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The tips in the article don't work in my case. I do all of them and get about 3-5 robocalls per day. One of the most prolific robo scammers that calls me just

The tips in the article don't work in my case. I do all of them and get about 3-5 robocalls per day. One of the most prolific robo scammers that calls me just about every weekday spoofs their number to match the first 6 digits of my own phone number (area code included).

lucb1e 9y ago
> [I] get about 3-5 robocalls per day. Wtf. At that point I'd just get rid of a phone number altogether. Or turn on flight mode (which I modded to be a GSM toggle, so wifi and bluetooth stay on) and turn it off when people ask (via chat) to call.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  > turn it off when people ask (via chat) to call. May I suggest that you guys are in some sort of bubble? My mom's a 60 year old with a flip-phone, and her husband's nephrologist, neurologist and audiologist isn't going to ask her via chat to kindly turn on her phone.
  - lucb1e 9y ago
    I assume they're not on hacker news. I was speaking from a hacker's viewpoint (the person I'm responding to and myself), not for every person on the planet.
    - pavel_lishin 9y ago
      Do hackers not have doctors? Do hackers not have children? Is our daycare going to "chat" me to ask me to turn my phone on if my kid falls down and breaks her arm? Is my doctor going to "chat" me to tell me that the test came back, and that I need to go to the hospital and check myself in right now? Your solution doesn't just not work for some small, irrelevant section of the population like "old people", "parents", or "anyone outside of SV". For that matter, if people are chatting you and asking you to answer the phone, why not just use that app to talk?
maxerickson 9y ago
Try answering and saying no/pressing the no button. The article asserts that most robocallers are then somehow selling that information to other robocallers, but I doubt it (plus, uh, "pressed no" isn't a steaming hot sales lead).
- zentiggr 9y ago
  You answered - you're on a shorter list, congrats. Doubt no more. I block numbers on my Android and my landline phone has a one button screening function.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    You say this with confidence, but I answer pretty consistently and get about 1 call a week. Maybe my phone numbers are in area code backwaters or something.
lafay 9y ago
Here's a method to block calls from all 9,999 numbers in your area code & prefix who are not you: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/scam-calls-spoofing-your-own-area-code-prefix-heres-how-james-meehan https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/scam-calls-spoofing-your-own-...
- wolfgang42 9y ago
  Is there a reason not to block that 10,000th number? I'm having a hard time imagining circumstances under which you'd get a legitimate call from your own telephone. In fact, that seems like it might even be a good way to confuse people into picking up, at least once.
analog31 9y ago
While traveling in Europe, my mom got a SIM card so she could have Internet access. It came with a phone number, which she didn't tell anybody. A couple days later she got a call from a number that matched the first 6 digits of her home number. Therefore: The SIM card vendor in Europe shared not only her number, but additional personal data allowing the robo-caller to determine her home number in the US.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago
  Was it a European phone number? I think you might be too paranoid, and the explanation is simpler: if you dial enough numbers, eventually you'll find some idiot willing to hand over control of their computer, or their credit card number, or social security number.
  - analog31 9y ago
    Yes, she received a European number a few days prior, and then received a call from a number matching the first six digits of her US home number. It was the only call that she received on this number. I was there. Granted you could be correct, but it was a weird coincidence, with one in a million odds. She's quite tech savvy -- taught CS in the early 80s.
    - ihattendorf 9y ago
      It might be one in a million odds, but if someone dials a million numbers those are pretty high odds.
    - pavel_lishin 9y ago
      Ah, if someone faking a number like hers called her on an otherwise unconnected european number, that's definitely... shady. I'd contact her service provider for that sim card. They'd probably like to know that an employee is selling numbers, or that a retailer is, etc. (Unless they're doing it themselves.)
- dv_dt 9y ago
  Or the device which the sim card slots into leaks some other type of identifying information which can be correlated to her home region. One could do an experiment where you place the sim card into another device associated with a different area...
smudgymcscmudge 9y ago
> spoofs their number to match the first 6 digits of my own phone number I had one call me a few weeks ago that spoofed my wife's number. We have consecutive numbers, but I forgot about that for a bit and thought they somehow had my contact data.
twothamendment 9y ago
The vast majority of my robo call match the first 6 digits of my number. They try hard to look local. My number is from Google voice, so it isn't really like the normal local numbers - so I'm safe ignoring them. I have yet to have a legit call that matches the first six digits. But what about the people who really do have a local number? Any call from a neighbor or local business is likely to look like the robo calls. Ignoring those can be a pain. Do not call list? Any bets that it is harvested and used as a call list be companies out of the country?
e40 9y ago
This. Exactly. The spoofing of the first 6 numbers started about a year ago. It's been relentless. When I'm not working and angry, I will keep them on the phone for 20 minutes acting like a mark, then tell them why I did it. Sometimes they hang up, sometimes we have a short conversation, sometimes they get angry and start yelling (and I hang up). I do get less calls now, after having done this about 20 times. In fact, I just realized I only got 2 in the last week (instead of 15+).
- graphitezepp 9y ago
  I am glad to hear this is a known thing. Recently all my spam calls (which I never pickup) have been doing this and I thought it was very odd.
digikata 9y ago
Why is caller id spoofing even allowed. Do we need to legislate a technology change for this? Couldn't technology to validate with a signed certificate of ownership of a number be required from a legal standpoint?
- BonesJustice 9y ago
  > Why is caller id spoofing even allowed. In the United States, it is a violation of federal law for telemarketers to block or fraudulently spoof caller ID information. I emphasize 'fraudulently' because there are some legitimate reasons for spoofing, such as substituting a central callback number (e.g., a legitimate customer service number) for the desk number of the employee making the call. Those legitimate cases are why it is allowed at all. Whether this constitutes a 'good enough' reason, given the rampant abuse, is valid question. The problem with these regulations is that they are difficult to enforce. How does one report calls with spoofed caller ID when they do not know who actually placed the call?
  - JamesBarney 9y ago
    What's the technological challenge to making it so you can only spoof numbers you own?
- sushid 9y ago
  It's a nice feature for companies where they share numbers and/or even individuals with services like Google Voice.
  - digikata 9y ago
    I don't think that feature is precluded by a technological enforcement of some ownership authentication for caller ID. On the other hand, the addition of call number ownership authentication may or may not solve the spam call problem either...

