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Pharmaskittle
Dec 17, 2007

arf arf put the money in the fuckin bag

Eric the Mauve posted:



Years old now so update 2005 to 2010, but still accurate.

I work for a cell carrier, and this isn't something I have a great handle on because it's not relevant to my job, just a pattern I've noticed. The three digits after your area code can be used to narrow it down further, but it's not something you can easily Google specific ranges on afaik. It's muddied up further because it's also affected by what carrier originally assigned you the number. Also, while we default to giving new numbers in the city where we're located, there's nothing stopping a new customer from asking for one in a completely different area code.

All that to say: if you gave me a phone number in one of the nearby area codes, I could probably tell you what city or town it's from, but there are a lot of factors that could make that information irrelevant to where the person using it lives/is from.

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Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos

lizardman posted:

I'm not sure this is necessarily a scam? I mean maybe at this point we can just presume any business that resorts to spam-dialing robocalls is shady in some way, but otherwise it's just a case of presuming someone who has a Colorado Springs phone number lives in Colorado Springs.

Since that's illegal, I believe (if nothing else, unless you generate a number and then check it against the Do Not Call List), but while looking to confirm that I found this ruling which is probably what is making things worse now:



quote:

Specifically, the court found that a provision intended to limit robocalls was too broadly defined. The FCC had expanded the definition of what constituted an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) to the point that it may have been construed as applying to basically anyone with a smartphone.

Under the statute, an ATDS (or autodialer) was defined to mean any equipment that could dial numbers stored or produced “using a random or sequential number generator.” Calls placed from such devices without achieving “prior express consent” from the call recipient were essential made illegal.

“It is undisputed that essentially any smartphone, with the addition of software, can gain the statutorily enumerated features of an autodialer and thus function as an ATDS,” Judge Sri Srinivasan, a nominee of former President Barack Obama, wrote for the court.

Oh, no, the statute could sweep up people who download software that turns their cellphone into an autodialer! What government overreach. :fuckoff:

The_Franz
Aug 8, 2003

Pharmaskittle posted:

I work for a cell carrier, and this isn't something I have a great handle on because it's not relevant to my job, just a pattern I've noticed. The three digits after your area code can be used to narrow it down further, but it's not something you can easily Google specific ranges on afaik. It's muddied up further because it's also affected by what carrier originally assigned you the number. Also, while we default to giving new numbers in the city where we're located, there's nothing stopping a new customer from asking for one in a completely different area code.

All that to say: if you gave me a phone number in one of the nearby area codes, I could probably tell you what city or town it's from, but there are a lot of factors that could make that information irrelevant to where the person using it lives/is from.

At some point the exchange digits had to be "local" to the billing address for the service because when everyone still had a landline local toll calls were a thing. Even if you were calling within the same area code, you could still incur extra charges depending on the exchange. When my family first got cell phones back in 2002 we had to request new numbers because it turned out that the exchange they assigned our initial numbers from incurred toll fees if you called the cell numbers from the house landline, even though the area code was the same.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


I'm gonna blow your minds: Japan gave cell phones their own area code 20 years ago (it was 080 or 090 depending on your provider.) House phones have 10 digits, mobiles have 11. Sales calls seem to be limited to landlines.

New area codes have been introduced for digital phone lines running through fiberoptic internet and toll-free business numbers. :iia:

Ham Equity
Apr 16, 2013

i hosted a great goon meet and all i got was this lousy avatar
Grimey Drawer

Eric the Mauve posted:



Years old now so update 2005 to 2010, but still accurate.
2004 is actually probably more accurate, but really, the relevance here isn't length of time, but when cell number portability became a legal requirement.

iajanus
Aug 17, 2004

NUMBER 1 QUEENSLAND SUPPORTER
MAROONS 2023 STATE OF ORIGIN CHAMPIONS FOR LIFE



peanut posted:

I'm gonna blow your minds: Japan gave cell phones their own area code 20 years ago (it was 080 or 090 depending on your provider.) House phones have 10 digits, mobiles have 11. Sales calls seem to be limited to landlines.

