from the http://www.archersecuritygroup.com/dont-fall-double-digit-phone-scam/ dept.
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
By next year, nearly half of the mobile phone calls we get will be scams, according to a new report from First Orion, a company that provides calls management and protection for T-Mobile, MetroPCs, Virgin Mobile and others.
The percentage of scam calls in US mobile traffic increased from 3.7 percent last year to 29.2 percent this year, and it's predicted to rise to 44.6 percent in 2019, First Orion said in a press release Wednesday.
The most popular method scammers use to try to get people to pick up the phone is called "neighborhood spoofing," where they disguise their numbers with a local prefix so people presume the calls are safe to pick up, First Onion said. Third-party call blocking apps may help protect consumers from known scam numbers, but they can't tell if a scammer hijacks someone's number and uses it for scam calls.
"Year after year, the scam call epidemic bombards consumers at record-breaking levels, surpassing the previous year and scammers increasingly invade our privacy at new extremes," First Orion CEO Charles Morgan said in the press release.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/news/almost-half-of-us-cell-phone-calls-will-be-scams-by-next-year-says-report/
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @05:58PM (24 children)
Someone must be paying for these calls to go through in one way or another, is it just so cheap that the scammers are doing it?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mhajicek on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:01PM (21 children)
Who is responsible for setting the system up to enable number spoofing?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:18PM (20 children)
I think we need to raise our focus from the laws of cause and effect into the land of miracles to solve this one. The holy spirit?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 15 2018, @07:01PM (19 children)
Some draconian punishments would cut into this market. Public executions. Or, if the government isn't willing to execute the scammers, then the court should announce the time and date on which a scammer is to be freed. Then stand back while the mob handles the scammer.
Maybe you can't catch them all, but the potential penalty will discourage a lot of them.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @07:36PM (7 children)
I propose the same for posting under the handle "Runaway1956".
Goodness you're a bitter creature, you... do you really not know how to deal with anything except for with violence?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 15 2018, @09:11PM (3 children)
Maybe you should get a touche mod. Except - you don't have an effective non-violent method of dealing with this shit, do you? Of course you don't, or these scams wouldn't be under discussion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @10:33PM (1 child)
Do you agree with using violence against scammers of all races and nationalities or just a select group? If the scammer happens to be jewish then of course the scammed person will be killed and the jew rewarded with prizes and awards. Is that ok with you or do you wish to change your idea of fair punishment? Or perhaps different laws for scammers of different races and nationalities.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:08AM
Some dude in prehistoric times said something like, "I have a dream that people should be judged for their character, and not for their skin color." Yes, of course we execute scammers, regardless of their race, nationality, wealth, gender, or whatever. It's the CHARACTER we are judging here. Some shitstain is busy scamming you out of your money, and they don't care how wealthy or how poor you are. Burn them at the cross. If it pleases you, you may build the fire hotter or cooler depending on the color of their skin. Just burn 'em.
(Score: 2) by arulatas on Monday September 17 2018, @02:50PM
Put them in a room with hundreds of cell phones that can't be turned off. The phones randomly ring at all times and the only way to stop the ringing is to answer the phone and say a passphrase of "I am on the do not call list".
----- 10 turns around
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @10:10PM (2 children)
If violence isn't the answer, then you're not using enough of it.
(Score: 2) by Spook brat on Sunday September 16 2018, @02:54AM (1 child)
-Maxim 6, The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries [wikia.com]
You left out the attribution, FTFY.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:44AM
Thanks for that. I haven't read Schlock in a long time now. But, we've discussed this one here at Soylent a few times:
It amazes me that so few people truly understand that. Even IF I should find common cause with an enemy, he almost certainly remains my enemy. Speaking of enemies - artillery should work on the scammers!
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday September 15 2018, @07:37PM (6 children)
Spoofing.
Same as with email.
The phone system was not developed with security or non-repudiation in mind.
It has been a Catch 22 for ages. Either work with the existing systems and infrastructure OR be secure from all the crap.
1) Wait 100 years for the system to incrementally improve enough. Doesn't do us any good now...