lucb1e 9y ago

> [I] get about 3-5 robocalls per day. Wtf. At that point I'd just get rid of a phone number altogether. Or turn on flight mode (which I modded to be a GSM toggle, so wifi and bluetooth stay on) and turn it off when people ask (via chat) to call.

pavel_lishin 9y ago
> turn it off when people ask (via chat) to call. May I suggest that you guys are in some sort of bubble? My mom's a 60 year old with a flip-phone, and her husband's nephrologist, neurologist and audiologist isn't going to ask her via chat to kindly turn on her phone.
- lucb1e 9y ago
  I assume they're not on hacker news. I was speaking from a hacker's viewpoint (the person I'm responding to and myself), not for every person on the planet.
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    Do hackers not have doctors? Do hackers not have children? Is our daycare going to "chat" me to ask me to turn my phone on if my kid falls down and breaks her arm? Is my doctor going to "chat" me to tell me that the test came back, and that I need to go to the hospital and check myself in right now? Your solution doesn't just not work for some small, irrelevant section of the population like "old people", "parents", or "anyone outside of SV". For that matter, if people are chatting you and asking you to answer the phone, why not just use that app to talk?

maxerickson 9y ago

Try answering and saying no/pressing the no button. The article asserts that most robocallers are then somehow selling that information to other robocallers, but I doubt it (plus, uh, "pressed no" isn't a steaming hot sales lead).

zentiggr 9y ago
You answered - you're on a shorter list, congrats. Doubt no more. I block numbers on my Android and my landline phone has a one button screening function.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  You say this with confidence, but I answer pretty consistently and get about 1 call a week. Maybe my phone numbers are in area code backwaters or something.

lafay 9y ago

Here's a method to block calls from all 9,999 numbers in your area code & prefix who are not you: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/scam-calls-spoofing-your-own-area-code-prefix-heres-how-james-meehan https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/scam-calls-spoofing-your-own-...

