The Atlanta Urinal and Constipation untypically offers some good news for once.

QuoteThe Federal Communications Commission has proposed a $120 million fine against a Florida man accused of making 96 million spoofed robocalls during a three-month period last year.   

According to an FCC news release, Adrian Abramovich of Miami violated the Truth in Caller ID Act, a law that prohibits callers from deliberately falsifying caller ID information to disguise their identity with the intent to harm or defraud people.

Here's how it all went down: Consumers received calls that appeared to come from local numbers. If they picked up, they heard an automated message prompting them to "Press 1" to hear about "exclusive" vacation deals from companies like Marriott, Expedia, Hilton and TripAdvisor. Anyone who pressed the button got transferred to foreign call centers that were not affiliated with those well-known travel companies at all. Live operators would then try to sell the consumers low-quality vacation packages, usually involving timeshares.

Unfortunately, many Americans took the bait. The FCC said the operation typically targeted the elderly. Some consumers spent from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars on the vacation packages.

Abramovich is believed to have used the tactic known as "neighbor spoofing." It takes place when the caller falsifies the caller ID to match the area code and first three digits of the recipient's phone number. Scammers use neighbor spoofing to gain the trust of those receiving the call and increase the likelihood of them answering.   

http://www.ajc.com/business/personal-finance/fcc-proposes-120-million-fine-for-alleged-robocall-scammer/RVeSiLe4jUDdxZuyQ3pJgJ/

Buy an answering machine. Don't pick up unless you know the caller. Class dismissed.

Quote from: quiller on June 23, 2017, 04:01:12 PM
The Atlanta Urinal and Constipation untypically offers some good news for once.

http://www.ajc.com/business/personal-finance/fcc-proposes-120-million-fine-for-alleged-robocall-scammer/RVeSiLe4jUDdxZuyQ3pJgJ/

Buy an answering machine. Don't pick up unless you know the caller. Class dismissed.

Should be obvious but too many people are naive. I hope they crucify this dirtbag.

I get these calls ALL THE TIME on my land line, for YEARS!!!   the numbers have been on the government do-not-call list since 2003, when we got the numbers.

Now I get them on my cell phone.  And because I get LOTS of work related calls from across the USA, it's not as simple as letting Voice Mail screen them.  I do block them as I get them.   Maybe some of you get the same ones:

1.  "This is the credit card company, nothing is wrong with your credit, we can lower your rate..."
(they called me a liar when I said I had one at 6.5% and another at 9.9%, and hung up, but they keep calling)

2.  "We'd like to slip you into a lower mortgage interest rate ..."
(they do not do modulars, or mortgages for less than 100k ... but they keep calling)

3.  "Warning!!! your vehicle's warranty has expired ... "
(they do not have any idea what I drive, or walk, or take a bus, train or plane... "What's coverage for a 1986 Cessna 150 Aerobat?")

4.  "Male enhancement drug WILL make you BIGGER..."
(they don't have anything to make me smaller, I'm already too big ... they called me a perv and hung up)

5.  Some kid calling - "We're conducting a political survey for .... college... blah, blah, blah...."
(heavy breathing .... or hold the mute button down until they drop)

6.  "We're giving you a LAST chance to take advantage of - fill-in-the-blank..."
(held the mute ... for about 2 minutes, a mexican stand-off, then a voice, "press 2 to be removed from our calling list"  Did that, and ... sure, I got removed from THEIR calling list, and probably got put on a dozen more)

7.  "We're calling because you recently stayed in one of our hotels in Norfolk, VA."  (real person), sounds similar to this scam.
(..." I have never, ever stayed in a hotel in Norfolk, or Virginia Beach"  an argument ensues, they tell me the call is being recorded, I answer, "you called -ME- ... you're the crank caller, not me!"   They hang up - and I've continued to get those calls for literally years on my cell phone)

8.  My favorite.  "This is Tech Support calling because your computer is causing a problem on the network..."  Even my kids handle this one, practically fight over who gets the phone...
(.. "Really?  What kind of problem?"  or "Which computer, we have 12" or "Which operating system?" or "Could you give us Internet Access, we don't have it" or "Can you tell if I'm online?  'cause we don't have internet" or "Which network, we have 3" or "Good, can I connect you with a real IT professional? - he's right here, maybe it's a coding issue in his last OS release..." or "hmmm, that Zilog-80 has been hiccuping - please be specific, what kind of problem?" )

Back when I had a real phone system in my house, and music-on-hold sources, we had one special one, a Crow calling loop.
When Long Distance actually cost something - we dumped them there... listen to the crows.
Sometimes they'd get really, really pissed, and call us back to cuss us out, baby-crying-on-hold worked nicely.
And... the "You've reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service." continual loop.

