Robocall Madness

[youbet]

I got a call and the woman on the line says, "I'm calling concerning your credit card balance, we can help you with an alternative payment plan." I said, "Oh, great! Which card are you calling about?" In the background, I head the woman tell someone, "He wants to know which card we are calling about. The other person answers, "Just tell him that we deal with all of them."


At that point I hung up.

You waited a loooong time to hang up!

 

[aja8888]

You waited a loooong time to hang up!

When I get those calls, I always ask if they can issue me a new card since I am in a nursing home and need money for meds. They hang up then.

 

[scrabbler1]

Here is a recent phishing scam I have received a few times and has appeared in web searches.

It comes as part of a junk text, random phone numbers, claiming to be from AT&T:

"Your May payment was received. Thank you for your business; Please accept these loyalty gifts:"

There is an attachment which can't be for anything good; either malware or an attempt to gain personal info.

 

[ERObjd]

our phone blocker is always blocking the fake "spectrum internet"calls and the fake "Amazon" calls. Amazon is a recording that claims you will be charged 17000 for 2 Apple I pads." Sometimes I override the call block and answer and say "I am looking at my amazon account right now and there is no such purchase..do you know what that means? They always say no and I reply ":That means that you are a criminal, a low life loser and you are spoofing fake #'s and Amazon NEVER calls people never." Then the scammers hang up like the losers they are. Then they call back from a new fake # that gets blocked.
Do not call list does not work with criminals .Only way i see to end these scammers is to charge for long distance calls. even 2 cents to 5 cents a minute would bring these calls almost to a halt. As long as long distance cost these criminals nothing, they will keep running their scams. scammers is what happens when long distance is free.

 

[Sunset]

..... As long as long distance cost these criminals nothing, they will keep running their scams. scammers is what happens when long distance is free.

I agree, but the issue is they are using the internet not the phone lines to make long distance calls.

Probably need to make all phone calls cost 1 cent to stop them.

Could even make it so that the person doing the calling has 1 cent transferred by the Carrier from their phone account to the account of the person being called.
That way the 1 cent to call would end up being much less for ordinary people, but still cost scammers a lot more as most folks don't call them.

 

[scrabbler1]

our phone blocker is always blocking the fake "spectrum internet"calls and the fake "Amazon" calls. Amazon is a recording that claims you will be charged 17000 for 2 Apple I pads." Sometimes I override the call block and answer and say "I am looking at my amazon account right now and there is no such purchase..do you know what that means? They always say no and I reply ":That means that you are a criminal, a low life loser and you are spoofing fake #'s and Amazon NEVER calls people never." Then the scammers hang up like the losers they are. Then they call back from a new fake # that gets blocked.
Do not call list does not work with criminals .Only way i see to end these scammers is to charge for long distance calls. even 2 cents to 5 cents a minute would bring these calls almost to a halt. As long as long distance cost these criminals nothing, they will keep running their scams. scammers is what happens when long distance is free.

I remember watching on C-Span back in 2017 some congressional hearings about this. One of the people testifying before the committee said that the phone companies can stop these scammers because they know if thousands or millions of calls are originating from the same phone number, even if the scammers are spoofing the number to their recipients. The phone companies can block these calls from going out, or at least stop the number spoofing which prevents many call blocking programs from working effectively. They can limit number spoofing to the few entities which legitimately spoof or hide a phone number (and generally make far fewer calls than the scammers). But the phone companies make money off these calls (or, at least the existence of the scammers/customers), so their incentive is zero to cooperate without government regulation and penalties.

 

[CaptTom]

...But the phone companies make money off these calls (or, at least the existence of the scammers/customers), so their incentive is zero to cooperate without government regulation and penalties.

Interesting idea. How do you think they make money? I always figured the problem was simply that the spam calls cost the phone company virtually nothing, while implementing new hardware and software to stop them would cost a lot.

 

[scrabbler1]

Interesting idea. How do you think they make money? I always figured the problem was simply that the spam calls cost the phone company virtually nothing, while implementing new hardware and software to stop them would cost a lot.

I pay money to my phone service provider (it uses the internet), even if it is flat fee for it, no matter how many calls I make. If I attached a robodialer to my phone line, I could make all the calls I wanted. Simply by selling the phone line to me, the service provider makes money off that.

Yes, it would cost the service provider to monitor a phone line's usage to see if one line were making thousands, if not tens of thousands of calls every 24 hours, and try to stop it, especially if it meant losing the revenue from selling the service. But while the scammer and the phone companies make money, we consumers bear the cost, by being victims of the scammers and by having to put up with the millions of unwanted, nuisance calls we consumers get from them every year.

