Another form of identity theft.

[k0ua]

Spoofing the calling number is easy if you have the right access. The protocols are not secure.

Far, far too easy. This is one time I believe legislation could possibly tighten this up. Yes, yes, I know DID (Direct Inward Dialing) would suffer if only Central offices could generate Caller ID numbers instead of PBX's with ISDN protocols, BUT we all would benefit, by the security of only a Central Office spitting out a CLID, and you knowing it was who you think it is instead of a "spoof" by some telemarketer in who knows where.

Truth be told, I put in my share of telemarketing "things", and predictive dialers and ACD groups "back in the day", and I am sure I helped make someone miserable. Probably my "just deserts" that I was aggravated this morning by the fruits of that. Serves my right, says some. mea culpa.

 

[Root Cause]

I hate the group texts. At first, people were sending back a 'reply all' asking them to stop which of course made it infinitely worse.
I figured out somehow that the last number was the offending sender so I always block them before deleting the message.

My apple phone will chirp one time or buzz to let me know I have received a call but then rings silently until they hang up or go to voice mail.
The number of unknown calls has dropped significantly but no idea if they are giving up or I have blocked most of the lines on this planet.

 

[ovrszd]

Upside down with their intestines hanging to the ground.

Does that seem harsh?

Not at all. I actually saw a hanged body left in a tree until it rotted away. Amazing how long it stayed there.

 

[Doofy]

No scam calls at all to my cell phone. Have never given the number to anyone. I give out the wife's number as I hate ringing phones and abhor talking on one.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

No scam calls at all to my cell phone. Have never given the number to anyone. I give out the wife's number as I hate ringing phones and abhor talking on one.

I don't like to hear the phone ring either.
No calls at all on my cell phone usually!!! only thing is we have no cell reception at home. When we do take the phone with us, we will have a backlog of messages sometimes two months old. Mostly sales calls.
Only get calls when we go on a trip and relatives know we are available by cell contact. A younger relative was kind enough to get us a cell phone and pay for it in case we have an emergency need. That was thoughtful and appreciated.

 

[Cycledude]

I hate that as well, was getting 4-6 a day.

apple put a feature on their phone That will not even ring your phone unless the number is in your address book. It’s amazing, if it’s a call I am waiting on, they leave a message and I call them back.

I don’t know if that’s a iPhone thing or a verizon thing but I signed up for it on my verizon iPhone and mostly love it. My iPhone doesn’t ring unless it’s a call from a number that’s in my contacts list but the call still shows up as silenced calls. They can still leave a message but that seldom happens unless it’s actually something important . Seems like the latest thing is text messages from outfits not in my contacts list but I mostly just delete them but that also gets annoying.

 

[ultrarunner]

Which is why if the number calling is not in my contact list, I don't answer the call. I have my voicemail set to max number of rings before it picks up. If they don't leave a message, they don't get called back. It has taken some time using this system, my telemarking calls have dropped off to about zero.

This has proved to be a problem with medical, surgical, lab and even Covid testing.

cant blame people for not answering but also risk of delay or missing out.

Just last week a patient set for discharge with his sister picking him up was a no show for 5.5 hours…

Hospital logged 5 calls but always to voice mail and due to confidentiality only limited info is often all that can be left.

Sister called in to check on brother and that was how patient able to go home…

For some reason she was expecting the call to be the main Hospital number and not one of the dozen dedicated outgoing lines with a different prefix…

Life in the modern world where comforts become burdens…

 

[drssg]

I voiced my opinion about such scum on Fake Book. Got suspended from posting for 24 hours...... Imagine that..... The largest data harvester in the World punishing me for saying we need to hunt these people down and hang them from a tree until they rot down....

I don't use Facebook, and I'm certainly not a fan, but in this case, I don't think the suspension was due to their allegiance with telemarketers. I'm sure they are touchy about people threatening to murder other people on their platform.

 

[BravoXray]

I voiced my opinion about such scum on Fake Book. Got suspended from posting for 24 hours...... Imagine that..... The largest data harvester in the World punishing me for saying we need to hunt these people down and hang them from a tree until they rot down....

You'd only have to publicly execute a half dozen or so until the rest got the message.

 

[oosik]

My cell phone is ALWAYS - ALWAYS - off unless I'm making a call. I try to remember to turn it on most every evening to see if there is a message worthy of a return call.