"Trick you into agreeing" scams

[pontifex]

So I've heard of the scams where someone calls you and tricks you into saying yes or agreeing to something.
It seems I may have just fallen for 1. Has anyone else fallen for 1 and what happened?

I got a call that showed up as Directv (which I do have). They were saying for being a loyal customer, they would give me some premium channels for free for a month, and then I would have to pay for them after the first month unless I canceled it.

I had been dealing with Directv lately for other stuff, so not really thinking, I agreed to it.

Afterwards I looked it up the number online and saw people saying it was Directv, but it wasn't free. They were getting the channels added to their accounts, but it was not free. Some people said it was not Directv.

I called Directv and asked about it and they seemed to indicate they did not make this call and would investigate it. so it sounds like a phone scammer of some sort.

Just curious what I should expect if this was really not Directv? I assume I'll get a bill for something I didn't actually want?

 

[lxskllr]

I don't do 'trials' of any kind. If I'm not willing to pay full price, I don't want it at reduced cost. Whether it's official or not, you're setup to be screwed.

edit:
and it's official policy I don't accept offers from people that approach me. If I want something, I'll look for you. If you contact me, the answer's always "no".

 

[dullard]

I can't help you with Directv. But, I had that happen once with a Discover credit card. Someone called me on a weekend at 6 am saying that it was Discover trying to sell me some insurance on my credit card (I pay some fee that is a percent of each bill and they pay off my balance if I lost my job).

Somehow in my confused daze having just woken up I misspoke to this scam. I had carefully said no to everything they kept trying to sell me. Then the question was "do you agree and I should hang up"? I thought the scammer said "do you agree that I should hang up?" I accidentally said yes.

My solution: I cancelled the card. Anyone doing such scammy business practices doesn't need my business.

 

[Red Squirrel]

That sucks, I actually was messing around with a scammer for a while once and realized it could still back fire as anything I say could be used against me in court. Best not to talk to them at all I guess.

I think this whole thing also shows how ridiculous the legal system is. A person saying "yes" should not be considered legally binding.

 

[who?]

In the state of Arkansas oral contracts are legally binding so don't lead somebody on just to get rid of them.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

In the state of Arkansas oral contracts are legally binding so don't lead somebody on just to get rid of them.

I don't think any would hold up in court if all they had was audio of you simply saying the word "yes".... I just don't see it holding up in court.

That's why any real contact is written, and a copy of it is always provided.

 

[Brainonska511]

I don't think any would hold up in court if all they had was audio of you simply saying the word "yes".... I just don't see it holding up in court.

That's why any real contact is written, and a copy of it is always provided.

It might not hold up in court, but do you really want to go through the trouble of getting to that point?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

It might not hold up in court, but do you really want to go through the trouble of getting to that point?

That's just it, burden of proof is on them. I would tell them to pound sand, and they can have fun trying to start a legal case with that shit level of evidence.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

It is funny when someone telemarkets my home telephone with services from AT&T. I ask if they can beat this exceedingly low price that I already have and they say no, and then ask how did I get such a low price. Employee, bitch, employee!

 

[PJFrylar]

I don't answer the phone unless I know who it is, or I was expecting the call nowadays. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If I do happen to answer an unsolicited call, I just hang up on them without bothering to say anything.

 

[Newfangle9]

I've been getting a few "can you hear me?" calls in the last couple of months, but I already knew they are a scam. At first my reply was f**k you, but now I just ask them if they can hear me and then hang up. Haven't had any recently. I have to answer calls because I'm dealing with doctors etc. whose numbers I don't recognize until I'm done with up coming surgery, otherwise I wouldn't.

 

[pontifex]

I don't answer the phone unless I know who it is, or I was expecting the call nowadays. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If I do happen to answer an unsolicited call, I just hang up on them without bothering to say anything.

I don't answer unless I know who it is or expecting a call either. I was waiting for DirecTV to call me because I was getting an equipment upgrade, so when the phone showed DirecTV in caller ID I answered.

 

[TeeJay1952]

Only Contacts on my phone get answered. Everyone else invited to leave message.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I keep forgetting to actually call my phone company in the day, but been thinking of canceling my landline. I'm oddly going to miss these scammers as it's fun to mess with them, but it will also be nice to not have them bother me. I find it interesting that cells never get telemarketing or scams, they must have a better DNCL filtering system at those switches.

 

[Cozarkian]

I can't help you with Directv. But, I had that happen once with a Discover credit card. Someone called me on a weekend at 6 am saying that it was Discover trying to sell me some insurance on my credit card (I pay some fee that is a percent of each bill and they pay off my balance if I lost my job).

Somehow in my confused daze having just woken up I misspoke to this scam. I had carefully said no to everything they kept trying to sell me. Then the question was "do you agree and I should hang up"? I thought the scammer said "do you agree that I should hang up?" I accidentally said yes.

My solution: I cancelled the card. Anyone doing such scammy business practices doesn't need my business.

That wasn't Discover. That was an insurance company that offers insurance on Discover cards. They may or may not have had a contract with Discover to provide such insurance. If they did have a contract, I'm sure Discover would have appreciated if you had called and told them about the problem.

 

[lxskllr]

Only Contacts on my phone get answered. Everyone else invited to leave message.

Same. I use a program to block all unknown numbers, so I don't have to hear it ring.

 

[Brainonska511]

That's just it, burden of proof is on them. I would tell them to pound sand, and they can have fun trying to start a legal case with that shit level of evidence.

The burden of proof is on them, but if they start a court case, you have to respond, or be prepared to face a default judgment against you.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The burden of proof is on them, but if they start a court case, you have to respond, or be prepared to face a default judgment against you.

Yeah that's the issue with the legal system, anyone can sue you for anything, and you HAVE to show up or you automatically lose. If they are asses they will make sure the case happens very far from you and it will cost you tons of money just to be there.

 

[Carson Dyle]

How could a 3rd party make adjustments to your account with DirecTV? If they cannot, then you can't be scammed if it costs you nothing.

 

[pontifex]

How could a 3rd party make adjustments to your account with DirecTV? If they cannot, then you can't be scammed if it costs you nothing.

Could charge me for something else unrelated. Just using DirecTV as a way to get the scam going?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Could charge me for something else unrelated. Just using DirecTV as a way to get the scam going?

Did you give them a credit card number?

... not seeing it.

 

[pontifex]

Did you give them a credit card number?

... not seeing it.

No, but could send me a bill for something, I guess. This thread was made to try to find out what the end game is with that kind of scam?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Googling around a bit, it sounds like these calls from DirecTV are fairly common, and fairly annoying to a lot of their customers. I'm betting it was a legit 3rd party telemarketer employed by DirecTV. And customer service either knows nothing about it or simply denies it, or you made is sound like such a phishing scheme that they couldn't do anything but deny it was them.

And then there's this line of thinking... Someone called you and offered a service from DirecTV, and you agreed to the offer. That' not a scam. That's just being a gullible, easily persuaded consumer.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Did you give them a credit card number?

... not seeing it.

CC and other personal info is sold to other parties left and right now days. I'm sure they probably have it. Until they make it illegal for companies to sell your personal information this stuff will continue. Even Equifax was selling info, but not that anybody needs to pay for it when it's just available on their servers in plain text.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

The burden of proof is on them, but if they start a court case, you have to respond, or be prepared to face a default judgment against you.

I believe the case has to be local to you, correct? Plus they would obviously have to serve you as well.