Robocall Madness

[mf15]

Have comcast land line, today got 3 robo calls from my own phone #. I finally answered
the last one. It was microsoft telling me they were revoking my license. Oh well.
Perhaps since they got me on the phone, their computer will stop calling.
Oldmike

 

[marko]

Al, my Sentry just arrived on Saturday and today was the first weekday test. Not one robo call!! Thanks for the tip!

As I've mentioned, the Sentry Call Blocker solves the problem 100% for our landline. It tells the caller to press 0, and if that doesn't happen, the phone doesn't ring.

Of course, if everyone got that, the telemarketers would figure a way around it.

So, why isn't there an app for smartphones that does the same thing?

 

[rk911]

Have comcast land line, today got 3 robo calls from my own phone #. I finally answered
the last one. It was microsoft telling me they were revoking my license. Oh well.
Perhaps since they got me on the phone, their computer will stop calling.
Oldmike

since you have a comcast landline you should have access to NoMoRoBo at no charge. set it up and within a few days the robo calls will virtually disappear.

 

[mf15]

rk911: Thanks will look into it.
Oldmike

 

[TromboneAl]

Al, my Sentry just arrived on Saturday and today was the first weekday test. Not one robo call!! Thanks for the tip!

Nice. It seems like such an obvious solution, and I don't know why more companies don't have something similar.

 

[CoolRich59]

Nomorobo now lets me block those on my Ooma home line, and I recently put the WideProtect app on my cell phone (thanks to someone here for the tip). I haven't had an unwanted call since.

Tried Nomorobo on my cellphone but it made no difference and I still got lots of spam texts.

Then I bought the WideProtect app. The spam texts I get are from all different numbers but always the same area code (844). At first I tried blocking the offending area code and prefix, but that didn’t work. So now, I just blocked anything from area code 844. So far today I haven’t gotten any spam texts and so am cautiously optimistic.

 

[camfused]

CoolRich59, if you have an iPhone, running iOS 13, you can now easily block calls, emails, and texts, that are not from your address book. See https://www.cultofmac.com/637226/block-unknown-callers-email-ios-13/

 

[CoolRich59]

CoolRich59, if you have an iPhone, running iOS 13, you can now easily block calls, emails, and texts, that are not from your address book. See https://www.cultofmac.com/637226/block-unknown-callers-email-ios-13/

That is great to hear. I don't get that many spam calls, but get a couple of spam texts each day and they really annoy me.

I just checked my phone and it's running iOS 12.4.1, but the update page shows 13.1.2 is available. I'm going to download it now.

Thank you camfused!!

 

[scrabbler1]

The robocallers gave me a surprising few days off last week. But they have returned, both on the cell phone with all the neighbor spoofing (5 calls in the last 4 days) and now I am getting a new PITA thing on the land line. They are spoofing actual phone numbers (from people identified but unknown to me), according to my CID, with the same sales pitch for buying funeral plots. Is this what they are targeting us older people for now?

 

[jim584672]

I get some days off, then a bunch in a day. Sometimes the same place calls me three times in one day. I had student loan whatever call 3x. The same girl. Now I just start getting super insulting and nasty. Usually make them stop for a while.

 

[statsman]

The robocallers gave me a surprising few days off last week. But they have returned, both on the cell phone with all the neighbor spoofing (5 calls in the last 4 days) and now I am getting a new PITA thing on the land line. They are spoofing actual phone numbers (from people identified but unknown to me), according to my CID, with the same sales pitch for buying funeral plots. Is this what they are targeting us older people for now?

Spoofing actual phone numbers should be a serious crime, but Congress seems hell-bent on ignoring issues that actually affect our everyday lives.

We had Ooma for over four years for our landline. At first, it worked well. But then the spoofers figured a way around the call blockers. After a while, I just started sending everything to voicemail for anyone not in our (very sparse) contacts list.

Given the required premier service, taxes and 911 fees totaled about $18/mo, we finally decided we had enough and cancelled Ooma earlier this month. As it is, nearly every contact update we've had since our move to Texas a year ago has been to one or both of our cell phones. Haven't missed the landline at all, although it was strange to give up a phone number we first got in 1986.

 

[CaptTom]

It does seem to come in fits and starts. After a very quiet few weeks, I got three yesterday.

I'm noticing something which may help...

When I answer and say "hello," people who've legitimately called me reply immediately.

But scammers don't. I noticed that if I have to say "hello" a second time, it's always a scammer. So I don't.

I say "hello" once, and wait a second or two. If nothing, I hang up and mark the number as spam. Sometimes I actually get a real person on the other end saying "hello?" themselves. But it's always a scammer. (Some play back a recorded voice, some use real humans.)

I assume the auto-dialing software takes a moment to transfer the call to the playback software or the call center. If I say "hello" before that, they don't know if the call went through or not. They assume it didn't and hang up. So they've wasted just as much time as me. Perfect!

 

[scrabbler1]

It does seem to come in fits and starts. After a very quiet few weeks, I got three yesterday.

I'm noticing something which may help...

When I answer and say "hello," people who've legitimately called me reply immediately.

But scammers don't. I noticed that if I have to say "hello" a second time, it's always a scammer. So I don't.

I say "hello" once, and wait a second or two. If nothing, I hang up and mark the number as spam. Sometimes I actually get a real person on the other end saying "hello?" themselves. But it's always a scammer. (Some play back a recorded voice, some use real humans.)

I assume the auto-dialing software takes a moment to transfer the call to the playback software or the call center. If I say "hello" before that, they don't know if the call went through or not. They assume it didn't and hang up. So they've wasted just as much time as me. Perfect!

