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'One Ring' Phone Scam

fcc.gov

171–180 of 367 posts

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#171
post #159

I'm from europe (the Netherlands). Everytime I see these american robocall threads it blows my mind. What about your system is so bad that allows this to go on? It's not a problem here at all.

Here in France I receive these sort of calls from Tunisia quite regularly. Plus some guys declared as SPAM by the truecaller App I'm using precisely for this purpose (usually telemarketers trying to sell pay TV, insurances or some other crap I don't want). I'd say it makes for about 30% of all the incoming calls. Therefore I don't reply to unknown or hidden numbers.

My (French) phone number is semi-publicly visible, and I've had it for a few years now. I get maybe 1 unsolicited call a month. What am I doing wrong? :P

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#172

I can’t imagine why anyone ever answers the phone. I get at least ten robocalls every weekday. I don’t ever look at my voicemail and I haven’t answered a call in ages. Edit: I know I’m not alone because CNN just released a poll with no responses from people under the age of fifty, because they couldn’t reach enough of them by phone.

Put your number on the National do not call registry. It doesn't stop all calls, but in my experience, it greatly reduces them.

Probably doesn't hurt. By most reports, it helps little.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#173

I can’t imagine why anyone ever answers the phone. I get at least ten robocalls every weekday. I don’t ever look at my voicemail and I haven’t answered a call in ages. Edit: I know I’m not alone because CNN just released a poll with no responses from people under the age of fifty, because they couldn’t reach enough of them by phone.

I don't understand why young (I'm making an assumption here) people don't like making or receiving voice calls. I'd far rather talk to someone than text them. Texting requires far more effort and takes far more time.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. The phone system is totally broken. A few years ago I disabled the incoming call part of my phone to everyone except a few family members and my wife. So far it's been great. Everyone who needs me emails me. I've yet to run into a situation where someone I needed to hear from would only call me.

How did you do that? Is it possible with an iPhone?

You can leave do-not-disturb on, and flag the people you want to exempt as VIPs.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#175

I can’t imagine why anyone ever answers the phone. I get at least ten robocalls every weekday. I don’t ever look at my voicemail and I haven’t answered a call in ages. Edit: I know I’m not alone because CNN just released a poll with no responses from people under the age of fifty, because they couldn’t reach enough of them by phone.

Put your number on the National do not call registry. It doesn't stop all calls, but in my experience, it greatly reduces them.

This works well for good actors, but it’s a nicely packaged list of active numbers for the bad ones.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#176
post #157

From the website: How to avoid this scam: Don't answer or return any calls from numbers you don't recognize. If the FCC is recommending we don't pick up our phones, isn't something really wrong with the system?

Absolutely. The phone system is totally broken. A few years ago I disabled the incoming call part of my phone to everyone except a few family members and my wife. So far it's been great. Everyone who needs me emails me. I've yet to run into a situation where someone I needed to hear from would only call me.

Do you have any concerns over being an emergency contact for anyone? I've considered doing the same as you, but I fear the chance that a I would be contacted in such a scenario and wouldn't even know it.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#177
In the last few years, my phone has steadily become more and more a pocket (textual) communicator and less a telephone. The amount of spam calls I get at the peak numbered about 20-30 per day and that is with my being on the do not call list. I spent some time wasting telemarketers time and that seemed, somewhat ironically to get me blacklisted from some of them and things trailed off.

From what I gathered, it seemed that none of the tele marketers were really all that interested in really landing a sale. Most of them are quick to hang up at the first sign of a troll, even if its minor. There are no hard sell tactics that Ive encountered. It makes me wonder who is spending the money to make these things profitable. Seems to me that its really just a vetting to see if the number is active so they can sell your contact info to another spamorg.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#178
post #39
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't help here in the US. They almost always fake caller id from a local prefix.

70% of the spam calls I get could be stopped simply by blocking the exact same exchange that my number is in. Do spam callers really think I'm expecting a call from the same area code, same exchange as my own number? Do most people have friends that have phone numbers with the same first six digits in common with their own? I feel like this trick can't possibly work on anyone who has already seen it twice, and just b…

It might be related to the same reason that Nigerian scam emails keep following the same easy-to-spot pattern. It is to the scammers advantage that savvy marks immediately recognize the scam and don't participate. It saves the scammers time and money if they don't chase leads that won't pay off. Better to be immediately recognized as a scam by 98% of everyone, and focus your attention in the 2% who are most likely to pay off anyway!

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#179
post #157

From the website: How to avoid this scam: Don't answer or return any calls from numbers you don't recognize. If the FCC is recommending we don't pick up our phones, isn't something really wrong with the system?

That's weird. I can understand not returning, since then you're the one originating and thus getting charged for the call, but for answering? Is there any landline service that charges for non-collect incoming calls?

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#180
post #173

I can’t imagine why anyone ever answers the phone. I get at least ten robocalls every weekday. I don’t ever look at my voicemail and I haven’t answered a call in ages. Edit: I know I’m not alone because CNN just released a poll with no responses from people under the age of fifty, because they couldn’t reach enough of them by phone.

I don't understand why young (I'm making an assumption here) people don't like making or receiving voice calls. I'd far rather talk to someone than text them. Texting requires far more effort and takes far more time.

>Texting requires far more effort and takes far more time.

A reasonable theory would be that if your typing skills are good enough, the opposite is true.

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