Question About Robo Calls

[gdr_11]

Can a robo caller get your number when someone calls you or you call someone whose phone has been hacked?

I never give my home phone out and only call a very few people from my landline which is off my internet provider. All of my online business and casual calls are done with my cell. Today my wife got a call from an old friend who can best be described as a technology challenged old lady. Within an hour, we started getting robo calls from West Virginia prefixes; about one every 10 minutes. As each call came in I let it ring then blocked the number but there was a new call every few minutes from another WV prefix. After about 15 calls I took the receiver in my office off the hook and will leave it that way for the next 24 hours.

I get my fair share of robo calls but 90% are from spoofed numbers that match my current area code; I have never had a WV area code spoofed before, much less a flood if them like today.

[Jeepergeo]

I get robo calls from all sorts of prefixes. I suspect they just program in an area code and then start with (###) ###-0001, (###) ###-0002, (###) ###-0003, and so on. We have several in sequence numbers in the office and you' ll hear the phones chirp one after the other sometimes.

The robo caller' "from number" will always be fake.

The phone companies, landline and cellular, could stop the Robocallers, but they choose the Robocallers over regular customers.

[Puss]

Hi! I am Nigerian Price Mbutu. I have a $1,000,000,000 (ONE BILLION DOLLARS) stuck in a bank, and I need your help to move it into the United States, and I only need $1000 and your banking information to move it, and I will give you $100,000 (ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) for your help.

If this doesn't interest you, I have some auto warrantees to die for.

Before I forget, there is a magistrate or judge that has a lawsuit or lien because of tax irregularities that I can fix for a small fee.

[Fizz]

To directly answer your question. Yes. If you're listed as a contact in someone else's phone, and their phone, or the account that they have their contacts sync'ed with gets compromised. Your number will be revealed.

It could also be random, where the caller is calling a range of numbers. It could also be from compromised websites/databases.

There are plenty of ways to get a number, and plenty of ways to guess a number.

Try searching for yourself on fastpeoplesearch.com - betcha there's a lot more information about yourself than you though readily out there.

[Tango_Down]

Answer the robo call, wait for the person on the other end to answer, blast a whistle (I use an airhorn) into their ear. The calls will them stop at least for while.

[DaveInOroValley]

When I used to bother answering those idiots I used to say please call me ASAP at my work number. Then gave them the number for the local FBI field office. Never hear back from them.

[Helpful_Cub]

Many of the Robocallers will dial every number incrementally. That use to be a no-no for them, but then they discovered FCC is a joke when it comes to the no-call list and catching them. So they will literally try all combinations in an area code.

[Marauder2003]

I am interested in a bridge.

Hi! I am Nigerian Price Mbutu. I have a $1,000,000,000 (ONE BILLION DOLLARS) stuck in a bank, and I need your help to move it into the United States, and I only need $1000 and your banking information to move it, and I will give you $100,000 (ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) for your help.

If this doesn't interest you, I have some auto warrantees to die for.

Before I forget, there is a magistrate or judge that has a lawsuit or lien because of tax irregularities that I can fix for a small fee.

[Puss]

When I used to bother answering those idiots I used to say please call me ASAP at my work number. Then gave them the number for the local FBI field office. Never hear back from them.

Genius!

[augoldminer]

i answer HI OH instead of hello and for some reason it seems to cause problems with the robocall machine thinking I am answering in another language, and it hangs up.
Works with about 90% of the robocalls.

[the86d]

I had some credit issues in the past, and so I always gave out my work fax number to creditors and bank after that. I went like 10 years with virtually no calls, but somewhere things went green, and now every telemarketer has my name and number, including real estate agents, when my mortgage paperwork only has my VOIP Google Voice number, like my bank, creditors and such.

I HOPE the cell number I WILL change to, once in TX, isn't on any call lists from the prior guy/gal...
but that would be a pipe-dream.

[71MUSTY]

Answer the robo call, wait for the person on the other end to answer, blast a whistle (I use an airhorn) into their ear. The calls will them stop at least for while.

So you whistle at a robot calling machine. Interesting.

[BillSmith]

An air horn blasted at an interactive recorded message unit is only going to blast your ear drums, freak out your and neighbors' pets and piss off Skynet.

Scammers USE the do-no-call list, as those numbers are active lines.

Phone companies do control most of the crap calls that could reach you. The volume is over-whelming. Same as email. Most never reaches you, some is shoved into your personal spam bin and yet there is still copious emails attempting to hook you up with a the widow of the son of a prince's handler of finance in Nigeria.

Have posted before a method of trimming some of the spam calls. Get the three-tones (a SIT, special information tone) that the phone system uses to signify a disconnected number. Add it to your outgoing message. If you don't recognize a number, let it go voice mail. Most robocallers and even foreign callers will recognize the tone sequence and mark you # as a no-call back.

You can easily play back the wav.file on your computer while recording your outgoing voice mail message, tones first, then your voice quickly following to greet folks who might actually need to contact you.

Will only cull a few of the many, but has worked for me. YMMV.

[Spanky8601]

I use a Panasonic set that I picked up at Costco. I programed the phone book and the system will accept calls from the phone book.
All other calls must input my 3 digit code provided by the answer machine. If they do not input that 3 digit number the call is rejected. I see about 3-4 calls a day that are rejected and listed by the machine. Best is the phone does not ring to annoy me.

[the86d]

I use a Panasonic set that I picked up at Costco. I programed the phone book and the system will accept calls from the phone book.
All other calls must input my 3 digit code provided by the answer machine. If they do not input that 3 digit number the call is rejected. I see about 3-4 calls a day that are rejected and listed by the machine. Best is the phone does not ring to annoy me.

WHERE is the LIKE button when you need it?