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It's disappointing that the US government hasn't done more to stop this.

In this specific case, the author should probably see if he can get his parents put in a conservatorship. That would at least help limit the damage when one of the scams does eventually work.

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I was hoping STIR/SHAKEN would fix the problem but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference at all.

STIR/SHAKEN probably has helped a bit, but the amount of times my dad has infected his phone with viruses and been "called back" by someone after a robodialer called them shows that regulating the "good guys" hasn't really stopped the bad guys much, just made their list of targets somewhat smaller.

The US government is often the source of the calls. During election season, my elderly mother's landline gets BOMBARDED with calls from politicians. "Hello! This is Representative Blah. I'm calling to let you know how terrible my opponent is..."

a candidate's political campaign is not an official government communication. that goes for even if they're currently in office.

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