For
years we have been getting multiple calls a day from Navient. Sometimes
even starting before the legal allowable time of 9:00 a.m. Four, five,
six calls a day. Leaving a message to call them back with a case number.
Which we don't have. This week, they started leaving a reference
number. Hick said I should call it. I disagreed.
"That will only show them that it's a working number. Then they'll sell it to a thousand more scammers!"
"No. They might stop calling."
"I
doubt that. Remember when you called the Phelps County Court and asked
why they kept hounding us? And that lady said she had no record of any
issue?"
"Yeah. But they still kept calling. Why would they call us if someone else owes money?"
"They
do a search, and it shows people associated with that debtor, so they
look up all those numbers and call those people, trying to track down the
debtor. Our number is in the book. If it's someone we know, we would show up, whether they gave our number or not."
"Well, yeah. I could see that."
"Now
they don't say it's for Phelps County Municipal Court. They start out
saying that by law they have to inform us that it's an attempt to
collect a debt. Every time I look up their scammy numbers, people are
complaining about them calling every day, multiple times. Sometimes they
say it's for stoplight camera traffic tickets in states they've never
been, some say it's for student loan debts, when they've never had a
student loan. It's a scam."
"Call them and find out."
"It's
probably just a recording. The old message used to say, 'Have your case
number ready,' even though we have no case! Now it's giving two
different reference numbers. Maybe more if we wait and get five more
calls tomorrow!"
"You won't know unless you call."
"I'll go off if they ask me who I am. Or how to find someone. That's not MY job!"
So... after calming down after getting worked up, I called. I had both reference numbers. I got a recording:
Press 1 and enter your reference number to make a payment.
Press 2 to hear the answers to frequently asked questions.
Press 3 to talk to a representative.
Of course I pressed 3. I got a pleasant-enough young man, no foreign accent, excessively calm.
"I'm
calling to find out why you keep calling my number. First it was about
Phelps County Municipal Court, and now it's a reference number to
collect a debt."
"Okay. What is your name."
"You should know it. YOU keep calling ME! I'm not giving my name. Who are your trying to reach?"
"Do you have your reference number?"
"I have TWO reference numbers, left five minutes apart."
"Okay. Give me the reference number. It's for Ross Hicks." [ACTUAL NAME]
"I don't know a Ross Hicks. He doesn't live here! Take my number off your list!"
"All right. I'll show that this number was reached in error."
"What about the OTHER reference number? Maybe that's another person. I need to get my number off THAT list, too!"
"Okay. Give me that reference number. Oh. It's the same person. So your number is off the list."
"Thank you."
Hick had turned off his loud Gunsmoke episode and was listening.
"Ross Hicks died in 2018. I just Googled him."
"Is he from around here? And how common is
that name? There could be a thousand Ross Hickses."
"This one was in Tennessee. Here's a William Ross Hicks. And a Richard Ross Hicks..."
"See? It's probably part of the scam. They tell EVERYBODY the account is for Ross Hicks. Or use other dead people's names, too."
Let the record show that we do NOT live near Phelps County. Our names are NOT similar to Ross Hicks. Nobody in this family has ever had a student loan.
We'll see if the calls stop. Or if we start getting more scam calls from other scammers.
Maybe ..... I have listened to the calls to the end and pressed whatever number to be removed from the list. Doesn't work! Now we are getting bills from the campground that no longer exists. For whatever reason the new owner thinks it is up to us to change things over for their billing. We did call all of the vendors to let them know we would no longer be responsible for any of the bills. They have not paid for trash pick-up or bothered to contact them since we left. It is $350 a month and I refuse to call about the bill. Not my problem. They will stop service and the next contact will be when they remove the dumpster. Kan-Do-Kampground no longer exists. I heard from a previous resident that they have dug up the sewer, electric and water systems! She told me they hit the power source for the well and burned the well pump up! That had to cost a pretty penny. The pump was only three years old. Two of the seven electric bills keep getting forwarded to us. I would be nicer if the woman had not called me a liar. I am old, don't piss off old people!!
ReplyDeleteI think the purpose of that "press a number" thing is to see if this is a working phone number. So when they know, they can sell it to other scammers. Or keep scamming. Our answering machine makes that scammer think a person is answering.
DeleteNot your monkey, not your circus! They don't seem to have a head for business. We didn't wait for the guy who sold us Pony House to switch things over to us! We had the sense to do it ourselves. Electric, water, trash...
1. answer the phone
ReplyDelete2. yell scammer scammer
3. hang up
OR
1. answer the phone
2. this is XXX of the Federal Fraud Department how may I help you
3. they'll hang up.
The problem is that this is a recording. No fun in that! Oh, how I long for the days of the "We see a problem with your Windows computer" people. Now THAT was some fun. Sometimes I blew my coaching whistle. Sometimes I screamed, "Oh, no! My Windows computer is broken!" Much to The Pony's dismay.
Delete