scam calls Delivery personnel are giving away phone numbers to scammers!!?

[Nraja]

Okay, I have been observing a very suspicious trend recently and wanted to bring my observations to everybody's attention here. And seek opinions, discuss and share thoughts with each other. Probably there's a legit scam racket running in Mumbai and other cities leading to scammers getting access to our phone numbers through delivery personnel from various e-commerce logistics like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, etc. 

 

This has happened a few times with me now. First, I recieve a call from the person who is about to deliver my package from amazon/Flipkart etc. There won't be a name or caller ID displayed against that number. When I answer they simply ask if I am at location to receive the package. This behaviour itslelf is a little suspicious as we usually would have pre-confirmed delivery preference in amazon/flipkart app. The delivery person would essentially call you only if nobody opens the door to recieve it. But in this case the call comes before the delivery is made. Keep this point in mind for now. Sounds normal but not every time! This was the first red flag!

 

Then, the delivery happens as usual. All my orders are usually prepaid so no scope of Cash on delivery related issues. The delivery person promptly walks away after delivering the package. 

 

Within a few minutes after the delivery was made, I recieve a call and True Caller displays the caller's ID as "Ďelivery". As I was expecting more packages to arrive on the same day, I recieve the call. It's an IVR call. A very cheaply & unprofessionally programmed automated call claiming to be from FedEx or Blue dart etc. This was the second red flag! And the message reads that the package could not be delivered due to truck breakdown! And to know more about the modified delivery time lines I am given an option to press 1, or press 2 to speak to a support executive. 

 

Whatever option you press, the call gets redirected to a scammer. Who revives the call and simply says hello! No proper greeting to verify the legitimacy of the redirected call and it's purpose. The scammer asks if I got an IVR call, if yes, from which department and what was the message. Because until I tell him about the Ivr call myself, he is not setup to know on what basis I have been redirected to him. So he won't know what to scam me with until I reveal how and why I have reached him. That was the third red flag!

 

So I asked the scammer so what's the status of my package delivery? Then the scammer relaizes and starts scamming accordingly. He first says, you got the call from IVR service Mam/sir. I will need your details to check status in the system. That was the last red flag for me! I know very well that logistics comoanies like FedEx and blue dart have a robust infrastructure for handling support queries from customers. But this guy had no clue who was calling snd the purpose of the call!!? It's then when I was so sure that I had landed at a scammers line. And I told him that I knew this is a scam attempt and that I will report this to cyber crime! Also warned him that Indians are not as dumb as they think and that they should not be scamming people. I disconnected the call. 

 

Just 30 seconds after I disconnect the call, the same scammer calls me from another mobile number (jio) which has no name or caller ID tagged to it. And he begins to vent out his frustration. All possible curses, horrible things said, even our right threats to empty my bank accounts before the call ended to out right coming to my location and killing me....whatever you could think of, everything was poured on me, while I could only laugh.

 

His threats did not scare me because it's really not that easy to do whatever he said he will do. And nothing happened either after he disconnected the call as I was silent. But knowing that my private phone number, which was kept safe for so many years from Spammers and scammers like these, now is out in the open for all of them to attack, is disappointing! 

 

I have subscribed to assistant premium plan of Truecaller to hopefully help with such fraud and scam alerts. Will see how it goes. 

 

 

Has anyone experienced anything similar to this? Anything relatable? Are Delivery guys having access to our phone numbers are selling them to scammers? 

 

I have respect and compassion towards all delivery people because they work very hard. I have once experienced one delivery guy stealing expensive package without delivering it and marking it as delivered a couple of years back. Amazon resolved it with another free delivery of the same but they took their sweet time to investigate and resolve. Causing frustration. But I thought it was one off occurrence. And now this! 

 

What are your thoughts?