Middle of the night call

[Terry57]

My phone rang at 1:00 AM this morning, and I grabbed it, my heart pounding because there is never good news at that time of the night. This man's voice asked if I was Terry and my last name, and I said yes. My heart was pounding so hard I couldn't hear what he said next, so asked him to repeat, and he said he was calling about my computer. I said, "You are calling about what????". I knew at this point it was a scam call that we get quite regularly. He repeated that it was about my computer, and I asked him if he knew what time it was...he said, "Yes, I know it is 1am, but I am very worried about your computer."
I can't repeat what I said next, and I hung up. I was up for 2 hours after that because I could not get my heart to stop pounding, I was so sure something had happened to my daughter.
I have never received one of these calls in the middle of the night and was wondering if anyone else has? DO they really think you would be receptive to ANYTHING they said at that time of night? Perhaps hoping to catch someone off guard?

 

[Starlit_Night]

How frightening!! I'd have been awake for hours too. Worst he knew your whole name! That's super creepy. Do you have your number on the "no call list"? Maybe that would help.

 

[Terry57]

Yep, I have put my name on it multiple times and it just does not seem to help
That was the first time they have ever used my name.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Holy smokes, Terry, those scammers really stop at NOTHING, do they.

Yes, we've received a phone call once in the middle of the night, and it sent alarm bells off VERY shortly thereafter. Someone from Western Union called us to confirm husband's name AND SS#! :11:

The very next day one of our bank statements came in, and sure enough, there were QUITE a few discrepancies! We got it all sorted out, and got our money (that we were scammed out of) back. One of the things those scumbags had done was open a Western Union account in my husband's name!

 

[Terry57]

Yikes, Wendy, that is much worse! How terrifying for y'all!

 

[Starlit_Night]

Was it a blocked number, or were you able to get the number? If you search for the no call list, on the gov't website there is a place to report scams etc, but you need to have the phone number to report it.

 

[Terry57]

It shows up weird on the ID...has letters mixed in with the numbers..I have never seen anything like it before. There are 23 characters in total...very weird.
I will see if there is anything I can do, thanks Christine

 

[jasper19]

it is best not to panic about things until you know there is reason to worry. A majority of the time when you panic before knowing what is going on, you just cause yourself a lot of stress for no reason.

Also i agree phone salesman are bad people.

 

[Scott]

Those dreaded middle-of-the-night calls too often portend death, impending death, or other sad tragedy. Sadly, some boiler-room scam-shops stop at nothing to catch your attention.

Somehow those deadbeats manage to circumvent the do-not-call registry. Not sure how, but I've heard ramdomizer technology is exempt - but how would they know your name??

Once read somewhere, perhaps Dear Abby or Ann Landers, that having a loud whistle near the phone can be handy to blow them a loud surprise!

 

[Terry57]

I wish I would have had a whistle, what a great idea
I have no idea how he knew my name, that was a first...

 

[mrsef1]

I've never been called in the middle of the night. I however have been called by scammers trying to gain remote access to my computer. They said something akin to "if you don't listen and let me work on it you will lose all of your images and music and blah,blah,blah." He pretended to be with a major tech firm. Well I responded very calmly and said I don't care (I know this is a scam at this point) He gets angrier and angrier because every time he says something I say "I don't care" or "Nope" until he hung up on me.

 

[lquan]

One of the best thing I ever did was cancelling my land line 5 years ago. Sold all of the land phones at a garage sales and never look back. Save $ and aggrevations! Still kicking myself today for not cancelling 5 years sooner.

 

[thekarens]

One of the best thing I ever did was cancelling my land line 5 years ago. Sold all of the land phones at a garage sales and never look back. Save $ and aggrevations! Still kicking myself today for not cancelling 5 years sooner.

I've done the same, but it doesn't stop them from calling your cell.