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Rick Potter
03-28-2022, 4:26 AM
This one is new to me. I got a call on my answer machine that said it was Publishers Clearing House, notifying me that I had not won the big one, but I had won a smaller prize of $10K or more. This would be my notification, and be sure to call back, blah, blah...

A couple days later I get the same one time notification, and not surprisingly it had the same prize code as the first one. This time I called back, and guess what info they wanted me to provide???? Of course the recording never asked for my secret code number.

Another tip was one grammatical error, that would never have been on a large companies message.

Lee Schierer
03-28-2022, 7:48 AM
We had one of those a while back. I reported them to Publishers Clearing House. We generally don't answer unknown callers or calls from identified callers we don't know. If you were to call me and I don't recognize your name or number, you can leave a message and I will call you back.

Bruce Wrenn
03-28-2022, 8:45 AM
We had one of those a while back. I reported them to Publishers Clearing House. We generally don't answer unknown callers or calls from identified callers we don't know. If you were to call me and I don't recognize your name or number, you can leave a message and I will call you back.


Friend got a call last week saying she had won the big prize, and needed to go buy gift cards for the taxes. BUZZ!! I keep getting emails telling me I've won a gift card to one of the following: Costco, Home Depot, or Sam's. Their return address is Poland Oragon. Notice the spelling!

Frank Pratt
03-28-2022, 9:23 AM
We generally don't answer unknown callers or calls from identified callers we don't know. If you were to call me and I don't recognize your name or number, you can leave a message and I will call you back.

Same here. It's even gotten to the point where I don't answer my work phone unless I recognize the number. If it's important and legit, they'll leave a message.

I have a very hard time believing that the Telcos don't have the technology to eliminate the number spoofing and be able to drastically reduce the number of unwanted telemarketing calls. I always hesitate to call for more government regulation, but this is a case where the Telcos have clearly indicated that they have no interest in making this problem go away.

Jim Becker
03-28-2022, 9:31 AM
Frank, they do have the technology to help with this (SHAKEN-STIR) but have been slow to deploy for sure and for it to actually work well, it has to be ubiquitous across carriers so all entry points to the communications network are covered.

Jim Koepke
03-28-2022, 11:15 AM
My phone usually goes unanswered until the fourth ring if the number is unknown.

Not sure if there are connection fees if an answering machine answers a telemarketers call. Most telemarketers/scam calls disconnect after the third ring to avoid the answering machine or service.

Some legitimate callers through a business exchange do not identify on caller ID as the company or organization properly.

jtk

Greg Funk
03-28-2022, 12:00 PM
We have a 'filter' on our phone line that asks callers to enter a number on the keyboard if their number isn't whitelisted. This eliminates virtually all robocalls. If they get through the filter they are automatically whitelisted for future calls.

Jeff Roltgen
03-28-2022, 1:51 PM
I used to feel the phone companies were remiss in taking care of the scam calls, but Isn't part of the complexity of filtering out the garbage related to the fact that they're using internet to call vs. actual land-line / hard line numbers?

Jim Becker
03-28-2022, 2:00 PM
I used to feel the phone companies were remiss in taking care of the scam calls, but Isn't part of the complexity of filtering out the garbage related to the fact that they're using internet to call vs. actual land-line / hard line numbers?
In general, that really did kick the challenge up. The systems being used by individuals and organizations to generate calls, whether legitimate or not, provide the calling number information whereas "back in the day", the central office equipment for the "telephone company" generated that data/signalling. But to make it even "more fun", even many, of not most, "land lines" from telephone carriers are generated by systems that communicate via Internet Protocol -- the old class 5 central office switch dinosaurs are pretty much nearly gone as are "hard lines". The setups to fight spoofing have to dig deep to ascertain where a call is really coming from, because honestly, it could be from the surface of the moon at this point and still show a local number to the recipient

Malcolm McLeod
03-28-2022, 2:48 PM
...if there are connection fees ...

