I guess it's unreasonable to expect the good times to last like that but man, I'm still deeply unhappy with T-Mobile right now.
https://i.imgur.com/jKEA3Tw.png
I NEVER use my GV number... I just don't know how they get my number to begin with....
But the numbers that are super spam are all the ones with ~4 second VM.
I keep hearing from this weird New Jersey Jewish Accent where he tells me "I am under attack for someone who is causing my pain and attempting to steal money from me and if I pray and send him money he will take care of this attack against me"
This spam call is really good at avoiding number blocking - and I get ~2 calls per month from this recording... (The accent is like if Mel Blanc attempted to do an over-the-top Jewish accent... its really over the top. I recommend everyone listen to it and picture "The Producers" with Mel Blanc singing it...
I actually listen to it every few months or so because how comical the message is.
Oh and my cell phone area code is different than the local area code - so I ignore all calls from my (xxx) - xxx range regardless.
My family/friends have my direct#.
They don't need to get it. They can just take random guesses with valid area/country codes.
I haven't been marking the numbers as spam, but maybe I'll try to do that to see if the number of calls reduces.
Hopefully marking as spam will help too. One thing I like about Voip.ms vs. GV is that in the former, I can mass block an entire range of number using wildcards, which is rather satisfying especially since I setup the rules to ring as busy vs. just hanging up to keep their systems online a bit longer vs. freeing them to disrupt their next victim.
The only technique that works is to not answer the phone unless it's from a known contact. Most spam stuff won't leave a message, or it will be a consistent ~4 seconds of silence. Fi (or Android? IDK) has a call screening function which 9/10 if I send something to it, they will hang up before the automated preamble finishes.
In addition to the Hilton and Marriott Hotel Chains for their "You recently stayed at the [Hotel]" calls...
I was an elite member at Marriott for years, and I am convinced that my numbers were released in their breaches.
i ported my mobile number to them a week ago hoping to only ever need an LTE, 5G or WiFi data connection for cell service.
alas, i discovered that MMS (and therefore group SMS, too) dont't work through SIP protocol. that's a deal breaker for me, unfortunately. looks like i'll have to port it back out to AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile :(
Big email providers are very good at filtering spam, so if enough people blocks calls, the only spam venue left would be instant messaging.
My assumption is that they have some sort of CMS software and that it costs money to call. If you don't answer - they'll keep trying you. But if you do answer and costs them money - they'll put you in the 'do not call' list.
Just my guess - but so far it has worked for me personally.
I have a bookmark for https://www.getcreditcardnumbers.com/ - I happily give them all the credit card numbers they want (the ones from that site pass the checksum, but of course isn’t valid in combination with a made up expiry and CVC).
After a couple card numbers fail, they cuss me out, sometimes threaten my life, and never call again.
My theory is they get flagged by their payment processor if they submit many bogus credit card numbers.
It’s about a 10-minute investment once a month. Less time than I used to spend answering and hanging up on spam calls.
(1) Usually they think my name is the guy who had my phone number almost 10 years ago. I “correct” them to a fake name, but it shows their record keeping is not good enough to track anyone down.
(2) If they tried to follow through on the death threat, they’d have a hard time getting a visa with “need to kill citizen” as the justification.
Early on, I had a temporary bump in calls after doing this. If you stick with it for a few weeks, eventually you’ll get on enough “real” do-not-call lists that the calls fade away.
My record is a call of around 14 hours. The autodialer called me after 10:00pm (supposedly illegal here), and there were no operators to take the call. I left my phone charging with the call active, and went to sleep, since the caller pays the call. Kept the call until I needed to go out, and I like to think that even if the call wasn't expensive because it was bulk price, maybe having a line busy helped slow down spam for others.
I don't do that anymore because spam calls have multiplied, it would mean answering more spam than I'd like.
Is there a way to tell if a phone number is from a VoIP service? It'd be great if I could just block those wholesale, as well as any text message that's sent from an email address.
Comment below was written for voice calls, SMS may be more tractable.
