The 480-505-8859 Mystery

Did 480-505-8859 call your phone?

Last Updated: August 18, 2016

A few months ago my cell phone began receiving calls from 1-480-505-8859. I'm a Godaddy.com customer and their customer service number ends with 8877 -- as you can see, only eighteen "digits" down from Godaddy's number.

Since it looks like Godaddy's number, I don't always answer -- they like to call once in awhile, usually to remind me that a domain is going to expire, et cetera. But the calls persisted; sometimes I'd get them twice a day.

Then 1-480-505-8859 Gets... Really... Weird.

So I picked up -- and here's where it gets seriously weird.

A voice on the other end asked for me by my full name -- "is this FIRST LAST?"

"Maybe. Who's calling?"

The caller ignored my interrogatory and started trying to ask personal questions. All while the voices of other operators in what sounds suspiciously like a boiler room operation are going on in the background.

I interrupted to ask for the company name of who was calling -- and promptly got hung up on.

I suppose one could get steamed, but hey, at least they're done and probably won't call back. That's how an operation like that would react, yes?

No. To my amazement, they call back. A bit incensed, I now answer and a different operator launches into exactly the same hard pitch -- I interrupt with something to the effect of, "did you know that someone else at your office called earlier today then hung up on me?"

And then they hung up on me, too.

A few days or so would pass, and they'd call again. This time I decided to see how far down the script I could get, as I was definitely interested in deciphering who they are.

I interrupted the hard sell once again, and told the erratic-sounding gentleman on the other end I needed to know exactly who I was dealing with before he could make a sale.

"Uh..." With some persistence, I managed to drag multiple obviously-pieced-together-on-short-notice company names, multiple street addresses, and one check with a "supervisor" before he hung up on me.

And there was an instance somewhere in the fog of nonsensically persistent calls where I told one employee to get an honest job before disconnecting on her, for a change.

Takeaways:

• If this number is calling you, there is literally no point in answering the phone, telling them at some point you're going to file a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General (the number they are using suggests they are in the Phoenix metro) and other appropriate authorities, hanging up on them, et cetera.
• This number really does not appear to be Godaddy. I actually called their customer service number today and had a pleasant talk with a Jim at Godaddy, and we swaped information and it appears most likely that it's either a coincidence or the operation that's calling chose that number on purpose.
• They definitely had my first and last name, and of course my cell number. They referenced that I "had indicated interest" in starting/running a business or something to that effect, and that they were associated with Visa or MasterCard and/or a merchant processing service.

 

Is (480) 505-8859 Possibly a Passive Aggressive Boiler Room Operator?

It seems they may perceive keeping you on their call list as a sort of odd way of trying to extract a revenge of sorts. That or they're so lazy and brazen as to just not care to remove even the numbers that push back against their behavior.

It's just darn weird.

Anyway, I'm really interested in sending this out and hopefully finding people who've gotten "the calls" from this number. If that's you, I'd really like you to leave a comment below and tell me what's going on. We can all share.

Again, be sure to leave a comment below if this number ever called you.