Nuisance Cold Calls
 

Do you have these in the States? It's a thing here in the UK. The most popular one seems to be: "We've heard you've been in an accident which wasn't your fault..." - basically dodgy companies phishing for insurance claims. Also, "I'm calling from Microsoft, you have a virus on Windows" or something like that. They're scammers trying to rip you off. I used to politely say no to these people, but now I'm more inclined to just hang up.

It's really bad. The latest trend is call centers in New Delhi that are nothing short of organized crime. The only defense is using caller ID and not taking any calls from any numbers you don't recognize. It's a shame that the telephone has come to this.

That's what I do, if I don't know who it is I don't answer. Picking up the phone, even if you tell them to fuck off, registers your phone as a legitimate working number in their computer. Starting last January, Verizon is telling my Caller ID more and more calls are spam.

I get the same caller many times a day. It is a 336 area code from the north west corner of NC. A robo call telling me some bs about my credit card. I owe zero on my cards and Citi Bank said it is a scam as the different credit banks will notify me if something is up. They have to as a couple times my numbers have been changed.

I made the mistake of answering the 336 thinking it just might be important. Now it calls several times a day. Looks like I could sue for harassment.

So far, it hasn't been a problem with my cellular service.

I do get them on my landline; but, my phone system handles it. I have a base unit and many cordless handsets (the system will handle up to a dozen). All of their ringers are turned off as is message screening so I don't hear them being recorded. I have enough handsets to see an incoming call display light up on a handset from anywhere in the place. Repeaters extend the range of the handsets well out the front and back doors.

I answer the caller ID numbers I recognize and the others just go to the answering machine in the base unit (45 min. recording time) to be periodically deleted en masse. The system can block up to 250 numbers; but, I haven't had to block any yet. They seem to get discouraged after awhile. New ones always crop up though.

It's configured as a completely silent system; yet, I can restore the audio of the ringer and the call screening across the system; or, on any individual handset as desired in case I'm expecting a call.

The system will also link (via Bluetooth) to up to four cell phones. I can take and make calls through my cellular service using the handsets so I don't have to have my cell phone on me at home. The system could also operate that way without a landline service. With cellular service it still uses voicemail rather than the answering machine which can be accessed through the handsets too.

Peace and quiet, it works for me. YMMV.

Sounds like you've got more tech than NASA ;)

I have caller ID so I can see internationals. Yes quite a few have come from India. I never had a problem with my mobile until I uploaded my c.v. with the number on it to some job agencies a year or so ago. Someone's been up to no good with my personal data.

The new problem is that it's possible to spoof or change Caller ID. So the number you see may or may not be the number calling you.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I keep an old fashion landline. It's the only number I give out to any kind of contact that isn't family and friends. My phone system deals with the spam. It's my countermeasure and so far they haven't come up with a new measure to defeat getting routed to my answering machine. I don't have problems with mobile spam that way.

I can call my landline number from my personal mobile and enter a code to play back legit messages and delete spam. It's an extra step; but, my background tells me there's currently no reliable consumer tech substitute that equals basic compartmentalization of information.

I generally don't use the two VOIP options I have. They're nice contingencies though.

The other reason I maintain a landline is I also maintain a dial-up service in case my high speed internet goes down.

The caller id now reads 608 area code and a local exchange, and I get Rachael from card services. Now I push one to speak with a agent, and fuck with them. I usually end the call by screaming "I Want to Shit in Your Mouth". We are on every "Do Not Call" list there is, and we still get calls.

I used to get daily calls to my cell before I started blocking them. I know that they're scams because they're all 412 area code. I don't know that many people there. The ones I do, are stored in the phone itself. I assume it's because my cell is still 412. They don't know I don't live there anymore. Makes it easier to know which are calls worth answering or not

If my cell doesn't show a name, the call goes unanswered.

Just after 0800, and half way through my second mug of tea, the phone rang.
Calls at that time tend to be from a neighbour in need of some sort of help.
Today, however, the caller was supposedly from my ISP.
I am slow to anger, but I confess that a certain immoderacy of language ensued.
Does this make me a bad person?

No.

I think more highly of you for it.

For what that's worth...

Yes, you're a bad person, but not bad enough. You must be much badder with those motherfuckers.

http://cellar.org/img/giphy.gif

A couple of hours after I last posted I received another scam call supposedly from HMRC threatening me with swift and dire retribution if I didn't settle an outstanding tax bill.
As it was a recording there wasn't much point in telling them to er, 'cease and desist' as it were, so I just put the phone down.

And so it goes on...

Can't get put on a list if you never answer your phone.

When the kids were little, really little, I sometimes handed the phone to one of them and told them to talk to the person on the phone.

I still do it. The kids think it's hilarious.

And the number, too. A week or so ago, I got a call from myself, supposedly dialed from my own phone. :eyebrow:

I have a phone that blocks numbers, but it will only take 30. Those blocked numbers still call me (rings once then hangs up), but there are dozens and dozens more (all spoofed). I get four or five a day. I've taken to not picking up the phone at all, unless the Caller ID shows me a name/number I absolutely recognize.

Fuckers. :mad:

I had a call this morning and the displayed number began 0113 which is the code for Leeds. However, the display also showed 'International' and nobody legit calls us from abroad.

I believe that many of these calls only become 'live' when you speak so I didn't say anything and there was a pleasing click on the line a few seconds later.

I listen for signs of a boiler room/coldcall center right off. If I get the sign, the caller gets short shrift and silent. Punctuated by the sound of a hang-up. They don't seem to call back...

I do not answer the landline. It's not for me. Never is. If my cell rings, and does not display a name of from my contacts list, I don't answer.

Too bad Grav, Michael Anthony was trying to contact you for Mr Tipton. :yesnod:

[NSFW] you'd have to go some to beat this guy.

If a Nobel prize was awarded for high dudgeon he'd win hands down!

Seriously though, although I can understand the chap's frustration, and heaven knows what other pressures he might have been under, I do worry about the anger that lurks just beneath the surface of so many people.

They don't make money if you play dumb. My record was to keep one on the line for 40 minutes. It is quite entertaining to say to "Microsoft Support" that the computer says "Command not Valid". They try and try to get one to load their (actually a third party) software.

Lately I have noticed profanity from many of these scammer. But the same boiler rooms keep calling back.

Apparently they have no way of telling the computer that this number is not a useful target. So the computer keeps calling the same numbers (maybe once every three or four weeks). And the same dumb scammers keep trying to push the same low interest rates.

Just a few simple rules. The know who you are, what your address is, and what your phone number is. They do not know other facts (ie account numbers, credit card providers, etc). So never give that information. Play them forever with questions like which one are you calling about. Play them for the fools that they are. Make them get angry. Make them so emotional that they will not be on their game - and not easily scam others. Manipulate and play on their frustrations. It is both fun and entertaining.

Yes i keep the ringer off.......

Spam calls all day it seems.......I feel like picking up and saying FUCK YOU to them!! (And a bunch of other stuff)

Hey if they dont like it they can STOP MAKING UNSOLICITED CALLS!!!!!!

I read about a guy who got a premium rate number and had spam calls forwarded to that number.

Yes but would the caller have to pay the higher rates? (Seeing it was forwarded to it and not the actual # they called)

I've heard(read) of that happening, where you call a number and it forwards your call to an offshore number that costs $5 a minute.

Some North American area codes connect to phones are found in Caribbean Island and in Iraq. Do charges apply to them?

Cheaper than a collect call from prison...

I know, I paid for a lot of them.

I made a few...Good times, good times.