(Assuming US numbers) Yes, but it costs money. You can get (free) data from NANPA on which carrier was originally allocated the number, but it may have been ported.
But, the big blocker is a lot of source numbers are spoofed; not sure if a spoofed landline is less spammy than a spoofed VoIP; although an unallocated number is probably more spammy (OTOH, allocation data isn't always timely updated). If you could get the equivalent of Received headers, that would be a lot more useful, but that's not really an option.
There are initiatives in the works to prevent this behavior but they keep getting delayed, presumably because the telcos will have to do some work that doesn't fill their pockets so they're dragging their feet.
Most people I know get between two and ten calls a day, with Id say 3 or 4 being the median.
There are two sorts of calls-- actual spam calls that try and sell you something. And calls to verify a number is active-- these calls just are just silence, but if you pick up, your number will be added to a list of valid phone numbers and sold to spammers.
The spammers then take phone numbers and try to match them up with data breeches etc, or just cold call.
I don't think most people fall for these fraudulent calls, but the elderly are very vulnerable. I've helped several friends parents get control of their computers back after they willingly gave control of it to someone who who claimed to be from "Microsoft tech support" even though they had a mac.
a) Recently it has been computer voices leaving me voicemails claiming I've ordered thousands of dollars of stuff on Amazon, and I need to call some number to cancel the order
b) I got one guy claiming to be from a major ISP and saying my Internet was broken and he needed to help me fix it. I knew it was nonsense because I don't even use that particular ISP
c) Recorded messages claiming the Australian government is going to prosecute me for tax evasion, and if I just wait for the call centre operator to come online, they'll fix the matter for me by accepting payment of unpaid taxes
I think they are just dialling random numbers, looking for easily-tricked people.
It forced me to silence all calls from strangers. We have laws and a system to block and report spam callers, but it seems they don't work anymore.
I also occasionally get calls from unknown numbers, which I don't answer, but if I look them up are usually associated with spam calls. My grandmother also gets them fairly often on her landline, usually of the "there is a problem with your computer" scam variety, but sometimes trying to sell her insurance for a random appliance.
I have even been quite generous in giving out one (i.e. using for any online stores that insist on a phone number), and I've yet to really have any unsolicited call that I can think of.
Phone numbers do get recycled by operators, so there's definitely some luck - I've seen some issues with landline numbers, specifically people trying to trace former users of the number. I imagine if you get "unlucky", you might really have little option beyond call blocking or trying to get a new number.
I did find it interesting that, at least for N=1, giving out your number fairly freely, including when you shop online (but not opting in to marketing etc) didn't seem to result in any issues, even after 8 years or so.
Why do spammers need leaked phone numbers? Can't they just call/message every number?
Jim Browning videos are a fantastic resource to learn more about the inner workings of scams https://youtube.com/c/JimBrowning
So isn't the popular idea that you should NOT answer spam calls wrong? Logically, you should answer every spam call and try to get them to stay on the line for as long as possible, therefore maximizing their cost.
This is assuming they have some CMS software on the backend that allows them to categorize numbers.
You also have to factor in your costs as well. I checked a random VOIP service and they charge a penny per minute, or $0.60 per hour. The federal minimum wage is an order of magnitude higher at $7.25/hour. Therefore it's more expensive for you to stay on the line to mess with them.
[0] https://lennytroll.com/about.php
On the tangential topic of war dialing (calling every number as an exploration) I recommend checking this discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27602383
0: https://www.att.com/support/article/my-account/KM1051831/#:~....
1: https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_general/
I know I can block a caller, but I don’t know enough about how these scams work to know if blocking a number slows them down at all.
I just don’t let my phone ring ever so I don’t deal with too much of the spam. Every once in a while I open the phone app and see I have like 15 new voicemails. I’m guessing I do that once a month so they are just calling every other day.
Install sox
play -q -n synth 0.2 sin 950;play -q -n synth 0.2 sin 1400;play -q -n synth 0.2 sin 1800