My VoIP Comcast “landline” service is getting obviously scam robot calls from the same outfit, regarding supposedly suspicious Amazon account activity. I am using every form of protection I know about, which consists of: (1) Comcast phone spam settings are set to maximum; (2) independent Nomorobo account is active; (3) Nomorobo forwarding number is added to Comcast forwarding list according to their instructions.
Still, the calls come about every 10 minutes during the daytime hours. (Not an exaggeration.) They are from a different number each time, most of them appearing to originate in my own area code, so I can’t add them to the Comcast blacklist (well, I could, but there would be no point). I’ve finally had to unplug the phone (on Thanksgiving, yay) and I guess the next step is to get a new number. Is there anything else I can do?
As a side question – what if they started calling every 1 minute all through the night? What if all the robocallers started doing that to everyone? I’ve often wondered why they don’t, since they clearly can. Maybe something would finally be done once and for all in that case…
No, but that list is essentially useless to stop spam calls these days, as they are nearly always originating from outside the U.S., and using programs that spoof the Caller ID system.
I’ve noticed that spam calls go in waves, and they do seem to be on the uptick for me in the past week or two, as well.
I’m told the Do Not Call list applies only to legit companies who check it and obey it. The FCC notes that illegal scam artists sometimes forget to abide by the list.
One benefit of our recently having cut the cord - we gave up our VOIP landline. While we did not get a scam call every 10 minutes, we did get a couple every day - compared to nary a call we wanted.
I’ve been using PhoneTray Pro for my landline for years now. To use this, you need a computer with a phone modem, and the computer/modem is connected immediately after your VOIP modem.
PhoneTray allows you to intercept calls based on Name, Specific Number or you can use wildcard characters to block specific area codes and even local exchanges.
The software will playback included messages to intercepted calls, including the “Number Disconnected/No longer In Service” tones.
This very flexible software and I couldn’t be without it.
That’s not going to help, since the area code I get most spam calls from is my own.
For the most part NoMoRobo blocks calls after one ring, which I can handle pretty well. It might go to voice mail at the beginning of the day before the number gets on the NoMoRobo list, but they always hang up at the beep, and I seldom even have to erase the call.
Getting rid of the landline won’t work because our cell numbers get spam calls also. Getting a new number is unlikely to work either since they’ll find it soon enough.
With luck when the phone companies start blocking calls from carriers that allow spoofing, the problem should subside. I think we might be seeing more calls now as the spammers try to get their calls in before this happens.
I’m with a small cell phone company in Canada (small-ish) and I get spam calls every day. The last one came from an “unknown” number. Two people I know routinely block their number when they call out. Ugh. Sometimes they’re identified as spam as they come in, but I suspect that’s based on how many people report them. And, of course, sometimes they steal the name of a business, although I know I’m not getting a call from a local service provider from the other end of the country.
Sometimes they’re able to leave an “empty” voicemail even though the phone identifies the call as spam. Looking the numbers up online don’t help. I’ve gotten calls from people who thought I scammed them (so presumably someone stole my number for that purpose).
I’m working from home, so I have a work cell phone… which gets spam calls. My work landline used to get the occasional scam call. I haven’t used it in more than one year, and there have been no messages (spam or otherwise) left on it.
The spammers either just hang up or leave a message in another language. I hate to think what people who speak Mandarin are thinking. I wish I knew what the scam was.
You can block those, too. Then “Whitelist” any numbers that you know are legitimate.
One of my “Block” entries look like this:
706-xxx-xxxx, where “x” is a wildcard. So any number that calls me from my own 706 area code is blocked.
If your spam is coming from one particular exchange, then the entry would be 706-221-xxxx. This means that area code 706 and exchange 221 will be blocked.
Again, I can then Whitelist any number that’s legitimate that would otherwise be blocked.
I am curious.
This is so very extreme compared to what I receive in spam calls. I wonder if folks replying could provide some information to compare.
I do not have a land line. Killed that many years ago. But still have the original landline number,
I am in Canada. Use Koodo.
I am on the Canadian do not call list ( for what good that does )
I get so few spam calls per month, that I can’t even give a number.
Most spam calls actually seem local. Furnace check and duct cleaning.
At peace with my phone.
