Unwanted Calls

steingar said:
Telemarketing slimo: hi I'm calling from Rygel 7 to sell you crap
Me: you have called a number on the do not call registry. Are you aware that you could be engaging in a felonious activity?
Telemarketing slimo: <click>
or
But our offer is...
Me: since you have now indicated your intent to engage in this activity I must request the identity of your supervisor and the address from which you've placed this call.
Telemarketing slimo: but, but but...
Me: failure to provide the requested information could result in a charge of obstruction of justice, punishable by a year in Federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

I've yet to get anyone to stick around past this. If they ever do I'll remind them that I already have their number and can quite easily trace it back to them.
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A)the number is most likely spoofed

b) you're not a federal agent so its not obstruction.

c) its much easier to pretend to be stupid - hello? What? I didnt get that? Pretend to old - and an easy mark. That keeps them on the line. They smell chum -
 
Ring..!!!
Ring.!!!

Me, picking up phone: ACME SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF..!!! Loudly.
 
steingar said:
Telemarketing slimo: hi I'm calling from Rygel 7 to sell you crap
Me: you have called a number on the do not call registry. Are you aware that you could be engaging in a felonious activity?
Telemarketing slimo: <click>
or
But our offer is...
Me: since you have now indicated your intent to engage in this activity I must request the identity of your supervisor and the address from which you've placed this call.
Telemarketing slimo: but, but but...
Me: failure to provide the requested information could result in a charge of obstruction of justice, punishable by a year in Federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

I've yet to get anyone to stick around past this. If they ever do I'll remind them that I already have their number and can quite easily trace it back to them.
Click to expand...
Not worth it to me to play that game, even though I'm sure I'd get some satisfaction from it. I'll still have to pay for the call if I answer it, or it will count toward my monthly minutes. Considering how many spam calls I get (sometimes 10 or more), I'd rather use those minutes talking to friends.
 
azure said:
Based on your description though, it seems it would not stop the spoofed calls from within one's own area code, since those are generally legitimate numbers chosen at random by the spammer. The majority of the spam calls I get are of that kind. I'm tempted to try it anyway assuming it's free (is it?), but don't have high hopes that it would help me much.
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Someone has to teach it. Most of the time another person has identified the number as spam and the app blocks it, even local area codes. It's free. Try it.
 
I do love to take the ones from the "computer support center" or a variation thereof. "There is a problem with your computer." Really, I hadn't noticed. Will you help me with it? "That's why i'm calling you. Are you at your computer now?' Wait a minute. OK, I'm here. "Look at the keyboard, do you see the " " key?" No what't it close to? Eventually, they hang up, but if I am on my A game, I can keep them on while the computer 'warms up.' It's really slow today; is this going to work on a Mac? So far they all are expecting MS.
 
azure said:
Not worth it to me to play that game, even though I'm sure I'd get some satisfaction from it. I'll still have to pay for the call if I answer it, or it will count toward my monthly minutes. Considering how many spam calls I get (sometimes 10 or more), I'd rather use those minutes talking to friends.
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It's also plausible that answering spam/scam phone calls might lead to an increase in the number of calls.

By the way, has anyone else noticed a big drop in the number of spam/scam emails in the past year or two? I'm not getting anywhere near as many as I used to.
 
Palmpilot said:
It's also plausible that answering spam/scam phone calls might lead to an increase in the number of calls.

By the way, has anyone else noticed a big drop in the number of spam/scam emails in the past year or two? I'm not getting anywhere near as many as I used to.
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There are periods of a week or two sometimes when I get hardly any at all, but then they always come back with a vengeance.

I would chalk it up to statistical fluctuations, but two years is a pretty long fluctuation. Are you using any special apps to clock them?
 
3393RP said:
Someone has to teach it. Most of the time another person has identified the number as spam and the app blocks it, even local area codes. It's free. Try it.
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Like I said, I'm strongly tempted. But if it blocks the local area code ones, I wonder how many legitimate calls get blocked too? Does it leave a record of the calls it blocks?
 
comanchepilot said:
b) you're not a federal agent so its not obstruction.
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I never said it was. I said it could be, which is absolutely true.

comanchepilot said:
c) its much easier to pretend to be stupid - hello? What? I didnt get that? Pretend to old - and an easy mark. That keeps them on the line. They smell chum -
Click to expand...

Way, way, way more fun to make them think the LAW is after them and listen to them squirm.
 
azure said:
There are periods of a week or two sometimes when I get hardly any at all, but then they always come back with a vengeance.

