# I'm calling about your Car warranty **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 15, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752 "2021-08-15T23:45:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/42 "2021-08-17T17:25:46Z")
STIR?SHAKEN is here (supposedly). [A news release](https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-373714A1.pdf) from the FCC dated June 30, 2021, is headlined “STIR/SHAKEN BROADLY IMPLEMENTED STARTING TODAY.” > “At last, STIR/SHAKEN standards are a widely used reality in American phone networks,”said Rosenworcel. “While there is no silver bullet in the endless fight against scammers, STIR/SHAKEN will turbo-charge many of the tools we use in our fight against robocalls: from consumer apps and network-level blocking, to enforcement investigations and shutting down the gateways used by international robocall campaigns. This is a good day for American consumers who – like all of us – are sick and tired of illegal spoofed robocalls.” I’ve had 3 or 4 car warranty calls since June 30th, and I have a spam-blocker on my phone, so I’m guessing STIR/SHAKEN isn’t proving as effective as expected. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/43 "2021-08-17T17:32:47Z")
At this point, let us all pause for a bit of spammer entertainment and read, or re-read, the sad tale of Releasha Jones, the spamee who could never escape: > [@Ways you've messed with a telephone scam artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ways-youve-messed-with-a-telephone-scam-artist/686367/18): > > Let me tell you the story of Ms. Releasha Jones. When I worked for a medical office in Houston (2007-2010), one of my responsibilities was managing the call center. And during times of heavy call traffic, I would take overflow calls myself. For whatever reason, this office got a ton of scam and solicitor calls. The whole gamut: pest control, medical supplies, insurance, business loans, the infamous “toner scam,” legitimate (but still annoying) toner salespeople, everything. It was profoundly ir… > [@OneCentStamp](#): > > [. . .] > > Usual practice, approved by me, was simply to hang up on these people. Because the hang-up button on our phones said **RELEASE** , one of my employees, an African-American girl, started referring to hanging up on someone as “transferring to Releasha.” (In Houston, that would have been a not at all implausible name for an African-American woman, so it really was pretty damned funny.) > > [. . .] ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/44 "2021-08-17T17:34:33Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > The Veridiots will occasionally show “potential spam” on caller ID, which is interesting, but quite rare. One day, maybe a year ago, my iPhone showed a call as being from “Spam Risk”. I appreciate them doing that, as those are more than half my calls, and it’s so empowering to ignore Mr. Spamalot Q. Risk … (my friends text me, they never call without a “Hey, can you talk?” text first) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/45 "2021-08-17T18:36:04Z")
That was a thing of beauty. Releasha Jones Shall Live Forever!! A few posts later in the thread, dougie\_monty described doing the same thing I’ve done a couple of times - the scammers seem to think that Thomas or Lesley Rogers has my phone number (judging by the scam texts). The texts, I largely ignore - though they’ve gone from assuming I’m a Democrat to assuming I’m a Trumpist. But when I’ve gotten a call asking for one of the two by name, I’ve gotten tearful and announced the death of Tom (in the very car they are trying to sell me a warranty for), or Lesley (that one was a roofing company, I think). Sadly for the entertainment value, THOSE calls have tended to stop - I guess when you’ve got a live humanoid placing the calls, they get horrified and pass the word about the death in the family. Oooh - just remembered I must change my phone message. This isn’t quite the “scam call” realm, but certainly a nuisance. Last fall, we started car shopping. Unfortunately, to get any kind of pricing info (even when going through services like Costco or the credit union) you have to give them a phone number to reach you. This, naturally, resulted in my getting inundated with call after call after call from desperate car salesmen. I finally changed my outgoing message to say something like “This is Mama Zappa. Please leave a message. If you are calling from a car dealership, please leave only one; multiple messages will not increase your chances of getting through to me and WILL increase the odds that I block the phone number”. Pretty sure I never changed that back… I was still getting spammed with emails for several months afterward. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/46 "2021-08-17T18:42:12Z")
Planet Money did an interesting episode on the history of selling extended car warranties and the company U.S. Fidelis. > **[About Your Extended Warranty : Planet Money](https://www.npr.org/2021/03/31/983109732/about-your-extended-warranty)** > > Calls about "extended auto warranties" blow up our phones over and over. But what are these robocalls actually offering? | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/47 "2021-08-17T19:30:19Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > This. Why bother? They never spoof the same number twice. Sometimes they do. The last car warrantly number I didn’t block (last month) called me a second time, four hours later. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/48 "2021-08-17T20:16:48Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Be nice if call blocking facilities would allow blocking with wildcards, like e.g., block all 757-???-??? numbers. Some phones can do that; our [landline Panasonic,](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071X94HC2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) for example, is set to block two entire area codes so my SO’s toxic sister can’t call in. Anyone calling from a blocked number gets a “we are not accepting calls” message. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/49 "2021-08-17T20:18:08Z")
You had to block two entire area codes to keep your SO’s toxic sister from calling? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/50 "2021-08-17T20:21:59Z")
