Unwanted Calls / Spoofed Numbers
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I was afraid to post this under a general discussion forum, and it looks like this might be the closest fit ... so here goes. For a couple of years now, I have received unwanted calls from Online Pharmacies to Debt Reduction Services, and I am so tired of telling them I am not interested and/or to remove my name from their list. Cell phone service carriers are useless, for the most part, and usually one has to resort to just blocking the offending call. But, needless to say, the offending callers will just change their number to another one, and the cycle starts over again. Researching these numbers on the internet usually turns up a list of others complaining about the exact same phone numbers. So, it is not just me. The latest number, (617) 371-4000, appears to be someone spoofing a legitimate investment company, which is sad for the company that actually does own that phone number. There has to be something better I can do to resolve this ... I am a programmer, I am a technician, and I am (reasonably) smart! I am not a mobile device programmer, though I feel certain that I might be able to bulldoze my way through building an app - though it wouldn't look pretty, and there would be some serious doubt about the functionality of it. So, I am looking to you (the development community) to help create a solution. I am ok with someone else profiting from the ideas I am about to propose, my reward will be in having these calls stopped, and that IS priceless. I believe that a simple app (Android, iOS, and/or even Windows) which maintains a list of offending phone numbers and when a phone number is matched to an inbound caller, instead of alerting the user that a phone call is coming in ... answer the call ... but act like a fax machine. The app should act completely like a fax machine, even to the point of accepting a fax transmission if it provided ... just don't do anything with the incoming data. It might even be possible to give the user an extra button for incoming calls ... The normal choices for incoming calls are Answer and Decline, maybe the application can add a third option ... "FAX Spoof" The people responsible for these spoofing efforts (and I do understand that it might be multiple groups of multiple individuals, and might not even be connected or aware of each other), do not care what you do or say ... They just move on to other numbers, and if necessary move their numbers as well. Cursing at them doesn't work. Phone carriers are useless. I truly believe that the onl
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I was afraid to post this under a general discussion forum, and it looks like this might be the closest fit ... so here goes. For a couple of years now, I have received unwanted calls from Online Pharmacies to Debt Reduction Services, and I am so tired of telling them I am not interested and/or to remove my name from their list. Cell phone service carriers are useless, for the most part, and usually one has to resort to just blocking the offending call. But, needless to say, the offending callers will just change their number to another one, and the cycle starts over again. Researching these numbers on the internet usually turns up a list of others complaining about the exact same phone numbers. So, it is not just me. The latest number, (617) 371-4000, appears to be someone spoofing a legitimate investment company, which is sad for the company that actually does own that phone number. There has to be something better I can do to resolve this ... I am a programmer, I am a technician, and I am (reasonably) smart! I am not a mobile device programmer, though I feel certain that I might be able to bulldoze my way through building an app - though it wouldn't look pretty, and there would be some serious doubt about the functionality of it. So, I am looking to you (the development community) to help create a solution. I am ok with someone else profiting from the ideas I am about to propose, my reward will be in having these calls stopped, and that IS priceless. I believe that a simple app (Android, iOS, and/or even Windows) which maintains a list of offending phone numbers and when a phone number is matched to an inbound caller, instead of alerting the user that a phone call is coming in ... answer the call ... but act like a fax machine. The app should act completely like a fax machine, even to the point of accepting a fax transmission if it provided ... just don't do anything with the incoming data. It might even be possible to give the user an extra button for incoming calls ... The normal choices for incoming calls are Answer and Decline, maybe the application can add a third option ... "FAX Spoof" The people responsible for these spoofing efforts (and I do understand that it might be multiple groups of multiple individuals, and might not even be connected or aware of each other), do not care what you do or say ... They just move on to other numbers, and if necessary move their numbers as well. Cursing at them doesn't work. Phone carriers are useless. I truly believe that the onl
Unwanted calls fall into one of the following 1. Outright fraudulent. 2. Unintentionally fraudulent. 3. Legitimate but abusive. 4. Legitimate but useful. The first will change telephone numbers often. 2/3 will seldom change numbers but there is a lot of them. 4 you want to get them. Black listed numbers won't help for 1. Black listing for 2/3 won't help unless one number repeatedly calls. Obviously you wouldn't want to black list 4. White listing won't help if you want 4.
pdelayCA wrote:
Cursing at them doesn't work. Phone carriers are useless.
In the US there are various ways to deal with this. You put your number on do not call lists. You can file written complaints. You can sue at least in some jurisdictions. A least in some cases it is small claims court which telemarketers would be loath to fight since it is local to the consumer not the telemarketer. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7532224[^]
pdelayCA wrote:
I am not a mobile device programmer, though I feel certain that I might be able to bulldoze my way through building an app - though it wouldn't look pretty, and there would be some serious doubt about the functionality of it. So, I am looking to you (the development community) to help create a solution.
They already exist.