8 ms·

I'm from europe (the Netherlands). Everytime I see these american robocall threads it blows my mind. What about your system is so bad that allows this to go on

I'm from europe (the Netherlands). Everytime I see these american robocall threads it blows my mind. What about your system is so bad that allows this to go on? It's not a problem here at all.

wazoox 7y ago
Here in France I receive these sort of calls from Tunisia quite regularly. Plus some guys declared as SPAM by the truecaller App I'm using precisely for this purpose (usually telemarketers trying to sell pay TV, insurances or some other crap I don't want). I'd say it makes for about 30% of all the incoming calls. Therefore I don't reply to unknown or hidden numbers.
- black_puppydog 7y ago
  My (French) phone number is semi-publicly visible, and I've had it for a few years now. I get maybe 1 unsolicited call a month. What am I doing wrong? :P
  - wazoox 7y ago
    I get 2 to 3 unsolicited calls a week... I think SFR sold my number, simple as that.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
duiker101 7y ago
It's all about the money. Laws are not put in place to stop this because the companies that make the money lobby to not have them or even worse, tear down the ones that are there.
blihp 7y ago
Lobbying groups working on behalf of the telcos and related business interests that oppose any measures to deal with this, and most other, issues that someone is making money as a result of.
- apexalpha 7y ago
  Surely telco's must know that this will drive everyone out of regular calls to VoiP services which will not benefit them in the long run.
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    I've been thinking for some years that they do see this as benefitting them.
  - justin66 7y ago
    Long term thinking is not a strength of American corporations.
INTPenis 7y ago
It's been a problem for me in Sweden the last couple of years. I've had the same company phone number since 2011 but the last 2 years I've seen strange calls from international numbers. They seem spoofed because you can see them increment the numbers and try again. Also they come from various countries both in and out of europe. They always ring 2-3 times then hang up. I've blocked dozens of them by now, they just come up with new numbers. I don't understand what the point is because nothing happens if you call back so there's nothing to keep you on the line. Also nothing happens if you respond. I understand that these are all things I shouldn't do but a) at one point the numbers resembled those of RedHat in the UK and b) I was curious.
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  In UK we get calls like these. The calling-from numbers usually don't terminate, ie they're "number not recognised" or similar errors. This seems like something the phone company could fix if they cared to, or indeed the industry watchdogs could fix "do not forward a call when the sending number doesn't terminate". Problem is that marketing companies will do things like have ex-country calls with in-country "sender" numbers so they can use foreign call centres and appear to be calling from the UK.
LeonM 7y ago
Might also be because the Netherlands is a small and relatively expensive country in Europe where international rates are quite high. So, it's not compelling enough for them to open an call center in NL, and placing it outside of NL would increase their phone costs. Also, not many people on the planet speak dutch, so the addressable market is quite small.
- wongarsu 7y ago
  Germany is very big (4th largest economy in the world) and we have no problems with robocalls at all. I don't think I've ever experienced a robocall.
  - dcbadacd 7y ago
    I've had the same number for like 14 years now and I haven't gotten a single(!) robocall. So I share your experience.
    - kaybe 7y ago
      Same here. The landline gets a few scam callers and surveys a year though, always real people.
  - trampi 7y ago
    Living in Munich, got the first 'Hello, I am from microsoft, please grant me access to your computer'-calls three weeks ago. Blocked the number, scammer tried to call from this number 10 times again while blocked, then tried it on a new phone number. I've blocked the new one after the second call. Since then, my phone is silent again.
- benplumley 7y ago
  Another anecdotal point against the language theory, I live in the UK and have received no spam calls in 15 years of mobile phone ownership. However, my parents' landline phone gets several per day, so perhaps it's too expensive to call a UK mobile number for spam to be profitable.
wnevets 7y ago
>What about your system is so bad that allows this to go on? It's not a problem here at all. Someone is making money. Anyone who wants a law or regulation that stops someone from making money is a socialist and socialism is bad /s

I'm from europe (the Netherlands). Everytime I see these american robocall threads it blows my mind. What about your system is so bad that allows this to go on? It's not a problem here at all.

wazoox 7y ago

Here in France I receive these sort of calls from Tunisia quite regularly. Plus some guys declared as SPAM by the truecaller App I'm using precisely for this purpose (usually telemarketers trying to sell pay TV, insurances or some other crap I don't want). I'd say it makes for about 30% of all the incoming calls. Therefore I don't reply to unknown or hidden numbers.

black_puppydog 7y ago
My (French) phone number is semi-publicly visible, and I've had it for a few years now. I get maybe 1 unsolicited call a month. What am I doing wrong? :P
- wazoox 7y ago
  I get 2 to 3 unsolicited calls a week... I think SFR sold my number, simple as that.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

duiker101 7y ago

It's all about the money. Laws are not put in place to stop this because the companies that make the money lobby to not have them or even worse, tear down the ones that are there.

blihp 7y ago

Lobbying groups working on behalf of the telcos and related business interests that oppose any measures to deal with this, and most other, issues that someone is making money as a result of.

apexalpha 7y ago
Surely telco's must know that this will drive everyone out of regular calls to VoiP services which will not benefit them in the long run.
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  I've been thinking for some years that they do see this as benefitting them.
- justin66 7y ago
  Long term thinking is not a strength of American corporations.

INTPenis 7y ago

It's been a problem for me in Sweden the last couple of years. I've had the same company phone number since 2011 but the last 2 years I've seen strange calls from international numbers. They seem spoofed because you can see them increment the numbers and try again. Also they come from various countries both in and out of europe. They always ring 2-3 times then hang up. I've blocked dozens of them by now, they just come up with new numbers. I don't understand what the point is because nothing happens if you call back so there's nothing to keep you on the line. Also nothing happens if you respond. I understand that these are all things I shouldn't do but a) at one point the numbers resembled those of RedHat in the UK and b) I was curious.

pbhjpbhj 7y ago
In UK we get calls like these. The calling-from numbers usually don't terminate, ie they're "number not recognised" or similar errors. This seems like something the phone company could fix if they cared to, or indeed the industry watchdogs could fix "do not forward a call when the sending number doesn't terminate". Problem is that marketing companies will do things like have ex-country calls with in-country "sender" numbers so they can use foreign call centres and appear to be calling from the UK.

LeonM 7y ago

Might also be because the Netherlands is a small and relatively expensive country in Europe where international rates are quite high. So, it's not compelling enough for them to open an call center in NL, and placing it outside of NL would increase their phone costs. Also, not many people on the planet speak dutch, so the addressable market is quite small.

wongarsu 7y ago
Germany is very big (4th largest economy in the world) and we have no problems with robocalls at all. I don't think I've ever experienced a robocall.
- dcbadacd 7y ago
  I've had the same number for like 14 years now and I haven't gotten a single(!) robocall. So I share your experience.
  - kaybe 7y ago
    Same here. The landline gets a few scam callers and surveys a year though, always real people.
- trampi 7y ago
  Living in Munich, got the first 'Hello, I am from microsoft, please grant me access to your computer'-calls three weeks ago. Blocked the number, scammer tried to call from this number 10 times again while blocked, then tried it on a new phone number. I've blocked the new one after the second call. Since then, my phone is silent again.
benplumley 7y ago
Another anecdotal point against the language theory, I live in the UK and have received no spam calls in 15 years of mobile phone ownership. However, my parents' landline phone gets several per day, so perhaps it's too expensive to call a UK mobile number for spam to be profitable.

wnevets 7y ago

>What about your system is so bad that allows this to go on? It's not a problem here at all. Someone is making money. Anyone who wants a law or regulation that stops someone from making money is a socialist and socialism is bad /s