If you’ve noticed a sudden drop in the number of unwanted spam calls this week, there’s a reason. The FTC announced yesterday the forced closure of four robocall scam operations. The four fraudsters were “responsible for bombarding people across the United States with billions of illegal calls.” More
And if you’re a Verizon customer, the mobile phone giant is rolling out a free app this week that the provider claims will filter out robocalls and identify them as spam. More
Until they change their name and do something the app doesn’t catch.
Like next week.
Umm, mine have gone up this week.
I always check my email spam folder, interesting to see the ebb and flow in amount that goes there.
LCD – I’ve been wondering about that. Seems like they went down earlier this year (they were a real nuisance last year), but then started up again this week.
ATT has nomorobo. Great product.
If the number isn’t in my contacts I won’t answer.
I picked up a little battery operated device called BOGUS several years ago. It mimics an answering machine when you press a button and hold the device by the mouth piece of your phone. Works for me.
Read an article on Fox Business where the FCC has fined these robocall businesses $208 million but have collected so far only $6,790 dollars. Doesn’t sound like much of a success put that way. Maybe they need to do less bragging and more collecting.
Stop fining them and throw them in the slammer.
Stop fining them and throw them in the slammer.
Except if they’re a gay black.
Most smart phones have a do not disturb function in the menu settings. When activated only numbers in your contacts will audibly ring on your phone. Numbers not in your contacts can still leave a message.
I was just about to pay off the student loan I never had. Renew the car warranty I don’t have. Or take a discount for another stay at a resort I never heard of, let alone visited.
‘Who’s taught you how’s to make a phone call?
Go axe yourself, you’s not going to axe me shit.’
Click,,,
When I have the time I let a live person come on and give me the whole spiel, then I calmly say: I’m not wearing any panties. Say what? I said: I’m not wearing any panties. Would you like to talk about that?
That usually gets them rid of.
Mine have indeed dropped of to almost nothing in the past week.
What they need to stop with extreme prejudice is the ability to bypass your ringer and go directly to your voicemailbox, often leaving you nothing but several hangups several times a day. That should be illegal but I read Congress allowed them to do it.
I’d like to know how many of the busted operations were run by moral-less Russians.
As long as someone keeps making a profit on these calls, they won’t stop.
I’ve tried tracing them to their origin -the ones I get- and find they are virtually always untraceable VOIP or phony number calls that originated somewhere invisible to traces and searches. The ones that are the most irritating (in terms of leaving caller ID numbers on my machine that makes trying to find a genuine missed call really difficult among them) are those that just call once and when they get no answer follow up with a different number every hour or so so they can’t be identified and blocked. This seems to be the latest trend where I am, a whole bank of numbers that rotate from one to another so they can’t be identified and blocked.
Anonymous, totally agrees!
Not meaning any disrespect, knows what it means like that on my phone.
Just kinda funny that here on the internet you have not a problem doing the same.
Kettle black,,, goofy mirror stuff.
No Blushes, please explain how I am totally doing the same.
I’m just posting on a publicly available site that openly allows posting, that isn’t the same as making junk phone calls to someones private phone.
Heck, I look forward to the calls. Being retired, I always answer and just mess with them. I know I have hit pay-dirt when they start cursing and calling me names.
I just laugh and that usually gets them angrier. I like to point out to them that they have wasted several minutes of non-productive time and they must account for that time.
When they realize that, they usually become apoplectic and hang up.
Ahhhh, some calls were really memorable.
hehehe Don’t mess with an old fart…..
They’ve pretty much ceased for me. I get one now and then. One that’s been persistent recently and they always leave a message.
Zander Insurance
Wtf? I shop insurance like I shop for underwear, never!
Has been a blast leading them on, telling them it was very important they deliver as fast as possible. When they ask why speed is so important I tell them it’s because I’m planning on filing for bankruptcy. Apparently none of them truly care about my rotten siding, leaking roof, or aluminum windows.
Letters of marque are expressly granted in the Constitution (Article I section 8): “The Congress shall have the power…to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.”
“A letter of marque and reprisal was a government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a person, known as a privateer or corsair, to attack and capture enemy vessels.”
seems like an appropriate solution. pay folks to capture the spamers. hang them on a live stream. repeat until no longer necessary.
@Perry: I’d rather have a device that mimics the phone company message that says, “We’re sorry – the number you have dialed is no longer in service”. Then I could play it every time I received a call that caller ID showed was out of area, anonymous, “withheld”, etc.
Actually, I have eliminated 90 – 95% of all my spam calls with a free (for landlines) service called “NOMOROBO”. Google it for details.
I have nomorobo, but still got 2-3 spam calls a day. They spoof a number that’s not in the database & can get through. I bought an AT&T phone a month ago that has “Smart Call Blocking” and have not had one get through since. It doesn’t even ring. The phone answers the call if the number isn’t on your allowed list or in your directory, and a recording tells the caller that this number does not accept sales calls, but if you still want to speak, you must press the pound sign & speak your name. They don’t, so then it hangs up. It’s the best $80 I have ever spent.