Phone calls

[frugal-one]

Recently getting phone calls where the caller id shows MY NAME AND PHONE NUMBER. I called the phone company and they said this is phishing. No kidding. No other help or suggestions.

[iris lilies]

Is this on your cell phone?

[SteveinMN]

Wire-line phone or wireless?

For wire-line phones, there is nothing much that can be done, at least not right now. It is very easy to "spoof" a phone number if you have access to the right systems. Kind of like having your email address forged by spammers.

For wireless (cellular) phones, there are more options/workarounds. If you're on a wireless phone, let me know and I'll post them.

This is an issue telecomm companies are going to have to handle soon. I've seen estimates that in just a few years, 70-80% of all phone calls made are going to be junk calls like these. Obviously, if the phone rings and eight times out of ten it's nothing of interest to you, your willingness to pay for phone service will diminish greatly. So it is in the telecomm companies' interest to figure out how to manage the onslaught, much the same way email providers finally figured out how to minimize spam (or at least prevent floods of it from showing up in your inbox). I think they will figure it out. It just won't happen right away.

[Yppej]

They should set it up so you have to type in the numbers that are allowed to call you. I am getting junk voice mail I have to clear out.

[dado potato]

I got a couple of calls like that today. It would be a better attempt to conceal the identity if it was my wife home alone rather than lil old me.

It came in on a wire line.

The second time curiosity got the better of me, so I picked up. It turned out to be (har-har-har) a very nice young woman "from Microsoft" with a warning that my computer's registry was all compromised, and I was vulnerable to attack. Then she said I could hold the line for "technician" who could help me.


Actually I have a leek in my refrigerator. I should have asked the technician what to do about that. "It stays crisper in the crisper."

Actually I suspect that the nice lady is just a synthesized voice.

[dado potato]

P. S.

Yppej:

Is there a limit on the numbers that one can allow to call? My wonderful Century Tel land line allows me to "block numbers" in a certain plan, but I think it is limited to 10 numbers... not much help, in my opinion.

[Yppej]

I do not have the ability to block calls on my phone. What I am envisaging is a phone that only allows in calls from a permitted list. I know there are "call me" phones that can only call one number. Some parents give them to their kids and they can only call the parent. I would like a mirror technology where only numbers you approve can call you, and any number not on the list is blocked.

[happystuff]

If a call comes on my cell and the name doesn't come up (i.e.it isn't in my contact list) I just ignore or decline it. If I don't know who it is, I don't respond.

[Lainey]

If a call comes on my cell and the name doesn't come up (i.e.it isn't in my contact list) I just ignore or decline it. If I don't know who it is, I don't respond.

But then the problem is that even with blocking their number, some are able to still leave a voice mail message. I'd like to turn off my voice mail system but my Samsung phone doesn't allow that. I'm getting inundated by "empty" voice mail message notices which I believe are auto-calls from political parties. Ugh.

[Float On]

I recently made the mistake of leaving my cell number on a insurance quote for the church. Dang it. I immediately started receiving calls, probably 100 a day. It's tapered off a bit but you can tell when my number gets sold to another list. I can only block out 100 numbers on my samsung and I've had to clear and restart twice so far.

[HappyHiker]

Do you find it passing strange that we pay for a service (phone) and then have to defend ourselves from harassing phone calls we don't want?

Our land line is a land mine we rarely answer and let the calls go to an answering machine. Our friends know to talk through after the message and we will pick up.

And our cell phone (which we recently lost!) had been getting more and more junk calls.

Don't we citizens have any rights to enjoy a peaceful use of services we pay for??

I guess not.

Grrrr....

[SteveinMN]

Don't we citizens have any rights to enjoy a peaceful use of services we pay for??

I guess not.

Grrrr....
Not in a country that puts profit above pretty much everything, no.

The same problem exists/existed with email. Spam email is, by far, the largest percentage of email sent in the world -- up to 85-90%, by some estimates, especially if you include "marketing blasts" by organizations which only associate with vendors/organizations with which you've done business (that crusty stuff in the privacy policies most people don't read).

Email providers, with the help of companies started up to help filter out spam electronically, have stemmed the illicit tide that appears in your email inbox. Of course, we all pay for it one way or another. Some consider it the price we pay for the openness of both the Internet and telecomm infrastructures as they originally were designed. It's always harder to remodel than it is to build fresh. But it is now time for telecomm providers to make those same efforts.

[razz]

I am very careful who had my phone number, use my answer machine for all calls unless I recognize the number and have a locally owned digital phone service so can contact them with problems. My cell phone plan has no data included just unlimited texts so I don't answer any calls. Everyone that has my cell number is told this.

Just one additional caution. I am very careful to which charitable organization I donate and the info that I share. They are local and state that they don not share any information ever.
I learned the hard way years ago that charitable fundraising includes selling your contact info which keeps being sold.