Three times yesterday, and if you don’t answer they leave voicemail using that man’s voice. Also, they are either calling from a wide variety of phones and locations, or the calling numbers are being spoofed.
My strategy now is, as soon as I hear the voice on the answering machine, to pick up the call and then hang up, and then delete the fragment of message that was left. At least that way I don’t have to listen to three minutes or more of that man’s voice haranguing me with lies and more lies.
Please, someone, make it stop. I hardly have to see him on the news at all any more, now he’s invading my home. Make it stop, please.
FTC
There are some exemptions to the Do Not Call rules. Because of the limits to FTC’s authority, the Registry does not apply to political calls or calls from non-profits and charities (but the Registry does cover telemarketers calling on behalf of charities). Also, calls from legitimate “survey” organizations are not covered because they are not offering to sell anything to consumers.
If the numbers are being spoofed, it’s not the GOP. Otherwise, listen and see if there’s an opt-out option.
So it’s not the official party, it’s still supporters of that man.
And trust me, if there’s a “press 9 to stop receiving these calls” option offered, doubtful as that is, I am NOT pressing 9. Have you no experience at all with spam/scam callers?
Plenty.
IF it’s actually a legitimate call from the GOP, there should be an opt-out. IF it’s a supporting group, report to the FTC. They will determine if it’s a legitimate political call. IF it’s out and out spam/scam, there’s nothing you can do.
All I get on my land line is spam calls. I mostly keep it to make outgoing calls as the cell coverage at my house sucks. Sometimes, I just answer the spam call and then carry on with whatever I was doing. I can hear the person saying “hello? Hello?” while I watch TV or whatever.
Then it’s still a phone call from a bunch of thieving grifters, and the OP’s concerns about engaging in anyway remain valid.
Yes, that is exactly the joke I just made. Well spotted.
If the caller sounds like a live person speaking, I’ve occasionally responded with my best imitation Marine Drill Instructor voice, saying,
Put this phone number on your Do-Not-Contact list and DO NOT call this number again DO YOU UNDERSTAND MISTER?
It seems to have succeeded occasionally, and at the very least the caller’s reactions generally sound like I’ve really upset them. That’s worth it in itself.
If you have a landline and a computer with a modem, try Phone Tray.
It can block all calls based on the number or name of the caller. I’ve been using it for years and it works great.
I appreciate the link. But I wonder how well it can work against spoofed telephone numbers, of which most of our spam calls seem to be (both these that I am complaining about here, and all the others we get). It seems like I would have to constantly be updating the banned phone list. What is your experience?
There’s no point in blocking. Scammers use different numbers each time.
For example, I get the exact same spam/scam recording concerning a hotel stay I won almost every day, and to date they have used 132 different names and numbers, all local are almost local.
And this raises another point: How much good does it do to report these to the FCC? They always want to know the caller’s number or any other identifying information. And of course, the numbers are always spoofed. So what is the FCC going to do anyway?
Yet, there are reports of the FCC occasionally cracking down on some spam-house. I think the FCC web-site has a page with a compendium of them. How do they do that? And how can we report such calls?
In my experience, spammers use either the same numbers or the same name.
Last couple of weeks I was getting spam calls from different numbers all from Los Angeles. The Caller ID said “Los Angeles.” So instead of blocking the numbers, I blocked “Los Angeles.” Worked a treat.
A year or two ago, I was getting calls from MY area code and exchange trying to make me think it was local neighbors or friends calling. I fell for one or two of those and then I blocked the area code and exchange, and then whitelisted all legitimate numbers that I knew would call me.
Again, worked a well.
Phone Tray costs $29.99 and that is a one-time charge. Optional subscription to software updates and online anti-spam database is $9.99/year after the first year.
The “online anti-spam database” is updated by all customers who allow spam calls to be reported. A simple check box when blocking the number does the job.
It’s not very often that I must block/report a new number, especially if the spammers are broadcasting a specific city or have a specific name or number.
Again, you can block based on Area Code and Area Code plus Exchange. Example would be “(301) 555-xxxx”
Yeah, I have never received a call to my cell phone that had the same area code and prefix as my cell phone that wasn’t a scammer.
(I haven’t gotten any of those calls for a long time though, I think my carrier is filtering them out pretty well now.)
Do I have to allow my spam calls to be reported, to get the benefit of the database for myself? (i.e. can I selfishly preserve my own privacy while taking advantage of those who don’t?)
Also, can you explain a bit about how the USB voice modem works? How does it connect to the phone line?
I realize it is a bit of special case, but my 3 sons (cue the saxophone!) have phones with the same prefix (and their numbers are 3 digits apart (xxx3, xxx6, xxx9). But they all got phones on the same day many moons ago.