Did the "do not call" list go bye bye?

Look at the Mr Number app if you don’t have a dumb phone.  I blocked the entirety of my area code plus the first 3 of my number so it killed the “neighbor spoofing”. Only person I know with the same first 3 has no reason to call me anymore.   It also warns you of suspicious calls as your phone is ringing or you can have it block them altogether.  I have it set to block.  I was getting 10 calls a day from unwanted numbers now it’s maybe a couple per week that make it through 

poopshovel again said:

You do have to re-register every few years.

Actually, you do not.  Once registered, numbers stay on the list until removed by the owners.

But as noted, technology has basically made enforcement impossible.

Adrian_Thompson said:

This has exploded recently to the point some days I'm getting 3-4 calls on my personal and/or work cell phone(s).  Every time I get a new one I use the 'block this caller' on my phones (both iPhones) but they've got really creative.  The spammers seem to have figured out that Ford Motor Co cell phones all have the same area code and first three digits, they are making calls from numbers that look like corporate numbers so you answer them.  Also every time I try and get through to the spammers to tell them to take me off they've been trained to hang up immediately before you can say that.  IT's always the same three types of scam.  First is trying to sell me a car warranty.  No good.  I drive a brand new company car, made for and provided by my employer so I don't think I need a warranty.  I also have a 10 year old Volvo and a 19 year old Porsche, I don't think they'd cover either of those.  Then there is the 'You've been selected for a lower rate on your student loans'  Well I went to Uni for free in the UK, my wife, her parents, siblings and our kids have never had a student loan.  You have to get down to one single niece to find anyone related to our family that's ever had a sodding student loan.  Finally it's 'we've been trying to contact you about your credit cards, it's urgent we speak to you about a rate reduction'  Funny, we don't have any credit card debt.  It's really pissing me off.  If anyone can offer a real solution to stopping this crap I'm interested.  I like the air horn idea tbh, but it may not go down well at work hitting aan air horn 2-4 times a day.  It may wake people up or something!

That's nuts. I might get one SPAM call every 2-3 weeks.

I get them in waves. Sometimes I'll get 3 a day, then I'll go a week before the next one. I have started smashing the number pad when it picks up. Actually, I push whatever number it wants you to push to talk to a live scammer, then when they answer start smashing the number pad. It's fun. 

In reply to z31maniac :

I get 4-5 per day on my mobile, and 2-3 per day on our land line (not even counting the ones that hang up before leaving blank messages on my voicemail).  3-4 per day for my wife's mobile.  All 3 lines have been on the DNC list for at least 10 years, and I just verified that they are still registered.

In reply to Duke :

That's wild. But like I said, my phone pops up red for 95% percent of them, so I just swipe down and decline the call.

I wouldn't know about a landline. I haven't had one of those in more than 15 years. 

In reply to z31maniac :

Yeah, mine phone alerts me too, and I ignore basically any call that isn't in my contacts list.  AT&T has an app that lets me flag new spam calls as well.  I don't actually answer that many spam calls, but my phone rings that many times a day.  Probably 1 out of 100 incoming calls is actually for me specifically.

Two or three times a day I would get a call that would say something like "is Misty there?".  If you said something about it being a wrong number they would start their pitch.  Well one day I just said, "I'm Misty" in my normal voice.  There was a bit of stuttering on the other line, and then I said "you can't discriminate just because I had a sex change".  Click...they've never called back and that was about 6 weeks ago.

Patrick said:

Look at the Mr Number app if you don’t have a dumb phone.  I blocked the entirety of my area code plus the first 3 of my number so it killed the “neighbor spoofing”. Only person I know with the same first 3 has no reason to call me anymore.   It also warns you of suspicious calls as your phone is ringing or you can have it block them altogether.  I have it set to block.  I was getting 10 calls a day from unwanted numbers now it’s maybe a couple per week that make it through 

Great idea, but as I said they are spoofing the format of our actual corporate phones.  I need to answer calls with that area code and first three many times a day as they are genuine work calls.

I get 3 to 5 calls a day , most are silent , I guess I did not say the key word ,

If a live person answers I ask them where my Amazon order is , maybe coconuts or Gold fish just something stupid to confuse them....

Is there a number you can press and get to a salesman , I would like to send them to the empty house fown the street !

stuart in mn said:

The silly thing is when they spoof my own number.  Yeah, like I'm calling myself.

They spoofed my cell number once while calling my wife. We were sitting about 2' apart at the time and we both had our phones with us. It was pretty funny. I also occasionally get calls from myself.

