The Silent Treatment

jsstevens said:
Blocking all calls except those in your contacts won't work fully either. The spammers are making up the headers on the caller ID to spoof numbers from your local area code. They will hit numbers on your contact list as well. In fact, I've gotten spam calls from my own phone number.
Click to expand...
Yes, it's called spoofing, they use your own area code and prefix then add 4 random numbers, they are not calling from those numbers!
 
Unit74 said:
These guys call three to six times a day:

Hello, Amy?
No, nobody here by that name.
I need to speak with Amy.
You have the wrong number.
Yes, please put Amy on the phone.
Take this number off your list
We need to speak with Amy please.


Then I break into every foul word I know until they hang up.

Bock them, they return like herpes on a new number. Currently using 3202075847

https://www.midlandcredit.com/contact/

Got a legit call, of course I did not answer. researched the number, was a local name I recognized. Has it really come to this people?
Click to expand...
 
N747JB said:
Yes, it's called spoofing, they use your own area code and prefix then add 4 random numbers, they are not calling from those numbers!
Click to expand...
Fortunately my cell phone number is from a state 1300 miles away, and there's no one I care to talk to in that area code any more. Makes it easier to spot the spam when that area code shows up.
 
jsstevens said:
Blocking all calls except those in your contacts won't work fully either. The spammers are making up the headers on the caller ID to spoof numbers from your local area code. They will hit numbers on your contact list as well. In fact, I've gotten spam calls from my own phone number.
Click to expand...
That's what I love about my corporate iPhone. I'm a remote telecommuter. NO ONE that I work with is in the same area code, let alone the same prefix. If I see a number from my A/C that's not in my contacts, I know to ignore it. My wife also knows that if she sees our area code & it's not a number she knows, it's a spam call. Half the time she answers anyway, which is just baffling to me. It's been well over a year since we even got a scam call from a live person, so there's not even nay joy in messing with them any more. It's all just robocalls, and the more you answer them, the more you'll get.
 
Tom-D said:
I have over 400 numbers blocked on my cell, still get annoying calls and keep blocking.
I'm wondering how to block every one, except a few.
Also, you call the number back and get a message "this is not a working number" well if it ain't a working number how do they use it?
Click to expand...
Sorry, blocking generally won't work because they spoof a number. That's also how they use the "non-working number".

This is an interesting read, but behind a paywall:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...ew-kind-health-crisis/?utm_term=.721d46f8b147

I need to answer my work cell phone, even when I'm certain it is a scammer. As @jsstevens said, I also get calls from my own number.
 
DaleB said:
Incorrect. If there is more than one company I can call for X, one doesn't answer the phone, and the other one does, the one that answers their phone will probably get my business. ESPECIALLY if the voicemail is obviously a cell phone. For anything bigger than a lawn service, I expect something more than that. Either you're running a business, or you're not.
Click to expand...

In this case, you should consider a virtual receptionist. The whole point of this thread is to seek a way to not answer junk calls. If your time matters to you, have someone else answer the call. You can use the same trick for email if you get a lot of junk or inquiries that otherwise do not merit a response. Have someone else read it and only send you the stuff that matters. Time is life's un-renewable resource. Every second spent fumbling with your phone to answer the "your car warranty is expired" call is a second of your life you will never get back.
 
My AT&T cell just started displaying 'fraud alert' and 'telemarketing' on some of the scam calls. They know if a call originated in Moldova and spoofs a local exchange.
 
Pilawt said:
Fortunately my cell phone number is from a state 1300 miles away, and there's no one I care to talk to in that area code any more. Makes it easier to spot the spam when that area code shows up.
Click to expand...
I'm in the same boat. Moving 700 miles away and keeping your same cell number is handy like that.
 
weilke said:
My AT&T cell just started displaying 'fraud alert' and 'telemarketing' on some of the scam calls.
Click to expand...
This is happening on my AT&T number with increasing frequency for calls that are unwanted. A few get through, but that is decreasing. So however they are going about doing it, it's working and appreciated.
 
I wish this would happen on my Verizon iPhone 8. They do have the service, but it is incompatible with newer iPhones - I think they have to be iPhone 6 or earlier. Makes no sense to me that they would implement a service in such a way that it does NOT work with current technology. The usual gambit would be to make it incompatible with OLD technology, to give users an incentive to upgrade. Does anyone know the reason for this?
 
On my cell I was getting so many telemarketers I gave up, my voicemail is full, been that way for over 3 years, I only answer from people I know, and I tell anyone new to text first so I know to answer, on home phone its not as bad, 2-3 a week, except for collection agencies, someone apparently used my number when buying stuff, then vanished, so its takes a few cussings to get them to stop harrasing me, then they sell it to a different company, and starts again, sometimes every 15 min all day while I'm at work, and I have to wait to catch them as they don't usually leave number to call them back, but they always ask for same woman, which I never heard of until I started getting collection calls 8 years ago
 
I have this problem with rotten technical recruiters who will call and just read a script at me in broken bollywood -- regardless of what I say to them. If you're nerdy like me, here's a solution:

1. Put up a VM running Incredible PBX (the $5 one on digital ocean is fine if you don't have something colo'ed already)

2. Get a phone number in your preferred area code from flowroute for $1.25/mo

3. Point the number at the PBX server, and set up an IVR that asks for a 4 digit PIN code to ring through. Provide no option to leave a message without it.

4. Put a new PIN code every 6 months on your resume, or only give it out sparingly

I adios about 200 calls a month like this.
 
old_biker said:
On my cell I was getting so many telemarketers I gave up, my voicemail is full, been that way for over 3 years, I only answer from people I know, and I tell anyone new to text first so I know to answer, on home phone its not as bad, 2-3 a week, except for collection agencies, someone apparently used my number when buying stuff, then vanished, so its takes a few cussings to get them to stop harrasing me, then they sell it to a different company, and starts again, sometimes every 15 min all day while I'm at work, and I have to wait to catch them as they don't usually leave number to call them back, but they always ask for same woman, which I never heard of until I started getting collection calls 8 years ago
Click to expand...
We will occasionally get the same thing. Always asking for Calvin Smith. We've had this number since the 80s, so it's never belonged to anyone by that name, we've never heard of him. No matter what we did, they would call several times a day. I finally started getting the name of the people doing the collections -- turns out they're bottom-feeder law firms. Apparently they buy up written-off debt for a few cents on the dollar or less, and try to harass and intimidate people into paying. Give us money, or we'll keep calling you every hour or two forever. Once I have the name and location, I write a formal letter to the state bar association, with a copy to FTC complaining about them calling after we've told them not to. After the second or third time I did that (different scumbags in different states) they stopped calling. I think it's been two years now.
 
It seems to me that it ought to be possible to modify the telephone-system technology to make phone-number spoofing impossible. If Congress ever decides to mandate a fix, that should be it. Not sure what it would cost, however.
 
Palmpilot said:
It seems to me that it ought to be possible to modify the telephone-system technology to make phone-number spoofing impossible. If Congress ever decides to mandate a fix, that should be it. Not sure what it would cost, however.
Click to expand...

When long-distance phone charges were a thing, this didn't happen. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top