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Comment by kwhitefoot | Hacker News Reader

I have the impression that this sort of problem is bigger in the US than in other countries. Is this really the case? And if so is it because the US is simply a larger target or do telecoms systems in other countries do a better job of combatting it?

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In other countries the caller pays for calls/texts. The way I understand it that isn't the way it works in the US (something about callers not knowing if they are calling landlines or mobile phones?)

For example, over here in Austria you can tell exactly what type of "line" a callee uses and so you know in advance how much you have to pay (even though in practice most people have unlimited calls/texts).

This means that when running a spam bot you will soon run into big issues because it simply doesn't pay off financially to send that many texts and calls.

Having the caller pay nothing and having the callee pay for the call does sound like it invites abuse, and discourages callees from even picking up the phone.

In Netherland, it used to be that the caller pays. Technically they still do, but many subscriptions come with unlimited calls and texts these days.

Phone numbers that cost extra money tell you that before they connect you.

I think it is the ability to spoof caller id, mixer with the fact the US is a rich country, mixed with the fact a large part of the world speaks the language.

I think that English being the many language makes it a bigger target since it's a common second language spammers can learn.

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