Cell phone telemarketing/robo calls | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Cell phone telemarketing/robo calls

PrivatePilot said:
I've find it amazing that it came to the point of regulation to fix this issue.

I'm no telecommunications engineer, but it seemed to me that if I can pickup the phone and with just the press of a few buttons be talking to someone on the other side of the planet..that the phone companies should have been able to verify if that call from a Toronto area code is actually coming from Toronto...not bangladesh.

Based on the fact this is now actually happening, it seems they almost certainly had the technical ability all along.. why they refused to actually implement it is anyones guess.
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Well, there are legitimate reasons for that to happen, so a blanket ban is not ideal. For instance, I could choose to have local numbers setup in each town I want to do business. Some people really want a local business to do their work. Using the volume of calls with redirection is probably a reasonable approach for filtering.
 
GreyGhost said:
For instance, I could choose to have local numbers setup in each town I want to do business.
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That's all fine and dandy, and for a while I actually had a secondary VoIP number of my own with a Vancouver number so that a buddy could call me (and vice versa) without incurring any cellphone roaming fees. Again, anyone remember those? LOL.

But in the end, my provider knew who was paying the bill. They knew who owned the line. The number was REAL, not spoofed.

That's the problem. I got a call a few months ago from my own damned cellphone number. It was some ******** CSA "The police are coming for you if you don't send us immediate payment in iTunes gift cards" crap.

My. Own. Cellphone. Number. Called me.

This is the problem. These companies just have equipment that makes their calls seem to be coming from whatever damned number they want to punch in that day. How this has gone on so long is beyond me.
 
PrivatePilot said:
So, again, I finally played along. Got a big huge quote for all sorts of windows and doors our house didn't even have. Told them that I'd just send them a fax photo of one "really weird" window so they could look at it and quote me properly on that. Got THEIR fax number. Promptly hung up, logged into VoIP management portal...and redirected all their own faxes right back to their own incoming fax machine.

For years and years....every time they tried to fax-spam me, someone...somewhere, was spamming themselves. I saw it in the call logs.
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I never tried it but I was told if you faxed someone a sheet of black paper it would jam the head of some fax machines.
 
How the government could stop a lot of the telemarketers:

If you are on the DNC registry and someone calls you to clean ducts or wash windows you don't have to pay.

It may have been called reverse billing but basically a vendor would send you something on spec and then bill you. If you didn't want the item, usually a book or LP record, all you had to do is return it. Now if you get something you didn't order you can keep it.
 
The real problem is that the duct cleaning call is probably really only a front for extracting a deposit for starting the work ... with your credit card number or bank account details being the real prize.
 
Brian P said:
The real problem is that the duct cleaning call is probably really only a front for extracting a deposit for starting the work ... with your credit card number or bank account details being the real prize.
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I ask how I have to pay and am usually told that cash, cheques or credit cards are OK. Then I ask if it's OK to pay with counterfeit money. After the "Huh" I tell them since they're breaking the law by calling my DNC number I should be able break the law by paying with illegal currency.

I have heard that some people end up seeing far larger amounts put through on their credit cards than was quoted on the phone. Think about it. If someone with a large investment in a vehicle and equipment comes to your home with a crew to do work is $99.00 a realistic expectation?

And yeah if someone calls me and doesn't even know my name they don't get any information, especially financial.
 
You guys waste more then 10 seconds with these clowns? I simply tell them i don't own my home and the landlord is not in Toronto. Done.

Half the time i don't even get to hang up first.
 
Most of these are scams these days and they are offshore so the DNCL has no teeth. Numbers are spoofed using VoIP, just like SWATing. They often use a random number with the same area code and prefix as your number so you think it is local. Or sometimes, as people have noted, they use your number. Number blocking does little as it will likely be a new random number each time (for the scammers), it will work for the legit telemarketers.

You will also usually notice, you answer and there is a pause before they reply, sometimes no one replies and it just hangs up. They are using an autodialer, it calls numbers (at a specific interval, based on average call length stats) and then hands them off to the next available agent/scammer when answered--that is the delay. Sometimes when it just hangs up no one was available. Because it is an autodialer NOTHING you say or do to the scammer on the phone will remove your number, it is in the database and they do not have access. Non-scammer telemareters and surveys also use autodialers, they might/maybe/probably not take your number off if asked. The lists of numbers are also sold...

  • What you can do, add the disconnect triple tone to the beginning of your voicemail. Let calls go to voicemail. Some autodialers will then remove your number thinking it is disconnected/dead.
  • If the person does not respond right away just hang up, won't stop more calls but you waste the min amount of your time. A real person who dialed themselves responds pretty quick to your hello.
  • Don't answer local numbers with long distance ring tone.
  • Mess with them for your own entertainment, try to turn the call into phone sex, try selling THEM duct cleaning, etc..
  • Keep them on the line as long as you can, that hurts the scammers personal results and will tie them up meaning someone else will get the hang-up as no one is available when the autodialer calls the next person. Might save some gullible person. My record is almost 30 mins for one of the "Microsoft" ones.
 
The latest landline scam is to tell you to phone the legitimate number, not hang up, play you a recording of a dial tone, switch to a ringing after you finish dialing, and then answer the phone as though it went through. It only works on landlines, because they don't disconnect when one of the parties doesn't hang up. Inn the olden days, you might have to walk or drive to someone's house, to tell them to hang up their phone, so that you could call out.
 
Only spam calls I'm getting right now are in Chinese, kinda curious what the pitch is
 
I am getting none, so glad.
Email spam has quieted down as well.

Maybe all the work at home IT specailists with lighter workloads have finally gotten around to getting rid of this $hit.
 
sburns said:
I am getting none, so glad.
Email spam has quieted down as well.

Maybe all the work at home IT specailists with lighter workloads have finally gotten around to getting rid of this $hit.
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Me too. Jimmy's duct cleaning called a while back at about 10pm. Made me mad, told the clown to f off and hung up. He called me back 3 times screaming at me.
 
regder said:
Only spam calls I'm getting right now are in Chinese, kinda curious what the pitch is
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They have a special on bats. Free delivery, too.
 
Wingboy said:
Me too. Jimmy's duct cleaning called a while back at about 10pm. Made me mad, told the clown to f off and hung up. He called me back 3 times screaming at me.
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There's 2 houses on my street getting reno'd. One is roped off for a tear down, one sitting with the interior gutted. When I get a duct call I tell them I haven't gotten my ducts cleaned since I moved into my house 17 years ago (I don't have ducts) and make an appointment to have it done. When they ask for the address I give them the address of one of the 2 empty houses. I never get a call back (from that one, anyway).
 
FWIW I haven't got a spam call now in months. The countermeasures that the cell carriers instituted seemed to have worked wonders.

For those still getting calls....methinks you're posting your cellphone number in too many places publicly. NEVER post your cellphone number online. EVER EVER EVER. It gets scooped by bots and added to a list that's then sold repeatedly..and then you are screwed until you change your number.
 
PrivatePilot said:
FWIW I haven't got a spam call now in months. The countermeasures that the cell carriers instituted seemed to have worked wonders.
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The measures have worked a bit. Less than before, but not even close to eliminated.


CRTC chairman Ian Scott has conceded that there's probably no way to rid Canadian phone networks of all unwanted or fraudulent calls, just as police can never stop crime in general. "You don't eliminate crime. You reduce it. You protect consumers against it,"
 
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