I get a ton of calls labelled “spam risk” on my landline (yes, I have one still, long story). Very rarely they’re legit but mostly not. As a result, I will do a google search on that number, and half the time it pulls up completely incoherent website results and contents mixed in with some legit restults. See below
You’ll note multiple different websites with multiple incoherent names attached to the numbers, such as Hohnny Ugget, Kissel Bahio, Nalumaru Velasghez, Whizo Papantonio, and more.
What’s up with that? What’s the intent? If a scam, how? Etc.
Usually a scam. IIRC, numbers can be bought in bulk and used to scam people in a number of ways, usually spoofing as someone important who needs money for this and that and the other thing.
I don’t have an answer to your query but you’ve now given me a source of impromptu character names for PA announcements in my impending Mothership RPG campaign. “Whizo Papantonio, please report to Blackstar Security for in-prcocessing…Whizo Papantonio to report to Security…don’t make us send out the the SecuriBorg squad, you know how twitchy their neural implants are…”
I’ve seen 2 situations with spam to my cellphone -
First, appears to be random numbers from anywhere in North America although I have gotten a call from Shenzou, according to the Caller Id. I assume the iPhone is providing the geographical location (i.e. “Phoenix, AZ”) if the number has no name attached.
The other trick is to use a valid number in the same area code. In fact, I got a phone call out of the blue (real name, etc._) twice from two different someones saying “I missed your call. Who are you and why did you call me?”
I suspect the spammers have a list of what appear to be valid cellphone numbers, or have robodialed the complete phone list. Certain exchange codes (3 digits after the area code) were assigned to cellphone companies at one time, so good guesses. Since VoIP calls can be programmed to spoof any caller ID, they were at one point recycling numbers; the theory would be that people might be more inclined to pick up local numbers than someone in Amarillo or Omaha.
I suspect what you are seeing was a third option, where like the stupid SPAM tricks with email, they randomly assign names with a minimal understanding of western culture - like “Ingrid Castro” or “Jacques McHeinrich”. People entered these names in the lookup spam-reporting sites, but the spammers change names each call.
(My technique is to answer a call but leave a dead silence. A human will say “hello? Hello?” the robocall machines will wait a few seconds for a voice at your end and then hang up. I suppose I could also if I’m near my computer and read, play back a recording of a fax machine answering that I found online.)
Interesting. Though it seems to me someone had to work on it deliberately to make such ridiculous names as Eriea Sakhyani and Pegasusb Puharic. Maybe they’re using an AI to generate such entertaining names.
I get two or three spam calls per week from the same source. It’s always from a different spoofed number, but always from the state I live in. If I answer there’s a recorded woman’s voice; speaking Spanish; a language I do not speak other than for menu or beverage purposes. After a brief message the recording gives an option to press either uno or dos. Pressing one will bring you to a live operator who also speaks Spanish, and does not hables ingles. Pressing two disconnects the call.
I’ve tried to convince the live operator that I am not a good candidate for whatever they are attempting to sell, but the language barrier makes that impossible, and also frustrates my normal tactic of wasting the live operator’s time by dragging out the interaction as much as possible. It’s both mildly annoying and interesting, because I have no idea what they’re trying to sell.
I don’t know how Terminando Alqadda got mixed up with these crooks. He used to be on SEAL Team Six, must have fallen on hard times since his discharge.
The thing that fascinates me, is no one can really answer this question. Sure, we can speculate, we might even be right.
But why? Someone is going to the trouble to make fake names that obviously can’t be real when it is easier to make fake names that do seem real.
Of course, the one that confused me is when I do answer an obvious spam call, and no one is there. It’s hard for me to fall for your spam pitch if you can’t be bothered to actually give it.
I’m getting something similar (I’m also in Wisconsin like QtM). For the past 9 months, I have received at least a dozen calls per month a from a similar number. All of them have the same CID name, “Brussels WI” (not far from me geographically) and the first 7 digits of the phone number are always the same, “920 741-0” (area code+exchange+ one more). The last 3 digits appear to be random, but I have looked up every one of these, and most appear to have been valid local phone numbers. But all of them that I have tried calling are not currently in use.
The caller never leaves a message, and hangs up after 4 rings. But the times I have answered reveal an obvious Indian scam center.
The first several hundred calls from this source were for a credit card scam, but the most recent ones are a Medicare scam. This suggests that the caller is a scam center that changes tactics occasionally.
I had a discussion with Spectrum’s fraud department about the Brussels calls, but nothing seems to have changed since.
For some calls, my phone provider (Spectrum) blanks out whatever text the CID sends and replaces it with “SPAM RISK”, but not these.
Combining what I have learned and deduced from these calls, I wonder how the federal authorities can stop them as they claim to be trying. If their work is dependent upon researching the source via the CID phone number, their task is doomed to fail.
The Spectrum idea of labeling calls “SPAM RISK” may be using the same false CID from call centers too stupid to implement more sophisticated tactics, and Spectrum’s “helpful” labeling is of minimal use, also doomed to fail if call centers get wise. Does Spectrum know how useless this approach is? Maybe Spectrum is just trying to present a public face that effectively says, “STFU – Can’t you see we are doing all we can?!”
And even if you answer, the call may be dropped if the call center has too many calls in the queue for an operator, and too few operators are available.
I’m just going from (faulty) memory here, but there used to be a database of thousands of fake phone numbers and names, all obviously computer generated. It was originally intended to be a “practice” database for some application, but got released to the public, and some search engines picked it up. Like many stupid computer decisions, the search engines were unable to distinguish between the real and the fantasy, and were linking real numbers to the fake database. Maybe this – or something like it – is the source of your interesting fake names?
I don’t know the actual percentages but more and more people simply don’t pick up if the number isn’t familiar or in their contacts along with spam calls being identified by the carrier.
Scammers already expect only a few calls might be potential victims.
I occasionally get a recorded call too, but in Chinese. Why they would call me I have no idea, other than Canada too has a large immigrant Chinese community and wasted calls cost nothing. I have heard that it is likely a scam aimed at Chinese immigrants, something along the lines of “Canadian immigration is looking for you, and if you do not respond to this call you will be deported.” Or worse, “the Chinese embassy needs to speak to you and get some questions answered, or else your relatives in China may be arrested.” I still also get calls in English, with the most popular “Revenue Canada has a warrant out for your arrest…”
But it seems they are being supplanted by text messages, warning me that my account at a bank I don’t do business with is being frozen unless I confirm the account details (handy link provided), or that my Amazon package or expenditure needs confirmation details, also at the handy link provided.
About 7% of the time it’s a legit call so it is worth the effort. the rest of my retirement is spent enjoying myself by scheduling further medical appointments, going to my radiation therapy for my surprise cancer dx, sorting out my 17 different daily meds, and failing to get my affairs in order. I hope your retirement is superior to mine.