2) Government mandate to change systems Now multiply this by ~200 countries on the planet
3) Wait for systems to be replaced by something else built with security in mind up front. No serious contenders
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Informative) by jmorris on Saturday September 15 2018, @08:09PM (5 children)
Not quite, at least not yet. Spammers on email cross international boundaries and hijack windows PCs to mask their origin, making them harder to track. Most phone span originates inside. It could be stopped in a month if the phone companies wanted it stopped, but the call centers are really big customers and almost every one of them does a bit of scam calling in slack times.
Add a short code to report a call as a scam. Three hits in an hour and a human listens in on the next call originating from that source and if it is a scam pushes a button to connect to the originating carrier's abuse hotline, something mandated to be a carrier. Within a month those abuse desks would be really quiet because phone spam would cease to exist. While caller-id can be easily faked, often for entirely legit reasons, often for fraud, the ANI, the account number used for -billing purposes- can't be faked nearly as easily. That number is available to the phone companies, obviously.
It is like what happened with "outlawing" junk faxes. It became illegal, but it didn't even slow down after the law passed because you can't find out who sent a junk fax. Being criminals they ignore the other law that says the top of a fax must have the originating number, they fake caller id and if you call the phone company to find out who to file charges against they politely inform you their privacy policy forbids releasing that information. Because the junk fax farms are also paying the phone company more than you are. And the phone number on the junk fax for the merchandise being promoted ends up being useless too, they swear they didn't send it, blah, blah and people just give up.
If the scam calls really become the majority of calls and people just stop answering calls from outside their address book, making phones almost useless, they might have to throw the scammers overboard to save the billions in cell phone fees.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @09:08PM (1 child)
"If the scam calls really become the majority of calls and people just stop answering calls from outside their address book..."
Actually, I already do this. If I don't recognize the number then I ignore the call. In that case you better leave a voicemail or I'll just assume it's a telemarketer, ya asswipes!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @10:13PM
On an iPhone you can set "do not disturb" on, then mark individual contact list entries as able to override that. The only time the phone even rings is when it's from someone you want to hear from.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by ShadowSystems on Sunday September 16 2018, @01:51AM (2 children)
I second your idea for the code.
It should be made a requirement that the called person can hit *666# & that sends a signal to the phone company that the previous caller was a scam/robocall/etc.
The phone company knows whom called, they have to in order to bill for the call, & they can handle all the back end bits without ever having to disclose any information to the called person.
If ten people flag you as a scam then the phone company temporarily blocks you from making anything but emergency calls & tells you to come in for a consultation.
The account holder then has to come in & sign the form agreeing not to make scam/robo calls again, at which point the phoco unblocks you.
If you fail to come in or to sign the form, the phoco just leaves the block in place & you don't get to make anything other than emergency outgoing calls from that point on.
You can leave that account to wither on the vine & try to start another account (elsewhere), but then you will start the whole flagged-caller-as-scum process all over again.
If you sign the form & another ten people flag you, that's it - you get blocked from making anything other than emergency outgoing calls from then on.
Your name & billing details gets added to a "Known Scammer List" that gets shared with all the other phoco's around the world.
"This person has triggered the permanent scam caller flag. If you sell them service be prepared to have to block them."
Sure they could just resort to burner phones to get around such blocks, but that gets real expensive real quick & will eat up any profits they might have made.
Think about it: having to buy a new phone every 20 calls will hose your profit margins down the toilet.
A normal, residential cell/land line caller is unlikely to get ten flags in a year, so probably will never encounter that 20 flag limit.
If they DO then the phoco can look at the record & see "Ok, it took you nearly five years to get ten flags. You're probably not a scammer."
A scammer on land line, cellular, or VOIP will trigger that ten flag temp cap in a matter of seconds, & then they either have to come in & sign that they won't do it any more (unlikely) or they have to switch to a new line, carrier, or VOIP provider.
And *THAT* is how you stop scam calls, by making it so unprofitable that the scammers can't afford to do it in the first place.
The only reason the phoco doesn't already do this is simple: greed.
They make too much money from the scammers to ever consider voluntarily throttling that revenue stream.
It will take legislation to force them to impliment it, obey it, & enforce it.
Since the law makers are securely in the pockets of said phocos, the likelihood of it ever happening is so close to zero as to be a negative imaginary number.