Many robocallers are voice activated. Thais, whenever my phone rings ad the it is not from someone I know, I pick up the phone but remain silent. If a live person is there, known or unknown, he or she will eventually speak. But a robocaller often won't, and will hang up. Works pretty well.

 

[easysurfer]

Spoofing actual phone numbers should be a serious crime, but Congress seems hell-bent on ignoring issues that actually affect our everyday lives.

We had Ooma for over four years for our landline. At first, it worked well. But then the spoofers figured a way around the call blockers. After a while, I just started sending everything to voicemail for anyone not in our (very sparse) contacts list.

Given the required premier service, taxes and 911 fees totaled about $18/mo, we finally decided we had enough and cancelled Ooma earlier this month. As it is, nearly every contact update we've had since our move to Texas a year ago has been to one or both of our cell phones. Haven't missed the landline at all, although it was strange to give up a phone number we first got in 1986.

I'm quite happy forking over my less than $20/month for Ooma Premier which probably screens out about 99% of telemarketers. Every thing is relative I suppose, as about $18/month is a lot better than about $75/month I was paying for ATT. So, I'm still celebrating .

 

[braumeister]

I'm quite happy forking over my less than $20/month for Ooma Premier which probably screens out about 99% of telemarketers. Every thing is relative I suppose, as about $18/month is a lot better than about $75/month I was paying for ATT. So, I'm still celebrating .

Same here. I've saved around $3,000 over the last four years by switching to Ooma Premier and I have better phone service.

 

[statsman]

I'm quite happy forking over my less than $20/month for Ooma Premier which probably screens out about 99% of telemarketers. Every thing is relative I suppose, as about $18/month is a lot better than about $75/month I was paying for ATT. So, I'm still celebrating .

Ooma served us well for quite some time, especially when our house in California and the rental house when we first got to Texas had extremely poor cell reception. The Texas rental was brutal. The house we now own is better. We just noticed that nearly everything had been moved off our home phone, and we were getting quite annoyed at the phone calls getting past the various call blockers.

Also, the call blockers aren't perfect. Phone numbers get in there that really shouldn't, like for PG&E when we were supposed to get callbacks after experiencing a power outage. That one fell into a call blocker, so we never received the updates (had to provide my cell number for the callbacks and updates). And it wasn't the only legit number being blocked. We ended up having to route all blocked calls to voicemail. It became a pain dealing with calls getting past the call blockers and the "blocked" calls ending up in voicemail.

For those who have a need for a landline, I would highly recommend Ooma with Premier (with the above reservations).

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

I finally got google voice set up correctly. My phone only rings if a call is from someone on my contacts list. Otherwise, it goes immediately to voicemail without ringing. Occasionally a scamster leaves a message, but I get a transcript for all phone messages, and they are easy to spot and delete without listening to their spiel. But I find the scamsters tend to call less if you never answer the phone.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I finally got google voice set up correctly. My phone only rings if a call is from someone on my contacts list. Otherwise, it goes immediately to voicemail without ringing. Occasionally a scamster leaves a message, but I get a transcript for all phone messages, and they are easy to spot and delete without listening to their spiel. But I find the scamsters tend to call less if you never answer the phone.

This x1000. I have found that blocking all calls that aren't in my contacts is the only solution that works well (only have a cell phone). I have been doing this for over a year and I have yet to miss out on a legitimate call. I get *maybe* one VM a month that a scammer leaves on the message.

On occasion, if I am expecting a call from an organization, I will turn the blocker off...but that's pretty rare as most folks will leave a message.

My DW's phone # is also used for her w*rk and she gets no less that 10 calls a day telling her that she 1) has a warrant, 2) owes a lot of taxes or, 3) the car warranty has expired. Thankfully, her blocker turns on at 4:30 every afternoon.

 

[steelyman]

I'm quite happy forking over my less than $20/month for Ooma Premier which probably screens out about 99% of telemarketers. Every thing is relative I suppose, as about $18/month is a lot better than about $75/month I was paying for ATT. So, I'm still celebrating .

Add me as a happy forker. I’m almost completed in separating the use of my Ooma (“landline”) contacts from my mobile contacts. The Ooma is for my business-type contacts (that includes doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc). Mobile/cell contacts only from family/friends (but they are welcome to call the Ooma number too). No texts from or to the Ooma (I don’t know if that’s even possible).

If I didn’t add the Premier Ooma level, I probably wouldn’t use it. But I really like the blocking and use through the mobile app.

 

[REWahoo]

Add me as a happy forker.

Can you say that on this forum?

Guess we'll have to wait to see what the mods do about it.

 

[steelyman]

Can you say that on this forum?

Guess we'll have to wait to see what the mods do about it.

Guess so (metoo) [emoji4]

 

[scrabbler1]

Yesterday, I received on my cell phone a robocall and a text from the campaign of a candidate for a town supervisor. The only thing was that the town is located about 50 miles away from my area and not within my home county. To get to that county, I would have to drive through 3 other counties and across bridges over 2 major rivers. My cell phone's area code is from my home county.

 

[rk911]

area codes typically cover areas larger than a single county. your phone may have the ability to block calls from numbers not in your contact list.

 

[JoeWras]

I'm finding that Google Voice is doing a good job of blocking most of the crap calls.

 

[scrabbler1]

area codes typically cover areas larger than a single county. your phone may have the ability to block calls from numbers not in your contact list.

Around here, on Long Island (NY), the 516 area code is for one county, Nassau. The calls and texts came from area code 845 which is in the id-Hudson River valley. New York City and its 9 are codes, and Westchester County's 1 area code lie between me and the 845 area code.

My low-end flip phone cell phone lacks the ability to block any calls. My contact list includes about only 20 people, so any call not from one of them (and I don't recognize) I basically reject by flipping the phone open an inch then closing it.