Several times a week, I get calls from scammers. The calls usually appear to come from random places around the US. If you answer, and they confirm that you are in fact a human gullible enough to answer a call from an unknown number, the scammer follows a standard script. They tell you they are calling from Microsoft support about a problem with your computer. Or they tell you there is something urgent that needs to be fixed on your credit report. Or they are calling from a government agency about something that needs your immediate attention. Or they act overly friendly, offering discounts on your services. If you hear an Indian accent and busy call center noise in the background, it’s almost certainly a scam.
I consider myself tech-savvy and sharp — I usually pick up on these things quickly. Usually, I answer the phone and then gently put it down without hanging up so that the scammer can talk to himself (yes, it’s always a guy) for a little bit before they realize there is nobody there and hangs up. The goal is simple: waste as much of their time as possible in return. I think that’s a pretty good solution, and if everybody did it, I think it would make things a lot more frustrating for these scammers. But right now, it’s probably only me that does this.
This morning, I received a call from White Cloud, Michigan. I answered. Indian accent. Guy said he worked for AT&T and asked me if I was interested in getting a monthly discount for my service, all the while trying to build a rapport with gentle pleasantries. I was feeling a little squirrelly, so instead of putting the phone down I decided to play with the guy a little bit. I said that I would definitely enjoy some discounts, and he asked me to confirm my phone number. Weird, as he just called me, and I mentioned this to him. Then he told me that he just texted me a confirmation code. He wanted me to confirm it verbally with him.
I figured whatever he sent was probably fake, as you can send any text message from any number, and that it was probably another attempt to build rapport. He hadn’t asked me for any of my personal information yet. So I read the number back to him. Then there was a pause. A pause that worried me. Maybe the pause meant that he had successfully used my confirmation code to somehow access my account. Maybe he’d change my password, lock me out, and do who knows what with my personal information. Maybe I shouldn’t have done any of this.
I panicked. I quickly logged into my account on att.com. My fingers were nervously fumbling as I tried to navigate to the page to change my password. Finally found the page (which is here as of today). My Chrome browser offered to fill the password field automatically with a strong password, but it wasn’t smart enough to know that the form wouldn’t accept many of the special characters it used. So it kept failing. As I fumbled through this, I nervously tried to keep the scammer engaged with conversation, as I thought that keeping him distracted would slow down whatever he was trying to do, but it slowed things down on my end as well.
Finally, I seemed to successfully change my password, logging out and in again to confirm. But was I too late? Was the scammer already in there doing some damage?
I hung up on the scammer. I wanted to contact AT&T, but of course there’s no contact information on their website for emergencies like this. Only a form you can fill out to report fraud with instructions that say you could wait up to 30 days for a response. Come on, AT&T. This is not only aggravating but dangerous and irresponsible on your part.
I soon received a few password change confirmation emails from AT&T, each listing a phone number (800-288-2020). I called it. No menus — I was transferred immediately to a person. Strange. There was a lot of background call center noise, and the person who started talking had an Indian accent. Oh boy.
I nervously explained my situation. I asked him to confirm that my account was secure and hadn’t been accessed by any third parties. He said he would happy to do so, but that he would have to text me a confirmation code which I would need to read back to him. Uh oh.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t take it anymore. I blurted out that I had just been scammed by someone asking me to do exactly the same thing. And hearing that Indian accent coming from him made me very nervous about everything. Was I even on the phone with AT&T? Or did this email come from the scammer? I scrambled to confirm that the emails, which had been sent to me from @att-mail.com, were legit, and it seemed like they were.
The support agent seemed a little offended that I mistook his accent for Indian. He explained that he was from Egypt, which was somewhat reassuring. Then he asked me if I had ever been to Egypt, which I found oddly personal given the urgency of the call. Was this another scammer trying to rebuild rapport? I was a mess.
I hesitated, but after confirming that the emails sent to me and the phone number I called did indeed belong to AT&T, I confirmed the code texted to me and confirmed another code emailed to me. After some more back-and-forth, he assured me my account was secure and hadn’t been accessed. He repeated over and over that AT&T will always keep my account secure and will always have my back. He was overselling it to the point that I started becoming suspicious again. He insisted I speak with his manager for further reassurance. That made me even more suspicious, as a scammer could easily hand the phone off to another scammer pretending to be a manager. I declined that offer, apologized for my accent comment, thanked him for his help, and ended the call.
I spent the next hour obsessively checking — and rechecking — my account. Everything seemed fine. It’s now later in the evening. I can confirm that I still have access to my AT&T account, and everything seems to be in order. But next time a scammer calls, you can bet they’ll get the silent treatment.
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