US Marshal

[ericwinters]

I received several calls from some who claimed to be marshals and started citing a badge number. I looked up a number, and it appears they had a website and all.

Has anyone else received similar calls?

[56harrisond]

Telephone Scams Using U.S. Marshal’s Name | U.S. Marshals Service

WWW.USMARSHALS.GOV

---

Fort Smith, AR – The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) is alerting the public to several imposter scams involving individuals...

 

[56harrisond]

U.S. Marshals warn of scam callers pretending to be law enforcement

CBS2IOWA.COM

---

The U.S. Marshals Service is warning Iowans to watch out for scam calls from people pretending to be law enforcement...

 

[soloyo215]

In IT lingo that's called Vishing. Seems to be more effective since it's a real person over the phone. Targets older people based on the premise that they are less tech and info-safety savvy. The moment they ask for any personal information tell them to fuck off.

[ericwinters]

5 hours ago, soloyo215 said:

In IT lingo that's called Vishing. Seems to be more effective since it's a real person over the phone. Targets older people based on the premise that they are less tech and info-safety savvy. The moment they ask for any personal information tell them to fuck off.

Ty. Can these folks emulate a legit number with caller ID?

[Ali Gator]

2 hours ago, ericwinters said:

Ty. Can these folks emulate a legit number with caller ID?

They sure can. 

Block the numbers they are calling from. 

[soloyo215]

3 hours ago, ericwinters said:

Ty. Can these folks emulate a legit number with caller ID?

Yes, they can. They use a technique named spoofing to pose as a different number with a different name.

[maninsoma]

10 hours ago, soloyo215 said:

In IT lingo that's called Vishing. Seems to be more effective since it's a real person over the phone. Targets older people based on the premise that they are less tech and info-safety savvy. The moment they ask for any personal information tell them to fuck off.

Or just don't answer your phone when the call is from a number you don't recognize, even if the number has been spoofed and the caller ID looks legitimate.  If the call is legit, they will leave a message.  If the message sounds scam-y, just delete it and block the number.

[BuffaloKyle]

If law enforcement needs to talk to you they'll show up at your house not call you. Just hang up or don't answer any number not in your contact list.

[soloyo215]

2 hours ago, maninsoma said:

Or just don't answer your phone when the call is from a number you don't recognize, even if the number has been spoofed and the caller ID looks legitimate.  If the call is legit, they will leave a message.  If the message sounds scam-y, just delete it and block the number.

That might not be realistic for many people. Here are more useful tips from companies:

How to Prevent Vishing in 2025: A Step-by-Step Guide

TRUSTIFI.COM

---

You can protect yourself and your organization in multiple ways from falling victim to a vishing attack. Here are 4 simple tips to prevent vishing in 2024.

 

What is Vishing? Examples & Ways to Avoid Voice Phishing

BUSINESS.BOFA.COM

---

A phone call, called vishing or voice phishing, is what criminals use to get personal or company information. Here are examples of vishing and how to stay safe.

 

[maninsoma]

12 hours ago, soloyo215 said:

That might not be realistic for many people. Here are more useful tips from companies:

How to Prevent Vishing in 2025: A Step-by-Step Guide

TRUSTIFI.COM

---

You can protect yourself and your organization in multiple ways from falling victim to a vishing attack. Here are 4 simple tips to prevent vishing in 2024.

 

What is Vishing? Examples & Ways to Avoid Voice Phishing

BUSINESS.BOFA.COM

---

A phone call, called vishing or voice phishing, is what criminals use to get personal or company information. Here are examples of vishing and how to stay safe.

 

The only people I can think of who cannot afford to just ignore unknown numbers are people using that phone number for business.  If it's a personal number, why not just let everything go to voice mail unless you recognize the caller?  I learned to not even swipe to reject the call since that lets the spammer know that your number is active because it rang once or twice and then disconnected.  Fortunately my phone allows me just to turn it face down when I get a spam call that isn't blocked, which causes the phone to stop ringing but the call isn't disconnected until it's connected to voice mail.  Yes, I know that connecting to voice mail is also an indication that the line is active but my personal experience with rejecting calls is that the same number (or a very similar number) would call back repeatedly in a short period of time.

Edited July 11 by maninsoma

[Act25]

My Android phone has a setting which allows me to block all spam and scam calls and it's very effective. I can see the calls in the call log and they can leave a voicemail (which they mostly don't) but the phone doesn't ring. 

[soloyo215]

1 hour ago, maninsoma said:

The only people I can think of who cannot afford to just ignore unknown numbers are people using that phone number for business.  If it's a personal number, why not just let everything go to voice mail unless you recognize the caller?  I learned to not even swipe to reject the call since that lets the spammer know that your number is active because it rang once or twice and then disconnected.  Fortunately my phone allows me just to turn it face down when I get a spam call that isn't blocked, which causes the phone to stop ringing but the call isn't disconnected until it's connected to voice mail.  Yes, I know that connecting to voice mail is also an indication that the line is active but my personal experience with rejecting calls is that the same number (or a very similar number) would call back repeatedly in a short period of time.

Then you must get to meet more people.

If that's what works for you, perfect. Have a nice life. I'm not interested in convincing you of anything.

BTW, you do know that you are in a forum with a lot of people using burner phones, spoofed numbers and hidden identities, right?

Edited July 11 by soloyo215

[maninsoma]

3 hours ago, soloyo215 said:

Then you must get to meet more people.

If that's what works for you, perfect. Have a nice life. I'm not interested in convincing you of anything.

BTW, you do know that you are in a forum with a lot of people using burner phones, spoofed numbers and hidden identities, right?

If you're calling an escort using a burner phone, do you not actually have a number that can be used for a call back?  As a client, I wouldn't book an escort if I couldn't actually call him to confirm, and I would think many escorts would prefer to confirm they have a way to call the client if something goes wrong and rescheduling is necessary.

Oh, by the way, if you weren't interested in convincing me of anything you could have just let my original post stand without telling me that my suggestion was not "realistic" and then offering allegedly "more useful" suggestions.  The reality is that the links you posted have nothing to do with whether to answer the phone but rather how one should respond if they get a call that could be suspicious.  I personally prefer never to speak with those people in the first place by letting the call go to voice mail, at which point they typically don't even bother leaving a message.

[+ Charlie]

I have a landline phone and an an iPhone. My landline phone tells me the number of the person calling, and if I don't recognize it as someone I want to talk to, I just let it go automatically to voicemail after 4 rings. Almost all of the callers stop as soon as as they are directed  to leave a message. My iPhone automatically silences call which isn't in my list of contacts, but keeps a list of the phone numbers from the silenced calls.