Robocall Madness

I have an interesting streak going: The last SIX calls on my cell phone (going back to last Wednesday, 5 days ago) have all been those neighbor spoofing ones. All began with my area code and first 3 digits. I have no such number in my very limited contacts list (only about 20 people have my cell phone number). In the last 2 years, I have gotten calls from 50-60 different neighbor spoofing numbers.


I don't answer the cell phone if no name from my contacts list appears in the called-ID display, or if I don't recognize the number anyway (a very RARE event). I have a limited, pay-per-minute cell phone plan so I don't want to burn minutes listening to those worthless robocall pitches. I simply lift the receiver a half inch and close it, instantly ending the call.
 
There is (maybe) hope.

Okay, it is merely introduced legislation and that's a long way from becoming law, but at least it's on somebody's radar.

https://www.engadget.com/2018/11/16/senate-bill-deterring-illegal-robocalls/?yptr=yahoo

Three senators have proposed new legislation aimed at deterring robocall scams. The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Protection, or TRACED, Act would give the FCC broader authority to penalize those that violate telemarketing restrictions, give the commission a longer window in which to act and establish an interagency working group that would explore additional actions that might deter robocall scams going forward.

"As the scourge of spoofed calls and robocalls reaches epidemic levels, the bipartisan TRACED Act will provide every person with a phone much needed relief," Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), a cosponsor of the proposed legislation, said in a statement. "It's a simple formula: call authentication, blocking and enforcement, and this bill achieves all three."
Click to expand...
 
If our illustrious legislators came up with a way to authenticate then I'm SURE it will work great! These are the same people who said the do not call list would solve all our problems.
 
Ugh, those robocalls from Health Care Hotline are sprouting up again. Got a few yesterday and a few more this morning. They usually change the number to stay ahead of call blockers, but the two just now came from the same number, so I had to block it (after reporting it to nomorobo).


And speaking of spoofed numbers, I was watching the 1993 movie, "In the Line of Fire," starring Clint Eastwood. Near the beginning of the movie, Eastwood and his fellow Secret Service agents are trying to track down the caller who has threatened to kill the U.S. President. They supposedly figure out the number and bust into a house, only to find its innocent residents (a sleeping couple) had nothing to do with the caller.


The tech experts describe how the caller disguised his calling number to belong to someone else he doesn't know (in order to fool the trackers), what we call "spoofing" today. Seems rather quaint to see this "new" technology in a movie from 25 years ago.
 
It has been robocall madness in my place the last 3 days, 11/27-11/29. In those 3 days, I have received 19 robocalls, 11 on the cell phone and 8 on the land line. Two of the cell phone calls came in seconds apart. Just after I had answered and hung up the cell phone on one call (I don't want to burn minutes listening to a robocaller's shtick, I just flip open the phone a half inch and let it close, terminating the call), it rang again from another number. Several of the cell phone calls were from recent, repeat numbers.


Meanwhile, on the land line, most of the calls are from Health Care Hotline. Maybe one was blocked by nomorobo. My machine took a few of them because I was either out or otherwise unable to answer the phone. And, LMAO, as I am typing this up, another one from Health Care Hotline came in on the land line but YAY got blocked by nomorobo.
 
Another first for me, although some of you have had this happen before.


My cell phone ring with an unknown, local number. I do what I have been doing lately which is to open the flip phone slightly then hang up immediately. It terminates the call and my somewhat annoying ringtone without burning up any minutes.


But a minute later I get a text from the same number. It reads, "You called me." I text back, "I did not, who are you? spoofed #" The caller texts back, "never mind then." Later on, when I got home, I looked up the number and it's a legit number of someone I don't know but who lives in my county, about 10 miles away.


He must have gotten some robocall from someone who spoofed the number, inserting my cell phone number. He tried to call me back.
 
Seems Microsoft warranty on my PC expired. Who would have thunk it?
 
scrabbler1 said:
Another first for me, although some of you have had this happen before.


My cell phone ring with an unknown, local number. I do what I have been doing lately which is to open the flip phone slightly then hang up immediately. It terminates the call and my somewhat annoying ringtone without burning up any minutes.


But a minute later I get a text from the same number. It reads, "You called me." I text back, "I did not, who are you? spoofed #" The caller texts back, "never mind then." Later on, when I got home, I looked up the number and it's a legit number of someone I don't know but who lives in my county, about 10 miles away.


He must have gotten some robocall from someone who spoofed the number, inserting my cell phone number. He tried to call me back.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they are spoofing all kinds of numbers local to your area code. It sucks.
 
Another one too, "block that caller". If I don't recognize the number I don't answer. If they don't leave a message it goes to block that caller number. What a pain in the butt.
 