New area codes have been introduced for digital phone lines running through fiberoptic internet and toll-free business numbers. :iia:

Australia has always had a seperate area code for mobile numbers. Each state has one (02 for NSW, 07 for Queensland, 03 for Victoria, with a couple of shared ones) with mobiles all starting with 04. All numbers are 10 digits (with the 0 dropped when dialling with a country code). Makes it trivial to know where numbers are calling from in a general sense. The next four digits used to be tied to specific areas but that's starting to get muddied since you can trivially move them around and they aren't necessarily linked anymore when you sign up for new ones.

Depressio111117
Oct 18, 2014

A whole world of imagination beyond the oompah band.

lizardman posted:

I'm not sure this is necessarily a scam? I mean maybe at this point we can just presume any business that resorts to spam-dialing robocalls is shady in some way, but otherwise it's just a case of presuming someone who has a Colorado Springs phone number lives in Colorado Springs.

I guess “scam” might be strong but it certainly has a whiff of illegitimacy, seeing as they specified “my neighborhood.” I’m sure plenty of houses DO have hail damage but it seems like the kinda thing where you’d seek out someone to fix it, rather than the other way around.

LifeSunDeath
Jan 4, 2007

still gay rights and smoke weed every day
Slowly working my way through this whole thread so not sure if this guy's been posted yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=channel?UCOkhTr4FqEAWRz2UecVsh4g?videos

Some 16y/o dude fucks with call center scammers using a virtual machine. It's hilarious but after reading that article about these dudes I understand them more and feel bad for them a little. Still this youtube kid is doing gods work.

e: Personally getting scammed edit. In early college had my first apartment and like most college kids tried to be pretty friendly and open to neighbors especially ones my age. Had a magazine summer trip scammer come by and stupidly I let him in. Guy had initially said he just needed to give me the pitch and for me to sign his sheet so he could move on, but after his pitch I said "yeah I'm not buying anything." This guy was much bigger than me and he got visibly angry. He goes "what do you mean you're not buying anything? Why did you waste my time? Why did you let me in?" It got scary, I stupidly ended up giving him like 150bux for a Popsci subscription. It was a sad day for me, but dammit if I didn't keep getting those magazines some 4 years later without paying more, so I felt better about it.

LifeSunDeath fucked around with this message at 12:45 on Aug 13, 2018

Craptacular
Jul 11, 2004

LifeSunDeath posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=channel?UCOkhTr4FqEAWRz2UecVsh4g?videos

Some 16y/o dude fucks with call center scammers using a virtual machine. It's hilarious but after reading that article about these dudes I understand them more and feel bad for them a little. Still this youtube kid is doing gods work.
SA doesn't parse Youtube channel links correctly if you just paste them in; it'll try to make them into video links. Here's the correct link.

Hoshi
Jan 20, 2013

:wrongcity:

Depressio111117 posted:

I guess “scam” might be strong but it certainly has a whiff of illegitimacy, seeing as they specified “my neighborhood.” I’m sure plenty of houses DO have hail damage but it seems like the kinda thing where you’d seek out someone to fix it, rather than the other way around.

Yeah, it's predatory salesmanship. The people who did have damage probably have some cleanup going on, reaching out to them this way is probably an effective tactic

LifeSunDeath
Jan 4, 2007

still gay rights and smoke weed every day

Craptacular posted:

SA doesn't parse Youtube channel links correctly if you just paste them in; it'll try to make them into video links. Here's the correct link.

cool thx

mostlygray
Nov 1, 2012

BURY ME AS I LIVED, A FREE MAN ON THE CLUTCH

Depressio111117 posted:

Local one today - Colorado Springs had a horrific hail storm last week, with baseball-sized hail. I haven't lived in Colorado in about six years, but I still have a Colorado Springs number. I got a voicemail saying that houses in my neighborhood were severely damaged, with probable roof damage we couldn't even see! This company would be happy to come out and take a look and give me an estimate. The temptation to call them back and string them along by asking where, specifically, they think I live is strong.

