Now We Have Robo Texts?

[so lucky]

I get about 7 to 8 robo calls per day lately, but last night I got 3 robo texts! They were addressed to my DH (phone is not in his name) telling him the money needs is available to him; he just needs to provide some information so it can be transferred to his account. Sure, let me go get my check book so I can give you my account number. And my SSN. And my PIN.

As if that didn't seem trustworthy enough, all three calls came from different numbers in different states.

 

[digitS']

I think that it would help to complain to your wireless provider. Vigorously!

Telephones are not "in my portfolio." My only response to DW and those calls is, don't answer! She can delete the voice mail.

Those calls are nearly all on the house phone. I get a few texts but my Google pixel phone seems to help me with spam! I'm not really sure about this but some calls are id'ed as "likely spam," or something of the sort. Of course, this probably means that not only is my wireless service monitoring my calls but so is the maker of the dang phone!

Don't give up just because we are becoming more exposed in the cyber world, So Lucky. The government can't do much about bad actors in east Africa, or whatever. Certainly, it can't do much without the assistance of the communication, private sector. The onus is on them. Do they want happy customers or masses moving away from their service to one that buffers customers from some of this constant exploitation? On an international level!

Steve

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Yesterday I got a robocall on my cell telling me my google business page was not verified, so I answered since I have multiple pages. The fellow shocked me when he reported the source of the call was a unrelated personal craiglist ad I had placed. That is a lot of work for nothing but is a robot does it maybe it occasionally pays off for them.

 

[Redd Tornado]

I know that just answering and hanging up is enough for the Robo callers to know yours is a live number. So the best action is to let it ring. I can turn my phone over and the ringing sound stops, the caller still gets a ring tone. It will go to voice mail eventually, but usually the robo has hung up by then. Anyone leaving a message about IRS actions gets reported to the FCC and the number get blocked.

This is the link for the FCC - this forum converted the url to a nice looking Ad...

Unwanted Calls - Phone

Do you receive unwanted calls or texts from telemarketers? Is your own telephone number being spoofed, blocked, or labeled as a possible spam call? The FCC is committed to doing what we can to pr...

consumercomplaints.fcc.gov

You should have the ability to block numbers, calls and text. I long press a phone number and can choose Block on my phone. For Texts I have to manually type the number in the Block number setting.

Look in Settings/ Call or Phone management, perhaps... you should see something like call blocking and decline with message if you are using an Android phone. Also look at the Answer calls setting. Turn off Auto answer, this way you aren't answering the phone by picking it up.

I added a special ring tone for just my contacts, and left the default ring tone for unknown callers, that way I could decide to answer or not.

The service providers aren't going to do much, mostly because there isn't a lot they can do either. My provider blocks known 'bad numbers' but these people just rotate through numbers, so keeping the list up to date is hard.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Put your phone on "do not disturb" and then edit your allowed numbers list for your children, relatives, lawyer, cpa etc. Blocking a spoofed number over time disallows call you may wish to one day receive. Our Vonage work phones actually display the origin number and the spoofed number but cellphones have not caught up to this yet. Also on cell phones there are apps, like "should I answer", which is the one I use. The app works through a crowd of users, all of whom report, and the majority time it identifies spam calls.

 

[flowerbug]

if you know me you can text me via your phone to my e-mail and that is how i would reply but otherwise i won't see it.

i was really annoyed the other evening when we had several power interruptions and the power company thought that it was a good idea to call us to tell us that they'd restored the power. um, no, especially not during the middle of the night! isn't it kinda obvious that you don't do push contacts of any kinds unless someone specifically opts in for it? arg! idiots.

 

[Prairie Rose]

An update on my phone recently started flagging calls as spam risks, but I am extremely stubborn about answering numbers I don't know. I also rarely check voicemails, because I get so many robocalls that head straight to voicemail now, my phone never rings with them. It is quite a process to filter in the numbers that are known to me that I will answer, but I refuse to be harangued by scammers on a service I pay for.

 

[so lucky]

I have even been called by my own number twice.

 

[Carol Dee]

They are a plague... I simply do not answer unknown numbers. If they want to leave a message , fine. Usually they do not! I have an old flip phone so I can't block them. My number , my husbands and MIL phones are all on the Do Not Call registry. We still get them. We can't get her (MIL) to stop answering her phone and any questions from strangers....grrr. She has all her contacts listed so it shows a name, still she blindly answers all calls. ARGH!

 

[baymule]

I hate them. I won't answer any call that I don't know the caller.