Yeah, that is one clever woman. She’s in a city covered by two area codes and both are blocked in case she borrows a phone. We don’t know anyone else who would be calling from those areas. Legally, she’s not supposed to contact us at all and that was her idea. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/51 "2021-08-17T20:31:04Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > This. Why bother? They never spoof the same number twice. > Be nice if call blocking facilities would allow blocking with wildcards, like e.g., block all 757-???-??? numbers. This exists. I have an app on my iPhone called WideProtect which you can set to block any series of numbers. There was a while when I kept getting multiple spam calls a day from numbers where only the last few digits would change, fake example: 818-707-3510, then 818-707-3511, and so on. So I can set it to block every number from 818-707-35xx. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/52 "2021-08-17T20:53:29Z")
I got a call from Bennie from Firestone, telling me car was ready to be picked, but I should call back to verify something. Now, I have used Firestone for service in the past, but at the time Bennie call, both cars were home. I didn’t call him back. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/53 "2021-08-17T22:28:47Z")
Well, unfortunately I’m not _that_ evil then. I’m sportin’ something more like William Riker these days. > [@Senegoid](#): > > As for STIR/SHAKEN/PASTEURIZED/HOMOGENIZED: Can someone clue **this** guy into what STIR/SHAKEN/PASTEURIZED/HOMOGENIZED/COLD BREW/EXPELLER PRESSED is? Tripler I swear, y’all are just making sh\*t up as ya go. . . ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/54 "2021-08-18T02:43:07Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I got a call from Bennie from Firestone, telling me car was ready to be picked, but I should call back to verify something… I didn’t call him back. After reading this, I decided if Bennie called, I’d call him back. Nice guy, he said my car was ready, so I said “Great, Bennie, thanks! Um, _which_ car…?” “It’s the Chevy.” Well, that wasn’t exactly exciting, but I was curious, so I said “Oh, of course. I’ll be right over.” It was a _Camaro SS !_ 2011 or 12, I think… anyhow, there’s a V-8 in there. On the way home, I did 0 to 60 on the freeway on-ramp in less than 6 seconds! Ya shoulda called Bennie back, just sayin’… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/55 "2021-08-18T06:24:27Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > This. Why bother? They never spoof the same number twice. Definitely not true. I’ve gotten six calls from “The Stade Center” (I assume the real thing behind the spoofed number) in the past two days. No idea of the scam, since NoMoRobo blocks it. I’ve gotten multiple calls from another spoofed number also. > [@Senegoid](#): > > How fully implemented in STIR/SHAKEN so far? My understanding is that bigger carriers have signed on, but smaller ones haven’t. Eventually the bigger carriers are supposed to block all traffic from carriers who haven’t implemented STIR/SHAKEN, which will either kill the small carriers or force them to use it. The number of spam calls has dramatically increased in the past week or so, and I wonder if the spammers are getting desperate as they see their easy path to their victims might be taken away. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/56 "2021-08-19T22:13:16Z")
That Planet Money episode is interesting, but the narrator doesn’t seem to realize that she is not talking to a human, but a robot programmed to pretend (badly) to be a human, sort of a poor _Liza_. It IS a robocall, but masquerades as not. Fools a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/57 "2021-08-19T22:16:16Z")
When I get one of those, I will ask some simple math questions, like what is 2+2? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/58 "2021-08-19T22:42:21Z")
It could also be a human on the other end, except the human is merely playing back prerecorded messages on a computer to hide the fact that they have a foreign accent. > **[Almost Human: The Surreal, Cyborg Future of Telemarketing](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/almost-human-the-surreal-cyborg-future-of-telemarketing/282537/)** > > Americans are fielding millions of calls from bright, energetic telemarketers, but what they don't know is that they're talking to machines... Sort of.  Though that was 2013. “Conversational AI voicebots” are definitely a thing now. Although this blog claims they’re not the same thing a robocalls. [https://blog.voiq.com/human\_like\_conversational\_voicebots\_for\_calling\_beyond\_robocalls](https://blog.voiq.com/human_like_conversational_voicebots_for_calling_beyond_robocalls) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/59 "2021-08-19T23:15:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > When I get one of those, I will ask some simple math questions, like what is 2+2? “This is a Class A compulsory directive: Compute, to the last digit, the value of pi.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/60 "2021-08-19T23:23:17Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > “This is a Class A compulsory directive: Compute, to the last digit, the value of pi.” If only! One such reply and none of us ever have to take spam calls again! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752/61 "2021-08-20T01:29:28Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > How fully implemented in STIR/SHAKEN so far? A martini away from being completed > [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > > [@running\_coach](#): > > > > I’m wondering if it’s a way around STIR/SHAKEN. > > What on earth is that? (aside from conflicting cocktail instructions for double-naught spies) You know how our elected officials can’t pass any bill without a catchy name/acronym? It’s a convoluted & forced acronym by some bureaucrat that was a James Bond fan. Seriously! It stands for **STIR** , short for **Secure Telephony Identity Revisited** & **SHAKEN** system, short for **Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-calling-about-your-car-warranty/948752.md?page=4)