I wouldn't call that a scam. It's pretty standard after a big storm. I've actually responded to one of these cold calls. They did get my insurance company out and went over the whole roof with them. They ended up doing a full tear off and replaced some decking.

Insurance paid for the roof in full and the roofers did a great job. I didn't find a single nail on the lawn when they were done. I've never seen a job done so cleanly. They even came back a week later to make sure that we were happy.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



mostlygray posted:

I wouldn't call that a scam. It's pretty standard after a big storm. I've actually responded to one of these cold calls. They did get my insurance company out and went over the whole roof with them. They ended up doing a full tear off and replaced some decking.

Insurance paid for the roof in full and the roofers did a great job. I didn't find a single nail on the lawn when they were done. I've never seen a job done so cleanly. They even came back a week later to make sure that we were happy.

That surprises the hell out of me. I expect anyone who offers home repairs or improvement unsolicited is a scam.

EL BROMANCE
Jun 10, 2006

COWABUNGA DUDES!
🥷🐢😬



Ugh. We had a 21 month 0% apr credit card because we wanted to do some stuff to the house and this covered the limit and was affordable to pay off in time.

Made 4 payments in total, then never used the card again. And now it’s full of Xbox and Hulu payments (ever seen people selling on things like Hulu subs for cheap, that then get mysteriously shut down not long later? Even in SA Mart...)

CC company were called the second the first batch happened, then it seems days later despite that card getting nuked it’s all happening again on the new card despite the fact it’s never been used or taken out the house.

Been reported again and I’ll be keeping my eye on the account, but I have no idea how that’s happened.

LifeSunDeath
Jan 4, 2007

still gay rights and smoke weed every day
I'm reminded of a massive scam I lived through. Here in Houston we get hosed by hurricanes on the regular. But not as much as being hosed by insurance over it. Depending on where you live in the city you might be buying Wind and/or Flood insurance to cover for storms. In the case of an actual massive hurricane, both sides, Wind and Flood, blame the other endlessly saying you have no claim with us try the other guy, and in the end pay out almost nothing by claiming no responsibility. My mom's little coastal town went through this after Ike, now none of the residents carry any hurricane insurance anymore because it was totally useless in action.

Fried Watermelon
Dec 29, 2008


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Note: - If you are not interested then you can reply with a simple \"NO\",We will never contact you again.

jobson groeth
May 17, 2018

by FactsAreUseless
At least they're escaping their quotes.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.

Fried Watermelon posted:

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Note: - If you are not interested then you can reply with a simple \"NO\",We will never contact you again.

I'd jump on that deal if I were you.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Fried Watermelon posted:

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Note: - If you are not interested then you can reply with a simple \"NO\",We will never contact you again.

Same

LifeSunDeath
Jan 4, 2007

still gay rights and smoke weed every day
from the houston paper this week:

"the victim became suspicious after the third transaction"

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
I've gotten two calls that named the same person. I hung up the first one after saying "wrong number". The second one followed my saying it's the wrong number by trying to confirm an address. To which I replied "this is really a wrong number" and hung up again. Any idea what this might be?

BigDave
Jul 14, 2009

Taste the High Country

Absurd Alhazred posted:

I've gotten two calls that named the same person. I hung up the first one after saying "wrong number". The second one followed my saying it's the wrong number by trying to confirm an address. To which I replied "this is really a wrong number" and hung up again. Any idea what this might be?

Probably a debt collector.

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

LifeSunDeath posted:

I'm reminded of a massive scam I lived through. Here in Houston we get hosed by hurricanes on the regular. But not as much as being hosed by insurance over it. Depending on where you live in the city you might be buying Wind and/or Flood insurance to cover for storms. In the case of an actual massive hurricane, both sides, Wind and Flood, blame the other endlessly saying you have no claim with us try the other guy, and in the end pay out almost nothing by claiming no responsibility. My mom's little coastal town went through this after Ike, now none of the residents carry any hurricane insurance anymore because it was totally useless in action.

Pretty sure that's working as designed.