wolfgang42 9y ago
Is there a reason not to block that 10,000th number? I'm having a hard time imagining circumstances under which you'd get a legitimate call from your own telephone. In fact, that seems like it might even be a good way to confuse people into picking up, at least once.

analog31 9y ago

While traveling in Europe, my mom got a SIM card so she could have Internet access. It came with a phone number, which she didn't tell anybody. A couple days later she got a call from a number that matched the first 6 digits of her home number. Therefore: The SIM card vendor in Europe shared not only her number, but additional personal data allowing the robo-caller to determine her home number in the US.

pavel_lishin 9y ago
Was it a European phone number? I think you might be too paranoid, and the explanation is simpler: if you dial enough numbers, eventually you'll find some idiot willing to hand over control of their computer, or their credit card number, or social security number.
- analog31 9y ago
  Yes, she received a European number a few days prior, and then received a call from a number matching the first six digits of her US home number. It was the only call that she received on this number. I was there. Granted you could be correct, but it was a weird coincidence, with one in a million odds. She's quite tech savvy -- taught CS in the early 80s.
  - ihattendorf 9y ago
    It might be one in a million odds, but if someone dials a million numbers those are pretty high odds.
  - pavel_lishin 9y ago
    Ah, if someone faking a number like hers called her on an otherwise unconnected european number, that's definitely... shady. I'd contact her service provider for that sim card. They'd probably like to know that an employee is selling numbers, or that a retailer is, etc. (Unless they're doing it themselves.)
dv_dt 9y ago
Or the device which the sim card slots into leaks some other type of identifying information which can be correlated to her home region. One could do an experiment where you place the sim card into another device associated with a different area...

smudgymcscmudge 9y ago

> spoofs their number to match the first 6 digits of my own phone number I had one call me a few weeks ago that spoofed my wife's number. We have consecutive numbers, but I forgot about that for a bit and thought they somehow had my contact data.

twothamendment 9y ago

The vast majority of my robo call match the first 6 digits of my number. They try hard to look local. My number is from Google voice, so it isn't really like the normal local numbers - so I'm safe ignoring them. I have yet to have a legit call that matches the first six digits. But what about the people who really do have a local number? Any call from a neighbor or local business is likely to look like the robo calls. Ignoring those can be a pain. Do not call list? Any bets that it is harvested and used as a call list be companies out of the country?

e40 9y ago

This. Exactly. The spoofing of the first 6 numbers started about a year ago. It's been relentless. When I'm not working and angry, I will keep them on the phone for 20 minutes acting like a mark, then tell them why I did it. Sometimes they hang up, sometimes we have a short conversation, sometimes they get angry and start yelling (and I hang up). I do get less calls now, after having done this about 20 times. In fact, I just realized I only got 2 in the last week (instead of 15+).

graphitezepp 9y ago
I am glad to hear this is a known thing. Recently all my spam calls (which I never pickup) have been doing this and I thought it was very odd.

digikata 9y ago

Why is caller id spoofing even allowed. Do we need to legislate a technology change for this? Couldn't technology to validate with a signed certificate of ownership of a number be required from a legal standpoint?

BonesJustice 9y ago
> Why is caller id spoofing even allowed. In the United States, it is a violation of federal law for telemarketers to block or fraudulently spoof caller ID information. I emphasize 'fraudulently' because there are some legitimate reasons for spoofing, such as substituting a central callback number (e.g., a legitimate customer service number) for the desk number of the employee making the call. Those legitimate cases are why it is allowed at all. Whether this constitutes a 'good enough' reason, given the rampant abuse, is valid question. The problem with these regulations is that they are difficult to enforce. How does one report calls with spoofed caller ID when they do not know who actually placed the call?
- JamesBarney 9y ago
  What's the technological challenge to making it so you can only spoof numbers you own?
sushid 9y ago
It's a nice feature for companies where they share numbers and/or even individuals with services like Google Voice.
- digikata 9y ago
  I don't think that feature is precluded by a technological enforcement of some ownership authentication for caller ID. On the other hand, the addition of call number ownership authentication may or may not solve the spam call problem either...