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Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

reportphonespam.org

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Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#201

Post by lelanthran »

drdaeman wrote: post #114
jimmydddd wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with the posted page that the telecoms are interested in stopping spam. If they really cared, they would have addressed it by now. I suspect they are somehow making money from the spam callers.

> telecoms are interested in stopping spam. If they really cared, they would have addressed it by now I'm not so sure about this. No one (except for, obviously, spammers) benefits from email spam, every mailhost and network admin is most certainly interested in stopping it (to some extent), and yet my mailbox can prove that spam is still very much alive. Solving spam problems in a highly distributed large federation…

> Solving spam problems in a highly distributed large federation of networks is not simple.

I agree and disagree with this statement:

1. The distributed system can't solve the spam problem, because it's not a technical problem.

2. The population can immediately solve the spam problem by responding in the affirmative to every single request they get.

What makes spam profitable is the quality of the responses - right now only the marks respond, so every response is valuable to the spammer as it is a lead that will almost certainly result in money.

If the spammer sends out 3m SMS/robocall messages, and gets 5 responses, those responses are worth actual money!

OTOH, if the spammer sent out 3m SMS/robocall messages, and got 3m responses (of which only 5 are worth money), then the spam would quickly stop.

IOW, by self-selecting into one of two groups (will give you money/won't give you money) we are making spam profitable.

This is the only way to stop spam of any kind - poison the database.

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#202

Post by baby »

pixl97 wrote: post #32
bhpm wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here but every time I post that on this site I get replies about how they have to answer the phone because their kid could have fallen down a well and their wife could be in a coma and the police would be trying to contact them and if they don’t jump to answer the phone every time it rings their entire family could be murdered. So IDK. It seems to be a problem, I just don’t have enough of a life for it to be for…

That said, who doesn't send SMS texts also, at least in the US?

Just use whatsapp -.-

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#203

Post by baby »

TuringNYC wrote: post #153
dboreham wrote: post #23

My solution since 2002: don't answer the phone.

>> My solution since 2002: don't answer the phone. I have two children. Doesnt happen often, but I've received calls from my kids' school. Twice the kids got hurt on the playground and needed to be picked up. The call can from a random number from someone at the school, not the main number. I have also received calls from pharmacies about order verification for much needed prescriptions. And received calls from docto…

I’ve disabled calls on iOS and it failed like twice in two years. Once it was a doctor appointment, and I’ve now learned to use their system to do online calls instead. The second time it was some insurance claim, which forced them to give up and send me an email after calling me a number of times.

I’d say at this point let the system fail if they don’t have email or whatsapp or something else they can use to reach you.

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#204

Post by baby »

katzgrau wrote: post #147
a_wild_dandan wrote: post #139

"People still use phones?" For my social circle, phones have become fax machines -- archaic tech that you forget exists until required for some abnormal situation. My pocket computer's "phone" reference feels quaint, like those floppy disk icons on save buttons; except disk drives aren't so persistently, actively detrimental to my day that I must disable them. So now, all unknown callers are automatically ignored. If…

This is the way I wish it could be (for me, personally), but some standardization among my friends is required. Which app do we tie our interdependence to? A very real question.

Literally everybody I know uses whatsapp

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#205

Post by tigroferoce »

What I usually do is keeping them on the phone as long as possible with questions and then tell them I don't want what they are selling.

I worked in a place that had call centres as part of their business and I know that they classify calls into hit or miss. Miss calls must finish as quickly as possible and they know that if they keep miss calls under a given duration they are gaining money.

I want to be the person that makes them lose money.

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#206

Post by baby »

zamadatix wrote: post #47
naveen99 wrote: post #43

Use iPhone focus feature, whitelisting contacts phone calls. Just need to manually add notifications from frequent contacts. Works pretty well.

The iPhone calling app has a more direct native setting for this "Silence Unknown Callers". Anyone in your contacts or recent outbound calls will still ring, everyone else is silenced (without having to change your global focus).

I used to have that but it still was too annoying

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#207

Post by baby »

steelframe wrote: post #105
naveen99 wrote: post #43

Use iPhone focus feature, whitelisting contacts phone calls. Just need to manually add notifications from frequent contacts. Works pretty well.

I did something similar to this last week after getting recently inundated with phone spam/scam calls and ended up missing a very important phone call about a medical emergency with my child at school because the school's system was down and they weren't able to call me from their number that I have in my contacts list. We need to stop trying to get end users to deploy ad-hoc solutions to the problem and update our p…

Your school needs to use whatsapp

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#208

Post by furyg3 »

aimor wrote: post #81

I've been reporting spam calls and texts to the FCC for a few years now. Does it do anything? I don't know, certainly not immediately, and the problem persists. I tried the method spelled out here for my latest batch of "Your USPS package has arrived" texts, but the phone numbers (example: +63 936 631 6676) just give an "invalid number" response. Not unexpected. Every official channel seems to be failing us on this o…

Like others, I'm confused about how there's so much variation between countries on this one.

In the US, the calls and texts are a plague. If you've had a phone number for a few years you're probably getting multiple texts and calls a day, even if you are on the Do Not Call registry, from advertisers of every type and scammers alike. Lots of people have apps for blocking spam and they still get through.

In the Netherlands I'm also on a do not call registry, and I get nearly zero spam calls or texts. There is the occasional scammer SMS, and I get a spam call maybe once every 2-3 months, usually for nonprofit fundraising.

In developing countries you're spammed by both the telco and third party advertisers within minutes of activating a prepaid SIM card. The telco is almost certainly delivering the advertisements.

My guess is that the penalties and enforcement behind violating do-not-call registry in the Netherlands (EU?) are just much stronger than in the US. It still does not explain the lack of low-quality spam / scam messages from people who are unlikely to be dissuaded by regulation.

The only thing I can think of is that there is better authentication for accessing the Dutch telephone network (and better incentives for the telcos) which allow the providers to prevent or shut down spam numbers quickly.

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#209

Post by mock-possum »

AgentOrange1234 wrote: post #64
mullingitover wrote: post #25

I wish we could euthanize this garbage, antiquated phone system. It shouldn't be expected/required that every adult has a phone number when the system is so irredeemably broken and dangerous. If the web didn't have HTTPS, it would be illegal to conduct sensitive business over it. Yet we're stuck with this entrenched telephone system, the best we can do is STIR/SHAKEN, and that's not real security.

100%. My son got sick at school last week and I ignored the call from the school nurse because I have been so thoroughly conditioned by daily scam calls to ignore any unrecognized number. It’s insane that this is still a problem.

Your school should offer alternate forms of contact, including texting and email

Re: Report Phone Spam – Shut down robocallers and text spammers

#210

Post by farhanhubble »

Crowdsource blocking can be quite effective at weeding out actual spam. For example Truecaller helps me block most spam calls based on how many others have flagged a particular number. It's not foolproof but usually any new numbers that telemarketers grab get quickly blacklisted. On a few occasions I've had to unblock numbers because I needed them temporarily but I can't remember missing anything important like payment reminders or OTPs.

In contrast, I've remained opted into the Indian Do Not Call registry forever but that hasn't deterred telemarketers much.

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