Die Robocall Die!

[Swerd]

Fed up with robocalls? I am.

My phone lines are services I pay for. Unless robocallers pay for these services, they have no legal right to use my phone services to conduct their business. It's no different than my right to tell door-to-door salesmen (something nearly extinct) to get off my property. I have to wonder why there is no federal effort to stop or even slow down the extreme proliferation of legitmate and fraudulent robocallers.

The Washington Post's resident tech writer, Geoffrey Fowler, recently published two articles about what you can do about robocalls.

The first article, titled "Die Robocalls Die: a guide to stop spammers and exact revenge" deals with smart phones.

The second article titled "How do you stop robocalls to your landline?" deals with landline phones.

I liked them enough to reproduce them here. See the attached PDF, it has both articles.

 

[Hetfield]

Could not agree more! So annoying, and bullshit.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[Midwesthonky]

Thanks. I'm a big fan of caller ID. I use it at my business because 95-100% of calls on any given day are robo/spam calls. So I just don't bother to answer. Sad that I have to go that route, but I really don't need someone else phoning me with the automated mesasage saying my Google Listing is at risk. No, it's not at risk, you are just trying to sell me sh!t services that 50 other people have tried to do for the past 6 months. No. I'm fine.

The best thing to do with robocalls and scams is to make it a capital offense. Off several of the people behind the schemes and it will become a much less desireable profession.

 

[panteragstk]

 

[Swerd]

The best thing to do with robocalls and scams is to make it a capital offense. Off several of the people behind the schemes and it will become a much less desireable profession.

Make the executions public, via YouTube, and make it pay-for-view. I'd drop a few dollars for that especially if they also ran a tip line.

 

[Phase 2]

I have over 100 + blocked and still counting. There using local area codes now, with local numbers.

 

[lovinthehd]

I have over 100 + blocked and still counting. There using local area codes now, with local numbers.

That's when I know for sure it's a robocall when it has my cell's area and prefix....

 

[highfigh]

Off several of the people behind the schemes and it will become a much less desireable profession.

"Off several of the people..."?

What are you , some kind of '60s hippie?

 

[lovinthehd]

"Off several of the people..."?

What are you , some kind of '60s hippie?

I was thinking more of Al Capone what with the midwest thing....

 

[Swerd]

So far, I've done the first two items on the list for smart phones. I checked to see if my number is on the FTC Do Not Call list, for what it's worth.

Next, I downloaded the AT&T Call Protect app. I did that yesterday, and I'm using the free part of that app. So far, I've blocked 5 numbers, but it's too soon to know if that has any effect. AT&T is vague about what this app does. But it makes it impossible to avoid knowing that I can get more better stuff if I download the $4/month app.

For my landline phone, I've been using the free landline version of NomoRobo for several months. It seems to block about half the calls I get. Not perfect, but not bad.

Has anyone else tried AT&T Call Protect, Verizon Call Filter, the T-Mobil or other smartphone apps?

Has anyone tried YouMail, Nomorobo, RoboKiller, or Truecaller on their smartphone?

 

[Ponzio]

So far, I've done the first two items on the list for smart phones. I checked to see if my number is on the FTC Do Not Call list, for what it's worth.

Next, I downloaded the AT&T Call Protect app. I did that yesterday, and I'm using the free part of that app. So far, I've blocked 5 numbers, but it's too soon to know if that has any effect. AT&T is vague about what this app does. But it makes it impossible to avoid knowing that I can get more better stuff if I download the $4/month app.

For my landline phone, I've been using the free landline version of NomoRobo for several months. It seems to block about half the calls I get. Not perfect, but not bad.

Has anyone else tried AT&T Call Protect, Verizon Call Filter, the T-Mobil or other smartphone apps?

Has anyone tried YouMail, Nomorobo, RoboKiller, or Truecaller on their smartphone?

I enabled the available Verizon Call Filter app on my cell for Android when it became available 3 days ago after reading that article in TWP but robocalls on my cell have never been an issue; 1 or 2 a month at most. BTW, be careful when installing the Verizon Call Filter app on your cell. If you accidentally go for the "Premium" package, you will be charged $3.79(?) a month.

It's my land-line that's constantly bombarded. I'm at the point now where I just don't answer the phone unless I recognize the caller ID, otherwise it goes to my fax machine, where they can listen to the lovely fax tones. That has slowed down the amount of calls I get but not enough for my taste. Just set your fax machine to answer after 4 rings in its option menu.

The national Do Not Call list seemed to work for a while back when it was implemented but in the last year or so they've come back with a vengeance. As John Oliver stated in his show, Verizon/other call carriers/FCC have the ability to stop this but the revenue/lobbying bribes it generates is just too lucrative.

As a former telecommunications tech who installed this type of equipment, that make these calls possible, I feel I'm atoning for my sins.

Please forgive me.

 

[Swerd]

I rarely got robocalls or spam on my cell phone number, until I replaced my aging flip phone with an iPhone a week ago. Same phone number. Since then I've gotten somewhere between 5 and 10 calls. Blame that on AT&T, Apple, or both.

I'm still waiting for the Smithsonian Museum to come get my old phone, a valuable example of Korean-made Americana.

 

[Swerd]

Here's an example of what AT&T Call Protect does. Earlier today I got a call from 804-666-8191. I answered it to see if it was a telemarketer – it was – and I hung up. Then I opened Call Protect. This number was flagged as a telemarketer, already reported 7 times by users. I became #8, and then I blocked it.

Recently I looked again on that app. That phone number has now been flagged as a Severe Threat with 53 reports from users.

So that apparently is what the free version of Call Protect can do. It's a database of flagged phone numbers which have been reported by users. It's up to the user to block it.

According to the Washington Post article,

"AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon offer free services that monitor network activity and crowdsourced reports to block suspected fraudulent calls. The carriers outsource these services to Hiya, First Orion and TNS, respectively."​

 

[panteragstk]

FWIW Google's phone app will mostly show robocalls as suspected spam. Then I just don't answer and block the number and report as spam. If it's a number I don't recognize and they don't leave a VM they get blocked and reported as spam. Works very well.

 

[Swerd]

I want to see an app that detects all robocalls, spam or fraudsters, answers their calls, and plays them the audio from all 17 minutes of John Oliver's Robocall Rant – in an endless repeating loop.

 

[Phase 2]

Only got one today, but I have so many blocked.

 

[davidscott]

I never answer a call if I don't know the number. They can leave a message then I can decide whether or not to call back.

 

[mtrycrafts]

... I have to wonder why there is no federal effort to stop or even slow down the extreme proliferation of legitmate and fraudulent robocallers.....

You should read the May 2019 issue of Consumer Reports on Robocalls and what what FTC has done. Seven large, very large callers were prosecuted, very large fines, loss or cruise ships but hard to collect when it is off shore, bankrupt, etc. And, how long to find these crooks.
Yes, very frustrating but I report them all top the FTC complaint line.

 

[highfigh]

I was thinking more of Al Capone what with the midwest thing....

"Some people have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms.........- BONK!".

 

[Phase 2]

Thing is, a lot fall for those robocalls, get their bank accounts cleaned out.