this number called me, left a message said he was Mr Scott. & I needed to return the call. I thought it was the cable guy. no thank you Mr Scott.

I got this call a few days ago and also 3 other calls from different numbers, all showing a 214 and 972 area code.

All 4 calls left a voice mail message saying they are so and so (first name of a person, no last name given) and I need to call them back right away, it's important.

But they never said who they were calling for: no Mr. Smith, this is Mr. Johnson calling, please call us back right away.

It was: this is Mr. Johnson calling, you need to call us back right away, this is important.

Isn't it illegal to make a fake number show up on your caller ID to make you think you are receiving a call from a local number?

I don't know who they are but since they didn't call me by my name, Mr. Brown, I will not call back.

I also don't answer the phone when the number on the caller ID doesn't say any of the following: parents, dry cleaner, doctor, dentist, wife, sister, best friend, work, etc etc

Just got a call from this number. Normally I don't answer calls from numbers that are not familiar to me, but I thought that this was a friend calling. This number is just a couple digits off from the friend's number.
When I answered, there was a significant pause, then a guy started asking for someone named Fred Myrtle, or something close to that. When I asked him to repeat the name he got a bit testy and said that I needed to "man up" and talk to him. At that point I just hung up. I'm pretty sure that this is some sort of scam, or one of those "Zombie debt collectors". Whichever it is, I'd advise you to not answer the call.