Robocall Strike Force

[Channel98]

For several weeks I was getting three or four of these calls every day. I finally answered one of the calls and pressed "2" to speak with an agent. A woman greeted me and asked for the year and model of my vehicle. I asked her, "Don't you have that information?" "We have it," she told me. "We just need you to verify it." "You do not have that information," I said. "This is a scam. Please quit calling." She hung up – but the calls stopped. A few weeks later, though, a different scammer started calling daily. Warranties should be obtained only from the auto dealers, not from phone scammers out to make easy money.

The FCC is cracking down on 'auto warranty' robocalls

US telecom providers will now be required to block millions of illegal robocalls a day advertising extended vehicle warranties, the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday, taking aim at a group of individuals accused of sending more than 8 billion such messages since 2018.

www.cnn.com

 

[Channel98]

Guess what I did yesterday! No, never mind – I will tell you. I bought a new Panasonic BL 102-2 cordless phone. It allows me to put as many as 1,000 phone numbers on a "blacklist." When anyone calls from one of those numbers, the call will not go through. Today I entered five phone numbers. Caller ID showed three as "unidentified" and two as "toll free call." Being able to block a thousand numbers is nice – but, unfortunately, scammers and robocallers have access to millions of numbers.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Guess what I did yesterday! No, never mind – I will tell you. I bought a new Panasonic BL 102-2 cordless phone. It allows me to put as many as 1,000 phone numbers on a "blacklist." When anyone calls from one of those numbers, the call will not go through. Today I entered five phone numbers. Caller ID showed three as "unidentified" and two as "toll free call." Being able to block a thousand numbers is nice – but, unfortunately, scammers and robocallers have access to millions of numbers.

I've been called by people angry I was calling them. I never did but the scammers used my number. The numbers they use are random. They only access they have is the phone system gives them the access to put a crap number in,

 

[Channel98]

That is known as spoofing. Scammers know how to falsify information so when they make a call the caller ID will show a local area code and local number instead of the number the scammer is scalling from.

Caller ID Spoofing

Caller ID spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Spoofing is often used as part of an attempt to trick someone into giving away valuable personal information so it can be used in fraudulent activity or...

www.fcc.gov

I set my new phone to "Selective Call Blocking." I added the numbers of several friends, family members and my doctor and dentist to the Directory. If I get a call from anyone whose number is not in the Directory, the phone will not ring. No more calls about car insurance or solar panels or Medicare or charities or political races. Yay!

 

[sadchild]

I have a company phone so I can't block all numbers, but I have five things in place.

Using the free Verizon Wireless Call Filter app
1. I can block an entire area code. I've been getting a lot of calls from 857-xxx-xxxx with no voicemails so I blocked the whole area code.
2. I have a neighborhood block, which blocks the first six digits (area code + exchange), like 123-456-xxxx.
3. I have "auto-block spam calls by risk level". Some get blocked, others ring as "Potential Spam" and I ignore them, then check my voicemail if they left one.

Other
4. I can block five specific numbers when logging into verizonwireless.com - that's for the numbers that pester me from area codes and exchanges I can't block that pester me.
5. For the rest, when the call comes in I add them as a contact (I start it with "zz", like "zz_annoyingcaller") then block it on the phone itself

 

[Wolf]

I had an old app, I must at least had well over several hundred phone numbers blocked for years. Until it started acting up. Now AT&T has an one for network call protections from spam, fraud, telemarketer, etc. It seems to do the job.

I did had one phone call earlier in the week. Some bitch asking if I want to sell my house? So I was messing around and wasting her time until she finally hung up. Plus I never own a house in my life.

 

[Channel98]

I said I bought a Panasonic BL 102-2 with the "Selective Call Blocking" feature. I was half-right. The phone is made by AT&T. I am really happy with it. In five months, I've gotten only one phone call that was from someone whose number I had not entered on the "Allowed" list – and I have no idea how that call got through. The caller ID showed both the name and the number as "Unavailable." When I answered the call, all I heard was a click. The caller hung up. Whoever it was has not called a second time. That's fine with me!

 

[Channel98]

I thought about recording a summary of this story and phoning every DRC member and playing it for them – but I figure it's easier to just post the story here.

Company responsible for 7.5 billion robocalls sued by nearly every Attorney General | Engadget

Arizona-based Avid Telecom is being sued over allegedly making over 7.5 billion calls to people on the National Do Not Call Registry.

www.engadget.com

 

[Wolf]

Being from Arizona, damn I’m busted. Now I need to make my phone calls on Hectic front lawn.

 

[HecticArt]

I thought about recording a summary of this story and phoning every DRC member and playing it for them – but I figure it's easier to just post the story here.

Company responsible for 7.5 billion robocalls sued by nearly every Attorney General | Engadget

Arizona-based Avid Telecom is being sued over allegedly making over 7.5 billion calls to people on the National Do Not Call Registry.

www.engadget.com

Unfortunately, nothing will come of it.

Being from Arizona, damn I’m busted. Now I need to make my phone calls on Hectic front lawn.

Do me a solid and mow the lawn while you're out there.
There's a garden hose out back if you get thirsty.