Editor’s note: Recently in The Voice, the announcement was made of the death of the conductor of the column, Ask Grandpa, which provided readers with 503 weeks of sage advice, humor, and continuity. Below is the repeat of the December 12, 2019 column. The Voice will continue to offer previous columns. We invite special requests of previous columns.
Grandpa,
I got a new twist to an old scam. A phone call came from a number in (a different) area code. I did not recognize the number so I did not answer it. Because they did not leave a message, I called back to see if it was a scam. A machine answered saying that it was a medical supply company; press one to talk with a sales rep, press two for a call back and press three to be removed from the call list. I pressed three and the line went dead. I got my phone bill today. I am being billed for a call from California to Mexico. It was 63 minutes long. I called (the carrier) to report this scam. They are reversing the charges to the number that was called. The operator told me the number that placed the call was not real, it was a computer-generated number meant to confuse the third party, meaning me. Please warn your readers (again) not to press any buttons on the phone for any reason unless they are calling a business they know. Learn from my mistakes!
Grandpa says: Such a lovely Christmas gift you gave to that caller! You seem to comprehend the way telephone scams work, yet you went ahead and returned a call to an unfamiliar number with a distant area code. No less, it was a caller who left no message on your voice mail. May I iterate one basic precept? Unless you recognize the number as someone with whom you would like to converse, never, under any circumstances, are you to return a call to anyone who does not leave a voice message. Well, okay, there is one exception; it is okay to call the number if you have a burning desire to be the victim of a scam.
Grandpa,
I have read very often in your column about protecting your identity, et cetera. I tried an experiment. I opened three different E-mail accounts and gave the address to nobody. I received no spam or other E-mails. After two weeks, I used each E-mail on one site each. The three sites were (withheld by Grandpa). Within hours I had more junk mail than I care to count. That seems to prove that legitimate sites do sell E-mail addresses to one another. To prove my hypothesis, I did the same experiment again, using different sites, including sites that advertise they are secure. Same results. I am compiling a list of these sites and how many E-mails I receive in a 30-day period. Note that I do not open any of the spam. I delete it without opening it, yet the spam continues to flood my various E-mail addresses. I will send to you the results for you to publish.
Grandpa says: I will not publish the results as that would involve using the names of the various sites. Grandpa does not use names or other identifying information in this column.