topic Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing in Community Chat

Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

Witchy Woman — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 16:55:23 GMT

I have call block on my phone and use it.

And, I don't answer numbers I don't recognize.

But, the number of unwanted calls has greatly increased lately. Even blocked numbers call 6 - 8 times a day. Over and over from early morning until evening.

I check daily to see what numbers are coming in. It never ends. You would think if they call 6 times and no answer, they would stop calling. They don't.

Every day, new numbers appear -- some with names, some with locations -- many with local exchanges. I never answer and block them.

They continue to call. Just relentless.

My phone will accept 250 blocks and I've already erased all of them and started over again.

Amazing that it seems to be all different numbers.

I will not get rid of my land line -- and even my cell phone gets unwanted calls, but not many.

Just crazy.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

KentuckyWoman — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:02:25 GMT

We dumped our land lines a couple of years ago and have never regretted it. I have noticed that we are getting more spam and robo calls on our mobile phones. I re-registered our phones with the national do not call. Many of the robo calls we are getting on our mobiles are from our area code and the the same three digit prefix. I just block the heck out of them. Annoying as all get out.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

KingstonsMom — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:04:05 GMT

I had to get a new Digitone call blocker that blocks more numbers than my previous one, which I had to empty a couple of times.

I'll be turning 65 soon and most of this increase in calls are for extended care policies, Medicare, medical devices, etc.

I assumed it was due to my birthdate, which unfortunately is public information.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

Mz iMac — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:12:22 GMT

@Witchy Woman

Since you have a landline, turn your ringer off. It's not really needed if you have an answering machine.

I have FIOS cable. If I am watching tv & my phone rings (my ringer stays off), the name & number of the caller flashes in the leftt corner of my tv screen.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

drizzellla — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:14:27 GMT

I was going to order the TSV when they had the call blocker. But it seems now the spammers keep changing the phone # and citty. Why bother - I could never keep up.

I seem to be getting less and less. I get about 3-4 a day. I used to get at least 10. I am so used to ignoring them. But they are getting sneaky. Yesterday, we got a call at 8:30AM from Phoeniz, AZ. It has not been the first time we got a spam call early in the morning. On occasion we get calls after 9:00PM.

But our motto is - if they really want to talk to us, they will leave a message.

PS - The FCC charged a guy in Miami with making 96 million spam calls. Yesterday he was subpoenaed and tried and get his proposed $120 million dollar fine dropped or reduced.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

TX-starlight — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:17:07 GMT

@KingstonsMom You're probably right. I turned 65 in Dec. & the health care calls started in Oct. I still have a landlind, & rarely give out my cell#. If I don't know the number calling on either, I do not answer. Also, sign up on the do not call register www.donotcall.gov. It won't stop them all, but it does help. You can register landline +cell phones.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

DaleP — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:29:03 GMT

Check with your phone carrier to see if they support nomorobo. Spectrum here does and it gets rid of ALL spammers. The phone rings once and that's it....love it....

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

webbgarner1 — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:34:56 GMT

@Witchy Woman I am seeing a sharp increase in the spam calls as well. I actually received one at 0430 am, like to have scared me to death as usually calls at that time are not good news since my husband and i no longer work, it is not like someone is calling us in to work on a day off. It really is a shame we have to fight tooth and nail for our privacy.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

Vivian — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:40:09 GMT

Yes, it’s awful...and they love to call at dinner time. Now they’re using local numbers but if I don’t see a name or recognize a number, I don’t answer. My husband has mild Alzheimer’s and whenever he sees a missed call on his cell phone he asks me if he should call them back...NO! These calls are like an invasion of locusts.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

SydneyH — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:40:40 GMT

The Trip Advisor one is particularly annoying, I'm thinking about options for blocking because the Do Not Call listing is worthless.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

violann — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:44:51 GMT

There was a comment about this topic on the NYC news this morning at 5 am but it must have come on after I got up.

Did anyone happen to hear it? It was on WOR 710.

Some kind of effort in our area to address this proble,I hope.

