Telephone SCAMS, Solicitation & Robocalls

This is kind of an off-shoot from the "Things that annoy you" thread... since constant phone calls all day from scammers has got to be one of the most annoying things in modern life.

It's not just that constant disruptions are annoying, but the incessant nature of the scams is wreaking havoc with the elderly community and those who are vulnerable.

And reports say that it's only going to get worse as no one can stop it. And we've all learned that the National Do Not Call Registry is a sham itself as it does nothing to stop scam & robocalls.

But I just watched a video about it that said since many of these calls are consolidated to isolated call centers (usually in foreign countries), the phone companies could do something about it, but they choose not to because they love the revenue created by this type of harassment, i.e. as long as the scammers are paying their phone bills, the telephone company is happy to allow them to continue.

The calls are illegal - sometimes destroying people who take the bait, yet law enforcement won't touch the subject. The video also stated that there are telemarketing lobbies that influence the officials in our government to stand down on addressing this problem.

Anyone have any info on these claims?

I never pick up phone calls from a number I don't recognize. I have them and many debt collectors calling me, and I've curbed 90% of those calls simply by using a Spanish automated voice mail.. I turn my phone off by 7pm, but if someone calls earlier, I hit REJECT so it goes right to the voice mail, and people I know think my phone was disconnected.

The problem with that, Matt, is that the scammers are now using what are called "pirated numbers" since they know people will just ignore unknown or 1-800 numbers. They'll dial your number with one that shows up in caller ID with the same prefix numbers, or that of a local business, a known name in your neighborhood, or someone that you've received calls from before.

We've received calls that show up as a medical center, one of our banks, our pharmacy, local pizza place, limo service, or even with our next-door neighbor's number, but which turn out to be scammers. It's really gotten insidious with this new twist.

I used to do telemarketing/fundraising in high school, and there were machines or programs that would artificially use the area code of the area we were calling. I hear about these applications where you can make up the number you are calling from. Lately, I've noticed political stuff, although when I worked for Bernie Sanders, I gave them my alternate number.... Then again, when I'd ask random people about movie tastes, I'd take a common prefix, and start with say 1900, 1901, 1902, etc.

Something new I've discovered...

As you know from this thread, my home phone receives about 50 scam calls a day on average, making it seem like it's ringing constantly. (I even get call-waiting from one scam call after I've picked up another!) I think this is all due to the fact that when my parents were alive, they were elderly and their contact info got out via doctors, hospitals, pharmacies & various organizations.

I say this because about a year ago I pet sat at a neighbors' house while they went on vacation - they are much younger than my parents were - and during that week, their home phone never rang once!

So, my latest discovery (not that it helps much) is if I pick up the phone and pause for three seconds before saying "hello", the call disconnects. This has been 100% of the time lately.

I spent years in fundraising too, did it in high school and for a few years after (a good skill to have, being able to call strangers, even these days. I had health issues so it was even more essential that I learn this). Then I spent years working in the legal and financial sector, thought I’d seen it all, honestly. I’m quite cynical/streetwise/all that when it comes to most things, triple-check everything. Then in June this year I did get a call purportedly from my bank that I did answer as I was expecting a call from someone, gathered within seconds that it was bullshit, didn’t give them any info whatsoever, but they did have my bank account number, which bothered me (well, they had my mobile, knew my name, but it was the account number that freaked me out somewhat). So I called my actual bank and said I wanted to block my existing current account card and get another.

Guess what, I’m now being told I’ve been a victim of fraud (err…. What?) and hence have been upgraded to a high-risk client. At this point, I couldn’t care less, but it seems you can’t win.

I generally never do answer the phone though I still call people, and this one slip-up has left me even more convinced that one should never pick up (I know it’s hyperbolic but that’s how I feel at the moment).

I do, but I will need you to go to Walgreens and buy some Apple Play gift cards so that I may release the information.

We put our upstairs phone on silent so I don’t hear any of the calls coming in.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

OMG 50 spam/scam calls a day! Time to ditch the old landline and use a mobile for your phone. My parents get a bunch of spam calls too on their old landline that they've had forever.

i uselly block them and tell them to get a real job instead scamming people

I use the free app scam shield. Just download and turn it on. It doesn't block all of them but it blocks a lot of them.

I use the Whoscall app. I have it configured to block ALL calls except for those on my contact list.

I've been robocalled from my own number. Like my own number displays as the inbound call list.

And I get far more spam from my own area code than any other. It's all automated till someone takes the bait.

Best thing to do, which I do, is just never answer the phone.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

I've got a Pixel which does a pretty great job of blocking most of this stuff.

Some have been trickling through recently but it hasn't been too bad.

If I was getting dozens a day I would 100% change my number.

Yes, we've had that happen also.

But Yoda is right, might be time to change your number. No guarantees it won’t be laden with BS too. Any new area codes near you? Try and hop on a number there if so.

That’s what we do. I check the answering machine for messages & this system works well for us in conjunction with the upstairs phone always being on silent.