I had one of those. It was severely underpowered. One look under the hood and you could tell why.
Posted on 01/21/2023 5:30:06 AM PST by owainG31
Yesterday I broke the current household record for war dialer phone scammer calls at 61, the previous record was Thanksgiving Day 2022 with 60. All of these calls are using forged caller IDs and basically unblockable because the numbers change every call. While I originally just ignored them, I went through the usual Lenny Bruce phases of coping, from talking to the callers (almost exclusively from India but with names like George, Ralph, Gladys and Candi) to pretending I myself was Indian or Chinese, to telling them I was going to give their call history to IBI. All that happened is they've recycled my number over and over again to the point I had to install a call sentry system and turn off all my ringers.
But now the game is different. I want to know why the phone companies aren't puting in a callerID validation system to stop all calls coming from a forged number. I could care less about phone-based advertisers starving. The insurance brokers who hired these ass clowns to sell upgrades to Medicare should be arrested for telecommunications fraud and castrated.
All the phone companies have to do is this: set up a verification process which blocks the incoming call until an encrypted cookie is sent back to the source number and returned to the destination number. The whole process takes maybe one nanosecond. Numbers which don't return the cookie are deemd to be fraudulent and the call is dropped.
But apparently the phone companies don't care what their account holders are being subjected to, and meanwhile the little monkeys running these operations, which have called me anywhere from 6am to 1030pm with repeated calls if I dare answer, are just happy as clams. They're even claiming their from the US Government.
My strongest possible suggestion is this: pass the law barring forged caller IDs, make the phone companies take action, and hunt down these insurance brokers and throw them in jail for perpetrating a denial fo service attack on telecomm infrastructure. I spend about $700 a month on combined services, cell, home and internet access, and now it's become more of an annoyance than an inconvenience.
I tell the car warranty scammers that I drive a 2014 Hibachi. Or a 2015 Brinkmann.
I used HiYa APP for Google Play.
I get very few scam calls that get though the Block.
My 91 year old mother talks to automated attendants all the time. She says please and thank you, spells words, and other things that cause AI to short-circuit.
I had Indian call scam woman trying to look up a 2014 Ford Squirrel. She finally asked me if I had another car she could check...
It works even one the ones with fake numbers on the top line -- most phones let you see the actual originating number.
It may not eliminate the problem entirely, but it helps keep the daily interruptions down to 3 or 4, and most of them are local or temporary, like a political campaign.
And for cell phones, a consortium of phone companies offer the "7726" spam-reporting system for spam texts, approved by the FTC, which is very helpful:
I had one of those. It was severely underpowered. One look under the hood and you could tell why.
Dang! that is annoying!
I have my phone set so all calls coming in that are not in my contact list do not even ring. I did that after I was getting close to 10 a day.
You make a very good point about the criminal nature of the calls.
I have to drive to my mailbox. Mail goes from my mailbox to my outside trash can. Never even makes it to the house. 96 percent is garbage. Never even read. What a waste. I visit it maybe every 10 days.
That’s a good one. I’ll add it to the list. BTW, when they ask me about my Hibachi or Brinkmann, I tell them it smokes a bit.
Phone rings - I look at caller ID - it's ME. My phone is receiving a call from MY phone.
You could try calling them directly and demanding to be put on a Do Not Call list. If that doesn't work, most companies have a corporate VP of customer service listed on their annual report or corporate web site. Those are often the most effective people to call or email. Or, write them a letter demanding not to be called and for your info not to be shared, and CC the Federal Communications Commission and your state's Office of the Attorney General and whomever oversees insurance regulation in your state. None of these will do anything; but sometimes it makes the offender think they might.
When I have time, that’s what I do. I talk them in circles. When they swear at me and hang up I know I have done my job. I haven’t gotten a scam call in ages. I do get scam emails and texts. I report them immediately. I make sure each scam email is forwarded to the company they are spoofing.
Personally, I would love to dispatch a team of mercenaries to exterminate their scam centers and all the people running the scams.
I use Silence Unknown Callers on my IPhone along with ATT spam blocker and not a single one of them disturb me.
Best feature ever added to the iPhone imo
All iPhones now have this feature built into the operating system.
Use it!
You have to turn on the toggle switch under
Settings:phone:Silence Unknown Callers
Thanks for the tip!
The link below has AT&T cordless home phones with the “Smart Call Blocker” feature, starting at $43.95 (Amazon) or $59.95 (direct from AT&T):
https://telephones.att.com/telephones/cordless-telephones/smart-call-blocker
One of these would make a great gift for anyone dealing with spam calls.
” I spend about $700 a month on combined services, cell, home and internet access”
Interesting, we spend less than $70, including 3 cell phones, Internet access, VOIP landline.
And never take a care from an unrecognized number. Not even once. I don’t even care if they call. Unless in contact list they don’t ring anyway.
Androids have the same capability.
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