What gave me a good laugh was that my answering machine has caller ID but I had been using it for over two years before I even realized it!
Hmm, I am going to go on-line and check my options from Uverse.
Probably a lot I don't even know about.
I consider it a favor to the next victim, when I keep a marketer on the phone.
On 08 Mar 2014, philo wrote in alt.home.repair:
I didn't see any profile mentioned, but based on my experience and from what I've read, almost every illegal robocall displays a faked phone number. Sometimes those numbers actually belong to someone else who didn't make the call.
I'm glad that it's working out for you.
Card Services has so many lines they don't bother to cover their tracks. They make more robo calls than all the others combined and if I was only able to block their calls an no more I'd have been happy.
It's very close to three days now and only one robo call.
That might have been because I picked up right away.
I went back to read more about "nomorobo" and they said to allow one full ring . They apparently have been blocking most of them before I even hear the ring.
Also: I went back to my AT&T account and see they have a number of filtering features I never even knew about.
Per John:
I have a small stack of lame-sounding letters from the Pennsylvania DA's office to the effect that "We can't do anything about your complaint because these guys are going offshore and/or using VOIP".
I'm no legal expert, but I'd think that if they were serious about their mission, they'd have honey-pot credit cards and people waiting for Rachel's call. Get down to the point where money changes hands, and go get 'em.
Somebody who claimed to have worked in the industry said that they have a 'Do-not-call-really' list of politician's phone numbers - so they don't irritate the wrong people.
That's because Card Services is a scam run by many many different con artists. The people working for the scammers who run the operation eventually figure out that they can go into the same business for themselves. Which they do, using the same script and fake company name. It's not as if the crook they were working for is going to sue them for stealing their idea. Especially when they're all working in different countries, anyway.
That's the thing to remember: it doesn't matter what number appears on the Caller ID, they are almost always putting up a fake phone number, and they are based outside the US. It makes it much more difficult for the FCC to go after them, since they're outside the FCC's jurisdiction. Especially with regard to Card Services, it's an endless game of whack-a-mole.
Well, DUH. These are coming from criminal operations. Do you expect burglars to honor a "keep out" sign posted on your front door?
The do not call lists were designed to block unwanted calls from
*legitimate* companies calling to drum up business. Most of the major companies and many local companies honor those lists. Crooks laugh at them.
I have no way to test this now as the robo calls have ceased entirely but my AT&T account gives me the ability to block /all/ overseas calls... but I have not enabled that option
It got so bad, I contacted my Congressman's local office. A staffer asked me to send in some of the numbers and they would do ? with the FCC. The fr equency did decrease for a while, but is ramping up. I will contact Congre ssman's office again.
HB
I made the assumption there is no way within the legal system to handle this....but I did file complaints with the FTC
My guess is that the calls are all coming from individual free-lancers rather than any such organization as "Card Services"
So, if I only get one call from any one person there is probably no way they could easily be prosecuted.
So glad it's stopped now.
Obvious fakes. A lot of the calls I get have the Caller ID "name" field set to the same thing as "number". Sometimes, it's "V" followed by a bunch of digits.
[snip]On 10 Mar 2014, Mark Lloyd wrote in alt.home.repair:
I've been keeping a manual log spreadsheet of junk calls for the past couple of years. Volume is actually way down lately from its last peak about 6 months ago. Some of the recent ones include the V-number thing you mention:
number caller ID description
717-203-8889 Albright Amber Card Member Services 360-322-6708 Marysville WA Credit card scammer 978-664-5909 North Reading MA Diamond Plumbing & Heating 971-208-9936 Salem OR energy savings 212-660-5351 New York NY medical alert scam 12-022-0404 unknown Indian computer repair scammer 857-776-3089 Children's Cance bogus charity 202-769-0477 POLLRSRCH13 "political call" 202-817-2940 Washington DC 212-660-5351 New York NY medical alert scam 585-362-4105 Volt Delta LLC verifying phone number 202-769-0477 POLLRSRCH13 "political call" 706-805-1788 Unknown selling solar panels 202-817-2940 V22618251300482 donations 717-608-7443 Cell Phone PA lower interest rate 202-817-2940 V22618251300482 donations 202-817-2940 V30319095500482 donations 877-218-8360 800 Service Childrens Cancer Recovery 951-256-6169 Gray Karen Card ServicesMost of the phone numbers only occur once and I never see them again. That's why it's not useful to use my phone service's "block number" feature. Every once in a while the same number will keep calling again over a period of time - at that time I block the number. I'm sure that number would stop being used eventually, anyway.
Hah another one like me! On advice of my Congressman's office, I also kept a list. Just threw it away the other day.
The calls I get a LOT these days are less from telemarketers than from loca ls: contractors, plumbers, handymen -- all related to house repairs. I tr y to be polite, but sometimes they don't get the message to take me off the ir lists. I know they're trying to make a buck, but at the same time they' re invading my privacy. I must get more determined about not answering unk nowns.
On 11 Mar 2014, Higgs Boson wrote in alt.home.repair:
I started my list because I was curious if I could detect any patterns in the calls. Also to see what numbers, if any, recurred so I could block them. I do find a few numbers that can be blocked, but the majority of them occur only once so blocking isn't effective.
It goes in waves, but lately almost all the calls I get are about 'lowering my credit rate', 'medical alert systems', 'Children's Cancer Recovery', and solar panels. They all display far-away area codes. I occasionally get local calls from someone trying to sell me chimney sweep services (though I have no fireplace). There's one call I kept getting which seemed to be from a real local plumbing company with a real number, but when I researched it it appears that the company is actually out of business, so someone else must have appropriated their number. I've never actually answered their call to see what it is they're selling. That number is now blocked, anyway.
I should also sign up. Thanks for the link.
Hope it works for you as well as it does here....it's amazing now to only get phone calls from people I actually know
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