So, here’s the thing. You can spoof caller ID. There are several ways to spoof it, but all of them depend on the cooperation, at some level, of the phone company.
The number (214) 279-0990 is being spoofed by a lot of people. It used to go to a fax machine; now it goes to some girl’s voicemail. What they do is simple; they send out prerecorded calls that ask you to press 9 to connect to their operator. This way, you have no real contact info for them; you don’t know their number, and you don’t know the number you’re being connected to.
This allows them to engage in various scams; it used to be “$99 vacations”, now it’s “we can lower your credit card rates”.
I did a call trace, and may subpoena Qwest to try to get whatever information they have. It’s unlikely that they’ll cooperate willingly; I have been told by various scammers that they pay Qwest to give them special caller ID lies, like “out of area”, even when they’re calling from within state. I believe them, on that; there’s no reason for Qwest not to sell this service.
Anyone who has more information is welcome to suggest things. A lot of people suggest complaining to the FCC and/or FTC. While that may help, it won’t help much without an identification of who’s really behind these numbers.
Good luck, and good hunting.
Comments [archived]
From: anonymous
Date: 2006-07-05 13:29:33 -0500
i just got a call from 214-279-0990. i did not answer, but it went to my answering machine & left an automated message about lowering credit card debt. i tried to call the # back, but got a voicemail saying the # was disconnected. sounds like a scam to me.
From: Bill
Date: 2006-07-06 19:12:58 -0500
Just got one too for lowering credit cards. I did answer. When I said I wanted to have them discontinue calling me I was mysteriously transferred through crackly phone to another operator. After repeating this procedure three times I was asked if I had more than $2500 dollars in credit card debt. When I said “no”, they hung up on me. When calling their number, I received the same message they last poster got.
From: carl
Date: 2006-07-12 10:26:11 -0500
please report calls from this number to the do not call registry at donotcall dot gov. If they receive enough complaints they’ll investigate. I have reported them already.
thanks
From: seebs
Date: 2006-07-25 22:05:36 -0500
And another call. Caller ID came up empty, but the same shtick; “This is Michelle at Cardholder Services.” 12:36 on the 25th.
Looks as though they’re still at it, and they don’t do DNC requests.
From: auxon
Date: 2007-01-10 19:01:54 -0600
“Michelle from cardholder services” in Ottawa, Canada
From: Nobody In Particular
Date: 2007-03-02 13:47:18 -0600
They’re still making phone calls with the same “This is Michelle at…” bull. “Unknown” Caller ID info, and as per another’s remark, they sure don’t do DNC requests.
Pressed 8 for DNC at least 4 or 5 times; it kept telling me that 8 was an invalid option despite it just having told me to press 8 for DNC.
From: Tim
Date: 2007-04-18 11:04:14 -0500
Arrgh! Over the last couple weeks I’ve gotten 6-8 calls with this greeting: “This is Michelle at Cardholder Services.” Anonymous" Caller ID info, and as per another’s remark, they sure don’t do DNC requests. When I pressed 8 for DNC it kept telling me that 8 was an invalid option.
From: Tim
Date: 2007-04-18 11:13:28 -0500
Arrgh! Over the last couple weeks I’ve gotten 6-8 calls with this greeting: “This is Michelle at Cardholder Services.” Anonymous Caller ID info, and as per another’s remark, they sure don’t do DNC requests. When I pressed 8 for DNC it kept telling me that 8 was an invalid option.
From: Kathy
Date: 2007-05-08 14:24:13 -0500
I just got a call from Michelle too, pressed 8, was told it was not a valid option. Great. Can’t wait to be barraged by calls from these crooks. I’d like to know how they got my number. I don’t have Qwest.
From: katrina copley
Date: 2007-06-07 14:07:26 -0500
“Michelle” called last month, I asked to be removed from their list. Same call again 6/6/07, I pressed 9, and interestingly enough, I ended up with a live line, but no one picked up. So I just listened. Two women talking, southern accents, sounded african american. One woman was fed up because someone she called was “messing with her” and she wasted 20 minutes on the phone! The callee apparently gave her the run-around with expired creidit cards, fake numbers, etc. tee hee, I’ll have to try that.
From: katrina copley
Date: 2007-06-07 14:07:39 -0500
“Michelle” called last month, I asked to be removed from their list. Same call again 6/6/07, I pressed 9, and interestingly enough, I ended up with a live line, but no one picked up. So I just listened. Two women talking, southern accents, sounded african american. One woman was fed up because someone she called was “messing with her” and she wasted 20 minutes on the phone! The callee apparently gave her the run-around with expired creidit cards, fake numbers, etc. tee hee, I’ll have to try that.
From: mary jones
Date: 2007-07-05 13:35:19 -0500
I told her I would report them and that she is currently being recorded. She just laughed and said she always wanted to be a recording artist. They don’t give out info about the company or their names. I tried that several times before. The number does not show on caller ID nor did *69 bring up a number. The FCC told me they cannot do anything about it, since there is no name or number. I screamed in the phone at the top of my lungs hoping that at least she will be deafened for a while.
From: C Dooley
Date: 2007-08-25 14:25:13 -0500
I got a call from “Michelle at Card Holder Services” and caller ID said unknown name/number. I know I scan stop those calls, but in doing so also will block several friends cell numbers. So, I pressed 9 to talk to an agent and asked what company was calling and how they got my #. She said they got my # from my VISA or MCard account, so I asked which one? I have several, which bank are you calling from. Then I told her I was on the no call list and I wanted their number. She then said “you don’t know what you’re talking about” & hung up. They know they can HIDE behind this unknown on caller ID crap, so DO ALL YOU CAN TO REPORT THEM AS HARASSING CALLS, use your star feature on your phone to do CALL TRACE, then be sure to call the phone company to follow up. I used *57 on Comcast call tracing, unfortunately their message starts so quick by the time I got the receiver back to my ear it was done! So I had to call their legal demands center to leave a message to please follow up on this call trace. Good luck with these annoying, don’t want a regular job, scammers.
From: K
Date: 2007-10-02 13:45:08 -0500
What we need is a mole. If they hire temps, we need a leaker.