One of the guys at work (useto work in a call center) said the way to piss them off the most, get a live operator, get the whole spiel, and keep asking them the same details... over and over, buy nothing.

Quote from: quiller on June 23, 2017, 04:01:12 PM
Buy an answering machine. Don't pick up unless you know the caller. Class dismissed.

Here's all the unknown calls I got Friday, not the numbers, but where they're from.
Richmond, VA
Atlanta, GA
Richmond, VA
Unknown area
Tulsa, OK
Belfield, ND
Denver, CO
Just one of these was an unwanted call, the rest were work related. 
If you can figure out which one, I'd like to know how you did it.  'cause my block list is over 200 numbers long.
When my phone rings, when in the service industry, the phone rings, you answer it.

Quote from: Hoofer on June 25, 2017, 06:00:35 AM
I get these calls ALL THE TIME on my land line, for YEARS!!!   the numbers have been on the government do-not-call list since 2003, when we got the numbers.

Now I get them on my cell phone.  And because I get LOTS of work related calls from across the USA, it's not as simple as letting Voice Mail screen them.  I do block them as I get them.   Maybe some of you get the same ones:

1.  "This is the credit card company, nothing is wrong with your credit, we can lower your rate..."
(they called me a liar when I said I had one at 6.5% and another at 9.9%, and hung up, but they keep calling)

2.  "We'd like to slip you into a lower mortgage interest rate ..."
(they do not do modulars, or mortgages for less than 100k ... but they keep calling)

3.  "Warning!!! your vehicle's warranty has expired ... "
(they do not have any idea what I drive, or walk, or take a bus, train or plane... "What's coverage for a 1986 Cessna 150 Aerobat?")

4.  "Male enhancement drug WILL make you BIGGER..."
(they don't have anything to make me smaller, I'm already too big ... they called me a perv and hung up)

5.  Some kid calling - "We're conducting a political survey for .... college... blah, blah, blah...."
(heavy breathing .... or hold the mute button down until they drop)

6.  "We're giving you a LAST chance to take advantage of - fill-in-the-blank..."
(held the mute ... for about 2 minutes, a mexican stand-off, then a voice, "press 2 to be removed from our calling list"  Did that, and ... sure, I got removed from THEIR calling list, and probably got put on a dozen more)

7.  "We're calling because you recently stayed in one of our hotels in Norfolk, VA."  (real person), sounds similar to this scam.
(..." I have never, ever stayed in a hotel in Norfolk, or Virginia Beach"  an argument ensues, they tell me the call is being recorded, I answer, "you called -ME- ... you're the crank caller, not me!"   They hang up - and I've continued to get those calls for literally years on my cell phone)

8.  My favorite.  "This is Tech Support calling because your computer is causing a problem on the network..."  Even my kids handle this one, practically fight over who gets the phone...
(.. "Really?  What kind of problem?"  or "Which computer, we have 12" or "Which operating system?" or "Could you give us Internet Access, we don't have it" or "Can you tell if I'm online?  'cause we don't have internet" or "Which network, we have 3" or "Good, can I connect you with a real IT professional? - he's right here, maybe it's a coding issue in his last OS release..." or "hmmm, that Zilog-80 has been hiccuping - please be specific, what kind of problem?" )

Back when I had a real phone system in my house, and music-on-hold sources, we had one special one, a Crow calling loop.
When Long Distance actually cost something - we dumped them there... listen to the crows.
Sometimes they'd get really, really pissed, and call us back to cuss us out, baby-crying-on-hold worked nicely.
And... the "You've reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service." continual loop.

One of the guys at work (useto work in a call center) said the way to piss them off the most, get a live operator, get the whole spiel, and keep asking them the same details... over and over, buy nothing.


Here's all the unknown calls I got Friday, not the numbers, but where they're from.
Richmond, VA
Atlanta, GA
Richmond, VA
Unknown area
Tulsa, OK
Belfield, ND
Denver, CO
Just one of these was an unwanted call, the rest were work related. 
If you can figure out which one, I'd like to know how you did it.  'cause my block list is over 200 numbers long.
When my phone rings, when in the service industry, the phone rings, you answer it.

Whew!  So far I don't get the one about the male enhancement drug making me bigger!   

<Hoofer

QuoteJust one of these was an unwanted call, the rest were work related. 
If you can figure out which one, I'd like to know how you did it.  'cause my block list is over 200 numbers long.
When my phone rings, when in the service industry, the phone rings, you answer it.

I admit it. I forgot entirely about the working world. I retired and my accepted-caller list is fewer than 20 companies or persons. I get maybe one telemarketer call a week, and several a day where they hear the recording and (automated or not) simply hang up .