Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'One Ring' Phone Scam

fcc.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 367 posts

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#271

Post by grawprog »

matwood wrote: post #258
grawprog wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard of this before. Unfortunately after checking it out, it looks like my carrier only offers it for iphones. This does look like a handy feature though.

Google Voice will transcribe any VMs and send them as a text. The transcription is good enough to know if it's someone you need to call back or add their number to your block list.

I appreciate the suggestion, but I've disabled all the google things on my phone and don't plan on re-enabling them any time soon.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#272

Post by kyleblarson »

I have a Seattle area code and for the last year or so I've been getting daily calls from various 206 numbers that also match the first 3 digits of my number. I answered the first one and there is no one on the line. After that I block each new number but they keep calling. I guess it'll eventually end as there are only 9998 possible numbers.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#273

Post by eatbitseveryday »

One pattern I noticed but haven’t tried to circumvent yet is that I noticed robocalls identify on the caller ID as having the same area code as my normal phone number and my Google Voice number.

If we were to acquire a phone number from say, some small town somewhere you have no business with, then could we block all caller ID with that area code and avoid all such robocalls?

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#274

Post by js2 »

This is my solution for my home line:

https://imgur.com/eLFvavS

Note the ANI check. There are a couple extremely aggressive callers that I’ve had to blacklist their exchange to keep them from leaving weekly voicemail. The most recent is a company who calls monthly insisting I won a car, that this is their final attempt to reach me, that they aren’t a telemarketer, and that they are aware of the Do Not Call list.

For my cell, Google Voice seems to be working well enough for now. I do wish iOS had a voip app that was worth a damn, and that iOS would let you choose a custom app for outbound dialing. The Google Voice iOS app frankly stinks.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#275

Post by frogpelt »

kyleblarson wrote: post #272

I have a Seattle area code and for the last year or so I've been getting daily calls from various 206 numbers that also match the first 3 digits of my number. I answered the first one and there is no one on the line. After that I block each new number but they keep calling. I guess it'll eventually end as there are only 9998 possible numbers.

Maybe phones should have a whitelist feature.

Only allow my contacts to call me and anyone else hears a message saying they must text me first to be added to the whitelist.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#276

Post by randomdata »

thefounder wrote: post #95
shereadsthenews wrote: post #5

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.

What's your phone for if not to answer when people call you?

Phone is bundled malware that came with my handheld computing device that is not easily removed. I am not really sure what it is for.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#277

Post by Spoom »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #216
SomeHacker44 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just not willing to do this. I never want to miss a call from someone talking about an emergency with a family member, the FAA calling about an unclosed flight plan, a recruiter (if job hunting), a delivery person, etc. I answer virtually all unknown numbers except the ones T-Mobile puts in as “Scam Likely.” What I do not understand is, given that the phone is a computer, why there is not an on-phone IVR which can so…

> why there is not an on-phone IVR which can solicit a brief intro. Google has that, but I'm not sure if it's on-phone. I'd wager someone could write an app to do this. I would probably pay $50 for an on-phone version of Lenny; basically a voice-based chat-bot that keeps spammers occupied, without having to conference another number in. ( https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3b7na/the-story-of-lenny... )

Not sure if the voice generation is actually happening on the phone but Call Screen is not conferencing in anyone AFAIK. It's pretty seamless. You get an automatic transcription interface to see what the caller is saying in real time, and can choose to pick up, ask some canned questions, get them to clarify what they said, or mark the number as spam and hang up. Often when I've suspected a spam call and started a Call Screen, they just hang up (which I consider a success).

(My opinions are my own, not necessarily those of my employer.)

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#278

Post by pavel_lishin »

Spoom wrote: post #277
pavel_lishin wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why there is not an on-phone IVR which can solicit a brief intro. Google has that, but I'm not sure if it's on-phone. I'd wager someone could write an app to do this. I would probably pay $50 for an on-phone version of Lenny; basically a voice-based chat-bot that keeps spammers occupied, without having to conference another number in. ( https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3b7na/the-story-of-lenny... )

Not sure if the voice generation is actually happening on the phone but Call Screen is not conferencing in anyone AFAIK. It's pretty seamless. You get an automatic transcription interface to see what the caller is saying in real time, and can choose to pick up, ask some canned questions, get them to clarify what they said, or mark the number as spam and hang up. Often when I've suspected a spam call and started a Cal…

Right, I understand that about Call Screen.

What I want, though, is an interactive bot, running on my phone, that will eat up telemarketer's time by pretending to be a real person, and responding to them in such a way as to keep them on the line for as long as possible.

I want to pick up a call from a scumbag, tell them, "hang on, let me get my dad", and press the "fuck you" button - which puts a fake doddering old man on the line for them to talk to instantly, without any more intervention required from me.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#279

Post by cesarb »

kalleboo wrote: post #267
gruez wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>in Europe the caller pays the higher rate to call mobile phones (vs the north America system where the cell phone user pays for incoming "airtime"). So in Europe, is receiving calls on a mobile phones free? Or do you still have to pay for minutes?

Yes, receiving calls (and text messages) is free. (unless you are roaming and then you pay the international sector of the call) As far as I know this is true not just in Europe but everywhere outside of North America. It's certainly been true in the Asian countries I've been to (I get prepaid SIM cards everywhere I visit). It comes down to the numbering plans - in the NANP (north american numbering plan), landline a…

> In other countries, mobile phones have their own "mobile phones" area code which is non-geographic and applies to all mobile phones.

Here in Brazil it's slightly different. The area codes are the same for fixed and cell phones, but if the first digit of the local part of the phone number is in the 7-9 range, it's a cell phone (if it's in the 2-6 range, it's a fixed phone; 1 is reserved for special services like emergency, 0 is the interurban/international/toll-free/etc prefix). So a number like +55-11-9xxxx-xxxx is a cell phone in the São Paulo region (area code 11), while a number like +55-11-2xxx-xxxx is a fixed phone in the same region.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#280

Post by pavel_lishin »

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #254
pavel_lishin wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why there is not an on-phone IVR which can solicit a brief intro. Google has that, but I'm not sure if it's on-phone. I'd wager someone could write an app to do this. I would probably pay $50 for an on-phone version of Lenny; basically a voice-based chat-bot that keeps spammers occupied, without having to conference another number in. ( https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3b7na/the-story-of-lenny... )

heard a review of this app a few days ago that reminded me of Lenny https://www.robokiller.com/ - apparently the conversations it spews out are pretty hilarious also. Annoyingly I can't figure out what the subscription rate is, but can try it for a week for free

Oh! This, this could be what I'm looking for.
Post reply on HN