patrick.net

I just answer and leave the phone on the desk. After a minute or so, I hear and Indian say...
"Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!?" then hang up.

Sometimes I press "0" then give them a profanity laced rant about how useless they are.

Blow loud, high-pitched whistle into phone when there is a person at other end

Got rid of my land line. It was torture with ringing every 15 minutes, and the powers that be do nothing about it.

Agree, getting rid of land line cuts most of them. I got a bunch lately on my cell tho. Maybe it needs to be reregistered on the no call list

Americans slammed by 2.6 Billion robocalls in July

IRVINE
August 8, 2017 12:16pm

• A 3 percent rise over June
• Consumers warned not accept calls from unfamiliar numbers

The nation’s robocalling nightmare rose to 2.59 billion calls received in July, a 2.7 percent increase over June and a 7.5 percent increase over the same month last year, bringing the total to 17.2 billion robocalls received nationwide in the first seven months of 2017, according to data from telecommunications software maker YouMail Inc. of Irvine. Notably, Texas was blitzed by a record-breaking 307.9 million calls in July, or 11 robocalls per person, marking the most robocalls received by any state in a single month since recordkeeping began in June 2015. In addition, 40 of the 50 “Most Robocalled Cities” in America posted month-on-month increases in robocalling volumes in July. The 2.59 billion calls received nationwide equals an estimated 83.8 million robocalls per day in July. That pace equates to 3.5 million robocalls per hour, or some 58,000 calls during every minute of the month. For any given hour, over 1 percent of the country received a robocall. And, says YouMail, the actual problem is worse because there are fewer calls during nighttime, meaning for any given hour during daytime, roughly 2 percent of the country is getting a robocall. YouMail, which offers a free service to helpconsumers stop over 500 million robocalls in the past year, compiles the scope and location of the worst robocalling hotspots across the country by area code in the YouMail Robocall Index. The Federal Communications Commission has cited statistics from the YouMail Robocall Index as a definitive source for national data trends, the company says. "Despite increased efforts by the FCC and wireless carriers to fight back, our national robocalling plague continues to afflict too many American consumers," says Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. "We would advise frustrated people to take direct action by downloading a call-blocking solution onto their phones and then avoid answering any calls made from unfamiliar numbers." California was the state that made the most robocalls in July by far, with 219.1 million calls placed. That compares to #2 Texas (178.4 million), #3 Florida (150.7 million), #4 New York (112.4 million), and #5 Ohio (97.5 million).
Los Angeles held onto its dubious distinction as the “Most Prolific Robocalling City” in July, rising 4.8 percent to 72 million calls placed. It was followed by Chicago (64.5 million) and Dallas (62.3 million).

Just send $10,000 dollars & they will send you the Grand Prize of a $million.

You can have these calls stopped by having your carrier set up nomorobo on your line. I have Spectrum, formerly Time-Warner, and the service is free. There's a huge database of robo call numbers and when one calls your number, your phone will ring one time, then stop--I've already had four calls stopped today and no telling how many since I had it set up about four months ago. Sometimes you get a number on your ID which, when you call it back, is a bad number--they can also add that to the "block" list under what they call "spoof calls". You could probably do it yourself on line, but I'd rather have the company do it--they will also give you a four digit security code that is separate from your PIN with your carrier. It will also appear on your bill and you will have to get them that number as per FCC regulations if you want them to add a block or spoofed call.

https://www.nomorobo.com/

HEY YOU says

Just send $10,000 dollars & they will send you the Grand Prize of a $million.

I must be a billionaire by now.

P N Dr Lo R says

You can have these calls stopped by having your carrier set up nomorobo on your line.

It works. I have it too.

It's all Trumps fault!

A simple law mandating a $100 payment to any receiver of an unsolicited robocall along with an app that automatically reports back unknown callers to a server that then calls up the caller to see if a person answers would immediately kill all robocalls.

Dan8267 says

A simple law mandating a $100 payment to any receiver of an unsolicited robocall along with an app that automatically reports back unknown callers to a server that then calls up the caller to see if a person answers would immediately kill all robocalls.

The crooks who call are mostly overseas.

Strategist says

The crooks who call are mostly overseas.

So what. Business is international and so law enforcement can be done internationally.

If you are a telecom who wants to be able to place calls to U.S. numbers, you have to agree to rules and identify yourself. Charge the telecoms. They will pass the cost onto the individual customers responsible because losing the market is unacceptable. If one telecom passes through a call from another, recursively apply the rule.

This ain't difficult. It makes Internet packet routing look like rocket science.

Dan8267 says

Strategist says

The crooks who call are mostly overseas.

So what. Business is international and so law enforcement can be done internationally.

If you are a telecom who wants to be able to place calls to U.S. numbers, you have to agree to rules and identify yourself. Charge the telecoms. They will pass the cost onto the individual customers responsible because losing the market is unacceptable. If one telecom passes through a call from another, recursively apply the rule.

This ain't difficult. It makes Internet packet routing look like rocket science.

WTF - It's not just difficult, it's impossible. Anyone can get a number on Vonage or somewhere, and call from anywhere in the world. Good luck getting law enforcement in Nigeria to cooperate, when they probably get a commission.

Strategist says

WTF - It's not just difficult, it's impossible. Anyone can get a number on Vonage or somewhere, and call from anywhere in the world. Good luck getting law enforcement in Nigeria to cooperate, when they probably get a commission.

