Posted on 01/15/2018 10:22:52 AM PST by shortstop
On the morning of Oct. 1, 2015, a middle-aged telemarketer arrived at the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Federal Trade Commission. His name was Aaron Michael Jones, or possibly Michael Aaron Jones, and in any case, he went by Mike. According to court documents, Mike was a father and widower. He lived well, paying $25,000 a month for a Spanish Colonial Revivalin a gated community near Laguna Beach, Calif. He also employed a personal chef, drove a couple of Mercedes, and maintained a gambling account at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Jones sustained his lifestyle by spamming people with robo-calls. He worked with a revolving cast of co-workers under the auspices of about a dozen corporations. At the core of his enterprise was a computer program capable of blasting out irritating, prerecorded phone messages to just about anyone in the country. Jones allegedly paid for exclusive access to the program, which he then rented out to other robo-callers.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
I had this Paki on the line last week and couldn’t understand him. I said please speak up I’m hard of hearing. So he starts shouting. I say could you please slow down so I can under stand you better. So he shouts It’s. Microsoft. Protection. Plan. We. Want. To. Protect. You. I say please repeat, I’m retired, on Social Security and can’t afford hearing aids. <<<< click >>>>
Yes, Area Code 151
When I answer the phone I don’t say anything. Robo calls will disconnect in about 5 seconds and humans will start saying Hello? Hello?
Finally an article that shows how spoofing makes all laws useless, and turns the Do Not Call List into a joke.
Blocking the number that appears does not work because of spoofing. You are blocking a legitimate person’s number that is being used as if it were the caller’s number.
Nomorobo is dumb.
No law can be enforced against someone who isn’t in the USA.
There is no solution. I would gladly be in favor of executing robocallers in broad daylight in Times Square.
The only solution would be for all countries to enforce a new system that transmits the REAL phone number of the caller, ALONG WITH the number that the recipient should reply to. Obviously never happen - never get all countries to agree and enforce it. Also, womens’ crisis centers would object, and so this will never happen.
Public execution.
I noticed a pattern tho. I would get a series of calls such as 586-xxx-xxx7, then 586-xxx-xxx8 and so on. Probably the same source but with the capacity to keep changing the number.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttrzG5F4R3o
The now legendary call received by Tom Mabe. Here he turns the tables on a telephone marketer. This is the prank call of the century.
Most BS calls are on my home phone. My cable company supplies my home phone. The names and number are shown on the TV and on the phone display. I don’t answer call from numbers I don’t know. If it’s an emergency? They’ll leave message.
My cell is another story. My kids phones and mine have the same exchange number. Someone must manufacture make believe phone numbers with my exchange and call me. At first I was answering these. Then I got smart and let it ring.
The worst callers are the make believe Police athletic league calls (and other so called charities) . Guy sounds like a cop. I’m wise because my brother was a telemarketer 30 years ago pretending to be with the Police Athletic League.
If I pick up I just say I dont give to any charitable organizations via telemarketers. Then Hang up…I’m not going to argue.
The author makes Google look like good guys. I routinely get robo calls on behalf of Google. I really don’t believe Google is interested in stopping robo calls.
I remember a movie from decades ago how a sinister corporation had the ability to make a call and fry the brain of whomever answered with blood pouring out of their ears. I want one of those phones.
We don’t answer the phone period. Been this way for over twenty years. The OGM says “Leave a message at the tone”. If they don’t we don’t respond. Otherwise they hang up. Legitimate callers understand, and expect our call back.
Lately the number of spam callers has gone down, but that doesn’t mean anything, because historically the spammers do for some reason slow down, but then come on strong again down the road.
I generally don’t get many of these calls because I have a home number that I don’t answer. I give that number out to retailers and other businesses. I have a cell phone number that I only give out to my friends and family. That is the one I use for almost all of my personal calls. It has worked pretty well over the past 10+ years.
Not about phone calls but funny:
I started backing out of a parking spot when some idiot raced between the parked cars and sped right behind me, almost causing me to hit him. I said, "SH!T" really loud and my smart phone talked back to me in some of the most vile language I could imagine. My wife looked at me in surprise and we both started laughing.
So true.
I save a couple of seconds by not waiting for the click or "Hello?".
Most of my phone correspondents know to start talking when they hear the phone being picked up.
I’ll say it again: there should be NO WAY for any random dialer to create any Caller ID name and number it wants. Implement that, then let’s see how big of a problem remains.
Good Post.
They are using local real phone numbers to spoof. If you hit redial you’ll get an actual innocent person, who’s phone number has been stolen.
Another trick they use is to spoof their number with something close to yours by using your area code and the first three digits in your phone number. Those are ALWAYS robocalls.
I worked with a guy that was a telemarketer at one point. He made those calls on behalf of LEO charities, pretending to be a cop. He said there were some rules where he worked. They could act like a cop (who was volunteering time for the charity) but could never claim to be. Instead he would introduce himself as "officer" Mike of the "police" (Charity name).
The most telling thing he told me is that these were their best money makers. That's right. His organization was a for profit fund raising company. They would raise money for charities unsolicited and donate proceeds given. The charities (receivers) never turned down the money as they put no effort into the campaign. But it was supposedly legit and legal because they were careful to not misrepresent their business. Of course they didn't volunteer much info either. My colleague said that of the proceeds they collected for law enforcement charities, only about 15% actually was donated. He said he quit as soon as he found another job. He also said rarely was anything recorded.
This has happened to me on my business phone. I missed a call and called back to a dismayed answer.
The new version of android supports a priority only mode that only allows stared contacts to ring your phone. Everything else goes directly to voice mail.
I didn’t know there was a law about that. I don’t watch much TV, but when I do, the loud commercials drive me nuts. They didn’t used to be that loud.
only if its a spoof. when I do that I usually get an “Invalid Number” which cannot be connected.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.