How Can I Stop All The Spam Calls Everyday?

Me too, but GFL.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat

 

Ditto. I find the college loan ones funny, as I graduated many, many moons ago! Oddly, we are members of Marriott and they never call us. At any rate, if I do not recognize the #, I do not answer. Friends, family, co-workers and the folks who work for me, tend to email or text anyway...T

 

This is known as the "neighborhood scheme." I can see where people might be tempted to pick up thinking it is their pharmacy, neighbor down the street, etc. It probably works better for scammers than an entirely random number. Unfortunately for people in business who rely on the phone for leads such as contractors, handymen, etc., they are forced to answer rather than let a lead get away.

One strange twist on this is that the scammers may use your phone number as the spoofed number, and you will get call backs from businesses who leave you a voicemail saying they missed YOUR call and can they help you. Causes a lot of chaos on many levels.

 

Your carrier knows where the calls orginate from, but they won't tell you without a court order. In other words, they're protecting the spammers identity moreso than yours.

With that said, VoIP call systems have become incredibly simple and lightweight (processing power), and includes caller ID spoofing.

Also, every time you answer or call one of these spoofed or unknown numbers, you've just validated your number as "active" i.e. "we've got a live one here".

Expect a lot more AI activity in the near future.

 

I wonder if the people making up these recordings realize that when they start off with "Please don't hang up", that's the cue for everyone to hang up. lol

 

This doesn't apply since OP mention cellphone calls. But on my VOIP landline, I turn on block anonymous calls (#77). Then I subsccribe to www.nomorobo.com. And then I randomly plug in my fax machine every other day or so for about two months. Now I'm getting about one spam calls every 12 days.
BTW, www.nomorobo.com now support cellphones.

 

Just answer, say "you've got the wrong number," and hang up.

 

I prefer to go with:

"Operations. This is a non-secure line. How may I direct your call, sir or ma'am?"

 

Doesn't work with virtual auto-attendants using interactive voice response, unfortunately.

 

How do the spammers know when an unanswered phone goes to voice mail? The spammers never leave voice mail despite the voice saying to leave a message. To me, this confirms that the call was junk.

 

Some scammers have their systems leave pre-recorded messages (same used by pharmacies). If no voicemail box is available, then the call gets dropped. A certain "get rich quick" scammer does that to me regularly. Turns out, I can't turn off my voicemail anymore. A specific request to Verizon is needed, and they'll do just about anything to change your mind. Which makes me wonder, why is it so important to Verizon for me to have voicemail?

Basically, you're talking about live telemarketers whereas I'm mostly referring to virual attendants.

 

If it’s a live girl I like to start with “what color panties are you wearing ?”

They very quickly hang up after that....

 

If it’s a live girl I cut her off and ask “ what color panties are you wearing?” Or what’s your favorite sex position ?

They hang up quite quickly after that.

 

You do know you can block specific inbound calls on our cell phone, right?

I do it each time I get one of these calls, as they tended to come in on the same PH # over and over until I block it.

D

 

I have nomorobo on my cell (not cheap at $20/yr?) and guess it stops many, but I get a ton of calls/spam from my area code and exchange. Weird. Same on wife’s cell phone. Plus spam from other places too. I block numbers occasionally and usually don’t answer.

 

And, if they do answer, you're off to the races!
T

 

I haven't done this in a while because I block most spam calls, but if I get a live person I say, "Oh yes I am very much interested. Can you hold for a minute and I'll be right back". Then I put the phone down and don't pick it up until I hear the fast busy signal minutes later when they've hung up. If they can waste my time, I can waste theirs.

 

Too bad the incoming number is almost always spoofed and is never the same as the originating number.

What's needed is a means to detect the originating IP number/source.

 

I'm going to throw a curveball here, but I wonder how some legitimate charities can get in touch with people anymore. Landlines are a dying bread, everyone hangs up, you got caller id, and mailing people has a low success rate. I bet some charities are getting killed out there in the past 5 years or so.

 

The FCC is working on this. There are also some commercial providers working on a system to identify these spoofed numbers. Technically challenging to implement.

 

Good question. I suppose the larger ones can afford to advertise, and thus, receive some return on that money spent.

 

This is what I'm researching...

"Inbound Caller ID is showing IP address..."

https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/inbound-caller-id-is-showing-ip-address.54313/

Wish I had more time.