VOIP Scam Calls

[Bowser]

So, I'm not exactly sure what link I've clicked or feedback I've given to God-knows-who, but for about the last 4 or 5 months I've been receiving a totally unacceptable level of scam calls. I don't pick up the majority of them, but when I do there's been two different types of call - one is wanting to know if I would like to donate to firefighters or state troopers, the other says they've received my request checking on insurance plans (and the always start by calling me "Gerald"). I've politely and not-so-politely asked both entities to remove my number from their call lists, all to no effect.

So as the calls have gone on, I've tried doing the reverse number lookup thing. Most of the numbers come from rural areas in Missouri, generally from the same or neighboring area codes. Some of the searches return numbers that have been identified as scam numbers, so I block them. At this point I have well over 125 numbers blocked and I get no fewer than 3 or 4 of these bullshit calls a day. I've been on the national no call registry for a long time, but apparently this VOIP system allows these turds to bypass the rules somehow?

The question is what I can definitively do to stop this annoying crap from happening any longer, if there is anything I CAN do?

[The Franchise]

What can you do? Not have a phone.

It's bullshit but I consider them a fact of life and just decline the call as soon as they come up. It's pretty easy to tell which ones are on my phone though because I have a California number and I live in Oregon. Most of the scams come through with the same area code as my number.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

What can you do? Not have a phone.

It's bullshit but I consider them a fact of life and just decline the call as soon as they come up. It's pretty easy to tell which ones are on my phone though because I have a California number and I live in Oregon. Most of the scams come through with the same area code as my number.

Yep.

There's no way to really stop them. The Do Not Call registry is a joke - it's super easy to get around that.

Plus with number portability (both VOIP and mobile phones) and the fact that ANI numbers can be spoofed easily means there's really no way to stop it. They can just rotate through phone numbers in your local or neighboring exchange.

[Bowser]

Yeah, that's basically all I've been doing. Verizon has a call filter feature I can use where I can report numbers and label them as "scam" or "telemarketer", but it doesn't slow down the calls. I've blocked so many calls that I'm starting to worry I might meet someone whose number I actually need and they'll be blocked in my phone, lol.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Yeah, that's basically all I've been doing. Verizon has a call filter feature I can use where I can report numbers and label them as "scam" or "telemarketer", but it doesn't slow down the calls. I've blocked so many calls that I'm starting to worry I might meet someone whose number I actually need and they'll be blocked in my phone, lol.

That actually happens more than you know.

They're just selecting local numbers (to you) at random and using them. If you were to redial the last incoming call, you would get your neighbor, who knows nothing about you getting scam calls. LOL

[WhawhaWhat]

Originally Posted by Bowser

So, I'm not exactly sure what link I've clicked or feedback I've given to God-knows-who, but for about the last 4 or 5 months I've been receiving a totally unacceptable level of scam calls. I don't pick up the majority of them, but when I do there's been two different types of call - one is wanting to know if I would like to donate to firefighters or state troopers, the other says they've received my request checking on insurance plans (and the always start by calling me "Gerald"). I've politely and not-so-politely asked both entities to remove my number from their call lists, all to no effect.

So as the calls have gone on, I've tried doing the reverse number lookup thing. Most of the numbers come from rural areas in Missouri, generally from the same or neighboring area codes. Some of the searches return numbers that have been identified as scam numbers, so I block them. At this point I have well over 125 numbers blocked and I get no fewer than 3 or 4 of these bullshit calls a day. I've been on the national no call registry for a long time, but apparently this VOIP system allows these turds to bypass the rules somehow?

The question is what I can definitively do to stop this annoying crap from happening any longer, if there is anything I CAN do?

The calls mostly come from India so being on a national registry does nothing. They also spoof the numbers coming in so blocking them does nothing because they'll use a different number for every call.

Sometimes if I'm bored I'll just try to keep them on the phone for a long as possible until they get frustrated and hang up. If they know they can't get any money out of you, then there's a chance that they'll delete your number. The problem is that there is a ton of these scam groups all over so once one goes away another is right there.

[loochy]

Use a prefix block. For example, today I blocked all numbers comingnfrom 817-391-XXXX. If it's legit they'll leave a message

[Rain Man]

Sadly, I don't answer my phone any more unless it's a number that's already in my contacts. If it's legit, they'll leave a message (I hope).

99 percent of the calls I receive now are these scammers, and I hope they all die in a third-world bus crash. Slowly. Not painlessly decapitated. I hope they're pinned under the bus for days with many broken bones before they finally die of thirst.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Sadly, I don't answer my phone any more unless it's a number that's already in my contacts. If it's legit, they'll leave a message (I hope).

This. The only exception is if I know a call is coming, and the number looks as if it would have come from there (Doctor's office with a number from the correct area, for example).

[Lzen]

I was getting a bunch of those. A few years ago, I installed RoboKiller but it was so so. I didn't remember what all was wrong with it but it was far from great.
I have ATT and a few months ago, I installed their Active Armor. It seems to have fixed most of this issue.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Bowser

Yeah, that's basically all I've been doing. Verizon has a call filter feature I can use where I can report numbers and label them as "scam" or "telemarketer", but it doesn't slow down the calls. I've blocked so many calls that I'm starting to worry I might meet someone whose number I actually need and they'll be blocked in my phone, lol.

No wonder I can't reach you.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by Mr. Plow

No wonder I can't reach you.

For the very last time I HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Bowser

For the very last time I HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

The warranty on your car is about to expire, we HAVE to get this done this week or you will be unprotected.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Lzen

I was getting a bunch of those. A few years ago, I installed RoboKiller but it was so so. I didn't remember what all was wrong with it but it was far from great.
I have ATT and a few months ago, I installed their Active Armor. It seems to have fixed most of this issue.

Most of the big providers (like ATT) are using blacklists, meaning they're not proactively identifying scammers, they're just blocking already-reported spammers. And with number spoofing of local numbers, the blacklists really only catch TF numbers.

[lcarus]

It's gotten ****ing ridiculous. I'm assuming it's because you can't do anything anymore without giving out all of your info and as a result, all of our info is everywhere out there now.