Robocalls

[muwarrior69]

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/most-least-likely-states-robocalls

I get about 3 calls a week on my cell and about 2-3 per day on my landline. Everything from ED pills to solar panels.

[Jockey]

2 questions:

Why do you answer the calls?

Why do you have a landline?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

2 questions:

Why do you answer the calls?

Why do you have a landline?

Yep. Only answering calls from contacts is very easy.

[Billy Hoyle]

2 questions:

Why do you answer the calls?

Why do you have a landline?

Can’t speak for the OP but they usually are actual numbers with my same area code. That got me early on, now they go to voice mail. Oh, no landline.

[Jockey]

Can’t speak for the OP but they usually are actual numbers with my same area code. That got me early on, now they go to voice mail. Oh, no landline.

Just a trick to get people to answer. AS FBM said, only answer calls that are in your contacts. Those are the people you know.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Just a trick to get people to answer. AS FBM said, only answer calls that are in your contacts. Those are the people you know.

And if it’s someone else they’ll leave a message. Now that cell location has gotten much more accurate (for 911 calls) there isnt much reason to have a landline.

[Cheeks]

2 questions:

Why do you answer the calls?

Why do you have a landline?

I still have landline for security purposes.  When power goes out, it remains on...no need to charge.  In the event of an emergency when power is out for days, my landline will work. No 911 issues either.  Keeping a lifeline land line is very cheap.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Just a trick to get people to answer. AS FBM said, only answer calls that are in your contacts. Those are the people you know.

I sell cars.  I have to answer all calls, all the time.

[lawdog77]

TCPA, as well as state statutes

[rocket surgeon]

they are out of control.  has anyone ever taken one and bought anything from them?  like, oh hey yeah-i was just gonna call you guys about that cheap vacation to the bahamas

[Jon]

they are out of control.  has anyone ever taken one and bought anything from them?  like, oh hey yeah-i was just gonna call you guys about that cheap vacation to the bahamas

It's like clockwork - around 1900 the calls start. If I have a couple minutes I will take a call with an assumed accent and f#ck with the guy. What is odd is how mad they get when they realize I am f#cking with them - certainly when one considers who placed the call and intruded in on my life.

theBabyDavid's mother shakes her head when I do this but sometimes I get her to laugh at some of my more absurd statements. Unlike the wife of the Canadian bound she has a refined sense of humor.

[rocket surgeon]

It's like clockwork - around 1900 the calls start. If I have a couple minutes I will take a call with an assumed accent and f#ck with the guy. What is odd is how mad they get when they realize I am f#cking with them - certainly when one considers who placed the call and intruded in on my life.

theBabyDavid's mother shakes her head when I do this but sometimes I get her to laugh at some of my more absurd statements. Unlike the wife of the Canadian bound she has a refined sense of humor.

same here-i just wonder how effective these calls are?  to me, they would seem a little counter-productive, but i guess their numbers must tell them something different

[Jon]

same here-i just wonder how effective these calls are?  to me, they would seem a little counter-productive, but i guess their numbers must tell them something different

In our parish there is a member in her 80's - widowed and not altogether in control of her faculties. She mentioned to someone after Mass that she was sending $3,000 a month to an orphanage in Ghana.

Now, she can afford it but that's not the point: she is being scammed and it started with an unsolicited phone call, likely sourced from the St Thomas member registry.

Our Robocalls are for vacations and health insurance (I have VA care for life which triggers the calls). These are innocuous if not annoying in a mosquito way.

But there are convincing scammers out there who prey on the elderly. This woman could give them a lot more and not notice but that's not the point: she is being victimized just as surely as if they stuck a gun in her face in the parking lot.

