Yeah they say answering is the worst thing you can do. There are free applications out there like "Should I Answer?" that do a really good job of weeding though the bullshit. Of course when they do the masking bu8llshit and use a local phone number it can only do so much

I'm in the midst of job hunting. 80% of the calls I get are garbage, but i can't miss a call back from a potential job. It's really annoying.

I just switched from AT&T to Spectrum for my phone. They share the Verizon network but appear to have their own features. Long story short, 99% of all robo calls I get now show up as "suspected spam" on the caller id. At that point I just reject the call.

My bet is you're going to get a nice $9.99 a month charge on your phone bill now to get robocalls blocked.

My VOIP phone supports nomorobo. This service is awesome!

The phone rings once to let you know the call comes in, then stops ringing. Initially, we had 10-15/day but over time even the robots got tired of hitting this wall. We get one a day tops.

As far as robo calls getting through... in the last year we had one scam call that was calling ever 20 min that was not blocked. I reported it and blocked that number... never again.
faz

I went to place a call at work yesterday and accidentally picked up a robocall that came in, lol.

I like to see how long i can waste their time. Then once they catch on they start calling me.a Mudda Fucka about 1000 times and start saying bad things about my Mom lol. Those people are so predictable that its hilarious. Very low IQ individuals.

Worst part is that I'm talking to companies all over the country since it's for remote jobs. Never know what area code the good calls are coming in from.

I know I'm probably the last Pinsider with a landline, but I just bought an AT&T phone system that stops telemarketers and I've gone from a dozen calls a day to zero. It's really amazing.

I had a good one a few days ago. Some place called up willing to give me $200,000.00 in credit. I said great, let's get the process started.

Telemarketer - "name?"
me - "Han Solo"
T - "your business name?"
me - "Millenium Falcon LLC"
t - "what do you need the money for?"
me - "Can I get that all in cash? I need to pay off Jabba the Hutt. He put a bounty on my head, but I can't help it that I had to dump my shipment, even I get boarded sometimes."
t - "dump your shipment?"
me - "Yes. The Imperial Empire boarded my ship. I didn't want to get caught smuggling."
t - "are you smuggling illegal things?"
me - "No. Just spices from the spice mines of Kessel."
t - "can I get your tax ID?"
me - "You know, I made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs."

Next Stern title: Robocalls

Fun fact, before the last Android update, I could block calls that called multiple times and left no VM for FREE with the block caller icon under info with one touch. Then the update came and the first time I tried to block a call I got this neat message...
When I selected "learn more" it takes me to the rate plans!
The workaround is to add the caller to your phone book, press block, it takes you to this same message but upon pressing the back button the icon changed now to 'unblock'. Not as simple as the one touch block but seems to work.
My motto is if you don't leave me a v/m, I don't need to talk to you, thus YOUR BLOCKED. The robo's then just select another number to call from and the cycle continues.

Screenshot_20190607-085027_Call Protect (resized).jpg

The government could stop these calls with the passage of a single law. The phone companies sell our data to these boiler-rooms...it sucks. I get three or four calls a day and just hang up when I realize what they are (about five seconds into the call).

For landlines, sign up for nomorobo. It is free and cuts out about 90% of spam calls.

https://www.nomorobo.com/

There are anti spam call laws on the books already, the problem isn't the laws.

Scammers and Spammers are ignoring laws, so you have to figure out how to filter them out or ignore them. I agree it is very annoying.

Your phone number is out there in hundreds of databases. You have probably provided it when registering for stuff online, or it was copied from your email signature or business card. It isn't the carriers selling the numbers, its one of the things hackers copy and distribute when they break into company info.

I get a lot of calls where I answer, say hello and they hang up. What's the point in that, just to verify it's a valid phone number or a person answering the phone and not something automated like a business would have?

Absolutely hate these calls. I try not to answer any unknown numbers but tough when it could be something about my kids or other family members. So irritating when you are expecting a very important call and get these parasites. When it's not scammers, it's someone trying to get a donation, a political campaign, or some sales pitch. Unbelievable that nothing is done to actually stop any of this. I imagine tons of people are getting scammed every day and a lot of them older people with limited income. My dad almost fell for one recently where a guy was claiming his "security software" needed an update or something like that. My dad knows nothing about computers and probably would of fell for it if I was not around. I imagine there are some laws and I remember a do not call list but obviously none of that works.

Are they adding a new mode to Dialed in?

I do this same tactic and noticed the same as you! Not as many!
It got tricky though because they started using similar numbers to the phone numbers in my area... and at first I was answering and then getting frustrated because I answered, and it was a robo.. but, now I just press the side button twice every time on numbers I think could be suspicious. and if its a real person they usually leave a VM.
Your tactic does work.

What is a landline?

I haven't had a landline in close to 25 years. My kids have no idea what its like to be tethered to a phone cord.

Show them some 8 Track tapes!

I actually mess with them a bit and it stops the calls for a 4-5 days. I answer all excitedly ' Hey thanks for calling me back. I've got the body wrapped up on the rung and its in my trunk, what do I do next?' It's always dead silence or a quick hang up after that, and I swear it keeps them away for several days.

I think I have more blocked numbers then I do contacts- that's sad....

That's the auto-dialer...

The spammers don't do the calling themselves. Software does all the war dialing... and when someone actually answers, it then takes the call and routes it to a human. The human then has to get connected, and then your conversation starts. If the human doesn't answer, or there isn't one to route to.. then they just drop the call.

