like a couple hundred dollars. However, allegedly, a dude does come by and pick up the food and collects the jack. At least that's what I've been told, because I've never gotten far enough along to see it happen. However, that seems hugely risky because it would be so easy to sting someone in that case. None the less, since the card is stolen, the merchant will end up holding the bag once the charges are reversed. As a follow up, I did get in touch with the company who does this and the dude explained that he gets a ton of calls in this regard. He asked me to do him a favor and report it to both the FBI and FCC websites and also gave me suggestions on how to cut to the chase as quickly as possible if, in fact, I did want to still bother accepting text assisted calls (of course he also added that he wouldn't blame me at all if I just wanted to not accept these sorts of calls at my business). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 Tell them you are on the no call list and that they are not a tax write off, anyway. Other than that, you are not gonna "get 'em" through the phone company. Eventually, they get reported and then stopped for awhile. This reminds me...never buy leads, you will then become a lead yourself. These guys are the worst. They make a business selling leads, everyone is a lead to them and pads their lead library. These deaf guys got jipped and bought leads. The lead sellers are the ones who really win. They are the real schysters. Every call they make the have a flash card in front of them with your info on it. everything you say to them gets putt on that card to build their knowledge of you. and then they re-sell you as a new lead. Those guys are the heart of this mess. How is this at all related? Their not trying to sell me anything. They're posing as a deaf person trying to patronize my restaurant. What "don't call list" prevents deaf people from using text assist to place a take-out order at your restaurant? These people obviously have more info on me than my phone number because they make reasonably accurate assumptions about the sorts of dishes I sell. Not much, mind you, the don't know any more than the ethnic bend of my restaurants (which, while somewhat obvious by the name of one, is certainly not so by the name of the other). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby's Hubby Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 (edited) so it is a stolen credit card? i am confused, like sec=uga is. you explained that a credit card (theirs not yours) is going to pay for a big order? " They ask if you sell a particular item, you say yes, they say it's their father's birthday coming up and they want to order enough for 100 people and they're going to give you a credit card number to pay for everything, plus tax, plus cash for the guy who's going to pick it up on their behalf. " where here is the scam? i am sorry but I do not see any money going from your hands. is it the cash for the guy picking it up? i am confused. I think you might have skipped over something. sorry for being confused and going off on an scam tangeant, but I kinda like to here about scams. do they cancel the purchase through the credit card company or something? Edited June 19, 2010 by Scooby's Hubby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 . None the less, since the card is stolen, the merchant will end up holding the bag once the charges are reversed. Det . . isnt that covered by the CC company under their fraud protection? So you really are not out anything as you will still get paid . . right? The big annoynace has to be tying up the hostess (pocs please) on the phone when you are busy . .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby's Hubby Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 I think I see, now. They must run through a bunch of crap in the one month they get to scam a credit card. Has to be using fake SSNs or stealing identities. Could be a rather global scam....wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 Here's a run-down. I had it mostly, but not entirely right. The scam callers couldn't care less about the food itself, they just want to see if the credit card works. Mike, owner of Bruno's, was told that most of the calls originated in Nigeria. When he asked one of the scam callers for an email address he was shocked to see that the person's email address included the words, 'conjob.' The scam may be new to Mike's area, but it has been going on across America for some time apparently. The scam also doesn't affect restaurants alone. The President of Montana's Association of the Dear, Char Harasymczuk, says the scam has deaf people very upset. She has received reports of upwards of ninety-percent of the calls using IP Relay or TTY being fraudulent. She stated, "And then you have deaf people waiting in the queue for an IP operator when they need to make a legitimate call. Deaf people have always struggled to contact people and this has just added to the problem. It has also cost them legitimate connections to services they need.” People who rely on TTY and IP Relay services are getting increasingly frustrated. They also mentioned that people are bilked into wiring the extra money they tell you to charge and some have done so only to find the CC didn't go through. Now I find it hard to believe that anyone would be stupid enough to do that and, frankly, I'm not pissed because I nearly got scammed, because I didn't. Worthwhile scam or not, I'm just annoyed that I have to go through this crap on a daily basis. And it is truly unfortunate that these things are so prevalent that it has seemingly rendered what was once a useful tool for deaf people to be just short of useless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby's Hubby Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 (edited) would the fraudulent using of deaf people be considered a hate crime? it is definately giving the hearing impaired and TTY users a bad name. Edited June 19, 2010 by Scooby's Hubby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 Det . . isnt that covered by the CC company under their fraud protection? So you really are not out anything as you will still get paid . . right? The big annoynace has to be tying up the hostess (pocs please) on the phone when you are busy . .. I actually think you're right here, to a degree. Though I wonder. Since these scams are seemingly becoming more popular, perhaps the CC companies are expecting merchants to be wise enough to not fall for them. I mean, how long are CC companies going to let merchants off the hook for falling for this? I mean, hell. If the CC company is going to pick up the tab, what should stop me from saying, "What the hell, I'll just take the money and play stupid." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 I actually think you're right here, to a degree. Though I wonder. Since these scams are seemingly becoming more popular, perhaps the CC companies are expecting merchants to be wise enough to not fall for them. I mean, how long are CC companies going to let merchants off the hook for falling for this? I mean, hell. If the CC company is going to pick up the tab, what should stop me from saying, "What the hell, I'll just take the money and play stupid." Very true. A perfect example of why credit card rates go up . . fraudulent use and identity theft. we ALL end up picking up their tab through interest rates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 Did I mention I'm drunk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddahj Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 I've had it happen @ my work, too. They will want us to tow their car from Chicago (I work in the Cincinnati area) to have about 2K worth of work done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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