*Growls, shakes head, & sighs*
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @01:24PM (1 child)
The FTC felt that the law was already there when the set up regs for the do not call list.
Our friends at the FCC just choose to make it a joke.
Both the current and previous FCC declined to support a real caller id so the bad guys can be identified.
The excuse is that sometimes privacy is necessary.
I find this as clear evidence that the FCC is not doing their job.
They are supposed to regulate TV but obviously do not watch enough of it to be able to do this properly.
If they did, they would know about burner cell phones.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Sunday September 16 2018, @05:26PM
No, you have to be able to forge caller id in larger systems. Learn more about how the phone network works and you will understand the difference between ANI and Caller-ID and why both have a place. And while the FCC could certainly do more, the Public Utility Commission (or similar named agency in your State) is where most of the regulation would need to come from and they were all captured by the utilities they "regulate" decades ago.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @08:18PM
Ya, we need Ameria Law! Take the hand from any thief and bring back the guillotine!!
(Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Saturday September 15 2018, @09:11PM
Given they are destroying a very viable and important form of communication, is this really such a stretch? I've set my standard ringtone to silent, and I set a few people that I'm likely to interact with to something in particular. I don't have the option to set a ringtone for my contact list, I don't always have _all_ those I've ever talked to anyway, I don't always add companies like the cable co., even when I do I don't necessarily want to hear from them (I guess I could set them silent), and people _actually_in_ my contact list don't always appear with the same number (1-555-555-5555 vs 555-555-5555 vs 555-555-5555;cpc=ordinary, etc).
When entire forms of communication (e-mail) are at risk of abandonment, started with advertisers and continuing through scammers, what should the consequence be?
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday September 16 2018, @08:25AM
How much did our Government set as a penalty for copying a song? How much money is involved here? And how common is this so-called "crime"?
Now the scam costs a lot more to the scamee than a buck or theater ticket. And it was a deliberate deprivation and misrepresentation from the scammer. Should the penalties be in line with what Congress approved for the RIAA? Or should Congress treat a crime against the public to a lesser degree than say a "crime" against the MAFIAA?
We elected these guys into office to represent us. This is the kind of stuff we need to bring up every time a politician opens up to any questions before elections. Starting off with "to what extent should we hold people responsible for their promises?"... down the line of "Do you think a politician who does not carry out his promises should be treated with the same kind of action that one who renegs on a contract will get?"... and see what kind of response they come up with.
I noticed many years ago that scammers were sending bogus numbers on caller-ID, and it made me really wonder why in all blue blazes, with all the control phone companies like to have, why they let people self-assign themselves a number to be displayed on caller-id? This is like letting us all make up bogus credit card credentials to pay our telephone bills with. If that got loose, I am quite sure the telcos would pounce on it as fast as they did to knock out blue boxes.
In the end, we are going to train the populace to not do business with anyone they do not know... so the WalMarts, Amazons, and AliExpress will end up as being seen as trustworthy, and people scared to offer real names and payment credentials for a small thing, as its just not worth the risk that its a scammer.
I will NOT buy stuff of the internet with nearly the "reckless impulse buying" that I exhibit with cash purchase in a store, for I know that with a cash purchase, what I saw and held in my hand is what I got, and that's the end of it. No surprise finding out that I have agreed to accept further obligations by buying the thing in the first place. Such as what happens on TV ads when they offer a "30 day trial... free shipping! for only $59.95", only to discover the thing is gonna cost $400 to ship back to China when it arrives, and the real price of the thing is $600! The *trial* was $59.95!
Or when they offer me a "free trial" of some pill then the voiceover slips in very quickly, once, the words "with autodelivery". That's right... take them up on their offer for a supply of diet pills for the low price of only $1.95 shipping for a supply of pills "valued" at $29.95, and you quickly find those bottles and an invoice arriving in your mailbox every month! Now, the onus is on you to get off of their list. Right out of the AOL playbook! And they have an agreement from you, and access to foul up your credit record... over diet pills probably no more effective than taking a dose of grass clippings.
I really hate to pay for *anything* with banking credentials, especially if they speak businesstalk and lots of fine print. I do not know what future obligations I am agreeing to by giving them any money in the first place. That "motormouth in the background" or fine print flashing on the screen is a sure "tell" that I am likely being scammed, and calling that number on the screen is just as risky as clicking links in unsolicited spam email.