I'm not sure either, but if I feel like I can take 60 seconds away from work/task at hand, I will answer the call:

Robo: ...press 1 for agent (so I press 1)
Agent: Are you the owner of XYZ property?
Me: What? Say again?
(make 'em repeat EVERYTHING at least 3 times)
Me: Actually, I don't think so... let me check. (set phone down)
...(2 minutes later) No not mine.

Agent: ...have anything else to sell?
(repeats)
Me: Sure ... in NYC.
Agent: Address?
(repeats)
Me: ... near Front & Washington Street.
Agent: ...property type?
(repeats)
Me: Its a bridge.
<Click>

-or-

Robo: Warranty expired... 1 for agent... (so press 1)
Agent: What is yr, make, model?
Me: What? Bad connection. Repeat that please?
...
What? It's the police!? ...Hang on. There's someone at the door. (They stay on the line to see if I get shot.:eek:)
... (later)
Me: Where were we... Oh sure, I have a 1943 Connestoga Starship S. (or sometimes a 2022 F-1137 Millennium Falcon)
Agent: Any other vehicles?
Me: What.....? (x3)
<Click>

...They've interrupted my train of thought anyway, so I'll at least take the time to get thru the computer, get another human on the phone, and waste their time too. No idea if it actually cost them money for the connection, etc, but if nothing else it slows down their process by a fraction.

Giggle for "James Vietch TED Talks spam" for handling spam email. Very imaginative guy.

Jerry Thompson
03-28-2022, 2:57 PM
When I get a call and they ask me if I'm Mr Thompson. I answer in "tongues." I keep it up in reply to each question. The call ends quickly.

Bill Dufour
03-28-2022, 3:24 PM
Got a text yesterday that my EBT(welfare) credit card was locked and I need to call to get it unlocked. I did google to make sure it was a scam because my unemployment was paid by a state credit card that probably expires soon.
Pretty low to scam folks on welfare. I suppose they are not too smart and will fall for scams. Do not know how many have a bank account to steal.
Bill D.

Jeff Roltgen
03-28-2022, 7:41 PM
I used to do some crazy stuff to those people too - waste their time, etcetera. Problem is, the more you respond, the more of these calls will come. Just realize, by picking up the phone, they already have won. Your phone number will be sold off and dispersed amongst the whole lot of them as a live person is answering that phone number. IGNOR-ance is bliss.

GREG: what system/feature are you using to require a keypad entry to gain access to your number? Very interested.

jeff

Anuj Prateek
03-29-2022, 12:08 AM
Next time ask them to buy and ship you a LV hand plane and they can keep the rest as commission.

Myk Rian
03-30-2022, 10:54 AM
I actually was a winner at PCH many years ago. I got a letter in the mail with a check.
A whole whopping 10¢. Yep. 10 pennies. I deposited the check.

Paul Haus
03-30-2022, 12:14 PM
Personally, years back I had the most fun with solicitation calls by giving the phone to the granddaughter and letting her have a chance to talk to them. She was something like 2 years old and loved to talk on the phone. Being able to hear her side of the conversation, I would have loved to know what they thought and said to her. When she said "They gone" I knew the caller had hung up. I admit it was fun and for a while my spam calls went down.

Brian Elfert
03-31-2022, 4:52 PM
The phone companies are to to blame for developing technology years ago that could be spoofed. Users of digital phone lines can use ANI (Automatic Number Identification) to basically show any phone number they want when making outbound calls from a digital phone line. My employer has used such digital phone lines in one form or another since at least 1990. We used to show everyone's phone number as the company main line even though everyone had their own direct phone number. My employer eventually changed things to show the employee's direct phone number on outgoing calls. I could essentially set up my employer's phone system to show just about any caller ID for outbound calls that I wanted to.

When ANI was developed nobody at the various phone companies thought about how the ability to specify any phone number for outgoing calls would be abused many years later. It is sort of like email. Nobody realized that email should have been more secure to make spamming and phishing harder.

Rollie Meyers
04-01-2022, 12:05 AM
I suspect it cost a whole lot more then 10¢ to write the check.