ANYBODY HEAR IT ??

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

Snoopp — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:48:40 GMT

@Witchy Woman Funny you should say that cause the same thing is happening to me. One call came in on the caller Id as spam?. I googled the number and it was some microsoft scammer.

I've had a few spam calls keep calling, even after blocking them. I wonder when they will give up.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

NickNack — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:50:15 GMT

I have a call blocker telephone and have also signed up on the Do Not Call List and nomorobo and still get spam calls. I don't ever answer them on my landline.

I'm getting more and more on my cell phone. I do answer my cell phone because it could be anyone. I have various people calling me that aren't in my phone book, and I need to answer. I hang up the minute they start talking and block them, but it's very annoying. I get a call about winning a trip from the same person repeatedly. She called me twice in about two minutes the other day. It's so annoying. Nomorobo is $1.99 a month for cell phones, and I'm not sure it would do much good so am undecided about signing up.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

lainey1 — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 17:56:16 GMT

I've also noticed the calls have increased. And more and more they are using the same area code and prefix, I guess they think I'll think it's a local call and pick up.

They'are also local business names that show up in the caller id, for example: St. Mary's Hospital, Holme Elementary School, etc. The hospital and school are in this area but it's not their phone number.

How do they do it?

Spammers use voice-over-IP (VoIP) services and choose what number they want their "victims" to see on their phone's caller ID.

The spammer can select an area code, find numbers with that area code in a phone book and use the VoIP service to set their caller ID with the same area code. Then they can call every number on the list!

To make the calls look local, spammers change their caller ID to the same area code and same three to six numbers of your own phone number. That makes the number look local so you'll think a nearby neighbor or business is calling. So if your phone number is 111-222-3333 the spammer will set their caller ID to show up as 111-222-3334, 111-222-3335, etc.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

Mominohio — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 18:16:24 GMT

The calls are up to 20 per day on the land line and now they are starting on my cell phone, several a day. I think our machine on the land line has call block, but I don't know how to use it. I'm going to have to figure it out though,

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

grandma2pkmh — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 19:18:19 GMT

@Witchy Woman I feel sorry for the spam callers. They must have an awful life for them to take such jobs. I hope they get the same calls they give.

That said, Comcast in my area finally joined with Nomorobo to let us set up the service with them. I still have a land line because of my security system monitoring. I don't have a smart phone or tablet to use for systems that have gone to that. If a call makes it past Nomorobo I can go online and add the number to their list. It's amazing how much better things are now.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

dex — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 19:02:14 GMT

I think only scammers would take those jobs.the companies can’t be legal so most people would not want to do that for a living.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

cherry — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 19:06:40 GMT

I just got a call from someone pretending to be from a pharmacy trying to talk to me about the pain I was having

I told her you are a scammer ,and don't call me again ,and blocked her..She did know my first name ,or she just guessed right

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

millieshops — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 19:32:43 GMT

A year ago when I started having problems with my old smartphone, I bought a Tracfone when it was a TSV. For several reasons, I decided I didn't want to port my old number to Tracfone and I gave its number to no one - just used that phone as my own emergency phone. I was amazed how many scam calls came in. All of them were robocalls, probably everyone some kind of scam.

I don't hear the calls, don't answer that phone, but once a week I delete all the calls. Looking at a week's worth at one time, you can see that the numbers are often sequential, one sign of those robocalls.

I almost never get unwanted calls on the phone I do use. I think that's really strange.

Re: Unwanted/Spam calls - Increasing

Witchy Woman — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 19:41:16 GMT

I have the Panasonic phone set that was discussed on these boards and it blocks 250 calls.

Used to be, the same number would call over and over. And some still do. However, as I mentioned, the numbers/names/places change daily.

As one poster explained, technology has made it easy for the spammers.

Yes, I've gotten a call that shows SPAM 800 SERVICE.

And, for those that mentioned it, Verizon does not support nomorerobo.

No, the only way to outsmart them is just don't answer and block as often as possible.