If a business has to resort to that kind of trickery to get his money, I'd just as soon not get involved in it. By using deliberately misleading language ( I call it "businesstalk"), he's already shown his hand. Its a lot easier to avoid the poo on the sidewalk than it is to clean it off your shoes.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:37AM
A nice Pajeet skinning in public may not stop these phone calls, but it will make me feel a bit better about them.
(Score: 1) by Kent_Diego on Saturday September 15 2018, @09:06PM
Nowdays a VIOP number can be had for $0.99/mo and one cent a minute (voip.ms) so phone charges are the cheapest part of the operation. I can change the settings to display any caller ID number I want. I can set up a phone number forwarding rule to disconnected message but now the neighborhood spoofing is impossible to block that way. Guess I could get a number is some crazy remote area code and do a wild card block.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @10:57AM
In US or Canada, the *receiving* party of the phone calls pays for the phone call. so, if you are on a cell phone, you can pay $0.20/minute (on a pay-as-you-go plan) to receive and to make phone calls. But the calling party that makes phone calls pays that same to call landline or the cell phone. So if they buy their time at $0.002/minute (or 1/5th of a cent per minute), then they can make a lot of phone calls before the charges add up.
In most other places around the world, the *calling* party pays to make a phone call to cell phone or land lines. In Germany, it costs a lot more to make call to cell phone than regular line. Even with VoIP, it's like $0.01/minute for cell phone but half that for land line.
So what is the main problem with US scams on cell phones?? The recipient *pays* for the scam attempt! Which means you don't pick up phone calls from random places because they are mostly scams. It's fucking sad. In Germany, no scams. I wonder why?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:23PM (8 children)
Let's give everyone 2 additional phone numbers; BAM, suddenly we've reduced that percentage back to a mere ~16% of all calls!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:25PM
That's CEO material right there: fix your metrics without addressing anything!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Aiwendil on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:37PM
I have another fix - just block all calls and claim that your spam filter "gets it right about as often as it gets it wrong, but that is very good for a first iteration"
(Score: 2) by DrkShadow on Saturday September 15 2018, @09:13PM (1 child)
You've got it wrong. They seem to call _all_ numbers, so you'd triple your scam calls and keep your legit calls the same. You'd have an increase in spam of 50% or so relative to legitimate calls.
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Monday September 17 2018, @05:42AM
And if they indeed do truly call all the numbers, just think of all the new business you have generated with this one simple action! With some horizontal integration, you have just joined a wonderful new growth market at the early stages and diversified your risk portfolio!
(Score: 1) by ShadowSystems on Sunday September 16 2018, @02:12AM (1 child)
An even better solution is to get rid of your current number & replace it with a premium rate number.
(1.900, 1.976, etc)
Make the calling party pay $20 a minute to talk to you (in full minute incremints) & the scammers will pay out the nose if they agree to talk to you at all.
Anyone you WANT to talk to you can then NOT charge them for the call, thus ensuring $Person doesn't go bankrupt talking to you.
I'd love this for assholes like my cable company - forcing Comcast to PAY me to talk to me just makes me squealy in glee.
And since it IS a pay number, that applies to SMS as well.
$Scammer wants to SMS flood you? Fine, but it'll cost them $20 per message.
Folks you WANT to hear from you don't charge them, but everyone else gets a rather nasty surprise when the phone bill comes in.
"Holy shit! It cost me over $500 to send ShadowSystems text messages! Fuck that, I'm disputing the charges!"
Except *you* called *me* so good luck getting me to refund your money.
The phoco will inform you that you made the calls/sent the messages & therefor are on the hook for the charges.
You can refuse to pay at all, but then the phoco shuts off your service until the issue is resolved.
Don't like it? Don't call me.
If it's an emergency I *might* agree to not charge you, but otherwise?
Thank you for paying my mortgage! Muh Hahahahahahhha...
