Not sure if this goes here or not.........got a "live" phone call....."is Lisa's there?"

[a kennedy]

I say no, you must have the wrong phone number, a pause, and he says maybe you can help me, I’m from the police and police academy foundation, and I say no thanks and hung up. Like the cops need MY money to kill more innocent people. Heard that this is national police appreciation week. A couple of grade and high schools held a ceremony to honor the cops in our region.

[getagrip_already]

1. It's a scam tactic....

I've heard this script almost to the letter from a few callers, all with different end pitches. I really doubt they had any official connection to le and really doubt any money raised would go where they say.

[Midnight Writer]

2. Yep, it's a scam.

[Nanuke]

3. When they call and say they are with the police federation...

I just say two words slowly, over and over, until they hang up on me: George Floyd, George Floyd, George Floyd...

[a kennedy]

4. Love that.......I'll remember to say that as well.

[TexasBushwhacker]

6. One of the worst fund raising rackets

Only 10 to 20% actually goes to the police in any way. The rest goes to the fund raising company.

[keithbvadu2]

7. When a 'charity' cold calls you, it's almost always a scam.

When a 'charity' cold calls you, it's almost always a scam.

[csziggy]

8. I never admit to who might be in the house

They will call and ask for "csziggy." I say who is calling? The police whatever foundation guy that called the other day asked again for me by the first name. I asked who was calling. Then addressing me by my first name, he started in on his spiel.

I talked over him, told him to take my number off his list and to never call me again. When I slammed the receiver down, he was still spouting whatever crap he had on his script.

[FakeNoose]

9. Most calls of that nature are pre-recorded

If you have caller ID, never answer the phone unless you recognize the name of the caller. Let it go to voicemail. If it's a real person, they normally will leave a message. If it's spam (and it usually is) they just hang up and leave no message.

[csziggy]

10. Not answering the phone is not an option

Too many of the companies we interact with use calling services that do not identify the caller. A lot of them will not leave messages, especially the healthcare related ones.

I let the phone ring three times before I pick up - that weeds out a lot of the robocalls. The ones that get through come in when I am in the middle of something and can't check the caller ID. Robocalls are hung up on, unless I am in a bad mood and cuss at them. The others I either tell them to never call me again, or I mess with them.

The "mess with" category these days seem to be mostly car warranty scams. I ask them about an extended warranty on my 1999 GMC Suburban and they just hang up. Those don't come in very often any more for some reason.