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posted by janrinok on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the perhaps-Florida-Man-was-lonely dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow8317

A Florida man accused of flooding consumers with 97 million phone calls touting fake travel deals appeared Wednesday before lawmakers to explain how robocalls work and to say, "I am not the kingpin of robocalling that is alleged."

Adrian Abramovich, of Miami, who is fighting a proposed $120 million fine, told senators that open-source software lets operators make thousands of phone calls with the click of a button, in combination with cloud-based computing and "the right long distance company."

[...] Calls appeared to come from local numbers, but those who answered were prompted to "Press 1" to hear about vacation deals, according to the FCC. If they did, consumers were connected to call centers not affiliated with companies mentioned in messages, such as Expedia Inc., TripAdvisor Inc., Marriott International Inc. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., according to the agency. In actuality, the call centers were associated with Mexican timeshare facilities, the FCC said in a notice.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-18/florida-man-accused-of-97-million-robocalls-says-he-s-no-kingpin


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:36PM (11 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:36PM (#669330)

    At 97 million robocalls, how many death penalties is that?

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:08PM (4 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:08PM (#669350) Journal

    Just one. By 97 million ants.

    --
    The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Snow on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:13PM (3 children)

      by Snow (1601) on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:13PM (#669355) Journal

      As someone who has been on the receiving end of these exact calls many times, this fucker deserves something harsh.

      10 years solitary confinement with only a phone that never stops ringing. IF you pick it up... "CONGRATULATIONS!! You have been chosen to receive 9,999 Air Miles. Press 1 to learn more!"
      "CONGRATULATIONS! You have won a FREE trip to the Bahamas! Press 1 to claim your prize!"

      Fuck that guy.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:28PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:28PM (#669363)
        The phone should be on auto-answer, and controls disabled.
      • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday April 20 2018, @12:14AM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday April 20 2018, @12:14AM (#669411) Homepage Journal

        You're talking about a cell phone. The kind of phone our prisoners use. Let me tell you, I have a cell phone. A Samsung. And it's very nice. It does so much. I can tweet with it, I can use it as a flashlight. When someone calls me, it doesn't ring. It plays my music (Pat Benatar -- Sex As a Weapon). When I don't answer, fabulous music. And if I answer and it's a great deal, that's fabulous too. Give me that free trip to the Bahamas. Winning!

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday April 20 2018, @04:36PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 20 2018, @04:36PM (#669698) Journal

        this fucker deserves something harsh.

        I thought I posted something harsh.

        --
        The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:11PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:11PM (#669354)

    If it takes on average a minute to deal with the phone, including going back to whatever was interrupted, then he stole more than 184 years of human life.

    That is about 2 human lives. We need something like a class-action murder trial.

    • (Score: 1, Redundant) by realDonaldTrump on Friday April 20 2018, @12:02AM (4 children)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday April 20 2018, @12:02AM (#669404) Homepage Journal

      People don't know this, the new phones can tell you who's calling. The name & the number. Before you pick up the phone. And when you call someone, they know it's you calling. Unless you press *67 when you dial. It's called "caller ID," it's amazing. It's not always great. But it's a big, big change!!!

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Friday April 20 2018, @07:25AM (3 children)

        by anubi (2828) on Friday April 20 2018, @07:25AM (#669545) Journal

        Does the word "Caller-ID Spoofing" ring a bell?

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
        • (Score: 2, Redundant) by realDonaldTrump on Friday April 20 2018, @08:04AM (1 child)

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday April 20 2018, @08:04AM (#669558) Homepage Journal

          That's another thing with the new phones. You can make it so when a bad (or sick) person calls, the bell doesn't ring. Sounds to them like it's ringing, it's not ringing. But it rings when the right people call. Without getting a court order!

          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Friday April 20 2018, @08:38AM

            by anubi (2828) on Friday April 20 2018, @08:38AM (#669563) Journal

            I had to "whitelist" my phone so that if the incoming call did not match up with my contact list, no answer. But that does not help much if I need to be accessible to the public.

            Its like having a storefront, but all the winos keep coming in. Keep the door locked and my customers go somewhere else.

            And about that "Caller-ID spoofing"? That's why I want to keep my private stuff private. If those goddam advertisers get into our phones and add our "contact lists" into their database dossiers on us, they then have the ability to cause the call to appear to come from, say, my brother, and the object of the call being a phish to send money for some fabricated family emergency. Has to be done right now, or my brother will die. By the time I find out the whole thing was a scam, the connections are long gone.

            And I do not have any federal agencies to sic on them. The only thing I have going for me is trying to become invisible to them.

            Many of us know how the phone system works, and how to insert a bogus caller-ID. Just like many of us know how to put a bogus "from" field on email.

            You know, like in nature predation, you are either the predator or the prey. The predator hunts. The prey hide.

            Some of the prey know the predators can be masters of disguise... wolves in sheep's clothing .. so to speak.

            --
            "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
        • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday April 20 2018, @06:13PM

          by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday April 20 2018, @06:13PM (#669746) Journal

          Does the word "Caller-ID Spoofing" ring a bell?

          That's too much cyber for the Donald. He'll get his nephew on that one for you.