One of the actions St Thomas took was to remove parishioner details from the website - it would seem that scammers use these data bases like Alec Baldwin selling real estate.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

same here-i just wonder how effective these calls are?  to me, they would seem a little counter-productive, but i guess their numbers must tell them something different

One aspect of the work I do is that I get CCed on all police reports to the TAMU UPD. I would say about every three days or so we get a report that someone fell for a robocall/email/social media scam and either had their identity stolen, were manipulated in to paying a scammer, or were straight up blackmailed into paying money. The scams run the gambit from paying for a cheap cruise to the Bahamas (where the tickets never materialize) to terrifying ones where students are told that that the caller has their family at gunpoint and if they don't send them money right now then their family is going to die. My personal favorites are the ones where a male gets a facebook message from an account with a scantily clad woman as its profile picture. The account chats them up, sends some naked photos that they probably pulled off of porn hub. The account then asks for dick pics in return. As soon as the victim sends them, they get a message telling them to pay them a $1000 or their dick pic gets messaged to all of their friends and family.

These aren't just dumb college students falling for them either. We have staff and faculty members who have fallen for these and reported to the police. Like many businesses, it's a numbers game. If we all get these calls (and emails/social media messages) and many of us get them multiple times a day, only a handful need to fall for it for the scammers to make money.

[jficke13]

If I have time I always take robocalls. I play along for a few minutes, really let 'em know they've got a mark hooked and get 'em ready to start reeling me in. That's when I apologize about my cell phone and ask (up to and including beg) them to call me back on my landline.

Then I give them the FBI fraud reporting phone number.

[Benny B]

I still have landline for security purposes.  When power goes out, it remains on...no need to charge.  In the event of an emergency when power is out for days, my landline will work. No 911 issues either.  Keeping a lifeline land line is very cheap.

Last time I had a landline, the service itself was $9.00/month, but all of the taxes, usage fees, etc. were more than the price of the actual service.  So for the price of one month's landline service, you could buy a solar phone charger to keep your StarTac charged up indefinitely.  Not to mention, when the grid went down in Lake County for four days back in 2011, many people lost their landline service after the batteries in their neighborhood telecom relays/substation died (until AT&T got external generators hooked up).


I still get robocalls on my cellphone.  Looking at call history, about 1-2x/week on average.  Usually I don't answer, but since the kids' school has multiple lines they could be calling from, occasionally I will pick up a robocall that has the same exchange; however, I hang up before the computer can transfer me over to an actual (subcontinental Asian) Indian.

[jesmu84]

I'm super annoyed that these things still exist, even after the "no-call" registry that was established years ago.

But, thankfully, I have a Google pixel.  Google does an excellent job at identifying "suspected spam calls." I ignore those completely.

In addition, the phone has the "screen call" feature where the Google assistant will converse with the caller and text gets displayed in real-time. I can jump in at any time if it's something for work or legitimate.

[Coleman]

In our parish there is a member in her 80's - widowed and not altogether in control of her faculties. She mentioned to someone after Mass that she was sending $3,000 a month to an orphanage in Ghana.

Now, she can afford it but that's not the point: she is being scammed and it started with an unsolicited phone call, likely sourced from the St Thomas member registry.

Our Robocalls are for vacations and health insurance (I have VA care for life which triggers the calls). These are innocuous if not annoying in a mosquito way.

But there are convincing scammers out there who prey on the elderly. This woman could give them a lot more and not notice but that's not the point: she is being victimized just as surely as if they stuck a gun in her face in the parking lot.

One of the actions St Thomas took was to remove parishioner details from the website - it would seem that scammers use these data bases like Alec Baldwin selling real estate.

Can you have her redirect her giving to the Scoop Foundation?

[dgies9156]

It's like clockwork - around 1900 the calls start. If I have a couple minutes I will take a call with an assumed accent and f#ck with the guy. What is odd is how mad they get when they realize I am f#cking with them - certainly when one considers who placed the call and intruded in on my life.

theBabyDavid's mother shakes her head when I do this but sometimes I get her to laugh at some of my more absurd statements. Unlike the wife of the Canadian bound she has a refined sense of humor.

Yeah, I am the same way. We get political calls and polling calls from both sides, especially in Florida. I love jiving with those guys. Depending on the flavor of the call, I'll go off the deep end either left or right.