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Monday September 17 2018, @05:44AM
This has been done years ago already:
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-23869462 [bbc.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @05:24AM (1 child)
Why not adopt the European model/fix for this - the caller pays for the call. While I lived in Europe for a few years, not one single sales/spam call on my european cell. However, my US phone would ring at all hours with spam calls. I especially hate the automated ones that are designed to make you think your talking to a human. It's frustrating that can't vent to a live human.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @12:20PM
In parts of Europe it is also not possible to agree to a contract legally over phone, it must be in writing. This renders scams of this sort rather moot.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:26PM
article 1 section 8 of the us constitution:
...
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
...
issue letters of marque and reprisal against the scammers. each head brought forth receives a large bounty.
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:26PM
Will be from Red Cross.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Snotnose on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:41PM (4 children)
For me it's more like 80%, the other 20% being automated "you have an appointment at" messages. Can't remember the last time I actually used my phone as a phone. Everything is via text nowdays.
The phone companies are making money off this. The phone companies control the networks. The phone companies are the only ones that can stop it.
So. Every time I get a scam phone call my phone company pays me $1. I promise you, within a month the problem will go away.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @06:56PM
Same here, I already get more junk calls than real ones.
I'm using Mr. Number now, which has cut down a bit on it. If the number doesn't show an ID, it gets ended after 1 ring. I can limit the calls that do ring through to ones that are in my contacts list if I wish.
I suspect that given the amount of foot dragging going on with the telecoms that get paid to connect these calls, or worse provide directory service, that the only way this is going to stop is if people develop more efficient means of ignoring the calls and not paying them.
(Score: 1) by XivLacuna on Saturday September 15 2018, @08:28PM
Phone calls are just one vector for scammers to scam people. How about we make it harder for scammers to actually do anything with any information they scam out of people? As in go after the banks and other institutions who'll gladly transfer money from the victim's account into another.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday September 16 2018, @01:10AM
Say "Hi!" to Varya for me [earn.com].
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday September 17 2018, @12:48AM
Can't remember the last time I actually used my phone as a phone. Everything is via text nowdays.
Do you not have any family or friends or girlfriend? I talk to my family on the phone all the time. Of course, it's pretty easy to recognize them as legitimate callers for obvious reasons. I will say, however, my last girlfriend only liked to text, which I thought was weird for a while, but when she finally dumped me by text, I realized there was something seriously wrong with her (and all the other women I talked to afterwards and told them about this said, "what a bitch!!", so I don't think I'm alone in thinking that dumping-by-text is not OK). I won't be dating anyone else who can't be bothered to talk on the phone.
Now, if you exclude family and friends, I'll agree: I don't like to talk on the phone at all, and almost all calls are either some kind of BS, or something annoying, like some behind-the-times doctor's office that insists on robocall reminders instead of a text reminder.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DrkShadow on Saturday September 15 2018, @07:16PM (2 children)
Yeah, right. Scammers.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @08:23PM (1 child)
Sure, but this isnt about the gov. Maybe we do something about the scammers first, then precedent is set and common sense returns to the general public and we go after the criminal aspects of the government.
They may have ded clared nefarious activities as legal but i refuse to recognize them as such.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DrkShadow on Saturday September 15 2018, @09:05PM
Honestly I was thinking of the huge corporations and advertisers that gather this data into one database for the scammers and corporations to steal, buy, and sell, time and time again. All the while, people just keep clicking "I Agree", and the US just keeps allowing it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @08:24PM
Given that I guess well over half of the cellphone software ("""apps""") out there are scams too and people willingly install them. That ecosystem is heaven on earth for scammers.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday September 15 2018, @08:44PM (2 children)
Wow, so the number is going down, this should be great news.
I have had something on the order of around eighty percent in the last few years. The only actual phone calls I have had are emergencies from work (thankfully no family emergencies) and a few for impromptu family get togethers. My wife face-times my grand-kids a few times a week, everything else is text.
I tend to answer them, always the same way if it's a person (or at least a bot that sounds reasonably like one), "Oh great, hang on a second so I can get a pen and paper," and leave them hanging. Well unless it's a "This is windows calling, you have a virus." If I have time those are just too much fun to fuck with. I also like fucking with the IRS scammers, talk to them a couple of minutes, have the wife yell out "I've got them!" and inform the caller to remain on the line until the authorities arrive...this usually results in a quick hang up or an expletive and hang up. Those numbers rarely call back.