This problem has already been solved. It's called Verisign. Simply digitally sign IP telephony calls. That signature is associated with a legal corporation or individual with a national ID. Do not accept or forward IP telephony streams that are not digitally signed. Any legitimate business will get a digital certificate. That's the price of doing business.

This creates a web of trust. No one outside that web of trust can get telephony streams through. This is damn easy to enforce. So, any robocalls that get through the very first company in that web of trust is the responsibility of that company. That company gets fined $10,000 per robocall, but can pass the fine off to the individual or company making the robocall. It will do this rather than eating the cost. And since no company would want to risk eating that cost, no company in the web of trust will accept an incoming robocall from another source outside the web of trust.

Come on man. How can you not understand how this works? It's Internet 101. And you dare question my credentials?

Dan8267 says

Strategist says

WTF - It's not just difficult, it's impossible. Anyone can get a number on Vonage or somewhere, and call from anywhere in the world. Good luck getting law enforcement in Nigeria to cooperate, when they probably get a commission.

This problem has already been solved. It's called Verisign. Simply digitally sign IP telephony calls. That signature is associated with a legal corporation or individual with a national ID. Do not accept or forward IP telephony streams that are not digitally signed. Any legitimate business will get a digital certificate. That's the price of doing business.

This creates a web of trust. No one outside that web of trust can get telephony streams through. This is damn easy to enforce. So, any robocalls that get through the very first company in that web of trust is the responsibility of that company. That company gets fined $10,00...

Look. I'm not much of a tech guy. It took me a long time to figure out how to turn on the iPhone. My kids still laugh at me.
My question to you is....if it's so easy, WTF is stopping law enforcement.

Strategist says

WTF is stopping law enforcement.

Politicians, and they're planning to worsen the situation by adding ringless voicemails:

"The GOP’s leading campaign and fundraising arm, the Republican National Committee, has quietly thrown its support behind a proposal at the Federal Communications Commission that would pave the way for marketers to auto-dial consumers’ cellphones and leave them prerecorded voicemail messages — all without ever causing their devices to ring."

I feel like I got 1 billion of those myself.

Strategist says

Look. I'm not much of a tech guy. It took me a long time to figure out how to turn on the iPhone. My kids still laugh at me.

Then why are you so confident that its impossible to stop robocalls using the method I described. You exact quote:

Strategist says

WTF - It's not just difficult, it's impossible. Anyone can get a number on Vonage or somewhere, and call from anywhere in the world. Good luck getting law enforcement in Nigeria to cooperate, when they probably get a commission.

Do you see the problem? You admit that you're "not much of a tech guy" yet are so certain about the impossibility of a solution. Shouldn't you have less confidence?

Strategist says

My question to you is....if it's so easy, WTF is stopping law enforcement.

Same thing as all our other problems: political will. There are few problems that are truly difficult to solve. Most persistent problems are the result of either lack of political will to stop the problem or political will to persist the problem.

In this case, most Democrats and all Republicans don't want to regulate the telecoms and place accountability on them because the telecoms donate a hell of a lot of money to both parties. In case you haven't notice, this is a recurring theme in America. Big business bribes politicians.

If law enforcement actually wanted to do so, they could already trace the scammers violating federal prohibition on robocalling mobile phones. After all, they have no problem riding around town collecting cell tower metadata. Maybe if we stopped wasting law enforcement resources on pot we could redirect it to crimes that have actual victims.

Of course the solution I provided is even better. A relatively minor software development effort and it is impossible to break the law without trivially, immediately, and without cost to the state being caught.

curious2 says

Strategist says

WTF is stopping law enforcement.

Politicians, and they're planning to worsen the situation by adding ringless voicemails:

"The GOP’s leading campaign and fundraising arm, the Republican National Committee, has quietly thrown its support behind a proposal at the Federal Communications Commission that would pave the way for marketers to auto-dial consumers’ cellphones and leave them prerecorded voicemail messages — all without ever causing their devices to ring."

You misspelled Politicians. It's spelled Republicans

Dan8267 says

Of course the solution I provided is even better

Strategist says

P N Dr Lo R says

You can have these calls stopped by having your carrier set up nomorobo on your line.

It works. I have it too.

We've already stopped ours.

P N Dr Lo R says

We've already stopped ours.

1. Nomorobo is an inferior version of my solution.
2. Nomorobo isn't free.
3. Nomorobo doesn't block some type of robocalls.
4. Nomorobo doesn't punish those violating the law, and so acts as no disincentive.

Dan8267 says

2. Nomorobo isn't free.

It's free for VOIP landlines.

"Nomorobo uses a service called "simultaneous ring" that is provided by most VoIP phone companies. This feature allows customers to have numerous phone lines ring at the same time.

When Nomorobo decides a call is a robocall, it hangs up after the first ring. That's how you know a call was blocked.
***
There are currently 1.2 million phone numbers in the company's database of blacklisted phone numbers. These known robocallers come from complaints filed with state and federal regulators."

curious2 says

It's free for VOIP landlines.

OK, but it's $2/month for iPhone users.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nomorobo-robocall-blocking/id1134727588?mt=8

There's something wrong with being extorted with harassment. Pay them or endure telemarketers.