Do Not Answer Calls From (202) 480-5620!!

Ok, so lately there's been much talk of a scam coming from the number (202)480-5620. Apparently what happens when you answer is you hear a “ship’s horn” and a message from your “captain” claiming that if you take a short survey you will receive to free boarding passes for a wonderful cruise.

Well, I actually got a call from that number! However, I didn't answer it beacuse I knew it was a scam. I wanted to really bad though.

I did some research online, and it seems that the number is a ‘fake’ – or ‘spoofed’- number, used to hide the REAL number that is calling.

Research on this scam led to the 800notes.com website, and “Alec” had this bit of information explaining what this scam is :

1)  If you answer your phone (or when asked, “press 1,” revealing your number), your number is stored with a list of other “valid” numbers and later “sold” to telemarketing companies as a valid number to call.  This is like email scammers who, if you reply to their emails, know your email address is a “real” email address – which they can sell to other email marketers.

2)  If you get to the point of actually answering their survey questions, your answers provide them with specific demographic info about you – allowing them to sell your number to telemarketers who use “targeted” marketing.  In short, if you answer their survey questions, your number is more valuable to other telemarketers.

To stay legal (assuming they want to), they might even give out a single “free trip” to the Bahamas one a year.  But, it’s probably just a scam to get as much demographics out of you as they possibly can.

So, there you go! If you get a call from that number, DON'T ANSWER!