i do not know who this is but they have called me also and it happens every minute or two. i blocked the caller and i hate that this is happening i know how you feel

800 555 1212
harassing phone calls saying i owe $ for subscriptions
horrible people

This number is suspicious simply because when I see 555-1212, I think of information

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC?s online Complaint Assistantor call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC?s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC


Defend yourself:
Always be cautious about providing personal information over the telephone.
How to Report Phone Fraud
To report violations of the National Do Not Call Registry, visit DoNotCall.gov or call 1-888-382-1222. (If your name is on the Do Not Call Registry, you should only receive calls from companies that you do business with or companies that you gave permission to call. If you receive a call from another company, report it. You will need the name and number of the caller and date and time of the call.)
Visit ftc.gov or call 1-877-FTC-HELP.
The complaint that you report will be submitted into the Consumer Sentinel Network, which is a database that is used by law enforcement agencies across the world. It helps them to track down the culprits and eventually stop the fraud.

They called saying they  are the census bureau

Please block this number for me

I received an call on my cell phone from 555-555-1212 requesting that I do an "Economic Survey which is required by law."  I hung up and went immediately to the computer and googled 555-555-1212. When I tried to call back, I got that the number could not be completed as dialed.  Please check the number and dial again.  

I was called on my cell from phone number '1212' three times in a row today.

Of COURSE you cannot call them back. I wish the goddm phone companies could be SUED for allowing these types of calls to go through when they know what they are doing is ILLEGAL.

Best way to stop them is let the phone ring (waste their time) until it goes to voice mail. Enter the phone no in your contacts and assign it a 'vibrate' tone so you aren't bothered by the ringing.

If NOBODY ever picks up then perhaps we can starve the beast that plagues us.

Just got the same junk call on my private business cell phone.
They are war-dialing entire NPA's with a PRI.

[Warning, TelCo geek speak ahead]

If there are other ex-RBOC or telecom pros on this list, can you please answer me this: will AT&T (California) wireless disclose the originating location of these clowns so I can track them down and get their PRI cut?

This is a massive abuse of their carriers T&C's, not to mention the PSTN in general.

Thanks,
(And thanks for owner/operators of this web site)
PK

Rcvd Vociemail from this #.

Its just a spam call for an unknown auto insurance company.

Answered, pressed 1 and when a rep picked up the phone I asked whether this was indeed a public service (as the recording asserted) or whether it was a solicitation. The rep hung up.

just got a call from this number. i didn't answer and no voicemail.

"This is a courtesy call from the department of motor vehicles advising you that you are overpaying for auto insurance." Ah ha ha ha. Really?! Since when would anyone call --really--to advise about overpayment. And since when do people get to masquerade as a government agency?! If a human had been on the line, I could have cussed them out for calling me at 6:00AM!!!! I thought unsolicited calls were illegal.

Same here Sam,
just received it and blocked it as soon as it rang.
Got to love Cell phone blocking.

Just got a call from this number at 3:56 pm PST. Thought it was such an odd number that I decided to google it. Like many here it confused me because the only place I had ever seen a 555 area code was on TV (and I assumed that was because it wasn't a real area code so that people wouldn't try to call the number after they watch the movie/show/what have you.) I'm currently sick with a kidney infection so I guess this could be bothering me more than normal but this kind of thing pisses me off. Look how many people have had to put up with this crap! It's terrible. I'm hoping they won't begin calling back all the time like others have had to deal with. Kidney infections are really painful and I need to have my phone on me for safety but I don't want to deal with this crap right now. I guess I shouldn't borrow trouble, I hope they don't call back- I didn't pick up and they didn't even make it to the end of the ring before hanging up. So what's the general consensus? Should I pick up and tell them to stop calling if they call back or just ignore it and block the number?

These people called me TWICE this AM *WITHIN ONE MINUTE* on my PRIVATE, PRE-PAID Cell phone - that is not 'attached' to ANY CREDIT.  NOR, have I done business with BOA - EVER.  I have a Chase credit card, but they have a LAND LINE for that account.

I DO NOT OWE **ANY** outstanding debt, so this is OBVIOUSLY SPAM.  Occasionally, I get collection calls for the person who had this number before me, but that was SO LONG AGO that the statute of limitations MUST be expired by now, so these are just BOTTOM FEEDING SCUMSUCKERS.

**WHY** are they allowed to use SPOOFED numbers to HARASS people?  ISN'T THAT ILLEGAL???

Wow.  This string started in early August 2007 and IS STILL GOING STRONG in LATE 2013!  WHY hasn't the feds SHUT THIS ONE DOWN???  If EVERYONE here has posted a COMPLAINT to the DNC list by now, it WOULD have been, I'll bet.

