I just counted. It's four times per day, like clockwork. Then there are various other robocalls that come in every couple days. So sometimes it's 4 per day, sometimes it's up to 7.
It's mildly annoying, but is there any other option than to just ignore it or keep blocking the endless new numbers that pop up?
The Verizon customer service rep suggested "just blocking the number" after expressing shock and awe that robocalls happen, and he had never heard of such a thing!
I suggest at least leaving the robocall running until it hangs up. Any given organization has to have a finite number of outgoing lines, and IVR/VRU's, so keeping them occupied should be a priority for all of us. If you've got the time to fuck around with a Real Human, do that, too. They definitely have a large, but finite, supply of call center workers. Keeping them unhappy should be a priority for all of us. The faster someone quits out of despair, the more that they have to pay to train a new worker.
So no, "keeping them busy" is not a viable solution.
I do know enough to say that a simple North American can cause enough ire in an Indian call center worker, that he will call back 4 times just to say "Fuck you, sir!", and that if, by chance, the same North American call center worker gets you twice in a day, the conversation is quite profane.
It only lasts for maybe 15 seconds.
If you want to hurt them more, press 1 (or whatever) to talk to the operator, and string them along.
But the downside - if you care - is that the person working a job in some hellish call center probably gets dinged, performance wise, for spending 15 minutes on a go-nowhere call with you.
But on the gripping hand, you can't hurt the top without hurting everyone along the path - from the person on the phone, up to the call center manager, up to the call center owner, up to the actual business contracting through them.
Do we need the equivalent of Fail2Ban for phone numbers? Some app that allows you to flag calls, and past some threshold the whole network bans the number?
My number got spoofed by a robo-dialer who called the ENTIRE +1 469 prefix. I received dozens of calls a day from angry people who got called.
Except they might retaliate one day and set their outgoing ANI to my number...
Interesting. I think I use SMS for more people than every other phone-based method of contact put together.
People doubt it, but this works. They don't actually want to waste resources on you if you are not a good lead. Even the scammers want to be efficient.
For now, I block spammy numbers and unknown/private numbers. If it gets bad, I'll move to a whitelist (only people on my contact list ring through).
It's galling beyond belief that any political party anywhere would let the abuse of the phone system become a free speech issue. These people are actively making the world worse. (And what's worse is how cheaply they're bought off. Come on, you scummy congresspeople, are you really worth so little?)
Also - certain area codes are hotter than others. While I have Cali number, I know many folks living in Alaska and never got robocalled.
Also:
> The Jolly Roger Telephone Co.
> Tired of telemarketers? Now you can turn the tables on them with this clever bot.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/202664225/the-jolly-rog...
What's really interesting is that I'm seeing a lot of spoofed numbers from my same area code, and even from the same branch (i.e., the next four digits). My guess is that the robocallers have found that people are more likely to pick up when the call might be coming from next door.
I've thought about it though. If I knew it'd fix the problem, I might do it. But the robocalls seem to scale up faster than new numbers. I guess it'd be a nice reprieve.