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Problem Threatening call to kill me and my family - boiler room scam?

I am having an issue with a company

DonutMonster

Recruit
Messages
1
Hello all,

I'm completely clueless about trading/forex by the way, I'm just trying to gather information on what happened last night and decide how best to deal with it or ignore it.

Basically, I had what I think is a boiler room scammer call me up and when I was non compliant, it turned nasty. I didn't care about the initial 'your momma must be so proud' taunts etc, but when he called me back 10 mins later threatening to kill me, my family, slice me, burn our house down, shove something up my a$$ and said 'you know what I'm doing right now... I'm digging your unmarked grave', it had gone too far.

It started a few weeks ago when I had a call at 20:53 from the number 02200381601. It was a strange number and I could have ignored it, but I guess curiosity and a desire to put a cold caller to rights was too much. The female caller (with a kind of American accent) asked if it was me, I confirmed and asked who she was. She then said that I had submitted my details onto a webform with intentions to make money. I said that I hadn't, asked again who they were, and she avoided answering again, so I asked again where did they get my details from. As she wouldn't offer a response, I told her to remove my details and not to call again. She responded with 'I can't do that, you submitted your details so you must want to make money'. At this point it 100% confirmed to me it was not a legitimate call and I repeated that she has to remove my details and not call again.

I hung up and blocked the number.

Last night I received another call from a similar number (02204492626) at the EXACT same time of 20:53. It was an automated outbound call which went through to the agent when I answered as there was a long pause before they actually spoke. I decided to answer to see if it was the same people and to repeat my instructions for them to remove me from their database and not call again.

A similar dialogue occurred with the male caller,also with similar accent: Is this xxxx? I didn't confirm but asked who he was. He repeated 'is this xxxx?'. I asked who he was and it went around in circles a few times and when he wouldn't offer that information I just said 'listen, you called recently at this time - it's nearly 9pm in the UK, you have no right to call me and you need to stop calling or I will report you'. When I got a similar response to the other woman such as 'but you put your details online' as if it was my fault (more about that later) I then lost it and said something along the lines of 'just f*** off, don't call again you muthaf***** c**t....' whatever it was (validated in my opinion).

We then got into a verbal exchange and the 'your momma must be so proud' taunts didn't bother me. My wife was listening and was shocked.

She asked what it was all about and I said it has to be a boiler room scam as no legitimate company would act respond in the way.

Just over 10 minutes later, my mobile rang again from +27714351808 and it was the same male caller. The country code +27 is South African but he wasn't (I lived in South Africa for 5 years). In a deep and threatening tone, he started telling me he knew where I lived, repeated my name and email address, said all the above about burning the house down, slicing me, killing me and my family etc. I put it on speakerphone and my wife recorded some of it. I just let him carry on and when he was asking me did I know what he was going to do next, I just said 'what?' and let him continue.

I think he realised I was recording him and I just let his conversation take it's natural course until he ended the call.

I searched the numbers on google to see if there were any similar 'who called me' complaints but couldn't find anything. The 0220 numbers aren't geo-specific as far as I can tell so they must be using a mask to anonymise the origin which is probably why he was so smug in being an asshat and a scammer.

I'm now in two minds how best to proceed:

Next time they call, just ignore and block. The telecoms operator has said if it becomes too much of an issue to change my number. Well, that will be a pain and my stubbornness won't allow a shithead like this to 'win'.

Or.....be compliant and engage in conversation to try determine more information such as where they are claiming to be calling from and where I would be 'making money'. I'm also prepared to offer them my card details of an old, dormant account so they try to make a financial transaction - obviously they won't get anything but it should leave a footprint and might help identify and build a case if there are other instances.

The latter may help bring justice - slight chance I know, but there's also a little bit of scam baiting inside me that wants to waste their time like they have mine.

Although I've given my wife reassurances that this is just a boiler room scam, naturally she is unnerved by his tone and claims. Their intentions are to scam and make money, not go after people.

Background info: I'm in affiliate marketing and know how easy it is for scumbags to steal and sell data - even for big companies. I go to affiliate conferences that include casino, forex etc but nobody should have ny private email address. I have a spam email account for anything I register with that is not official such as utilities, bank etc. This was not my spam email account email address he had. I also use certain characters in my spam 'name' to help identify where the person obtained my details. The fact it was my 'official' email address is worrying as there has obviously been a data breach somewhere, whether it be a friend's email account/contact list or an official source.

He didn't repeat my residential address although said 'I know where you live'. If he was that confident and wanted to really put the shivers up me, he would have actually repeated my address (In my opinion).

The purpose of this is to see if anybody else has experienced similar situations and if so, how they have dealt with it.
 
DonutMonster,

Call the police and the phone company. Tell them everything you've posted here, including the idea of using a dormant credit card. Follow their advice on whether to hang up or to try to get more information.

And then send me a box of donuts. :)
 
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