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Comment by matt_wulfeck | Hacker News Reader

I get calls regularly from a number that shares the same area code and first 3 digits of my number. For example, if my number was (579) 832-6671 the calls would constantly come from different numbers in the (579) 832-xxxx range.

What options do I have? Numbers are not like IP blocks with cidrs registered somewhere. Who do I even complain to?

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This seems to be happening to me more often lately too. Until recently, the robocalls I'd get came from seemingly random numbers, but now the majority come from at least the same area code as my number, and sometimes as you say, the first 6 digits. I guess they figure you're more likely to pick up if you think it's someone local? That actually worked the first time for me, but after that, it's done the opposite - I don't live in the same state as my cell number's area code, and I don't know anyone with the same first 3 digits, so it's obvious these are spam calls.

Who says that these DIDs are even assigned to the caller? Virtually all wholesale termination (the fancy word for handling outbound calls) allows for the caller to set the calling party ID to whatever the caller desires. The reason for this (among a few) basically boils down to multihoming (so, example, I use a different provider for termination than for origination (receiving calls)). This is a perfectly legitimate and very common to effect least cost routing.

In any event, if you are able to determine that the number is actually in use by the caller, you would determine the responsible LEC via LRN lookup (this handles portability issues). DID blocks are tied to a particular LEC, but the DID is then handled for portability via LRN (so, this is how you determine which LEC the number got ported to).

You can complain to the FTC. I haven't had much luck with it actually stopping the calls but it's better than nothing and gives the government something to work with.

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

What do you even tell them, though? The Caller ID number is fake, and it's difficult to get any information from the caller. (I've tried; they hang up if you ask them to identify themselves.)

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