Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

Yesterday I was having a little trouble with Capture NX2, and I phoned Nikon Canada, this was about 15 minutes before they closed (2:45pm our time) It rang once and an operator from the "Kingston exchange" jumped in and said, this number has been changed, but for a fee of $4- something we can reconnect you. Didn't bite, but hung up.

So this afternoon I called- 4pm or so, I got the answering service, closed by then. Didn't cost a nickel.

My question is: are these scammers now capable of tapping into the telephone lines, and guess I answered my own question- scary

Swede

Rongnongno Loc: FL

mmmm Did you happen to document or are able to document this?

If so, you might want to contact Nikon over this directly (not phone support).

www.nikonimgsupport.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://secure.nikonsso.com/?RelayState=%2Fni%2FNI_ask_support%3Flang%3Den_CA%26ctry%3DCA&rn=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nikonimgsupport.com


Use quote reply for the full link, it does display correctly but it is there.

Woodsman Loc: North of Peterborough Ontario

That does sound strange, I do not know why a company would change a 1-877 published support number. The whole charge thing sounds bogus to me.

That said I have gotten discouraged with support calls recently. I purchased a browning trail camera, not a cheap one either. I had a problem with it killing batteries in less than a day and called support. I was told to contact the sub contractor manufacturer directly. I dont think so. Thats a first being passed from the brand name support to an off shore third party component manufacturer. I returned the camera and will never purchase a Browning product again. I also use Spypoint trail cameras and have issues with them humming on the audio of night video when the IR is on. I believe its the IR array heating up and in cold weather trying to pull more power than the cold batteries can deliver. I had one though that would hum, scream, click and bang on night video audio. I called Spypoint and was told to use a lower class of SD card (theres a first). They said the card may be too fast for the camera. WOW, first time I heard that. That one was returned as well. Seriously, companies need to get people on support a little more qualified technically and definitely trained in customer service.

GalaxyCat Loc: Boston, MA

I worked a while giving Tech Support for a special computer board. I constantly got letters that I was successful helping customers. The call center was in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The computer company moved tech support away from California because $12 an hour is a good wage in Oklahoma, in comparison. So it is possible to get good tech support from Americans, but I don't know if they are still in business... in Oklahoma? or not? Sorry, but I'm not going to try to find out. This was 1993-1994.

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

Ron I didn't document this, but it did happen. As soon as I got the message I hung up, I phoned my youngest brother who is kinda high up with Telus- local phone carrier, and he told me straight, BS.

To do it again, knowing what I know now- I'd have her on the phone still.

And Nikon knows about it, but my question -"Is this possible"

Swede

MichaelH Loc: NorCal via Lansing, MI

Could you have miss-dialed? There are individuals/hackers who register domains similar to other web sites to fool unsuspecting browsers into thinking they are at the real site. Type in www.applw.com and you get straight to Apple as they were proactive in registering likely miss spellings. Maybe a similar phone number is used for this purpose. I do believe that the digits you see when someone is calling you can be spoofed.

But to "intercept" your call would require some flaw in the routing system that could be exploited from the outside and I doubt that this would be a lucrative enough ploy (intercepting Nikon's inbound lines) to justify the risk.

Swede Loc: Trail, BC Canada

Maybe Nikon is not the only ones targeted, kinda gets more lucrative after that. I'm not in this for a pissing match, flaw or no flaw in the routing system, just a heads up. She wanted $5 in 30 seconds, no you're right no money there.
If It's automated, how much then.
This doesn't worry you?L

Swede

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

How can you ask if it's possible when you just told us it happened...I wouln't doubt it for a second. If you happened to have watched 60 minutes about a month ago regarding what's possible in regards to our laptop camera's turning themselves on, what they said, and demonstrated that a stove, a coffee maker, a refrigerator, can tap into your wireless service...phone number hijacking I would think a piece of cake for one knowing what to do.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Imagine how much one could make, if hundreds paid that fraudulent $4.00 fee daily. I've never experienced anything like that before. Phone and email scamming is rising.

OnDSnap Loc: NE New Jersey

It's been going on for years, hang up calls... one would call back and you would be charged for an international call...big scam about 10 years ago. And there was no getting around paying for it. Sad ain't it?

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

So, I believe your lead in should have been "attemped call to Nikon yesterday"

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yes, I'm fairly sure they can. They also publish bogus scam numbers that come up in Google searches. I almost got taken in by one. Their story just did not sound right. After contacting the correct company and explaining what happened I soon found the bogus number was gone entirely. They seemed to have tried the number themselves and put their Web legal people on to it.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Kingston is a town in Jamaica and they historically have phone scammers.
I wondered two things: 1- Where did you get the tel# you dialed and 2 - Do you have a regular old wired phone or did you use a VOIP or Cellular phone?

Country Boy Loc: Beckley, WV

While there are some that create a website that looks almost exactly like another to skim off business there could also be someone just capturing miss-dialed calls. If you dialed incorrectly it would be possible and legal for someone to transfer your call for a fee. Miss-dialed calls are common. Years ago while managing a repair center for a telephone company I started receiving complaints from a taxi company because they had so many irate customers. Found that there was a little lady with a telephone number 1 off from the taxi company that was getting calls all hours of the night in error. Rather than try to explain to drunks their mistake, she started saying stand by the curb and we will pick you up in 10 minutes - then she would go back to bed. When the drunk realized they were not coming and called back, they would likely get the right number on the second attempt and were very irate. The taxi company paid the lady to get her to let them have the number to resolve the problem.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Swede, the latest scam:

This is very clever. `I would probably fall for it if not warned. This scam is actually very clever. Just when you thought you'd heard it all. Be very careful out there! Beware of people bearing gifts.

The following is a recounting of the incident from the victim:

Wednesday a week ago, I had a phone call from someone saying that he was from some outfit called: "Express Couriers," (The name could be any courier company). He asked if I was going to be home because there was a package for me that required a signature.

The caller said that the delivery would arrive at my home in roughly an hour. Sure enough, about an hour later, a uniformed delivery man turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and a bottle of wine. I was very surprised since there was no special occasion or holiday, and I certainly didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued, I inquired as to who the sender was.

The courier replied, "I don't know, I'm only delivering the package."

Apparently, a greeting card was being sent separately. (The card has never arrived!) There was also a consignment note with the gift.

He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a $3.50 "delivery/ verification charge," providing proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult (of legal drinking age), and not just left it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by anyone, especially a minor.

This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then said that the delivery company required payment to be by credit or debit card only, so that everything is properly accounted for, and this would help in keeping a legal record of the transaction.

He added, "Couriers don't carry cash to avoid loss or likely targets for robbery."

My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled out his credit card, and 'John,' the "delivery man," asked him to swipe the card on a small mobile card machine with a small screen and keypad. Frank, my husband, was asked to enter his PIN number and a receipt was printed out. He was given a copy of the transaction.

The guy said everything was in order, and wished us good day.

To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, $4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various ATM machines.

Apparently the "mobile credit card machine," which the deliveryman carried now had all the info necessary to create a "dummy" card with all our card details including the PIN number.

Upon finding out about the illegal transactions on our card, we immediately notified the bank which issued us a new card, and our credit/debit account was closed.

We also personally went to the Police, where it was confirmed that it is definitely a scam because several households had been similarly hit.

WARNING: Be wary of accepting any "surprise gift or package," which you neither expected nor personally ordered, especially if it involves any kind of payment as a condition of receiving the gift or package. Also, never accept anything
If you do not personally know or there is no proper identification of who the sender is.

Above all, the only time you should give out any personal credit/debit card information is when you yourself initiated the purchase or transaction!