I just got a call on my PRIVATE, UNLISTED and non-disclosed to businesses cell.  I don't give it out for 'sweepstakes' or contact info so I don't know HOW they got it.  The phone started ringing at 11:06AM ET and when I looked at the number it said "Withheld".  So I pressed 'IGNORE.'  It stopped, but then IMMEDIATELY started up again with THIS number (555-555-1212).  I decided it was either spoofed OR an "Information" database trying to get info on who had this number - which I was NOT about to give to anyone.  Hit 'IGNORE' again, and it stopped.  Hoping I don't get 'harassed' by this number.  Occasionally I get a string of calls from a collection agency for someone who had this number before me.  When I see they aren't going to stop, I answer and tell them the person they're looking for doesn't have my number anymore and to STOP calling.

Next stop: DoNotCall List COMPLAINT form.

two words:  Spoof number.  Canvassers / solicitors / debt collectors who wish to hide where they are located use services / automation which hide their actual phone line # in order to prevent you calling / spoofing them back.

555-1212 in any outside area code was the free directory for that particular area for many years, still is in most instances.

555 area code plus this same number is most likely a spoof, as outlined above.  Any number of scam artists or collection agencies can use the same # as the service is purchased in bulk, like so many hours on a trunkline or a website. Thus, it could be from anyone, anywhere.

As you correctly observed, many of these fly-by-nights will buy up your data wherever and whenever they can, often buying lists of phone #'s entered into a website of just such 'free stuff' companies.  If you are writing here, you are old and wise enough to know there is no such thing as 'free stuff'.....  there is ALWAYS a catch, as you have now observed. Particularly now, with folks becoming ever more desperate, and corps. ever more predatory and unscrupulous.
If you have your tel. # on Facebook:  REMOVE IT.  These people are scanning for phone #'s even if unlisted, and we know just how much a scam artist / vulture M. Schmuckerberg is for selling your info to the highest bidder.  That's how he sells FB as 'free' when in fact it is your eyeballs and data he is selling to anyone with the cash.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!  (buyer beware!!!)

Got a call from this number earlier today. They didn't leave a message and seemed to hang up before my ringtone had finished one run through. Went online to investigate the strange number and I found all of these different stories. Hopefully they won't try calling again.

oh, well.  You could develop thick skin and just ignore them, or block them, as I have done now for years. They eventually get the message!!  You are so absolutely right to smell a rat! They usually give themselves away by what they say, or don't, in the message.

More often than not, it is a scammer or possibly a collection agency trying to collect on an old debt which you've forgotten or paid off and was never updated in their database.  These boiler room operations trade debt like baseball cards, selling them off to the next corp., and the next, and the next, ad nauseum, until finally they have spent all their meager profit margin.  
Just think of all the poor schmucks being paid 8 bucks an hour to robo-call you five times a week, and you begin to get the picture.  It isn't the calling person's fault, it's the corp. who stupidly bought the batch of debts thinking they would make at least SOME of the money back. They prey upon people falling for their legalese and slick talk.
The last in line gets really desperate, sounding all legal and threatening like with possible court action when the item is about to be dropped from your credit file.  Note they NEVER say which agency / boiler room / legal jurisdiction they are calling from / about to file in...... This REALLY annoys them, far more than the calls annoy you, 'cause they don't make any profit...  Double WIN for YOU!  That is, if you truly do not owe the debt, or have the means to repay, or it is truly a scammer (99% of the time, it is.)

Advice:  Become stronger than they - you have the power, they don't - and just ignore / block them.  They eventually go away, like most desperate collectors, scammers and cons.

bon chance!!

I just got the call. It left an automated message on my voice mail saying records released by the California Department of Motor Vehicles indicates I'm paying too much for auto insurance, and to press <1> to take advantage of the "free service" or <3> to be removed from the list. My number is unlisted.

I only get a call to my cell from an unknown number maybe every three or four weeks.  This was the second one I got today!  The first was from a 970 area code.  I didn't pick up, and they didn't leave a message.

This call just came in on my cell phone. The caller left a generic message that I may be paying too much for auto insurance and the message was left on my voice mail by a robocaller that sounds like the same woman's voice I've gotten for the past few years on messages about lowering my credit card interest rates (though that message never specifies which credit cards). This message tries to sound important and official, as if they know I'm paying too much for my car insurance. When will the day come when I turn on the news and see the ring of criminals behind these annoying calls was finally busted?

I just got a call from this number and they are from an insurance company. They have the option to press 3 to be removed from their list.

This number calls my cell phone which is unusual as of course, that is "unpublished".  Must be a random dialer.

just got a call from this number, and when i received it, they hung up.

I received a phone call from this number on my cell phone today. I did not answer it and no message was left.  I tried to call it back and I got a recording from my cell phone provider saying it was an invalid number.

Got a pre-recorded call from this # saying it is from public service.  It said I was overpaying the auto insurance and asked me to press 1 to continue or 2 to unlist.  I just hung up.  Check on web site, one company listed as fax #, several companies listed as tel#.  Weird? Right!  Scam.

stop it

Got a call from 555-555-1212. Don't know who's number so I did not answer.