Caller ID 'fraud'

[Kev Williams]

I get that people need to make a living and charities need money, so I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to live with the charity and sales robocalls.

However, I semi-screen for robocalls by NOT answering most calls where a City-State is the name that shows up on the caller ID. Almost always they're a charity or robot. Most 'real' numbers with a city-state ID, I recognize the number and will answer. Anyone really interested if I don't answer will leave a message...

Calls I always answer? Those where the caller ID says "Cell Phone", mostly since they're always real people..

--until a few minutes ago, when I answered a 'cell phone' call only to find out it was a Google robocall.
This spoofing is complete and if not already, SHOULD be against the law. Blacklists already don't work because the robo phone numbers are random numbers.

So now I have to worry about every "cell phone" call I pick up being someone I have to say NO to or hang up on? Ecchh...

[Jim Becker]

I spoke about that in this thread... http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ne-sales-calls just a few days ago. It's not legal, but it's also hard to stop because many of the calls are originating overseas and coming in via VoIP. The trend has been to randomization of CID with the added twist of "local AC and exchange" so you think it's coming from a person or business around the corner from your home. Unfortunately, it's going to force most of us to stop answering the phone unless we are expecting a call and/or actually know the person calling. Of course, one person pointed out that they received a call from "themselves" not long ago...

[Bruce Page]

I'm already there. I won't answer if I don't recognize the number. If it's important they'll leave a message.
I have sympathy for the people that have to use a phone for their daily business.

[Dennis Peacock]

I feel your pain.!! If my phone rings and it's just a phone number and I don't have a name assigned to the number? I never....ever...answer it. I dislike phones anyway...especially cell phones. I've seen too many people get hurt because of drivers using cell phones while driving.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

With my cochlear implant, answering the phone has become a chore to begin with....so if I don't recognize the number or there isn't a name I recognize.....it doesn't get answered.

[Steve Peterson]

We get about 3-4 calls from random numbers per day on the land line. I usually screen them and they rarely leave a message. Sometimes I will answer to tell them to take me off their call list, but at least 90% of the time there is nobody to pick up at the other end, just dead air. So why do they bother calling if they don't want to talk?

Steve

[Jim Becker]

... but at least 90% of the time there is nobody to pick up at the other end, just dead air. So why do they bother calling if they don't want to talk?

Low end dialers pretty much 'spray' calls without regard to monitoring for an answer. When you do pick up one of these calls, if there isn't a recording-playback port or a live agent available, you get dead air. Quality outbound dialing systems are much smarter, but they are used by real companies who actually try to serve real customers, rather than foisting scams. Cost is the reason...the good systems are not in any way, shape or form inexpensive. I know because I work for a company that builds and sells the "good stuff"...

[Larry Edgerton]

. I know because I work for a company that builds and sells the "good stuff"...

Ah Ha! Now I can put a face to my pain!

The no answer thing does not work for me. My customers know that my cell is the best way to find me, and they are from all over the country, so I have to answer the phone as there is no way I know all the numbers they might call from. I don't mind so much until I drop what I am doing to answer and it is a junk call.

[Kev Williams]

Yeah, I can't just not answer all calls, my home is also my business. What I NEVER use for business is my cell phone. It's to call the wife, period

And ironically just this morning, I get "SLC UT" on the ID, and I was expecting a call from my customer whose ID comes up the same way...

Nope. "Can I speak to the owner?" Uh oh, know where this is going- I should've said that he was in Puerto Rico helping people clean up after the hurricane, but I'm not much for lying..

"that's me"

"I'm a representative of some fundraiser for some police charity this and that and such and such and we'd really like to count on your support."

"Sorry, I don't do donations via telephones, i've had my cards and ID hacked 3 times in the past right after pledging donations by phone so I don't do that any more" (this is true)

"We have a $15 pledge package, would that work for you?"

"Like I said, I don't do donations over the phone, sorry".

"We have a minimum pledge package of $10--"

"Sorry, not by phone!"

"[-unintelligible as I'm hanging up]..."

"feel free to keep on talking"--click

AGGHHH!!! GAWWDD!! Do I REEEAALLYY have to tell you NO THREE times AND hang up on you so I don't have to tell you FOUR times!?

--People like that are THEE reason I hate answering unknown callers...

[Dave Zellers]

I know it's hard because none of us were raised to behave this way but when that happens you have to teach yourself to just say 'no thank you', hang up and go back to what you were doing.

[Brian Henderson]

I know it's hard because none of us were raised to behave this way but when that happens you have to teach yourself to just say 'no thank you', hang up and go back to what you were doing.

Some of them are really, really insistent though. A long, long time ago, back when I had a land line, I got a call from a new local telemarketer. I said no thanks and hung up. They called back. I hung up again, they called back again. This went on for a while with the guy on the other end getting ruder and ruder, it must have been some kid, but then he started issuing physical threats, saying he knew where I lived and he was going to come over and beat me up. I kicked on the answering machine and recorded it, then turned it over to the police. That company doesn't exist anymore, as far as I know.

The problem with the no-call list is that telemarketers know it has no teeth. Nobody ever gets in trouble for violating it. If you tell the telemarketer you're on the list, they will laugh at you. They don't care.

[Mike Null]

We do not answer our "land line" (voip) unless we know who is calling. We are getting 8 or 10 calls a day and we've managed to block some but if it isn't family or the dr or pharmacy we don't answer. I don't get many nuisance calls on my cell phone--maybe one a day. Always from a credit card processing company.

[Larry Edgerton]

I got a couple of calls from my own number in the phone I was using? I am no longer polite these days, these people are wasting my time, and I am old, I just don't have time to waste on their bologna.

[Bert Kemp]

yea its pretty simple for me if their not in my contact list I don't answer. Like everyone else has said if they really want to talk to you they will leave a message. Put all you known numbers in your contact list with a name attached, then you know who's calling.

[Michael Weber]

Well, looks like every cloud does have a silver lining. Being effectively deaf I simply do not use a phone for voice, so never pick up.