I read about a new feature that's supposed to be released for iOS 13 that should cut down on some of this crap. Apparently if an incoming call doesn't have a phone number that matches a number found in your contacts, mail or messages it can be routed straight to voicemail.

I was looking for a Pic, I couldnt find.
Its a Wall of about 1000 phones, all hooked up and dialing.....when a connection to a live person is made, it transfers to a human.

They are all over India, and Im aware of some family members who have worked at some, and the sweat shop mentality.

My issue, is with Puppet Ajit Pai.

On Android phones, under Sounds and vibrations, you can set your phone to 'Do Not Disturb' then under Custom settings allow calls from Contacts Only and messages from Contacts Only.

If you are applying for jobs or expecting calls from random numbers you can turn off 'Do Not Disturb' and get calls from everybody again.

I haven't had a home phone in 15 years so that's really the best way to eliminate telemarketing/robocalls.

I'll just leave this here..

If the government fined the phone companies for each of the spammer calls the phone companies would solve the problem in less than a week. Currently the phone companies are in partnership with the spammers, change a law to stick it to the phone companies and put a financial burden on them and all this madness would end.

I don't get robocalls. I killed my landline 10 years ago and only answer my cellphone if I recognize the number. Usually I have both my ringer and vibrate turned off and miss the calls from my friends too. Most people text me or leave a message and I call them back later.

Robo killer app works great. You can prerecord a message that will be played to the scammer when it connects you. It records the scammer trying to talk to your recording so you can listen back for your own amusement. Works great if you just keep saying hello over and over like you can't hear them clearly. https://www.robokiller.com/

Yep, I got one of those last year. This isn't even a thing for me anymore. The phone never even rings, this thing knocks them all out.

AT&T CL82207 in Amazon.

I wholesale auto parts and we are taking customer calls all day long-these robo calls got so bad (messing with them wasn't even fun anymore) that my manager FINALLY got the IT guy to put in a 'tree'. When you call in now- youre prompted to hit '1' for the parts dept, '2' for the credit dept, etc....has cut the robo calls off almost completely!

The ONLY time I miss them is when its slow on a Friday afternoon....my coworkers and I used to see how long we could punk the boiler room people on the other end....some of them got very upset and verbally abusive!

Sounds more like a JJP theme to me ...

I'm sure the phone company's defense would be "we're just supplying the conduit, we can't help that someone is abusing it"....but that's what Napster was doing too, right?

RoboKiller

It’s an app that detects robocalls and engages the caller with a fake conversation. You can pick from a few dozen pre-recorded messages or make your own. It’s utterly hilarious and well worth the subscription cost.

It’s gone from a terrible annoyance to the highlight of my day to listen to some of the messages. The worst thing you can do for these lowlifes is waste their time. Happy to oblige!

Fine which company? my cell carrier or the company that initiated the call, what if they are off shore? With internet technology and the way calls are initiated these days, they can find a way around it faster than they can legislate. How do they determine a spammer from a legit outbound call? Lots of issues that create grey space, no matter what he rules are.

I would love to stop the practice at the source, but the most cost effective and practical way to handle this is with a spam filter method.

An auto attendant seems like a great solution.

Is there an App that might run on a phone that anyone knows of?

In Florida your information get released when you buy a car because of the stupid warranty laws or something. In no time you start getting calls from people who know your name and the model and year of your car. Then they tell you they are "your warranty department" and your warranty has expired. Then those scumbags put your number on a list to sell to other scumbags and your number is forever compromised. For that reason, it is always good to have a burner or at least a temporary number to give to salespeople - especially for cars.

In the past I have punked these people a lot. I love telling the ones with heavy accents that I work for the government and I know for a fact that their shop is about to get busted. "Are they paying you enough to risk getting deported? If I were you, I would just get up and leave right now and don't go back."

Yep. I also like the "quiet" feature where you can silence your phone for a nap, etc.

I just answer my phone and say "Illinois state police can I help you."
They can't hang up the phone fast enough.

Press the four flag windows key and r as in romeo

Ditto - xfinity supports it also

The fine would need to go to the cell carriers themselves or the hard line people. I hear you about what they would say to defend themselves, and I hate to point the finger and scream at greedy businesses...but in this case the carriers can track these calls to the source and stop them if they were so inclined and motivated by government.

Put one executive of AT&T in jail for not stopping the spamming after a new law is passed and the silence we would all enjoy would become deafening.

Yes, and Napster lost (hence we get to enjoy Sparky on our Metallica machines).

There's been a lot of press around this lately. Basically answering, even if its a hang up, is bad. Some autodialers are just calling random style to see if its a good line. When they hit, they put it on a list that they sell to someone else, who then calls to scam/annoy/intrude/lie to you.

To the scammers, they sell your hang up list to another group to compare against other calls. They try to call to verify it wasn't an error and validate the number and sell the result. Its a self-eating snake.

The takeaway, letting it right to vmail is the best option. I can attest. I only get one or two a month at best and I never answer when my phone rings. Even when I know who's calling! lol

I failed to mention that if I am at my desk and I see a number not programmed into my phone, I just do a quick google search, type it in the address bar and see what pops up. 99.98 % of the time I see results like these, and I just let it go to v/m. As stated above, if they leave one I listen to it. But Again, 99.98 % of the time they don't leave a message and I perform the blocking procedure I posted earlier. And in 99% of the messages they are trying to sell me something, in which case I still perform the blocking procedure.

pasted_image (resized).png

My favorite one in Houston is that lady speaking Chinese! I get that call at least once every other week.