I may have found a way to take fewer spam calls

In My Humble Opinion
21

I got 3 calls about car warranties yesterday. Stir/shaken doesn’t seem to have made a damn bit of difference.

22

Adding to this…

Every time I read a thread having to do with scam callers, there are always some posters who seem to think their phone number has wound up on a “list,” or can’t understand how these scammers are getting their number, or whatever.

There is no list. Your number is next in the sequence that a computer is dialing.

XXX-XXX-0000
XXX-XXX-0001
XXX-XXX-0002
…

That’s all there is to it.

23

Like hell they don’t.

24

When the phone rings and we don’t know who’s calling we just let the answering machine pick it up. If no message is left, then the call is ignored. If a message is left then we’ll return that call (unless it’s one of those “this is Canada Revenue Agency, we have a warrant out for your arrest if you don’t call us back immediately regarding tax repayment details” in a strong East Indian accent).

25

There are also lists

26

If you do this and keep track of which numbers are actually answered and which ones don’t work, then you have created a list that you can sell to other telemarketers.

There are also companies that get phone numbers from wherever they can (people who click on “agree” and don’t realize they are giving access to their phone number and other personal data when they install apps, for example) and use those to create lists.

So yes, there are lists. Google “telemarketing list of working phone numbers” and you’ll find numerous links to companies selling lists.

27

Yep. Same thing with emails - if you reply to scammers (I know from experience) you will get more and more scammers trying to scam you.

It might seem weird that scammers would want to buy a list of emails for people who have already received scam emails, but there are a few things going on there:

  • No honour among thieves - scammers pad their lists with anything that works, to sell to other scammers.
  • Mail filters - it’s possible that a person might have been sent scam emails, but never seen them, so a hopeful scammer might think they will be the first to bypass the filter.
  • The scam-victim-scam - getting really common - where scammers email you to tell you that you have been scammed by an advance fee scammer, and you are due compensation from the Nigerian government or some such.
28

I understand this, as the overriding goal of any medical bureaucracy is to limit the patient’s access to medical personnel. As such, when you miss a call you’re returned to the pit of supplicants desperately trying to work through menus and mailboxes to actually “make contact” again.

But this is another special case like the contractor I mentioned above. I still maintain there are almost zero reasons for most of us to answer unknown callers or door-knockers. No one approaches you “out of the blue” for your benefit. Modern life consists of wandering through a thick forest of hands – all of them reaching for your wallet. Unanswered phones and locked doors are effective barricades to keep these parasites at bay.

I wonder if the aforementioned “medical personnel” view us patients the same way I view sales calls. I wouldn’t blame them, especially after the last few years.