SaysWho? Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Dun dun duunnnnn. Quote The Arkansas-based firm projects an explosion of incoming spam calls, marking a leap from 3.7 percent of total calls in 2017 to more than 29 percent this year, to a projected 45 percent by early 2019. “Year after year, the scam-call epidemic bombards consumers at record-breaking levels, surpassing the previous year, and scammers increasingly invade our privacy at new extremes,” Charles Morgan, the chief executive and head data scientist of First Orion, said in a blog post last week. Quote The barrage of fraudulent calls has taken a more dire turn in recent months as scammers have targeted immigrant communities with urgent calls claiming ambiguous legal trouble. Across several U.S. metropolitan areas with large Chinese populations, scam callers have posed as representatives of the Chinese embassy while trying to trick Chinese immigrants and students into revealing their credit card numbers. The scammers told people that they have a package ready to be picked up at the Chinese consulate office, a first step in a ruse, or that they need to turn over information to resolve a legal issue, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I actually called back one of the numbers from an "IRS Warrant" scam that I got and connected to a Slavic-sounding woman who I got into an argument with and told her that the CIA would a Predator drone to her house. She hung up on me. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikachu Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I'd say 80% of the calls I get now are spam. It's getting really out of hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.Vic20 Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Do calls from coworkers that are disingenuous in their content count? Because if so, then my call log for the last year would sit at about 95%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 If I don't have your number in my phone, I don't answer. The only exception I have is that I have an out of area number so if I get a local call, I'll pick that up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatoneshere Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 3 minutes ago, Pikachu said: I'd say 80% of the calls I get now are spam. It's getting really out of hand. Yeah, mine have definitely increased considerably in the last year or so. I used to get zero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaljedi Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 My info got leaked in one of the many man breaches, I blame Anthem for this one. Anyway I get a call every few months from a “law firm” stating if I don’t call them back soon I will be arrested for fraud, they have my name and my mother’s name, but not the one she goes by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbobo Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I get a ton of these Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLeon Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I never answer them, but I get a ton of calls from my "local" area code, sometimes as often as 3-5 a day. I haven't lived there in 8 years, but I just never got a new number. It's nice because I can look at it and immediately know that nobody from 765 ever needs to talk to me about anything and I can just block them. Of course blocking them doesn't matter because a few days later they call with a different number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I'm kinda bored today. Maybe I'll give one of 'em another callback just to argue with someone for entertainment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwinIon Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I can't believe that this isn't bad enough to justify a technology solution. My guess is that the carriers just don't want to solve this problem (at least not for free), and they've successfully lobbied against anything that would come close to solving the problem. My understanding is that phone number spoofing is the biggest culprit, because as long as callers can effectively hide their actual phone numbers, there's no good way to for the receiving party to correctly determine the source of a spam call. A kind of "SSL certificates for phone numbers" has been proposed, but carriers would need to implement it, and before that they'd need to agree to a standard. The FCC is well within their rights to force something like that through, but for some mysterious reason they've made no real efforts to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 1 hour ago, SFLUFAN said: I actually called back one of the numbers from an "IRS Warrant" scam that I got and connected to a Slavic-sounding woman who I got into an argument with and told her that the CIA would a Predator drone to her house. She hung up on me. One time I got some Indian-sounding dude who I told I was going to report to the FCC and he starting cursing me out about "fuck you dude, don't you threaten me!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 43 minutes ago, TheLeon said: I never answer them, but I get a ton of calls from my "local" area code, sometimes as often as 3-5 a day. I haven't lived there in 8 years, but I just never got a new number. It's nice because I can look at it and immediately know that nobody from 765 ever needs to talk to me about anything and I can just block them. Of course blocking them doesn't matter because a few days later they call with a different number. I installed a call blocker that let me just blanket block all 732 and 908 area code numbers, with the ability to set a whitelist (so that I don't also block my mom, for example). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: If I don't have your number in my phone, I don't answer. The only exception I have is that I have an out of area number so if I get a local call, I'll pick that up. Local to your area code or local to where you live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littleronin Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Pikachu said: I'd say 80% of the calls I get now are spam. It's getting really out of hand. I was gonna say half seems like an awfully low estimate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_m_b_m_b_m Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 19 minutes ago, Jason said: Local to your area code or local to where you live? To where I live. My number is 937, local area code is 804 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spawn_of_Apathy Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 99.9% of my communication is via text. So I'd say right now 99.9% of the calls I get are scams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 16 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said: To where I live. My number is 937, local area code is 804 That's one of the scam callers' most basic tricks, making the call come from your area code (often also sharing the first 3 digits of your 7-digits number) to try to get you to pick up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I get a ton of spam calls that are from 713-302-XXXX, which is the first 6 digits of my number. I think blocking that alone would cut back 85% of spam calls