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Eliminating Robocalls

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Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#231

Post by kalado »

mcv wrote: post #230

I wonder why I'm not getting this barrage of robocalls. I live in Netherland, not the US, so presumably that's why, but are robocalls not a thing in Europe? Do we not have these kind of predatory companies? Do we have surprisingly effective legislation to stop robocalls? The only phone spam I'm getting are people trying to sell me new energy contracts (that's something that happens when you have a company for some re…

They are a thing in europe, but you have to make the mistake of entering your phone number on some sketchy homepage for it to start.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#232

Post by metildaa »

6nf wrote: post #157
snazz wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sure it wasn’t just a single digit off from your phone number? I’ve never gotten a call from myself. Is Caller ID that insecure?

Sign up for any random SMS API service. You'll note that you can send SMS using anything you like as the 'from' field. There's no checks or restrictions. Same goes for voice calls in most cases.

Which ones actually support this?

From what I've tested, T-Mobile and Verizon will both fail to deliver SMSes that aren't originated by the carrier listed in the SMS routing for a phone # (which is wholly separate from the PSTN routing of a number, and can be a source of problems when changing cell carriers).

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#233

Post by piva00 »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #52

I have had a Google Voice number since it was Grand Central. It has gone on all of my business cards. It's at the bottom of every email. I put it on my website. Google does an amazing, world class, mind blowing, job of filtering out robo calls. I get maybe one a week at most. I get more calls direct to my cell number from random call bots that hit every number with mobile carriers than I do through my Google Voice nu…

No, it's past time for this kind of service to be regulated and taken control. It affects the whole US society, makes people less productive, less happy and less satisfied for the gain of a few.

Why is this a mainly American phenomena? How do you fix this without depending on the old whack-a-mole game of product companies adding features to fight the spam war?

I know that e-mail spam is difficult to regulate and control but other kinds of telecommunications are easier, phone calls being one just by being centralised in a few companies routing them.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#234

Post by bgeeek »

mcv wrote: post #230

I wonder why I'm not getting this barrage of robocalls. I live in Netherland, not the US, so presumably that's why, but are robocalls not a thing in Europe? Do we not have these kind of predatory companies? Do we have surprisingly effective legislation to stop robocalls? The only phone spam I'm getting are people trying to sell me new energy contracts (that's something that happens when you have a company for some re…

Yes, they are a thing in Europe too. It's not just to do with entering numbers in "sketchy" websites. It's who resold or leaked your details, what apps you have installed on your phone, or if you were just unlucky.

They are trying to get vaguely smart too - whereas before a number would call from quite far away, so you could assume it was a robocaller. Now, they can be close to your location, which is a bit spooky.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#235

Post by mnw21cam »

davidhyde wrote: post #217

> By default, we bill by the minute, not the second, to deter short duration calls and impair the economics of robocalls. That sounds like marketing BS to me. Why can’t they just create a one way fingerprint of the audio and block duplicates.

Because you need to pick up the phone in order to get any audio to make a fingerprint of.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#236

Post by janpieterz »

mcv wrote: post #230

I wonder why I'm not getting this barrage of robocalls. I live in Netherland, not the US, so presumably that's why, but are robocalls not a thing in Europe? Do we not have these kind of predatory companies? Do we have surprisingly effective legislation to stop robocalls? The only phone spam I'm getting are people trying to sell me new energy contracts (that's something that happens when you have a company for some re…

In The Netherlands there's strict regulation for unsolicited calls [1]. I used to work in a company active in the field of call management and in my experience this is strictly adhered to, the fines are pretty big and will be handed out, so any (well, maybe most) Dutch company involved in this manages this carefully. The maximum fine is €450,000, which seems big enough to work as a deterrent.

1: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/telecommunicatie/vr...

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#237

Post by mcv »

bgeeek wrote: post #234
mcv wrote: post #230

I wonder why I'm not getting this barrage of robocalls. I live in Netherland, not the US, so presumably that's why, but are robocalls not a thing in Europe? Do we not have these kind of predatory companies? Do we have surprisingly effective legislation to stop robocalls? The only phone spam I'm getting are people trying to sell me new energy contracts (that's something that happens when you have a company for some re…

Yes, they are a thing in Europe too. It's not just to do with entering numbers in "sketchy" websites. It's who resold or leaked your details, what apps you have installed on your phone, or if you were just unlucky. They are trying to get vaguely smart too - whereas before a number would call from quite far away, so you could assume it was a robocaller. Now, they can be close to your location, which is a bit spooky.

It's apparently easy to get my phone number from the Chamber of Commerce, which is where those energy peddlers get it. Seems like an easy source of phone numbers for robocallers too. And it's not like I'm very careful with my phone number; I've entered it on tons of websites.

Still no robocallers for me. Maybe European data protection measures do work.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#238

Post by swozey »

rb666 wrote: post #184
godzillabrennus wrote: post #52

I have had a Google Voice number since it was Grand Central. It has gone on all of my business cards. It's at the bottom of every email. I put it on my website. Google does an amazing, world class, mind blowing, job of filtering out robo calls. I get maybe one a week at most. I get more calls direct to my cell number from random call bots that hit every number with mobile carriers than I do through my Google Voice nu…

It's funny how one a week is acceptable in the USA. If I got one a week here I would consider myself getting spammed into depression.

I often get 5-6 a day. I can't even tell you the last time I had an actual phone call come to my phone.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#239

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

MockObject wrote: post #65
__jal wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is regulation. The US is firmly gripped by the belief that "regulation doesn't work", and keeps electing people who try to prove that true via incompetence, cronyism and ideological malice.

We have plenty of regulation and government attention on the issue, and I somehow doubt Congressional pockets are being lined by the campaign contributions from Big Spam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Do_Not_Call_Registry

Politicians are not being supported by the spammers themselves, but by the telecoms that do not want to make costly changes to their network to stop or enforce this problem.

This couldn’t be more obvious in our fcc chair who is basically against any kind of government regulation.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#240

Post by nulbyte »

mjevans wrote: post #45
mc32 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is a legitimate urgent call from an unwhitelisted number. Hospital, school, fire, police, relatives, etc.

That's what the retry feature is. If it's truly urgent they'll call again within a short timeframe (+3 to +300 seconds; not milliseconds like the 'try to go direct to voicemail' spam calls). I tell this to everyone I care for as well, if I don't pick up by the third ring, hang up and dial again. (This is to skip it going to voicemail and also differentiate the behavior). I don't expect scammers to pick up this tactic…

Except they do this and intentionally. They call, hang up as soon as it rings, and call right back. You are deceiving yourself if you think they are going to change their habits to avoid getting caught. They don't worry about getting caught, because no one catches them. One carrier shuts them down, they pick another. There are plenty to choose from, and plenty of greedy CLECs look the other way or join in.
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