We really need to stop phone scams.

[Dave Gray]

For two reasons:

1) The obvious -- scams are bad news and steal people's money.

I get calls very regularly with some robo voice talking about my some purchase that's charged to me, to connect to speak to a representative, about some loan program (I don't have loans), the IRS wanting to talk about my back taxes, a warrant for my arrest, or some other person who is literally trying to steal money from me.  I know that works on old people, because sometimes they are clients of mine.

2) It hurts legitimate phone sales.

Companies need to use the phone to solicit people who are interested in their product, but these scams create an environment where people are afraid to pick up the phone or even when they hire you or want information, they're so gunshy to even speak.


I can't imagine, with the volume that this stuff comes in, that the government couldn't step in and crack down on this stuff.  It's not isolated.  I get calls like this every week.

[pondwater]

I don't know what kind of lists my Dad was on, but he used to play around with them on the phone like it was entertainment. I told him that doing that just made the problem worse. But I guess when you're close to 90 you need to entertain yourself somehow, LMAO

Anyhow, ever since I moved to his house that I inherited, I was getting 4-6 calls a day about various bullshit on his home phone through Spectrum. And for some reason after my parents died, my brother had their Spectrum IP home phone forwarded to my cell phone. Car Warranty, IRS, warrant for arrest, breast cancer association, save the wildlife, and other assorted bullshit.

So what would happen is that 5 cordless phones would ring, a caller ID on the TV would pop up, and then on the 2nd ring my cell phone would start ringing. But if I declined the call on my cell phone it would stop ringing on the Spectrum home phone also. I rarely ever got spam calls on my cell phone. I don't answer them and they slowed down to about 1 a week. However, a couple months ago I got a Pixel 5A cell phone and it has some kind of baked in spam blocking which has pretty much stopped it to 1-2 a month.

We had another thread about this a while back? Like I said back then, the "do not call" list should cover all calls. I don't care if it's charity calls, campaign calls, or surveys. If I don't want those MFs calling me then they shouldn't be calling me. I will make an exception for legitimate bill collectors since if I legally owe them money they should have a right to collect until the matter is settled.

[ArtieChokePhin]

I don't know what kind of lists my Dad was on, but he used to play around with them on the phone like it was entertainment. I told him that doing that just made the problem worse. But I guess when you're close to 90 you need to entertain yourself somehow, LMAO

Is your dad Tom Mabe??   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIVfrBFc5og

[Fau Teixeira]

I have a pixel G4 and google FI and they do a pretty good job of screening most everything

[Spider-Dan]

We had another thread about this a while back? Like I said back then, the "do not call" list should cover all calls. I don't care if it's charity calls, campaign calls, or surveys. If I don't want those MFs calling me then they shouldn't be calling me. I will make an exception for legitimate bill collectors since if I legally owe them money they should have a right to collect until the matter is settled.

The problem is that most of these calls are already illegal anyway - they're scammers, openly committing fraud - so it wouldn't really help to make them more illegal.

The fact that nearly all of them are coming from outside the US makes it even harder to enforce; the US Do Not Call list has no legal authority in India, for example.

[Dave Gray]

I'm not really suggesting legislating anymore.  I think it comes down to enforcement or (if you were going to legislate) putting some of the burden of phone carriers to prevent their networks from being openly used for fraud with their knowledge.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

The problem is that most of these calls are already illegal anyway - they're scammers, openly committing fraud - so it wouldn't really help to make them more illegal.

The fact that nearly all of them are coming from outside the US makes it even harder to enforce; the US Do Not Call list has no legal authority in India, for example.

Making it a crime and/or civil liability for knowingly passing a scammer calls would go a long way to fix it.  The phone companies have the technology to block these calls.  They don't because they are profit.

[Spider-Dan]

Dave, I'm sure you can imagine that in the current climate, trying to force Big Phone to determine which calls will and will not be allowed through their network might encounter some resistance in Congress.

It's literally the same thing as the Holocaust!

[pondwater]

The problem is that most of these calls are already illegal anyway - they're scammers, openly committing fraud - so it wouldn't really help to make them more illegal.

The fact that nearly all of them are coming from outside the US makes it even harder to enforce; the US Do Not Call list has no legal authority in India, for example.

Yes, I understand that. But as you pointed out in the previous thread there is a list of "exempt" organizations that are allowed to bypass the" Do Not Call" list. They shouldn't be allowed to do that, it undermines the whole purpose of a "Do Not Call" list. I would estimate that 1/3 of the calls I was getting were from political campaigns, police fundraisers, fireman fundraisers, cancer fundraisers, wildlife fundraisers, and other assorted bullshit that is technically "exempt". I consider those calls just as bad as the illegal calls.

[Spider-Dan]

That's fair.

I think the kind of blocking you're talking about can currently be implemented at the personal level (instead of the phone company).  I know many mobile phones have the ability to immediate send all calls to voicemail from anyone who is not in the user's Contacts list, which seems like it would work for what you want.

[pondwater]

That's fair.

I think the kind of blocking you're talking about can currently be implemented at the personal level (instead of the phone company).  I know many mobile phones have the ability to immediate send all calls to voicemail from anyone who is not in the user's Contacts list, which seems like it would work for what you want.

Most of that stuff was going to my Dad's Spectrum IP home phone which my brother still pays for some strange reason. Otherwise I would have ditched that phone a long time ago. The Pixel phone has solved any spam on the cell phone.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Yes, I understand that. But as you pointed out in the previous thread there is a list of "exempt" organizations that are allowed to bypass the" Do Not Call" list. They shouldn't be allowed to do that, it undermines the whole purpose of a "Do Not Call" list. I would estimate that 1/3 of the calls I was getting were from political campaigns, police fundraisers, fireman fundraisers, cancer fundraisers, wildlife fundraisers, and other assorted bullshit that is technically "exempt". I consider those calls just as bad as the illegal calls.

Banning political calls would likely not survive a 1st amendment challenge. Regulating commercial speech is much lower bar than political speech.  As for non-profits I am okay with those calls. 

[Spider-Dan]

Most of that stuff was going to my Dad's Spectrum IP home phone which my brother still pays for some strange reason. Otherwise I would have ditched that phone a long time ago.

I actually keep a land line specifically to give to people I don't want to receive future calls from.  So for example, when I'm car shopping, refinancing, etc. I give them that number, and I only answer that line while the transaction is ongoing.  Otherwise, I don't answer it at all, and I just check the answering machine when I get a message.

It's nice to have a throwaway phone number to give out to businesses who insist on having one.