Dish Network Scam

Dish should already have all of that information. I have been a Dish customer for over 25 years and I have never been asked that question in all of the times that I have contacted them. They already know what equipment you have when they pull up your account. Your account is also protected with a PIN number that you have to provide when calling them about your account so that no one but you can make changes to the account. I wonder what the scammer was trying to accomplish!

Seriously! Now these scammers have your number and know someone is there who will talk to strangers. Next time, it will be some different kind of scam.

I don't answer calls from numbers I don't recogize anymore - they can leave a message if it's important. But they never do.

A quick Google search found a lot about this. One story said that once they get your info, they can pause your service (just like you could do yourself from your account). Then they claim that Dish has suspended your account until you pay for a supposed "upgrade".

I wonder how the scammers knew you had Dish Network in the first place?

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it's the dog's fault

Could just be coincidence. I don't answer unknown calls either, but I get regular email and text scams from various banks and financial institutions. Maybe one out of ten of those comes from a business I've actually done business with. They count on those occasional coincidental matches to snag victims.

Just like how door-to-door internet salesmen (at least here in Canada) know which houses to hit and which ones to not, there might have been customer info released by one of those lists. I wouldn't be surprised if it's some basic excel sheet lol.

I think they harvest telephone numbers from real listings and fake them into the caller ID on a routine basis.

…spam calls. You do have to do a little bit of work to set it up, but once that’s done, no more spam calls. The phone will ring once and it goes straight to VM. Once in a great while a call may get through but it’s like 1 out of 100. I have had this thing for probably 3 years now and the number of spam calls has dropped drastically. You have an Allow list and those calls make it through, the others are blocked. The phone does have (what they call) a Star list, that allows companies that have multiple phone lines to contact you once they are put into the Star category. Things like doctors offices, hospitals, etc.

I don't pick up calls from unkown numbers anymore - let them go to voicemail

Spoofing allows these scammers or telemarketers to enter any name or number they choose to show up on your caller ID. I don't know how they get the information, but I frequently get calls that show up as people I know. This makes devices that screen calls only marginally useful.

On some days I get a dozen or more annoyance calls. I usually just take the phone off the hook and check for messages at night. I have answer call from my local telco, so messages are recorded and stored off site.

Unfortunately, this is sometimes registered as an "answered call" by some of these annoyance callers and they keep trying.

I may try turning off the bells on the phones instead so these calls go unanswered. Hopefully, this will cause my number to be taken off the "list".

I saw a device a while ago that automatically answers the call and plays the series of tones you get when you call a disconnected number. This could also cause a number to be "delisted". I might go that route if I can find it.

Do a search on Google for bell tones and there is one you can download and put in front of your Voice mail message which lets Robo calls know it is a delisted number.

It may take a bit of dedicated looking though.

In my experience, that is very unusual. I have *never* seen a spoofed number of a person that I know. Usually they are nunbers for my own geographic area, which is a giveaway because I know almost nobody that lives near me. The ones that always get a laugh are similar to my own phone number. It's a cell phone and I have never seen a similar number. Maybe they assume that my whole family has similar numbers? LOL

I don't know about you, but I don't need any special software, voicemail or devices. The spam calls are totally obvious and I just don't answer them. Has never been an incident where I missed a real call yet.

If I was actually seeing numbers of people that I know, that's something I'd want to get to the bottom of as it suggests a pretty serious hack of some sort to me...

Thinking about this some more, the big AT&T hack could explain why you're seeing spoofed numbers of your friends. The hackers were not able to actually listen to anyone's calls or read their texts but they got the metadata - the numbers that the victim sent or received messages from. So, even if you don't have AT&T, a friend might have it and they may have metadata from a time when he called you.

https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/privacynotincluded/arti...

It is a cause for concern, but my neighbors are also receiving the same calls. The guy next door frequently gets calls from himself!

It is a possible hack, or it could be a telco employee illegally selling data.

Years ago, names, addresses and phone numbers used to be published in phone books. The information is readily available on the net for anyone willing to take the time to compile it.

I got another scam call, allegedly from Dish Network yesterday. It showed up as Dish on the caller ID. This time, I didn't answer it. Hopefully, as another poster suggested, it might cause my number to be removed from the "list".

The only problem with not answering is, we have to listen to the damn bell ring on 6 different phones until the caller hangs up. If I wait for the answering machine to pick up, it gets recorded by the spammers as an answered call and defeats the purpose of not answering.

We are slowly telling others to call on our cell phones with the idea we will eventually disconnect the landline. I've had the number for 60 years though, and it's going to take time to do the conversion.

I'm not sure just how much good this will do though, since we are starting to get these annoyance calls on our cell phones as well.

I stopped using my landline about 15 years ago and never regretted it. Most of these scam calls are already flagged by the phone software with a "spam risk" warning right under the caller's number. Now, in my case, I live alone and talk on the phone very little since I retired. So I just don't expect to get many calls and am suspicious by nature when one comes in.

Yup, phishing is prevalent in today's world. i am already good at spotting them, but my work makes me better. They try to phish it's employees using very will crafted using company info and your info. If you fall for it, mandatory retraining is in your future.

I wish they'd call me....I'm stuck at home with way too much free time...

My latest "victim" called me about duct cleaning....let him do his best sales pitch.

Maybe I should have lead with, my wife left me, my doggie died, the bank repossessed my truck and my house...but your duct cleaning will work realllllll good for keeping my tent air nice and clean...

>:)

we got a call from a person telling me my computer was infected. You know the calls where they need to remotely connect to your computer. I put my son on who is a whiz ant computers. He used to work for Best Buy on after hours tech support. With his knowledge on computers he led them down a path wit questions they couldn't get out of. He buried the guy.

My wife answered a telemarketer call from a guy selling an extended warranty for our pickup truck. Not sure how he knew the year, make & model. When he asked to speak to her husband, she broke down in fake tears and said her husband had been killed recently in an accident. Still sobbing, she hung up the phone. I was sitting next to her trying to contain my laughter.

The enterprising young telemarketer immediately called back asking her if SHE wanted to purchase an extended warranty. My wife burst into fake tears again and replied that her husband was killed when he wrecked the truck.

The guy hung up and never called back. I guess that's one way to get your number taken off the "list".

This is helpful information.

On the contrary, I'd say it's a sure way to get your name ON "the list". It's just a natural reaction to want to show the scammers how clever you are. But as soon as you pick up the phone, they've accomplished most of what that want - finding a working phone number and a person who will answer. Her number is now on that list and she can expect more calls in the future. Maybe the next time it will be a more convincing scam that she falls for?

Phone fraud has become big business and you're not going to "outsmart" them with some clever reply. Just don't answer. If you're using a landline with no way to tell who is calling, then you're really a prime target.

What I meant to say was, our number would likely be taken off HIS list for selling extended warranties.

In order to not answer a call, you can't have an answering machine and have to listen to the bell ring until the caller hangs up. A robo caller has no way of knowing if it's hearing a real human voice or the message on an answering machine.

Comedian Tom Mabe has fun with telemarketers. One of my favorites was when a marketer for a carpet cleaner called:

"Can you get blood out of carpet? There's blood everywhere. I need you to come over today. Right now! I'll pay you extra."

I used to have some "fun" with telemarketers but now, most are robo calls, or someone who barely speaks english and doesn't understand my humor.

My favorite Tom Mabe was the murder scene prank call with the satellite dish telemarketer.
Mark