for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 My most common calls: 1. "Rachel from card services" scam 2. "Based on your good payment history etc. etc." credit scam 3. "Your car warranty is running out" scam 4. "We can totally get you cheap healthcare" scam 5. The Woman calling and asking me to pick something up from the store on my way home. 6. Recording of some dude trying to get people to go to his pyramid scheme website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CastlevaniaNut18 Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 7 minutes ago, Slug said: My most common calls: 1. "Rachel from card services" scam 2. "Based on your good payment history etc. etc." credit scam 3. "Your car warranty is running out" scam Those are probably my most common. Plus, I get repeated calls from someone trying to warn me about a Toyota recall, when I've never bought a Toyota. Oddly enough, my husband owns a Camry, but he's never received the call. I just generally don't answer if I don't recognize the number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I wonder if the issue is less severe in Canada, because I don't get that many, maybe one scam/spam call every 2-3 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 The worst is twice now I've gotten what I'm assuming was a scam call five times back to back. Reject the call and it immediately starts ringing again. I thought that one was pretty nuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slug Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 6 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said: I just generally don't answer if I don't recognize the number. I have an app (Blacklist Plus) that let's me just auto-reject any calls that aren't from someone on my contacts list. It used to be great because the auto-dialers hung up if they got a no_answer response or got kicked to voicemail. Recently, however they've started not hanging up and just leaving their recorded pitch on my voice mail so now while my phone doesn't ring when they call, I have to clear out a bunch of junk voice mails every few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGLatinBoy Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 love these videos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 3 hours ago, SFLUFAN said: I'm kinda bored today. Maybe I'll give one of 'em another callback just to argue with someone for entertainment. The problem is that the numbers are 90% likely being spoofed, so you're not calling back the scammer but an innocent person who didn't actually call you. These scammers generally use a computer/app to mask their caller ID with a random number The number we use for incoming calls at my business has been getting spoofed for like 2+ months now, the phone company said that there's nothing that can be done outside of changing the number (and that the scammer usually moves on to a different number within a few months and to just hold on till it's over). If the incoming call is a weird area-code, I don't answer as often anymore. We get angry VMs from people demanding to be taken off our call list (we don't have one), or when I do answer it's people asking what my business is and what am I trying to sell them - I either attempt to explain that our number is being spoofed or I just say "it must have been a misdial as we only return calls, apologies". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dualhunter Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Jason said: That's one of the scam callers' most basic tricks, making the call come from your area code (often also sharing the first 3 digits of your 7-digits number) to try to get you to pick up. I love when they advertise that it's a scam call like that. I guess the down side is that like Spork mentioned the numbers are often spoofed so I'm pretty sure that the few times when I've gotten calls from people I don't know claiming I called them when I didn't, it's because they missed a scam call that displayed my number and then called it back. 1 hour ago, CitizenVectron said: I wonder if the issue is less severe in Canada, because I don't get that many, maybe one scam/spam call every 2-3 weeks. I get them even less. I think the last one, my phone marked it as likely to be a scam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outsida Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 11 hours ago, sblfilms said: I get a ton of spam calls that are from 713-302-XXXX, which is the first 6 digits of my number. I think blocking that alone would cut back 85% of spam calls for me. I use spam blocking apps like Hiya and AT&T call protect. I barely get spam calls anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser_Soze Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 I only pick up the phone if it’s a number I know which seems to only be my mom because she’s the only one who calls me The rest I just do a white pages reverse lookup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar SFLUFAN Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 17 hours ago, Spork3245 said: The problem is that the numbers are 90% likely being spoofed, so you're not calling back the scammer but an innocent person who didn't actually call you. I'm referring to the scams that leave me a voicemail with a contact number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaladinSolo Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 I've been getting voicemails where the message is in Chinese, or some language from that region, no idea how you can scam someone if they can't understand what it is you're trying to scare them with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 1 hour ago, PaladinSolo said: I've been getting voicemails where the message is in Chinese, or some language from that region, no idea how you can scam someone if they can't understand what it is you're trying to scare them with. There's a phone scam targeting Chinese where they've just been dialing everyone. https://www.npr.org/2018/05/10/609117134/chinese-robocalls-bombarding-the-u-s-are-part-of-an-international-phone-scam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spork3245 Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 2 hours ago, SFLUFAN said: I'm referring to the scams that leave me a voicemail with a contact number. Ah, mine are always robots with no call back number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CitizenVectron Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 2 hours ago, Jason said: There's a phone scam targeting Chinese where they've just been dialing everyone. https://www.npr.org/2018/05/10/609117134/chinese-robocalls-bombarding-the-u-s-are-part-of-an-international-phone-scam I did receive a few calls a month or so again with a recording playing in Mandarin, this might have been it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rc0101 Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 Apparently they have been spoofing my cell number to call other people so I randomly get people calling me saying "this number was on my missed calls". I try to explain to them it is spoofed but they usually end up yelling at me accusing me of being the spammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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