Area code 331 seems to be a favorite area code for people who pretend to be family members and try to get money.

If you receive a call you don't recognize with a 331 area code, I'd think twice about answering it.

Thank you for the warning!  This happened to us.

Mom received a call from her "nephew" asking her to pick him up at the airport. Call was lost and he called again to continue the conversation.

sounded fishy! we verified with family and confirmed this was a hoax. Be safe and pay attention to what they are saying and asking.

Thanks.

Scam artists are a pet peeve of mine and I can't believe that no matter how much information you collect on them and turn over the FBI, they never get caught and continue the scam.

I traced a housing scam back to the Philippines and even found the actual names and addresses of the people running the scam and turned all of that info over and those people are still out there posting their fake housing ads on craigslist on a daily basis. I even contact the media with all the info I had, and though they had just ran a story regarding the scams, they weren't interested in the actual information. It's like they're protected or want the scams to continue for some reason.

Very nice post and very informative! Another place to get info removed is places like Spokeo! Googling ones name and number can turn up a lot of sites and they should be made to remove this info. Another cause -  these articles right here explain:

http://800notes.com/forum/ta-9b593c6d671798c/ ... sed-to-scammers
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/04/u-s-states ... ch-at-experian/

One thing you should know. 800notes is simply a site where people can write out the experiences they've had when people from these particular phone numbers have called them in an attempt to warn other people of possible scams and prevent them from getting cheated out of money by these people. We don't really have any more information than you do.

The best answer I can give as to how these people might have gotten your information, is through websites that collect information on people through public records, such as http://www.intelius.com/, www.radaris.com, and others like it. Sites like this can usually tell people your name, your age, your current city and previous cities in which you've lived, and also give a list of some of your relatives. I believe people, like the one running this scam, scan such sites and target elderly people with hispanic last names and then look those people up in the phone book.

This person targeted my grandmother, making her believe that she was the son of one her cousins in Venezuela, and that he had come to the US to meet her. He then called back and told her he had been in a car accident and needed money to pay the other driver to prevent any legal issues.

Luckily, my mom and aunt intervened and prevented her from sending him anything. That's my best guess. I hope that information helps.

If you want to do a search for yourself and try to remove your info from the web, here is a good place to start: https://blog.sgrouples.com/delete-your-privat ... arch-databases/

You can also google your full name and see what comes up and where your information is posted and do your best to remove yourself from each site one by one. It's not an easy task.

Report is to:
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
http://www.fbi.gov/
http://www.nw3c.org/
and your local authorities.

My mother almost gave this guy $$$$. Called saying he was a relative...in car accident....needed $$ If we werent here she would have payed.

This message  that I'm sending to every body that had fone calling, why this Armando Ochoa Rodriguez, in still free, and not in jail? Who can answer me?

I wrote on october 2013, but in italian language, nobody answered me. I was very stupid to believe to Armando Ochoa Rodriguez "my cousin". I would like to know how he had my name, my fone number. He knowed very well that I have family in Venezuela. Somebody can answer me, please? The number that he used was 331-2911631. I'm reading that number is always for most  of people. Waiting for answers, I say bay bay.

This guy called pretending to b a family relative from mexico that had just arrived to usa, he wanted personal information like our address & cell phone numbers, he kept inventing all this made up stuff, we contacted our family in mexico n confirmed that this men was a fake, pls b careful ask personal questions that only family would know before giving $ n contact family first!!!!!

This person keeps calling me from 331-291-1631 clamming to be a relative, has my moms full name and always plays the gave of guess who I am.......when I call that number back it is not a valid number.....anyone have any ideas on how to catch these people.

Beware!!, scam tried to get 2000 out of my mother saying their family!! We contacted our family first to see who has seen this reportedly relative and all fake!! Please be careful! Ask questions contact other family or fiends.

Spanish speaking man claiming to be family, in desperate need of money after being arrested at the Spanish border

Se quien eres donde esta y Como encontrarte  y por si Caso me llega cuentas Guega con tu vida primo!

Ke primo ! Ya salio de migracion de Madrid?

Esto delicuentes llamado Como primo mio aver soy dominicana no mexicana!
Llanadome si puedo dar alojamiento Hay me hablaba Como si de verdad me conoseis  
No se ke Es' lo ke querer, pues problemas ya tengo vastante

called saying they were "Relatives"

Acted like familly and wanted $$

He was trying to scam my mother for money playing and acting like Juan a family friend - saying they were in accident and they needed $ to pay off the people they wrecked with -Be on ALERT

3319242042

what can we do plz help been scamed
.

This guy call and claim to be a family member of us plz dnt fall  number is 52133120916

Report is to:
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
http://www.fbi.gov/
http://www.nw3c.org/
and your local authorities.

they scamed my mom claming they were relitives...

Ho già mandato 2 post, segnalando questo numero: quando sono stata truffata, ho inviato il denaro a: ARMANDO OCHOA RODRIGUEZ, telefono N°00521-331-2911631, GUADALAJARA, JALISCO, MEXICO. Dovrebbe aver ritirato i soldi presso Money Gram. Ho già segnalato l'accaduto. Sicuramente, per ritirarare i soldi deve aver presentato un documento d'identità o può averlo fatto on line? Rispondetemi, grazie.

This number called and they new allot of information about family. They tricked my father into sending them 900$ to mexico to a person who we do not know. What up sets me is they targeted a poor person. They did it on the day he recieves his monthly retirement/pension. They got him to send his entire income for the month. He is old and although I wouldnt have done this he did.. They took advantage of him in the worst way. I want these guys to go down!!!!

CAREFUL!!!!!!!! this people want your money, are scam, ask for information before answer any question.

Careful this guys are fakes. They said are "relatives ".

This number keeps on calling claiming that they are a relative. They call me by my name, but they never tell me who they are from my family and keep on telling me they're a "surprise". These guys are fakes, they're probably getting the information out of a phone book.