I would chalk it up to statistical fluctuations, but two years is a pretty long fluctuation. Are you using any special apps to clock them?
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No special software. I'm just going by my impression of the rate at which they show up in my Yahoo spam folder. Maybe I'm somehow doing less of whatever it is that attracts spammers. :dunno:
 
Palmpilot said:
No special software. I'm just going by my impression of the rate at which they show up in my Yahoo spam folder. Maybe I'm somehow doing less of whatever it is that attracts spammers. :dunno:
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Would sure love to know what that is! ;)
 
ebetancourt said:
I do love to take the ones from the "computer support center" or a variation thereof. "There is a problem with your computer." Really, I hadn't noticed. Will you help me with it? "That's why i'm calling you. Are you at your computer now?' Wait a minute. OK, I'm here. "Look at the keyboard, do you see the " " key?" No what't it close to? Eventually, they hang up, but if I am on my A game, I can keep them on while the computer 'warms up.' It's really slow today; is this going to work on a Mac? So far they all are expecting MS.
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Even more fun if you use Linux with command line. "My god, I guess my computer is so screwed up that it can't be fixed on the phone!"
 
I'll look at my phone and every now and then it will show a blocked call as it was spam.

Maybe my phone really is smarter than me....
 
azure said:
Like I said, I'm strongly tempted. But if it blocks the local area code ones, I wonder how many legitimate calls get blocked too? Does it leave a record of the calls it blocks?
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It only blocks numbers that have been flagged by you or someone else as spam. It doesn't have an algorithm or anything like that. It's reasonably efficient because of the number of users participating results in numbers being blocked prior to them calling you. One ring and the call is terminated.

It does leave a record, it looks pretty much like a call history page but with additional info about each number. This includes user comments that identify the type of scam the caller is running.

Again, it's free and I have seen no indication of malicious adware or other annoyances that seem to be present in every app out there.
 
I just now got a call from a number that is my same area code and the same first three digits. The person said, "I'm returning your call, I got two calls from this number." Because I may well have tried to call someone I said, "are you with a company?" He said, "No." So I said, "Then I didn't call." Because I would not have called anyone except a doctor, or contractor involved in what I am doing right now. So we both just said, "weird" and hung up.

My feeling is some spammer spoofed MY number and called that guy. Or was that guy the spammer spoofing a number in my area code with my first three digits? What do you guys think?
 
Rushie said:
I just now got a call from a number that is my same area code and the same first three digits. The person said, "I'm returning your call, I got two calls from this number." Because I may well have tried to call someone I said, "are you with a company?" He said, "No." So I said, "Then I didn't call." Because I would not have called anyone except a doctor, or contractor involved in what I am doing right now. So we both just said, "weird" and hung up.

My feeling is some spammer spoofed MY number and called that guy. Or was that guy the spammer spoofing a number in my area code with my first three digits? What do you guys think?
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Somebody spoofed your number. The spammers/scammers don't care, they're breaking the law anyway so if they steal your number for bad calls, the only victim is you (because someone will put you on their private block list - it was once a huge problem with email spam where each server had it's own list, nowadays the blocklists are generally not private, though I still have some on my private list).

If you look closely at the video Ron posted upthread you'll see that the flooder was generating calls from random numbers. Easy to do, and the scammers do it all the time.
 
Rushie said:
I just now got a call from a number that is my same area code and the same first three digits. The person said, "I'm returning your call, I got two calls from this number." Because I may well have tried to call someone I said, "are you with a company?" He said, "No." So I said, "Then I didn't call." Because I would not have called anyone except a doctor, or contractor involved in what I am doing right now. So we both just said, "weird" and hung up.

My feeling is some spammer spoofed MY number and called that guy. Or was that guy the spammer spoofing a number in my area code with my first three digits? What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

This happened to a coworker of mine. His phone line blew up one day with people saying they just got a call from his number. We surmised that a robocaller used his number to spoof the caller ID. He did not have a productive day but the rest of us had a good laugh at his expense.
 
Had a new one today, I am on Jury Duty this week starting tomorrow 7/11, with instructions to call the courthouse line after 1730 today for instructions on whether to report tomorrow. At about 1700 the house phone rings, I look and the caller ID indicates Brunswick Court with a local number, which I later verified is the number I am to call. When I answer I immediately hear a recording telling me to stay on the line or press 1 to learn all about the medical alert system they are sending me. I hang up and check the caller history on the phone, the only number recorded is the court number. Really coincidental spoofing.
 
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