The only way that ever has any hope of getting sorted out is someone with time, money, and standing naming them co-defendants

mostlygray
Nov 1, 2012

BURY ME AS I LIVED, A FREE MAN ON THE CLUTCH

Midjack posted:

That surprises the hell out of me. I expect anyone who offers home repairs or improvement unsolicited is a scam.

I was surprised too. I played it very close and took my time. They were pros at every step. They didn't ask for any sort of down payment. They just verified that insurance would pay out and started work. One of the checks was written direct to them from insurance, the other was written to me and I wrote a personal check for that one. I actually ended up $100 to the good on the claim.

One of their marketing guys did try to shake me down a month later. He claimed he had a lien on the property and wanted $200 to go away. I called the owner of the company and he straightened him out.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



mostlygray posted:

I was surprised too. I played it very close and took my time. They were pros at every step. They didn't ask for any sort of down payment. They just verified that insurance would pay out and started work. One of the checks was written direct to them from insurance, the other was written to me and I wrote a personal check for that one. I actually ended up $100 to the good on the claim.

One of their marketing guys did try to shake me down a month later. He claimed he had a lien on the property and wanted $200 to go away. I called the owner of the company and he straightened him out.

There we go.

A 50S RAYGUN
Aug 22, 2011
it's a little 'scummy', i guess, but it's honestly just a way for a contractor to get guaranteed insurer money.

it's not really a nefarious thing, after hurricane sandy (I live in Jersey so we got it pretty bad) my town was lousy with contractors going door to door looking for work because no one had phones that were up. that was less smart because insurers hate paying out for hurricane damage, but it's mostly the same concept.

occamsnailfile
Nov 4, 2007



zamtrios so lonely
Grimey Drawer

A 50S RAYGUN posted:

it's a little 'scummy', i guess, but it's honestly just a way for a contractor to get guaranteed insurer money.

it's not really a nefarious thing, after hurricane sandy (I live in Jersey so we got it pretty bad) my town was lousy with contractors going door to door looking for work because no one had phones that were up. that was less smart because insurers hate paying out for hurricane damage, but it's mostly the same concept.

The ones you really need to be suspicious of are the ones offering a 'free inspection', since if there isn't damage to your roof they'll be happy to cause some, claim it's from the hurricane or hail or whatever, and try to get a check.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

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Pillbug

occamsnailfile posted:

The ones you really need to be suspicious of are the ones offering a 'free inspection', since if there isn't damage to your roof they'll be happy to cause some, claim it's from the hurricane or hail or whatever, and try to get a check.

More likely they'll just outright lie to you. "Well sure everything looks good but under the surface, things you can't see...so bullshit bullshit bullshit bullshit you need a whole new roof and oh we just got these special new shingles that will bullshit bullshit bullshit but are double the price. We're having a special this week though but today's the last day so bullshit bullshit bullshit..."

WithoutTheFezOn
Aug 28, 2005
Oh no
If they just lie, that wouldn't work too well in most cases because the insurance company is going to require their own inspector check it out before even considering cutting a check.

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

If they just lie, that wouldn't work too well in most cases because the insurance company is going to require their own inspector check it out before even considering cutting a check.

They won't care about that. If they have a live one they'll do the work and get payment up front (at least half) and then disappear when the victim finds out insurance wants nothing to do with it, especially at THAT price even if you did need a whole new roof.

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

If they just lie, that wouldn't work too well in most cases because the insurance company is going to require their own inspector check it out before even considering cutting a check.

Bastard, greedy insurance company just trying to weasel out of things. Don't they see that this roof needs replaced like, yesterday? You should probably cancel that. They're jerks. But hey, we'll fully guarantee this roof for twenty years for an extra 10%. That's a steal, you know?

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

ToxicSlurpee posted:

needs replaced

Off topic:
Where did this come from? We have a couple guys at work that started doing it, I've never encountered it before like a year ago. Grammatically it should be 'needs replacing' or 'needs to be replaced'.

Midjack
Dec 24, 2007



Corsair Pool Boy posted:

Off topic:
Where did this come from? We have a couple guys at work that started doing it, I've never encountered it before like a year ago. Grammatically it should be 'needs replacing' or 'needs to be replaced'.