The phone companies should be forced to implement these measures to protect the public, including their own customers, in these ways.

 

[CaptTom]

...Simply by selling the phone line to me, the service provider makes money off that.

I see. But of course it's not your provider who is selling that flat-fee, unlimited-call line to the scammers. It's often in another country, and generally internet-based, not a physical phone line. So it's really the internet provider getting the revenue from the scammer.

...Yes, it would cost the service provider to monitor a phone line's usage to see if one line were making thousands, if not tens of thousands of calls every 24 hours...

Again, it's not your provider. It's some foreigner on the internet. Your provider is paying for the infrastructure to support all those incoming calls.

...we consumers bear the cost, by being victims of the scammers and by having to put up with the millions of unwanted, nuisance calls we consumers get from them every year.

Very true!

The phone companies should be forced to implement these measures to protect the public, including their own customers, in these ways.

Also agree. But for some reason our elected officials are reluctant to even allow providers to block spam calls. There have been big announcements of new legislation to require providers to follow some standards, but it doesn't really seem to have done any good, from where I sit.

The problem is, we have lots of different providers, in lots of different countries, who have to accept all incoming calls. If they were allowed to pick and choose, they could prioritize their own calls over competitors' calls, or otherwise find a way to charge us more. It's all very murky, and I'm quite sure I don't fully understand it.

What I am sure of is that the scammers are much more nimble than our government when it comes to technology. One solution would be to elect science-literate politicians, but I don't see any movement in that direction.

 

[statsman]

Anyone else getting texts from a non-number (no area code; less than 7 digits) telling you of an application/appointment for a job interview? I received 7 of these texts on Monday (two sequences of 3 quick texts plus one additional text), which I thought could have been legit but someone fat-fingered the cell phone number. Ended up being for McDonald's in Florida (my cell phone area code is nowhere near Florida).

I just received two more texts today from the same number.

 

[scrabbler1]

Anyone else getting texts from a non-number (no area code; less than 7 digits) telling you of an application/appointment for a job interview? I received 7 of these texts on Monday (two sequences of 3 quick texts plus one additional text), which I thought could have been legit but someone fat-fingered the cell phone number. Ended up being for McDonald's in Florida (my cell phone area code is nowhere near Florida).

I just received two more texts today from the same number.

I have gotten some emails sent as texts. They have as the sender's number a 6-digit number starting with 410-xxx and have the format of an email. They are always sent from some scammer telling me a bank account or debit card has been locked and to call a customer service number (fake) to get the account or card reactivated.

 

[JoeWras]

We use Consumer Cellular with an AT&T network sim. I'm not sure who is doing the classifying (AT&T or Consumer Cellular?), but they are doing an outstanding job of classifying the scam texts as spam.

I'm basically down to zero spam texts, with maybe 1 getting through every two months. I can look at the folder with all the ones marked spam, and they are all truly garbage. When I get one I report it with the hope the next guy doesn't have to see it.

 

[scrabbler1]

I'm not sure what is causing this, but in the last few days Nomorobo has been blocking calls to my land line like crazy!

After it blocked 2 calls Thursday evening from the same number (I was away for the second one), it blocked 6 more calls in a 3-hour period yesterday (Friday)! Two were from the same number of the 2 Thursday calls. Two more were from another number. And the last 2 were from 2 different numbers. Two of the calls came in 3 minutes apart, and I was around for them. But 3 others, all from different numbers, arrived in a 5-minute span! Glad I was away for that trio.

And I got another call this morning, blocked. This one had some history, based on a search. It's from some chimney sweeping service, a frequent reason for these calls. I suspect the others, at least some of them, were political calls, pollsters or from candidates, as many were local.

Given that these numbers had been used to make calls before, and someone had reported it to Nomorobo, they couldn't be spoofed numbers. Or the spoofing was being thwarted somehow. Still, good to see Nomorobo finally blocking more calls than in the last few years.

 

[razztazz]

Elections coming up. Might be voting/Party persuasion related. I'm not getting a ton but recently I have been getting texts on my cell phone that I never usually get and all have been election related. I have no landline.

 

[FIYes]

Recently, the number of junk calls has increased greatly. We still have a house phone with a number that we have had for many years. The other day I counted 16 junk calls in one day. I think that Medicare open enrollment may be part of it. I don’t answer any calls unless I recognize the number. Our house phone is voip and not very expensive, but this makes me wonder if I should just ditch the line. I surprised that phone companies don’t do more to reduce the annoying volume.

