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The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

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Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#181

Post by rebuilder »

briandear wrote: post #14
vkou wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is a problem where the necessary resources used to punish white collar crime are not being allocated. If there was a known Florida-based drug dealer that was bringing in $120,000,000 of drugs/year, there'd be dozens of cops working around the clock to bring him in. A Florida-based robo-caller, fined $120,000,000, who isn't paying a penny? Nobody cares. I understand lack of enforcement against some robocall f…

To be fair $120 million in drugs and $120 million in uncollected fines are apples and oranges. The drug money is financing murdering drug cartels that have brought Mexico to their knees. Robocalls are kind of not on the same level as funding human-trafficking, murderous cartels.

Are you sure it's not organized crime running the robocsll schemes?

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#182

Post by Semaphor »

pixl97 wrote: post #150
Semaphor wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but when the call is originating from outside the US? Why would that be allowed?

Do you know what an Indian call center is? A huge amount of international phone traffic comes to the US every day

Hm, guess that would be the pro/con with us not being able to easily set up virtual numbers here. But otoh I wonder why the UK doesn’t seem to suffer in the same way. Same lack of easy virtual numbers?

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#183

Post by michaelt »

ikeboy wrote: post #114

The solution is simple, and I've proposed it before. If someone used spoofing to break the law, there's strict liability for some kind of statutory damages, say $100, applicable to everyone across the chain. I.e. I can sue Verizon for sending the call to my phone, Verizon can sue whoever connected to their network, they can sue whoever spoofed on their network, etc. This will quickly lead to networks requiring proof…

So if I buy a $20 prepaid cell phone for cash and use it to robocall ten of my friends, they'd share $1000?

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#184

Post by erichocean »

nobodyandproud wrote: post #95
ravenstine wrote: post #42

I see people here saying that spoofed numbers is the problem. Maybe it's a big part of it, but at the end of the day, the phone companies are complicit with the criminals because there's no good reason that these robocalls can't be treated like a DoS attack. These crooks make millions , of calls every year. My first employer was apparently making robocalls, though none of us were aware of it(there was a call center w…

Yup. It’s amusing to see people think there is some hard technical problem here. Tie the problem of robocalls to the telcos losing money, and this problem will solve itself in months.

> It’s amusing to see people think there is some hard technical problem here.

One of the primary users of robocalls are politicians. I'm sure they'll get right on legislating against it. /sarc

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#185

Post by artursapek »

tamalpais wrote: post #27

I enabled the Silence Unknown Callers feature [0] in iOS and haven’t answered a spam call since. The downside is that it sends every call from unknown numbers to voicemail, including legitimate ones. It’s a worthwhile trade-off. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207099

Same here, I was so happy when I saw that they added that setting. It doesn't send unknown numbers to voicemail if you've called them in the past. It's a pretty good heuristic. It solved the problem for me. If some doctor's office really needs to reach me and I have never called them first, I guess they can leave a voicemail.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#186

Post by nikanj »

beerandt wrote: post #11

There needs to be postage imposed on connecting calls between systems, payable to the person called, and potentially refundable upon lack of complaint for being unsolicited. This could work for email spam, as well. Bonus if people get to set their own postage rates.

It's called a termination fee, and it already exists. Alas, it's payable to the receiving operator, not the receiving person - meaning that your telco actually makes money on every single spam call you get. Talk about perverse incentives!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termination_rates

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#187

Post by artursapek »

Ntrails wrote: post #172
BrentOzar wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wished Apple would just add an option "Block all calls unless their number is in contacts". They added it in iOS 13 under Settings, Phone, Silence Unknown Callers. "Calls from unknown numbers will be silenced, sent to voicemail, and displayed on the Recents list. Incoming calls will continue to ring from people in your contacts, recent outgoing calls, and Siri Suggestions."

Jfc the last thing i want is a fucking voicemail, to listen to the tortuous preamble of robo voice saying the source phone number before listening to that empty click.

In my experience they never leave voicemails. The only ones I've gotten were some shit in Chinese that I get once in a while (917 area code)

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#188

Post by stjohnswarts »

Zelphyr wrote: post #146
Semaphor wrote: post #68

I have a question, why are robocalls such a problem in the U.S.A.? As far as I know, they aren’t in Germany (or if they are, not on that level, I never got one).

Could be a matter of population. 300 million residents vs 83 million means they have a larger pool of gullible people to target. I don’t mean that to sound mean, really. It’s just a fact that this is a numbers game for these scammers and they want to find the most number of people who will fall for what they’re peddling and milk them for everything they can.

Probably also much more likely to hit a boomer as an easier target than your average British citizen.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#189

Post by PhasmaFelis »

cheez wrote: post #116
kyrra wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telecoms can't block calls. They are not legally allowed to do it.

It's better this way. Slippery slope and all. Before you think I'm being alarmist, google drag queen storytime. Edit: if you're downvoting, look it up, there are convicted child sex offenders doing this.

Convicted child sex offenders doing what? I googled "drag queen story hour" and I have no idea how it connects to call blocking and telecoms.

Re: The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208M, Collected $6,790

#190

Post by stjohnswarts »

Ntrails wrote: post #172
BrentOzar wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wished Apple would just add an option "Block all calls unless their number is in contacts". They added it in iOS 13 under Settings, Phone, Silence Unknown Callers. "Calls from unknown numbers will be silenced, sent to voicemail, and displayed on the Recents list. Incoming calls will continue to ring from people in your contacts, recent outgoing calls, and Siri Suggestions."

Jfc the last thing i want is a fucking voicemail, to listen to the tortuous preamble of robo voice saying the source phone number before listening to that empty click.

It's still better than 1) missing the calls which would happen if you blocked everyone not known to you 2) it's easy to hit 7 and delete almost immediately 3) less disruptive than having a nigerian scammer remind you of how crappy your sex life is and he can help out 4) they don't usually leave a voice mail, they'd rather just move on to the next person on the list.
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