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Too old to run,
too mean to quit!
posted
We have received several of those robocalls this morning. We have been on the "do not call" list for years, and recently these calls have started getting thru.

Any suggestions on how to stop them? I understand simply blocking them will not do much as they will just use another phone number to call from.


Elk

There has never been an occasion where a people gave up their weapons in the interest of peace that didn't end in their massacre. (Louis L'Amour)

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. "
-Thomas Jefferson

"America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Alexis de Tocqueville

FBHO!!!



The Idaho Elk Hunter
 
Posts: 25640 | Location: Virginia | Registered: December 16, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of P250UA5
posted Hide Post
Ignore/don't answer is about the only option I know of. They do seem to have stepped it up in volume/qty again.

When I have some time, I'll hit the 'speak to a rep' button & just mute the phone.




The Enemy's gate is down.
 
Posts: 15152 | Location: Spring, TX | Registered: July 11, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of fpuhan
posted Hide Post
The "Do Not Call" list(s) are nearly useless ("criminals don't follow the law," after all). However, if you use them, you must update your listing every year or two. You may have slipped off.

There are also programs (I use NoMoRobo on my iPhone) that will send unknown callers to your voicemail. Then, you can just delete the messages (if any -- most don't leave messages).




You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.

NRA Benefactor/Patriot Member
 
Posts: 2857 | Location: Peoples Republic of North Virginia | Registered: December 04, 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Page late and a dollar short
posted Hide Post
If cellular is Sprint they are doing exactly nothing to stem the tide. The only suggestion they have is the No Call List which as we all know only works with legitimate telemarketers. And all three of our numbers are already on that.

The Sprint CSR gave me another number to call, he said it was THEIR department to deal with nuisance calls. Turns out it was the FCC.

That made me mad, he said nothing about it being a government agency. The person I spoke to there was very helpful though. I filed a formal complaint which a supervisor at Sprint had to respond to.

My complaint was not so much of the unwanted calls
but their blow off of my complaint. If they had just said "We cannot do anything" I would have understood and let it go. But when I get a complaint dismissed in that form I am insulted.


-------------------------------------——————
————————--Ignorance is a powerful tool if applied at the right time, even, usually, surpassing knowledge(E.J.Potter, A.K.A. The Michigan Madman)
 
Posts: 8066 | Location: Livingston County Michigan USA | Registered: August 11, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Oriental Redneck
Picture of 12131
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by P250UA5:
Ignore/don't answer...

Yup.


Q






 
Posts: 26203 | Location: TEXAS | Registered: September 04, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Perception
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There is no way. Don't answer if you don't recognize the number. Blocking them does no good because they are spoofing the number you see displayed anyway (faking it so some innocent party's number shows up on your caller id.)

I just keep my phone set so that only people in my contact list can call me. All others go straight to voicemail. I still get BS voicemail messages, but I get a lot fewer of them than I do fake calls.




"The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford, "it is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them. They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards."
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard, then the wrong lizard might get in."
 
Posts: 3509 | Location: Two blocks from the Center of the Universe | Registered: December 30, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Something wild
is loose
Picture of Doc H.
posted Hide Post
This.

Sentry Call Blocker

To clarify, unlike every other call blocker, it has no pre-programmed scam numbers, and no built-in robocall numbers. This screener intercepts the call, plays a message that if they are a telemarketer to buzz off, or to press "0" if legitimate. Robocallers will be unable to do this, and will be cut off automatically. Legitimate callers (friends, family, businesses - your own personal "White List") can be pre-entered, will hear no message, and will pass straight through normally. Callers not on the "White List"can press 0 and leave a message, and you can later add them to the White List (or Black List if you want to block this specific number for good). So far, no telemarketer has left a message (too much trouble), but if they did I only need to add them to the Black List, and if they change their number and call again they have to go through the same drill. Has cut our unwanted calls to near zero.



"And gentlemen in England now abed, shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's Day"
 
Posts: 2746 | Location: The Shire | Registered: October 22, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Baroque Bloke
Picture of Pipe Smoker
posted Hide Post
Not an immediate solution, but maybe help is on the way…

“The US House of Representatives approved a new anti-robocall bill by a nearly unanimous vote…”

https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...660079364#4660079364



Serious about crackers
 
Posts: 8854 | Location: San Diego | Registered: July 26, 2014Reply With QuoteReport This Post
אַרְיֵה
Picture of V-Tail
posted Hide Post
Answer the call. Chat with them. Ask about their family. What are they wearing? Do they have underwear on? What color is it? Are you coming to visit me? Will you bring ice cream? The possibilities are endless.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
 
Posts: 30544 | Location: Central Florida, Orlando area | Registered: January 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Nullus Anxietas
Picture of ensigmatic
posted Hide Post
We simply do not answer calls from numbers we do not recognize unless we're expecting a call from a number we won't recognize.

E.g.: I purchased an item from a store that couldn't tell me, for sure, from what number the call notifying me my item was in would come. So, until we get that call, we're answering the ones that claim to be from local numbers.

