You can buy a cd of every listed phone number in the country, from a mob called DTMS. They are generally hunting for wooducks who will agree with thier plausible scenario. If they get guys like us, they usually give up as too hard. I had one claiming to be from Spain, wanting me to play currency funds, and short the US dollar against the yen. I led them on for a while, just for fun. Of course, if you invest, the money goes to an offshore account, and never gets invested in any options, and you never see it again.
Most of these o/s scammers are actually operating out of Oz. I know of one on the Gold Coast that runs a horse tipping service and claims to be from Hong Kong. They send you mail from HK, and get you to invest in a HK bank, but they money is back in oz the next day. With 'restricted' phone numbers you could be calling and operating from anywhere.
There are 2 good defences against scammers. 1- have a silent number like I do. 2- only deal with funds that have a suitable Australian licence to trade in securities. Deal o/s and you have no comeback.
