Cold Call, ISP Surveys?
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I just received a cold call from a "Survey Sampling International" doing a survey on behalf of "Marketplace Analyst" over what type of internet connections and speed my company has and our overall satisfaction of the services. Has anyone received such a call?
I started taking down his information and was going to return a call on my own time if it turned out to be a credible source. The gentleman did not have a direct callback number or a direct e-mail I could get back in touch with him through. It sounded like a call center and might have been legit but I was not looking to disclose any unnecessary information out of the blue. I kindly asked him to not call back as I don't feel comfortable releasing any information to a source I can not readily contact in the future.
I received an identical phone call about a month ago and disclosed a small amount of choice information but the depth of questions he got to as in our type of phone system, etc. I became uncomfortable and ended the call quite early on.
So what's your experiences, what you dealt with this stuff? Is this purely a phishing/social engineering call?
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Be careful what you say or do in response to these calls. They take any sign of interest as a sign to put you on lists of leads that they then sell to vendors as qualified leads. Even staying on the phone longer than a certain time is taken as "interest".
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My response is if you can't give me your email and your direct line first I wont talk to them at all.
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All marketing is social engineering. So that's hard to define.
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Thanks for the advice guys, I guess my new role in a much larger company is making me a target for much more of these vendor calls than my previous position.
@scottalanmiller True, I meant in a malicious manner
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We here at NTG get at least 5 or 6 of these a day. I really do butt in and say I'm sorry I have no time to discuss this right now please provide me with a direct number and email so I can reach out to you when I have the time (of course they try and keep going). If they don't stop quickly I just hang up.
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"Sorry, that's sensitive information that I can't give out." After getting that response about 3 times, they give up.
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@Nara said:
"Sorry, that's sensitive information that I can't give out." After getting that response about 3 times, they give up.
You would hope, at least.
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I just say "Sorry I don't do surveys" and that normally shuts them up.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I just say "Sorry I don't do surveys" and that normally shuts them up.
Hard to know if it shuts them up or not when you immediately hang up
