Fed Up With Telemarketers? (here's the solution) - Comments Page 2

The number of repetitive calls to my cell phone have escalated exponentially in just the last 8 weeks. There are many free apps available for both android and iphones that will block any number not in your contacts list. I am giving the free version of Call Blacklist a try and if it works out I may even spring for the $2 pro version which allows you to block on a day of the week/time of day schedule. It rings the phone for about a half ring, but then automatically blocks it and logs the call. The caller can also leave a voice mail, so if the plumber calls and they are not in your contacts, at least you'll get a vm.

I still find it just as easy to ignore them......when my phone rings, if I don't recognize the number, I just touch one of the volume controls which mutes the ringer......if they leave a message, it's legitimate, and I will return the call.....no message means it's junk, and I didn't miss a thing.

Call your carrier, IOP or Land Line and ask if they support "nomorobo." ATT does not because they make too much money off of this kind of call line. If they support "nomorobo, have them apply the program to your phone line. The phone rings once and only once before disconnecting the call if the call is from a robo caller. We were receiving up to six robo calls daily because of the nuts who had our number before we got it responded to every call until they went broke. Since having our IOP carrier activate this program on our line, we receive zero robo calls, just one ring calls, then silence.

Most calls received have spoofed caller ID's, usually from disconnected numbers or phony area codes. A call blocker with a 1500 capacity phone list has done the trick as calls go through the blocker before reaching the actual phone line. Several manufacturers produce these devices, and some come with an established list of known bogus numbers.

I live in the UK and use Sky for my landline. Last year they offered a free service. When the phone rings Sky takes the call and asks for the name of the caller. If I know the caller I press 1 to be connected or 2 to reject the call. For people known to me and regular callers pressing the star key gives them permanent access. Since this system was implemented I have not received any nuisance calls. I even thought perhaps my phone was not working as the number of calls dropped so much.

For landlines. Somewhere I got a Tele-Zapper. A little box plugged into the phone line. When a robo call comes in, it sends a tone back to the sender. My phone rings once. It is blocking 4 or 5 calls a day. I see they are on Ebay for about $20.

It is tough to get a call back number to really identify them since they spoofed the caller ID. And, then it is often a prepaid phone that can't be traced. Anyway, one thing that has often worked -- Say, "Oh, just a second. Someone's at the door." Then wait a few seconds and say "I need to take care of this person at the door. Can I call you back?" Sometimes they will give it to you if you sell the fact that you are interested.

I also like to use the "Hang on, someone's at the door" method just to waste their time, while I process with whatever I was doing.

Sometimes is can be a game. One time, I frustrated the caller so bad that he finally shouted, "WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?"

Most spam calls are not the kind that the techniques in the article will work on, for several reasons:

First, many of them just ring once or twice with nobody on the line when you answer. These are pilot calls made robotically to identify which lines are picked up by potential suckers (or their answering machines) and which are not. Later, new calls are made to that first group with a live representative standing by to talk with the victim. Of course, just because they hang up (or you never pick up an unknown call in the first place) doesn't mean you were not bothered by the ringing and then the need to go and look at the Call-ID.

Second, all these calls are made from spoofed numbers. In fact, if you tried to call them back, you would usually reach either a "not-in-service" recording or a perennial busy signal. In some cases, they may offer a bogus "take-me-off-your-list" option, but trying to opt out will not stop the calls. In fact, it merely confirms to their computers that there IS a live person at your number who has the spare time (and the naïveté) to actually call back. It almost never results in them taking you off their "list". The exception may be when the caller is a responsible company that had some initial reason to believe you had already expressed an interest in them. (That kind of company or charity tends not to pester people with telemarketers in the first place.)

Third: Yes, you could pretend to be interested in a telemarketer's pitch, or to be falling for the caller's phishing scam. But the more you ask to know about THEM, the more likely they are to hang up. These people are instructed to dump a call if they believe their cover has been blown and simply move on to another one. Any info about them that you might actually get will be fake, especially if they have no legitimate purpose for which their real address and contact info would be necessary. These are the most frequent of the spam callers. The cloak their identity effectively and their only purpose is to steal from you.

Until legislation and technology can successfully prevent the spoofing of Call-ID altogether, we must rely on filtering services along with programmable callblocking devices. The best devices offer wild-card blocking (e.g., of entire area codes). Even better, some include a "whitelist" mode to use if you are confident you can list ALL the numbers (or wildcards) that you want to allow calls from... and then let it block all others. I'm lucky to have the most versatile callblocker ever made for landlines, but the manufacturer went out of business long ago, leaving this particular model almost impossible to find now.

Once these jokers get you number they will harass you forever, and filing complaints are next to useless. I'm with one of the Bells and they offer a service that forces all calls to press a certain number after the ring asks them to push if they aren't telemarketers. Works real good because most of these idiots can't dial out or push a button, so the call is dropped, it cleared up 99% of these trash calls.

Another thing to get is the CPR Callblocker and comes preset to block all international calls and known telemarketers, works real good.

https://www.amazon.com/CPR-V202-Call-Blocker-Telemarketing/dp/B00JG02ZEY

https://www.amazon.com/CPR-V5000-Call-Blocker-Robocalls/dp/B0191XMBV2

Worse than unsolicited robo-calls, however, is unsolicited email. According to the rules, every emailed message of sales promotion should have an "Unsubscribe" option. However, violators ignore the first request, then a second, and a third...

Publishers like the LA Times are very bad on compliance, ignoring polite requests in writing, not to mention a simple button-click to unsubscribe.
Unlike phone solicitation violations, email abuse gets little respect.

I used to get calls from a robocaller in Washington state all the time. They were offering a "free service" to either clean my gutters or my carpet. Never did get past that part as I don't live there anymore but my area code is from there.(VOIP) I wonder if that's permissible since it's "free". I figure there's some scam attached. I usually hold on line for "HI, this is Heather from account "clik". I really don't have need of these calls, but the worst is the one you pick up and get "please hold for our next available representative". Those really raise my blood pressure.

Century Link offers a "distinctive ring" for $5.00/month which is an additional number with two rings instead of the traditional one long ring using the same phone line as your home phone; it is not a different phone line, just a different ring. There is no voice mail with the additional number, it is not published, and you can't call from it.

Give this number to family and friends and let voice mail answer all other calls to your original home phone.