John picked up a phone call that seemed to be from his wife, but discovered it was someone even more adept at nagging and less affected by indifference — a robocaller. He says he was the victim of caller ID-manipulating trickery by credit card marketers.

His story:

Help! I think I may be the victim of a new telemarketing trick and I’m wondering if anyone else has had this happen to them and what I might be able to do to stop it.

I got a call on my cell phone at 2:57pm today (12/8/10) from my wife’s cell phone. When I answered, it was a robot telling me that there was nothing wrong with my credit card (didn’t say which card) and that I should press 1 to find out how to lower my interest rate. I called my wife at 2:59pm and she said she didn’t make any calls to me. I called AT&T and they verified that I received a call from my wife at 2:57pm but when they checked her account, it shows no record of the call originating from her account. Note that both phone numbers are on the Do Not Call Registry.

Could this be some new telemarketing trick where they somehow spoof numbers from your address book so you a) answer the call and b) can’t identify them and report them to the Do Not Call Registry?

If you’ve been robo-punked by this trick or a similar ruse, let us know.

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