It seems to be a broader American English language thing; over the last several years I've noticed it in use more and more frequently out in the world. Similar to the word "orientate" instead of "orient" which used to be a dead giveaway that you were dealing with an ex-military person but is now everywhere.

Achmed Jones
Oct 16, 2004



Corsair Pool Boy posted:

Off topic:
Where did this come from? We have a couple guys at work that started doing it, I've never encountered it before like a year ago. Grammatically it should be 'needs replacing' or 'needs to be replaced'.

I’ve heard people do this all around the country (that is, it doesn’t seem to be regional) for the past 15 years or so. I really don’t like it, but it’s a pretty common construction. The people I’ve heard use it tend to be from more rural backgrounds, but I’ve no idea if that’s just coincidence or not.

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

Achmed Jones posted:

I’ve heard people do this all around the country (that is, it doesn’t seem to be regional) for the past 15 years or so. I really don’t like it, but it’s a pretty common construction. The people I’ve heard use it tend to be from more rural backgrounds, but I’ve no idea if that’s just coincidence or not.

Yeah, that seems to check out I guess, both guys I know that do it grew up in fairly rural places. Weird that it doesn't seem to be a regional thing, it drives me nuts too.

dirby
Sep 21, 2004


Helping goons with math

Achmed Jones posted:

I’ve heard people do this all around the country (that is, it doesn’t seem to be regional) for the past 15 years or so. I really don’t like it, but it’s a pretty common construction. The people I’ve heard use it tend to be from more rural backgrounds, but I’ve no idea if that’s just coincidence or not.

I never heard it in the NYC area ~15 years ago, but heard it all the time in Pittsburgh ~10 years ago, for instance.

It's regional but spreading: For more info, see https://ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/needs-washed and https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/needs-washed (which has a limited map)

Absurd Alhazred
Mar 27, 2010

by Athanatos
I got a call from a null number that went directly to voice mail. The voice mail was set up as if it was conversational and referring to us talking earlier, and asked me to call a specified number for more details. Seems kind of silly, hope this makes it easier for the FTC to get whoever that was.

Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

dirby posted:

I never heard it in the NYC area ~15 years ago, but heard it all the time in Pittsburgh ~10 years ago, for instance.

It's regional but spreading: For more info, see https://ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/needs-washed and https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/needs-washed (which has a limited map)

Oh cool, thanks. I've never been able to phrase it right in google to get relevant results

e: oh good another reason to hate Pittsburgh

ToxicSlurpee
Nov 5, 2003

-=SEND HELP=-


Pillbug

Corsair Pool Boy posted:

Off topic:
Where did this come from? We have a couple guys at work that started doing it, I've never encountered it before like a year ago. Grammatically it should be 'needs replacing' or 'needs to be replaced'.

It's very specifically part of the west PA accents of which Pittsburghese is a member of. We have some very interesting linguistic quirks in these parts. That's one of those thing that I don't even realize I do until somebody points it out. As for its origins who knows? The unique linguistic stuff in the area came from a mix of a variety of people who settled here. We got the usual Germans but also Poles, Irish, Croatians, and Ukrainians. Things are Slavic as gently caress in these parts. Really, I think the accents are great.

Corsair Pool Boy posted:

Oh cool, thanks. I've never been able to phrase it right in google to get relevant results

e: oh good another reason to hate Pittsburgh

I live in Pittsburgh. :argh:

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Corsair Pool Boy
Dec 17, 2004
College Slice

ToxicSlurpee posted:

It's very specifically part of the west PA accents of which Pittsburghese is a member of. We have some very interesting linguistic quirks in these parts. That's one of those thing that I don't even realize I do until somebody points it out. As for its origins who knows? The unique linguistic stuff in the area came from a mix of a variety of people who settled here. We got the usual Germans but also Poles, Irish, Croatians, and Ukrainians. Things are Slavic as gently caress in these parts. Really, I think the accents are great.


I live in Pittsburgh. :argh:

Well, get your neighbors to stop mangling the English language.

It's spreading, I work in NoVA with people that do it

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