I was eating lunch yesterday (a ham sandwich, if anyone cares) and the phone rang.
It was an AT&T operator with an IP relay call for me. You may remember that we discussed these types of calls last October in a post titled What is an IP Relay Call and is it a Scam?
So I took the call (they’re free, at least to the receiver) and got the exact conversation the scam warning described, which went like this:
OPERATOR: (speaking for the typing scammer) Do you sell casket?
ME: No, we don’t.
OPERATOR: What do you do?
ME: I don’t understand the question.
OPERATOR: (long pause)… I need funeral home.
ME: We’re not a funeral home.
OPERATOR: The caller has hung up.
This is a lot like the scams we’ve seen via email that ask for information regarding funeral products, or help repatriating remains to the United States.
As I’ve explained before, these people are trying to gain your trust so that at some point during the arrangement, they can convince you to pay for an item or service (caskets, consulate fees, etc.) before you figure out it’s a scam.
Often, more general scams of this nature ask the scam-ed person to pay taxes or consulate fees to accept a package sent C.O.D.. Usually, this package, which is supposed to contain large sums of money or valuables, is filled with junk or, worse, nothing.
I’ve heard a story, probably apocryphal, that a funeral director once accepted remains at the airport, for which he had to pay a cash C.O.D. charge, which contained, not a casket, but large rocks.
Be aware that an email or IP Relay call asking for your assistance with some nebulous, fishy-sounding situation is probably a scam.
See these related posts:
“Possible Fraud Attempt!” Email is Actually Fraud Itself
Nigerian Scam Letter Turns to Funeral Homes
Intriguing Email. Should I Reply?
Can I Sell You Some Copier Toner (Which you normally get free)?
I’ll Trade You $10 Million for Your Bank Account Number!
August 15, 2008 at 6:44 pm
It is truly scary how many people are taken by “too good to be true” schemes. I get email forwarded to me on a daily basis from several people I (used) think have enough common sense (not that it’s all that common) to research some of the pure junk they send on to everyone on their list. I wonder how many times it takes to send a Snopes.com link to the offenders and have them think it applies to them? Phone calls and emails that sound weird or unusual should always be investigated before agreeing and even worse, giving money.
Thanks for the frequent coverage of this topic. It cannot be said enough!
August 16, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hey,
Ip-relay is not a scam. It is a unique product the deaf people can make a call with the help of an operator.
The deaf person just happen to be looking for a casket. Although, he/she shouldn’t hang up on you which left you off on a different impression.
Although, the ip-relay is a call people don’t get on daily basis and it is normal for them to reply unsure and label them as a scammer.
It is but non-deaf people such as a teenager kid loves to mess around with ip-relay making a prank call.
I enclose you an information on ip-relay. I hope you will find this helpful.
http://www.ip-relay.com/about.html
August 16, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Don’t you think you’re being a little reactionary, Tim? “This is a lot like the scams we’ve seen via email….” No it’s not. The phone call wasn’t long enough for you to assess that.
As a hearing person with Deaf friends, I am familiar with TTY use and relay calls, as well as the shorthand that often goes with them. To me, this call seems like a valid call from a Deaf person — a quick call to find out whether you are the kind of business they need.
I hope that funeral directors don’t read your post and adopt a negative attitude toward relay calls.
Deaf people need funeral homes just as hearing people do. And, as we all know, a large percentage of *all* people are uncomfortable contacting funeral homes — they may not know how to phrase their questions or even what questions to ask.
If there’s a chance that an email or phone call you receive is from a Deaf person, it can be helpful to keep in mind that, as with any language, ASL does not translate word-for-word into English. If anyone reading this wants more info about working with Deaf people, you can start with NAD.org (National Association of the Deaf).
BTW, Tim, back in January 2007, you posted about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), saying you would be researching whether funerals homes are required to provide sign language interpreters. I’d love to know what you found out.
P.S. Robin, my understanding is that when you respond to email scams — even with a Snopes link — you are letting them know that your email address is valid. Once they know that, apparently, they sell your email address to other scammers. You might want to reconsider your strategy.
August 18, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Joe — When I was writing my comment, I didn’t see yours. I’m glad you wrote the Deaf truth!
August 21, 2008 at 10:08 am
[...] Some Editing… Posted by finalembrace under Funeral Marketing I recently wrote My First IP Relay Call! and shared that I felt the call was a [...]
September 6, 2008 at 2:07 am
I’m so laughing at the peoples comment above me.
I worked as a relay operator for ip-relay.com for 2 and a half years.
Nigerian scammers FREQUENTLY used our system to scam people, in fact they made up over 80 percent of our call volume.
I had MANY funeral home scams.. a typical one would go something like this:
operator: yes can i speak with the funeral director
voice: yes this is he/she
operator: [insert shitty story here about a "family" or "friend" has died in Nigeria/Ghana/Africa and how they need to have the casket shipped over and how they will pay you with (fake) money orders or checks]
-OR-
[wants to buy cremation jewelery with (fake) money orders or checks]
Just use common sense on the IP relay calls. Sometimes deaf people do actually USE relay!
If you have any more questions or want to contact me about relay, I’m available via the email address provided to make this comment.
January 22, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Hello, I was a relay operator for almost 2 years and yes, I had a lot of calls originating from Nigeria.Some of them would pretend they were deaf pastors/preachers. It´s sad because I/we couldn´t do anything to stop them because FCC mandated that we´re not supposed to intervene nor to counsel.Your blog is very powerful, if you could disseminate this issue/news to your other friends that would be great. Let them be aware of these fraudulent activities. SOme of the them would also use love emails.They would ask money from the American lovers to send them money, using the relay service. ..there are a lot of fraudulent relay call issues.