Adrian_Thompson said:

Patrick said:

Look at the Mr Number app if you don’t have a dumb phone.  I blocked the entirety of my area code plus the first 3 of my number so it killed the “neighbor spoofing”. Only person I know with the same first 3 has no reason to call me anymore.   It also warns you of suspicious calls as your phone is ringing or you can have it block them altogether.  I have it set to block.  I was getting 10 calls a day from unwanted numbers now it’s maybe a couple per week that make it through 

Great idea, but as I said they are spoofing the format of our actual corporate phones.  I need to answer calls with that area code and first three many times a day as they are genuine work calls.

It may be giving them too much credit to think that they're specifically spoofing the corporate phone pattern, though obviously that doesn't in any way improve your situation. The area-plus-first-three seems to just be a pattern that they do in general to appear familiar to any given recipient, regardless of whether that block of numbers is part of some larger organization. I suppose the autodial software just looks at whatever number they're about to spam and uses the first six digits, finishing with some other four... I don't know enough about telephony to know why it isn't more difficult to spoof caller info.

Adrian_Thompson said:

Patrick said:

Look at the Mr Number app if you don’t have a dumb phone.  I blocked the entirety of my area code plus the first 3 of my number so it killed the “neighbor spoofing”. Only person I know with the same first 3 has no reason to call me anymore.   It also warns you of suspicious calls as your phone is ringing or you can have it block them altogether.  I have it set to block.  I was getting 10 calls a day from unwanted numbers now it’s maybe a couple per week that make it through 

Great idea, but as I said they are spoofing the format of our actual corporate phones.  I need to answer calls with that area code and first three many times a day as they are genuine work calls.

yep, that happens to me at the office as well.  only tip on our phone system is that an employee calling will pop up with their name on the screen.  

Does the modern autodial have a list of "live" contacts that answer the phone ?

Seems like a waste of resources to dial dead numbers or FAX numbers

californiamilleghia wrote:

Does the modern autodial have a list of "live" contacts that answer the phone ?

Seems like a waste of resources to dial dead numbers or FAX numbers

It wastes virtually nothing.  Most of these calls are just a computer in a rack somewhere dialing many numbers a second and playing the same pre-recorded prompts. 

914Driver said:

ECM, can you block numbers on a land line?  Based on the number of calls we get everyday, the DNCall list is kaput.

If you can I have no idea how. I haven't had a land line in over a decade, got rid of it because the ONLY people who called that number were spammers, everyone we know just calls our cell #s.

In reply to EastCoastMojo :

we have to have one to have internets. so we keep it hooked up. BFE life.

Argh. I was curious about how far out of their way these peo... entities had to go to spoof phone numbers.

Turns out that there's nothing in the protocol to prevent it, and with a couple of technical prerequisites, it's way too easy. Once you have the right equipment/service, you just send the info you want to display instead of the real info between the first and second ring. It's not so much a vulnerability that should have been closed as a facility that shouldn't exist.

In reply to Ransom :

It got bad enough for a while there that I don't even bother to answer my phone anymore unless it's my wife calling.

I did get some random unsolicited text messages from someone a while back though who seemed be to be trying to catch some dude cheating or something. I her she had had the wrong number twice then resorted to explaining that she really needs to get checked for herpes. That got kinda weird.

The only number we give out is our landline.  We never answer the land line when it rings.  It always goes to the answering machine.  If someone starts to leave a message and it is someone we want/need to talk to we will pick up, otherwise the message will be deleted at the end of the day.  Most of the spam calls don't leave a message.

We do have cellphones but the list of people we have given those numbers to is very short and they are in the phone as contacts.  So if the cellphone rings and it doesn't show one of the contacts I just decline the call.  We get very few spam calls on the cellphones, maybe because our numbers are in the range that is usually given out to businesses.

just got a call earlier from a legit company.. one of the ubiquitous solar panel installers. Soon as he introduced himself, I ended the call. I doubt he will call back, but I wonder how often that happens to him. Makes me pine for the days you could slam a phone down onto the cradle

Patrick said:

Look at the Mr Number app if you don’t have a dumb phone.  I blocked the entirety of my area code plus the first 3 of my number so it killed the “neighbor spoofing”. Only person I know with the same first 3 has no reason to call me anymore.   It also warns you of suspicious calls as your phone is ringing or you can have it block them altogether.  I have it set to block.  I was getting 10 calls a day from unwanted numbers now it’s maybe a couple per week that make it through 

THANK YOU!!!

I got around 5 robocalls a day. 90% of them have the same 3 digits as my number. I've looked for something that did what this app does, but never found it. 

I am on the do not call list and receive 3-4 spam calls per day.  The government is left in the dust, as Spammers come up with new things everyday.

Agghhh.  So I just got a call from someone else here at Ford saying I just called them and they missed it.  Nope, not me. The spammers are now literally cloning company #'s.

Someone mentioned that corporate #'s show the employees name, not just the number.  Not here, that only works for the land line #'s.  The cell numbers just show the number.