All obvious robots get a hang up and block.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Sunday September 16 2018, @04:10PM (1 child)
I fantasize about lecturing one of the IRS spammers about Federal prison conditions and explaining that turning her boss in might get her brownie points with the prosecutor.
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Sunday September 16 2018, @04:58PM
'Cause they're in a super vulnerable position. If they're charged with conspiracy rather than aiding and abetting, they can be sentenced just like the kingpin of the operation. That's how someone could get life without parole for handling a drug dealer's phone messages.
But wait, there's more! Suppose there's one mastermind and 15 headset people. If the US Attorney breaks up the operation, the organizer can buy a lighter sentence by shopping out the headset people. Then the US Attorney gets credit for sixteen convictions, and yes it's unjust that the headset people get longer sentences than the criminal mastermind, but that is the way it works. Not hypothetical, I know someone this happened to.
I daydream about telling the fake IRS agent to hire a defense attorney specializing in Federal cases and having their attorney try to get them a deal. If the numbers aren't an issue, then it's a simple Prisoner's Dilemma. I've heard there's a tendency for the best deal to go to the first person who cooperates.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Saturday September 15 2018, @11:28PM (2 children)
I *already* get 90% scam calls. I block everything not in my phonebook and I *still* get what looks like a local number.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday September 17 2018, @06:41AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Monday September 17 2018, @09:12AM
I suspect the scam calling is done from "abroad" , so they are simply skirting any laws.
and of course, the telcos are complicit.
and the many layers of "human data" are being resold all over the place.
Take your pick....I'm sure there are more issues...
(Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday September 16 2018, @01:25AM (1 child)
I've been getting these several times a day for at least a year now.
Sometimes calls really don't connect right so I always say "I can't hear you, try calling me back".
The alleged "Caller ID" is mostly in the US but sometimes from other countries. From time to time the number cannot be a phone number because it doesn't have enough digits.
I don't know anyone else who gets these. Do you? Perhaps I'm on some kind of list.
Get This: The _only_ person I know who blocks their caller ID is my mother, so whenever my iFone sez "Unknown Caller" I answer with "Hi Mom!"
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @04:26AM
Let's start a new meme. Every call you get with blocked ID, answer it with "Hello Mrs Crawford".
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday September 16 2018, @01:32AM (1 child)
"from the http://www.archersecuritygroup.com/dont-fall-double-digit-phone-scam/ [archersecuritygroup.com] dept"
Is that the same Archer security group International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS)?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Spamalope on Sunday September 16 2018, @03:22AM
So google enables fraud on your number, and won't correct the fraud they're enabling unless you sign up for a new account - and - agree to their terms of service that absolve them of responsibility. NICE!
So, why don't those calls disclose that you're giving the caller rights to your phone number? Why doesn't google have an automated service that can be called from the 'victim' number to rescind the permission? Is it because that wouldn't force the victim to sign up and agree to the terms of service? (I'm not forgiving when a 3rd party causes the problem, then makes correcting it benefit them while all the work is required on the part of the victim.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @06:55AM
Why are we setting up for failure? This reminds me of the internet in general and email in particular. Why do we allow this and make it possible?
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Sunday September 16 2018, @07:45AM (1 child)
I use Google voice and it asks the caller to announce their name. When you pick up the phone, the name is announced and you can press 1 to accept, or just hang up.
Side note: Someone I know gets multiple scam calls from a student loan scam every day and I guarantee you this person has never had a student loan.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:14AM
Oddly enough, I started getting those student loan scam calls about two months after making my final payment.
I haven't had one in a while, it's just possible the airhorn I blew into their ears every time they called might of helped..
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday September 17 2018, @12:51AM
I get those "neighborhood spoofing" calls all the time. I never answer them, because I **know** they're scams. How do I know this? Simple: I got this phone number when I lived in Arizona years ago. Now that I live on the other side of the country, the only calls I get from that area code are usually scams, and the only one with the same local prefix are most definitely scams.
I didn't plan it this way, I just never bothered to get a new phone number, but it's come in really handy this way.
Now with easy number portability, maybe we should just abandon the entire notion of area codes and local prefixes.