Until the carriers are forced to correct this problem, they won't. Help may be on the way in the form of the legislation discussed in the thread to which Pipe Smoker pointed.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
 
Posts: 26009 | Location: S.E. Michigan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Bookers Bourbon
and a good cigar
Picture of Johnny 3eagles
posted Hide Post
AT&T offers "DO NOT DISTURB". Calls NOT in your Contacts list are rejected. A problem arises though when you are expecting a call from an unknown number, like a shipper or a customer service representative.



BIDEN SUCKS.

If you're goin' through hell, keep on going.
Don't slow down. If you're scared don't show it.
You might get out before the devil even knows you're there.


NRA ENDOWMENT LIFE MEMBER
 
Posts: 7120 | Location: Arkansas  | Registered: November 06, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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posted Hide Post
If your carrier supports Nomorbo. It is free. I signed up about six months ago and only 2 robo calls have gotten through.

https://www.nomorobo.com/


_________________________
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."
Mark Twain
 
Posts: 12578 | Registered: January 17, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Freethinker
Picture of sigfreund
posted Hide Post
At one time such calls were made by real people who were on the phone when answered. Now, however, the true spam and deceptive ones like, “Your Social Security account has been deactivated,” are robots only. Talking to someone takes extra time to call back or transfer over, something that’s not worth it to me. Plus it confirms that yours is a good number to call even more frequently.

The last time I decided to “mess” with the guy who talked to me, his response when he realized that that’s what I was doing was, “Hey, man, makes no difference to me; I get paid by the hour.”

I have caller ID on my landline so if I don’t recognize the call (or do recognize that it’s from something like the RNC), I just don’t answer. It’s a nuisance and as I told people in 2016, I’d vote for the ghost of Joseph Stalin if that would put the callers’ heads on poles where I could seen them being pecked at by our local crows, but it’s a fact of life that currently has no good remedy.




6.4/93.6

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”
— Plato
 
Posts: 47365 | Location: 10,150 Feet Above Sea Level in Colorado | Registered: April 04, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
A Grateful American
Picture of sigmonkey
posted Hide Post
I understand this reply does not answer your question Fred, but something I have thought of several times.

All phone OS should have an option to drop all calls not in a user's "Contacts" and or "Accept" list. (would be nice if the call could be "dropped" before the caller's system can detect a valid/assigned number.

Also have the option to allow calls that are not in the Contacts, but do have a valid "Who is calling, Business or Name" and drop "number only" calls.

You could turn the feature off and on from a "swipe down" or shortcut from the home screen or phone app so that you can take a call and add a contact on the fly (as often done when in public and meeting someone and exchanging contact info via phone call/text). Also be able to add a contact from a number you dial after making a call.

Most people already have extensive contact lists, so updating with new numbers "manually" would not be that much of a bother, vs taking an "unknown" call, and then adding it after the call.

The "first" phone provider/OS to put this on the market and "pushes" the "feature" would find themselves selling a lot of mousetraps.

As far as "coding" goes, the capability is already present, it is simply a "feature" that is not made available, and would take little resources to put forth.

Even with legislation, it will take a while for the benefit to make it to the people paying the bill.

If anyone has an ear to someone in the industry, pass this on.




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
 
Posts: 43810 | Location: ...... I am thrice divorced, and I live in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER!!! (in Arkansas) | Registered: December 20, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
Picture of PHPaul
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I'd think Monkey's idea would be a fairly simple app to write.

Of course, I don't write apps, so...




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
 
Posts: 15181 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of rockchalk06
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I paid for the Robokiller app. I've had this same cell number since 1997. Thinking about changing it made my feel sick. Bought Robokiller last year and so far so good. I get maybe 1-2 calls slip through a month, but they are stopped about half ring.

The nice thing about Robokiller is it updates all users with numbers that they block on the app.
 
Posts: 1363 | Location: OK | Registered: April 13, 2016Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The Unmanned Writer
Picture of LS1 GTO
posted Hide Post
My SOP - if just a number pops up (not a current contact), I don't answer. If they don't leave a message, I block the number.

Under no circumstances do I answer the call and confirm a real person is on my end.







Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



Only in an insane world are the sane considered insane.


The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime


 
Posts: 14020 | Location: It was Lat: 33.xxxx Lon: 44.xxxx now it's CA :( | Registered: March 22, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Picture of downtownv
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I found if you answer Hello and not speak again it will disconnect you.
When you say something again that triggers the Offshore guy to pick up the call.
from T=there, go to "Block Caller."


_________________________

https://www.teampython.com


 
Posts: 8318 | Location: 18 miles long, 6 Miles at Sea | Registered: January 22, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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posted Hide Post
I have a Tracfone account, so when I get or make a call, the meter starts running.

On a bad day I'll get around a dozen of "Robo calls".

When I receive a phone call with a number I don't recognize, or is not in the cell phone directory, I reject it.

I advise friends and family to text me and I will phone them back on a land line that doesn't get sales calls.


*********
"Some people are alive today because it's against the law to kill them".
 
Posts: 8228 | Location: Arizona | Registered: August 17, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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posted Hide Post
Land lines ai don’t know much that can help

Mobile phones many of the major carriers have apps that either block or put to VM if not in your contact list, I’ve got it on my ATT phone. My work phone is Verizon so I can’t really filter those well


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live today as if it may be your last and learn today as if you will live forever
 
Posts: 6218 | Location: New Orleans...outside the levees, fishing in the Rigolets | Registered: October 11, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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