Guess that is my rant for the day.

 

[ls99]

Every day I find call from "Medicare" on my caller ID. I suspect they are in overdive to push Medicare Advantage. Happy with my plan F.

 

[ownyourfuture]

Recently, the number of junk calls has increased greatly. We still have a house phone with a number that we have had for many years. The other day I counted 16 junk calls in one day.

You might want to check out page 15 message #288 in this thread.
I posted that over 2.5 years ago and the blocking feature is still working perfectly.

 

[scrabbler1]

Today, I got 2 robocalls from different, unknown, and presumably spoofed numbers, with the same message.

The message thanked me for my order and said it would be sent out to me. I had a few options to press on my phone: I could confirm the order, hear the order, or speak to a rep. There was no mention of my name, address, item(s) ordered, or their cost.
Basically, it seemed like the Amazon phone scam without the Amazon. For a moment, I was curious enough to ask to speak to a rep, but that quickly faded so I just hung up.

Anyone here get calls like this for a new scam?

 

[statsman]

I've received four phone calls in the last 24 hours on my new phone number for what is supposed to be a relatively new area code overlay in our area. I've had this phone number for almost two weeks, and it is already starting up with the unknown calls. The calls came from a separate number in KY, TN, VA, and NJ.

Each time, I answer the call, say nothing, and after a period of 4-8 seconds, the caller/robo hangs up. I find this usually stops a repeat from the same number in 19 out of 20 cases. For the latter, I may need to do the above twice. With my new iPhone, the latter will now be met with a block.

 

[statsman]

I've received four phone calls in the last 24 hours on my new phone number for what is supposed to be a relatively new area code overlay in our area. I've had this phone number for almost two weeks, and it is already starting up with the unknown calls. The calls came from a separate number in KY, TN, VA, and NJ.

Each time, I answer the call, say nothing, and after a period of 4-8 seconds, the caller/robo hangs up. I find this usually stops a repeat from the same number in 19 out of 20 cases. For the latter, I may need to do the above twice. With my new iPhone, the latter will now be met with a block.

Add "United States" from last evening to the list, and ME this morning. I have not had repeats, so I haven't used my new iPhone's blocking feature.

As it is, according to Apple, any blocked calls can still go to voicemail. What's the point of that? To confirm to the spammers that they're dialing a legit phone number?! They'll just keep my phone number around and pass it off to some other dialer.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201229

 

[TripleLindy]

Anyone else getting multiple calls from Health Scout? I’ve blocked a couple of numbers, but they keep using different ones. They’ve been calling for months, but I’ve never answered. I thought it would end once ACA open enrollment ended, but they keep calling.

 

[Morgan22]

Anyone else getting multiple calls from Health Scout? I’ve blocked a couple of numbers, but they keep using different ones. They’ve been calling for months, but I’ve never answered. I thought it would end once ACA open enrollment ended, but they keep calling.

Looks like you may be receiving calls from thehealthscout.com? Which sells Medicare policies, not ACA related.

There is another company called healthscout.insure. They have a note about your issue on their website.
https://healthscout.insure/the-health-scout-phone-calls
Looks like you can unsubscribe from the calls.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I keep my iPhone set to route unknown callers directly to voicemail which has solved this problem. But healthcare providers don’t seem to ever leave voicemails so I have to un-silence unknowns, and the madness starts again until I get my callback.

 

[Sunset]

Our AI created voice message stops the spammers.
We don't answer the phone if it's unrecognized, and just let the message play. Most of the spammers hang up before the message is done.

I'm starting to wonder if they can recognize the voice as generated. OR if they feel insulted because in the message it says: ".....we don't pick up scammer calls...."

 

[CaptTom]

I'm surprised to see so much activity here. I've always answered my phone, as long as was convenient. I'd just hang up on the scammers. I never let it aggravate me, and I rarely missed an important call from someone who wasn't in my contacts list.

But lately there's been a significant drop in spam calls. I'd say less than one per week. I can't even remember the last one. This seemed to coincide, more or less, with the implementation of the new TRACED act, which required carriers to use the new SHAKEN/STIR protocol so they could identify and trace forged calling numbers.

I seem to recall there was a grace period for these protocols to be implemented, maybe my carrier (Google Fi) was ahead of some of the others.

I'd be curious to hear if anyone else has seen this change. Especially, I wonder if those reporting a lot of spam calls are using certain carriers. It would be good to know which ones to avoid!