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[Dalek]

The Do-Not-Call List Has a Gaping Hole

The “Do Not Call” list isn’t working anymore.

Sure, legitimate telemarketers will refrain from calling you if you’ve put your phone number on it. But criminal telephone spammers will call you anyway because it’s become so easy for them to evade U.S. law enforcement.

Now the Federal Communications Commission is hoping phone companies can fix the problem. “The bad guys are beating the good guys with technology right now,” FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler said last month at the initial meeting of an industry-led team his agency has assembled to help beat back the robocall “scourge.”

Unwanted calls are the top source of consumer complaints to the FCC, with the agency fielding more than 200,000 a year, according to Wheeler. In one common illegal robocall, “Rachel from card services”—just an automated voice—says you qualify for a new credit card in an attempt to get financial information out of you. In one common extortion scheme, a voice claims to be from the Internal Revenue Service.

These calls are easy for scammers to make thanks to inexpensive automatic dialing machines and spoofing tools that hide the source of the call from your phone company and make your phone’s caller ID display a bogus number.

The charge of the “Robocall Strike Force,” which is headed by AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and includes representatives from more than 30 technology companies, is to develop “comprehensive solutions to prevent, detect, and filter unwanted robocalls.” The group has until October 19 to submit a plan to the FCC.

We already have some tools for blocking and preventing unwanted calls. In addition to the National Do Not Call Registry (which is run by the Federal Trade Commission) there are smartphone apps that can block known spammers or send their calls straight to voice mail. If you have certain landline and mobile services, you can use a product called Nomorobo, which screens incoming numbers against a database of known spam callers.

How aggressively will telecom companies work on this? Many carriers have little incentive to participate in anti-spam efforts because they profit from increasing traffic of any kind on their networks, says Gail-Joon Ahn, director of Arizona State University’s Laboratory for Security Engineering for Future Computing. But that could change, Schulzrinne says, as the number of customer complaints about robocalls keeps rising.

I get so many robocalls on my cell these days, it's crazy. And I detest that fucking Rachel from card services.

 

[malfcn]

Robotxts are terrible too. Thankfully they aren't as popular.

 

[Super_Cobra]

I automatically know they're scammers but I pretend to be naive and waste their time lol.

 

[Hubbl3]

I only answer the phone for a handful of people anyways, so I just ignore calls from numbers I don't know or anything that shows up as "Unknown".

My big worry with scammers though is when it comes to my parents. They're from the generation that answers the phone any time it rings and my fear is that they're going to fall for this shit one day and get fucked over.

 

[Magna_Mixalis]

I made the mistake of putting my name on the No Call List, not realizing that I essentially volunteered to be called by every shithead with an auto-dialer.

Hopefully something comes of this, as I haven't received a legitimate phone call from an unknown number in almost a year.

I feel bad for folks who HAVE to pick up every single call, like job hunters... (-_-)7

 

[Strimei]

Robotxts are terrible too. Thankfully they aren't as popular.

Yet. Give them time.

 

[Count Dookkake]

The only realistic solution is to kill everyone involved in the chain, from the voice actor, to the recording engineers, to the programmer, all the way up to the person in charge of the company. It may be gross, but no one will weep for long.

 

[v1lla21]

I get called all the time. The fucked up shit is that they started using my area code so now i don't know whether to answer now. The ones with the IRS calling and it's actually a dude on the other line are pretty funny.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Have my work line on this, still get these robocalls about ADT and various hotels.

 

[Septimus Prime]

Diane's clock is about to get cleaned.

 

[Nelo Ice]

So I'm not crazy. Been getting an insane amount of spam calls from nearby area codes and at this point I'm just blocking any unknown number. Though I've missed some actual calls due to that so now I wait to see if they leave a message to see if it's possibly legit.

 

[Strimei]

One robocall I've received a few times now, I have to admire how it tries to sound normal.

Its a guy who calls and says in a rather realistic, if (once you know it, very obviously) staged voice, "Hi, can-can you hear me ok?" And it honestly does kinda sound like its legit, at least at the first call.

 

[farisr]

I automatically know they're scammers but I pretend to be naive and waste their time lol.

I would do that, but it's a waste of my time too, everyone in my house just hangs up the phone as soon as we realize it's one of these calls, even if they're mid sentence.

 

[Septimus Prime]

A lot of these robo calls wait for you to say, "Hello," specifically. Like, whenever they call my work number and I answer with the company name, I just get silence until I try, "Hello?"

 

[Aselith]

So the great human-robot war finally begins

 

[Dalek]

One robocall I've received a few times now, I have to admire how it tries to sound normal.

Its a guy who calls and says in a rather realistic, if (once you know it, very obviously) staged voice, "Hi, can-can you hear me ok?" And it honestly does kinda sound like its legit, at least at the first call.

Oh God I hate that.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Been lucky to only get one every two weeks.

 

[cchum]

I made the mistake of putting my name on the No Call List, not realizing that I essentially volunteered to be called by every shithead with an auto-dialer.

Hopefully something comes of this, as I haven't received a legitimate phone call from an unknown number in almost a year.

I feel bad for folks who HAVE to pick up every single call, like job hunters... (-_-)7

this. They are pulling from the list obviously. I wish I could remove my number from it.

 

[7DollarHagane]

I wonder how many of those complainers are actually getting collections calls about legitimate debts they forgot about or missed a payment on.

 

[alr1ght]

Every week these motherfuckers call my cellphone twice, never leave a voicemail. Luckily I can now block/report spam right from my phone.

 

[Neverwinter27]

Is there an app that can redirect all incoming calls that is not on your contact list to a voice message stating the number is not in service?

 

[CrocMother]

Am I wrong in thinking that Tom Wheeler seems to be a great commissioner?

 

[Gentleman Jack]

So get up get, get get down
Do Not Call is a joke in yo town

 

[Tagyhag]

I hope they find a good universal system, and one that tends to not block market research callers.

I used to work in market research and so many people automatically assumed we were telemarketers.

 

[adamsappel]

I wonder how many of those complainers are actually getting collections calls about legitimate debts they forgot about or missed a payment on.

I got a phone call from someone with So-and-So mortgage company and I knew I was with XYZ Mortgage, so I was really rude to them and acted like I was pissed they were calling me, then I slowly started to realize they actually knew a lot of information about my policy. It turned out So-and-So had bought XYZ and they were calling to discuss something legit.

 

[Neuromancer]

This is why I no longer answer any call from a number I don't recognize. It's really irritating.

 

[Ceebs]

Am I wrong in thinking that Tom Wheeler seems to be a great commissioner?

Ever since he had the 180 on Net Neutrality, he seems to be hitting it out of the park.

 

[silenttype01]

I automatically know they're scammers but I pretend to be naive and waste their time lol.

Some lady called me trying to sell me Direct TV. I told her I don't watch tv at all and only use Netflix. To which she replies

"what about your wife?"
"don't have one"
"girlfriend?"
"don't have one"
'kids?"
"...don't have any"
"Surely, you must watch some tv on weekends"
"lady, I'll be honest with you. I don't have time to watch tv on weekends because I go out and fuck as much as possible"

That caught her so off-guard that she ended the conversation and ended the call.

 

[Zombine]

I cannot freaking STRESS how important Mr Number is these days. Download that app right now and actually find out who is calling you and if any of those numbers are legitimate friends or acquaintances that you may miss due to Robo spam. It's one of the best apps in my toolkit.

 

[Archer]

Johnny 5 is alive

 

[clav]

30 posts in and no one noticed AT&T?