Was discussed a bit in these threads, but IMO, worthy of its own.
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...one-70731.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...one-68557.html
NOTE: It can work for you even if your phone company is not listed on their site. All you need is 'Simultaneous Ring' capability, just enter ATT U-verse to get through their sign-up. I wrote to the owner, he actually responded and said he'd make this clearer.
I've been using it, it works.
Previously, I was looking up the scammers (usually at 800notes.com) and adding them to a special 'contact group' on my VOIP configuration web page. I set that contact group to auto-forward to the FCC hot line to report Do Not Call violations.
Pros/Cons:
'Contact Group' CONS:
- It's a bit of work to add each violator.
- The first one gets through, usually leaving a blank on the answering machine.
'Contact Group' PROS:
- It's satisfying to send them to the FCC hot line. And maybe, since many of these originate from the same source, they take me off their list to not waste their time?
- You don't get any ring at all. I can look at my log and see ones that forwarded.
NOMOROBO CONS:
- You usually get the one or two rings while it checks caller ID and its database to verify status (but at least they don't go to the answering machine).
- Will this work in the future, or will this motivate the scammers use random caller ID spoofing, rendering my call forwarding obsolete also?
- You need to have 'simultaneous ring' feature on your phone system.
NOMOROBO PROS:
-Totally automatic. And if you get a scammer not caught, you can report them on the NOMOROBO site, I did this and it was blocked next time, though I have no way of knowing if my report did it.
PS - I have not got any 'spam' email from them, so I don't think there is any fear in giving them you address.
-ERD50