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

211–220 of 367 posts

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#211

Post by kaybe »

dkersten wrote: post #194
astura wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why are they calling you and not you calling them to make appointments? Um.... they have to let you know that you need an appointment. "Your lab tests came back and we'd like to make a follow-up appointment." My mortgage broker didn't mind emails.

Where I live, the doctor/dentist/optometrist never calls me first. They may call me back, but I always call them first. Recently I had some blood tests done and the doctor told me to give them a call in a week. I did, let the receptionist know I was calling about test results and she called me back after getting the details from my doctor. I’ve never got a call from any of them without expecting it because I’ve initi…

They sometimes call me to shift appointments. Either something came up for the doctor and they're moving the appointments away, or someone needs a longer very urgent procedure just before my appointment and I'm just going to be there for routine stuff.. things like that.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#212

Post by ric2b »

welly wrote: post #173
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.

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.

I generally dislike voice calls because they take me out of what I was doing and require my attention during the call.

Voice calls are useful for things that need to be dealt with quickly but otherwise async communication is much more pleasant.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#213

Post by asark »

whatshisface wrote: post #180
welly wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Especially if you're "texting" from a computer (iMessage linked to a phone, for example)

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#214

Post by pbhjpbhj »

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.

Ah man, I only normally answer at the point someone starts talking to the answerphone and I recognise their voice - people we know are aware of that and so can say who they are and we'll pick up.

I had call after call after call from this one number, over about 3 weeks. Eventually, after I was complaining about it to my wife the phone went and it was the same number so I picked up ... it was a domain registrar asking "are you happy, do you need any help", that was it, just a lousy marketing call (probably because I basketed a domain with them and then bought it elsewhere).

What an absolute waste of time.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#215

Post by pbhjpbhj »

chrisseaton wrote: post #14
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.

Why does anyone spend the time to answer a poll for a for-profit company? I bet the person making the call is being compensated but they want the callee’s time for free?

The company doing the poll will often misrepresent themselves IME.

"Do you have a minute to talk about your phone service, we're calling from your provider."

OR

"We're finding out for the government about voter preferences."

That sort of thing. People thing they may have an obligation to the company.

UK government do a paper-based survey of businesses for which there is a legal obligation (backed by a fine) to respond, but it appears when you first get it just like one of these scammy polling companies.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#216

Post by pavel_lishin »

SomeHacker44 wrote: post #198
Waterluvian wrote: post #164

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.

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... )

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#217

Post by kaybe »

dcbadacd wrote: post #204
wongarsu wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany is very big (4th largest economy in the world) and we have no problems with robocalls at all. I don't think I've ever experienced a robocall.

I've had the same number for like 14 years now and I haven't gotten a single(!) robocall. So I share your experience.

Same here.

The landline gets a few scam callers and surveys a year though, always real people.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#218

Post by benplumley »

LeonM wrote: post #146
nightcracker wrote: post #90

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.

Might also be because the Netherlands is a small and relatively expensive country in Europe where international rates are quite high. So, it's not compelling enough for them to open an call center in NL, and placing it outside of NL would increase their phone costs. Also, not many people on the planet speak dutch, so the addressable market is quite small.

Another anecdotal point against the language theory, I live in the UK and have received no spam calls in 15 years of mobile phone ownership.

However, my parents' landline phone gets several per day, so perhaps it's too expensive to call a UK mobile number for spam to be profitable.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#219

Post by yebyen »

dzdt wrote: post #178
yebyen wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'd buy that argument. It jibes well with the research we did to come to this conclusion, when we started buying numbers in local area codes at the call center I used to work for... (excerpt from where I posted it elsewhere)

> In hindsight it may have helped us work contact lists faster but it did nothing for our survey completion rates. People who were not likely to answer an out-of-state call were apparently also not likely to answer a survey, even once you got them on the phone. To us, that trade-off was still worth it, because we were usually contracted to try each contact on our list either 3-5 times or until we reached a person who (completed or) declined the survey or asked you to stop calling.

> If you didn't want the calls, then we straight did not want you to continue getting them.

Don't chase leads that won't pay off. Do as little extra work as you can, to increase the likelihood of learning when a lead is known bad, so you can stop wasting effort there.

Re: 'One Ring' Phone Scam

#220

Post by bluGill »

dingaling wrote: post #126
inflatableDodo wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This question reminds me of Kraftwerk's method of using a phone. I'd love a mobile phone that did this; >When the German electronic band Kraftwerk were in the studio, they refused to be disturbed. Working for hours on end, patiently perfecting their sonic arrangements, required zero interruptions. So much so that they even took the ringer out of the only telephone in the studio. So what happened when someone wanted t…

Intriguing, but in order to lift the phone at the precise time they'd need to have some form of alarm or notification. At which point, their concentration would be interrupted. So really I don't see the point.

As a kid my barber didn't have a phone. He figured if he was on the phone he wasn't servicing his customers so he never had one installed (he retired just a cell phone came down to where normal people could afford to use them for voice calls). A couple times a his family did call the bar across the street and the waitress would walk over and relay the message (he probably closed shop for the day every time that happened).

Telephones are useful for a lot of things, but they are not quite as critical as you think.

Post reply on HN