That seems like a lot of work for very little benefit and some risk when NoMoRobo learns the spam numbers and blocks them based on lots of data. The other benefit is that someone being blocked has the option of entering something and getting through. This has happened when my college fund raising drive called me. Autodialers will never do it.
I’d have to block a whole bunch of area codes and likely block legit calls also. And keep at it as the spammers move to new area codes.
I have the advantage of a phone that reads out caller id, so I can usually pick up anything legit - and recognize stuff that isn’t.
I get those, but don’t consider them spam, since there is a local businessperson on the other end. And they call once a year, at most. And are polite when you tell them no thanks.
I maybe get one call or two a week, usually on my cell, usually a random phone number (obviously spoofed).
My go-to strategy is to answer with dead air. Most legit callers, if they hear dead air, will say “Hello? Hello?” Call center automatic dialers generally wait for a voice to answer before they connect you with the next agent. If there’s no voice, they hang up in a matter of 5 or 10 seconds.
many of the scams originate overseas. There was a news item a while back about the RCMP and Indian Police arresting a large number of scammers in a call center in Mumbai(?). The place was making those “you owe the Canadian Revenue $X and a warrant has been issued for your arrest!!” calls. Revenue Canada said in a press release “if the call from Revenue Canada asks for payment in bitcoin, it is not legitimate.”
Sometimes I get a recorded message in Chinese. I have read there’s a scam going around where Chinese immigrants or students get a call telling them to hide and turn their phone off for whatever reason - then the scammers call the family back in China and say the person’s been kidnapped and demand ransom. Since the person is hiding off the grid, it appears to be true. But if that’s the case, they should know who I am - IANAChinese. So it’s interesting that there’s possibly enough Chinese in Canada that phone spam in Chinese is worth their while.
A few months ago I got a call or two saying “why did you phone me?” so it seems scammers are using legit numbers (possibly ones they’d already called) to spoof on their calls.
I’m in the Chicago area; I have a cell phone, a traditional land-line phone, and a VOIP number attached to my Comcast (cable TV/ISP account), which I’ve never used, but I have because the “triple play bundle” (TV, cable, phone) is cheaper. The cell phone number, and the land line number, are both registered with the U.S. Do Not Call Registry.
On a typical day, I’ll get:
Three to five spam calls on my cell phone (nearly always showing up on the caller ID as being local, but as noted above, the caller ID is undoubtedly being spoofed, and the call is almost undoubtedly originating overseas)
Two to three spam calls on the land line (same as above)
A spam call on the Comcast VOIP line – as there is no phone actually connected to that line, the only reason I know that those calls are coming in is that the caller ID information shows up on the TV screen
All of those calls either hang up before they get rolled over to voicemail, or leave an automated message, of varying sorts. Some have a pleasant female voice (with an American accent), offering extended car warranties, credit card services, etc. Others have a clearly synthesized text-to-voice sound, and those are the ones that are even more clearly phishing – they are usually calls that are “warning” me about impending action from the Internal Revenue Service or the like.
Plus, I will get a couple of spam/phishing texts on my cell phone on a typical day – those are things like “You have won second prize in this week’s Amazon drawing – click here to claim your prize!”
Folks say this like it is trivial, but it is what keeps me from trying these blocking services. It’s not just a matter of friends and family, including overseas calls, but any service that I may use one time and need to be able to hear from, or my doctor who called from his personal cellphone instead of the office phone, or the pharmacy that I use once in a while for one-time prescriptions, and on and on. I don’t want to have to worry that I won’t get some important call because I didn’t know it was coming or I forgot to whitelist them, or they’re calling from a different phone.
Maybe I would have a different view if I got as many junk calls as OP, but we don’t. Hell, jumping off the couch to look at the caller ID adds considerably to my exercise level.
Hopefully any phone call from Revenue Canada demanding payment is a scam. Aren’t all such communications supposed to be in writing (my understanding is that’s how the IRS does it)?
I get maybe 1 scam call a week, often less. T-Mobile has been highly accurate flagging them as likely scam. Any number I don’t recognize goes to voicemail.
A possibly interesting datapoint. My wife and my cellphones are on a family plan. Her number is numerically before mine. She gets a lot of spam on her cell, I get very little. Why I have no idea.
I have 3 different ringtones assigned on my phone - one for family and friends, one for businesses I deal with, and one for everything else. I ignore the third group unless I’m expecting a call. It works for me, but then I’m retired and I don’t use my phone much.