I have a Virginia cell number. When I get that area code and first three digits I know it is a solicitor. I never answer. They never leave a message. Happens most days.
 
On my cell phone a few days ago, I did get one of those "This is detective so-and-so, don't ignore the call...."

Yeah, right :LOL:.
 
Anybody else feel left out if they haven't gotten all the popular spam calls?

I've gotten the "This is not a solicitation. We've been watching your credit cards and want to offer you a 0% rate", the Microsoft computer one, and my life was made complete the other day when I got a message telling me in a computerized voice that a federal posse is coming to arrest me if I don't call them back.
 
SecondCor521 said:
Anybody else feel left out if they haven't gotten all the popular spam calls?

I've gotten the "This is not a solicitation. We've been watching your credit cards and want to offer you a 0% rate", the Microsoft computer one, and my life was made complete the other day when I got a message telling me in a computerized voice that a federal posse is coming to arrest me if I don't call them back.
Click to expand...

The callers pitching carpet cleaning and chimney cleaning are old favorites, along with those from resorts rewards ("You stayed at one of our resorts recently...."). That last one used a bot caller who pretended to be having a conversation with you to keep you on the line longer, an annoying tactic the first few times until I caught on.

You won't feel complete until you have gotten some of these. :D
 
I seem to get the same 3 recurrences of 1. We've approved that 100k line of credit for your business. 2. Your google business listing is out of date and 3. You have been selected to receive a free medical grade brace.
 
I've been using the new Google call screening function on my Pixel cell phone. If I get a call and it is not immediately obvious that it is from someone I want to speak with I select "screen call" and Google answers the call and displays a transcript of the conversation on my phone. The transcript lets me determine if I should take the call or not. Most callers disconnect as soon as the call is answered by Google.
 
misanman said:
I've been using the new Google call screening function on my Pixel cell phone. If I get a call and it is not immediately obvious that it is from someone I want to speak with I select "screen call" and Google answers the call and displays a transcript of the conversation on my phone. The transcript lets me determine if I should take the call or not. Most callers disconnect as soon as the call is answered by Google.
Click to expand...

Something that is available with Google Voice is a call screener. If someone calls, Google will answer and ask for the person to speak a name. Then, Google will call you and say, "You have a call from X. Would you like to accept the call?"
 
TrvlBug said:
James Bond to the rescue with STIR/SHAKEN.

How to Stop Spam Robocalls With STIR/SHAKEN

Implementation in early 2019 by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile with other carriers to follow. Will work similar to the system employed to eliminate most e-mail spam. There was an article in this morning's local paper.
Click to expand...

AT&T and Comcast announced a successful trial run of this “SHAKEN & STIR” protocol. It doesn’t prevent calls, but it does authenticate the caller and caller ID information. That eliminates spoofing. With correct caller ID it is easier to file a complaint against unauthorized telemarketing.
 
On my cell phone, the one whose number I have given to maybe 10 people, gets bombarded with robocalls. What I do now, in order to not burn up minutes listening to any of the useless drivel, and to avoid having to listen to my ringtone over and over, and to avoid having to retrieve voice mails, is to open the low-end flip phone an inch and hang up, ending the call.


The most frequent type of robocall I get is one from a "neighbor" spoofed number, one which begins with my area code plus first 3 digits. In the last 3 years, I have seen nearly 100 different numbers starting with those 6 digits, even though know nobody with that prefix.


But today was a first. The number appearing in the phone's caller-ID was my own cell number! And it called me 4 times already! And I got a 5th junk call from another number, one which has called me before.
 
Last edited:
scrabbler1 said:
On my cell phone, the one whose number I have given to maybe 10 people, gets bombarded with robocalls. What I do now, in order to not burn up minutes listening to any of the useless drivel, and to avoid having to listen to my ringtone over and over, and to avoid having to retrieve voice mails, is to open the low-end flip phone an inch and hang up, ending the call.


The most frequent type of robocall I get is one from a "neighbor" spoofed number, one which begins with my area code plus first 3 digits. In the last 3 years, I have seen nearly 10 different numbers starting with those 6 digits, even though know nobody with that prefix.


But today was a first. The number appearing in the phone's caller-ID was my own cell number! And it called me 4 times already! And I got a 5th junk call from another number, one which has called me before.
Click to expand...
Yes, DW has suddenly got a rash of calls from herself. She is itching to answer herself, but knows that is the worst thing to do.
 
The robocall onslaught continues. Since Monday, my cell phone has received 19 robocalls, and we are only halfway through today. No more using my own number to spoof, but a different number has called me 6 times since Monday, and one more time a week ago.
 
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