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I've always thought that binding robocallers in a contract that they must accept to speak or leave a message would be fun. Notify the caller that you charge a f

I've always thought that binding robocallers in a contract that they must accept to speak or leave a message would be fun. Notify the caller that you charge a fee that's your state's maximum small claims award and add that the fee to be waived at your discretion for legit business. The big problem is spoofing and overseas calls, but I'd bet you could nab a few cases. I'm thinking something like, "All unsolicited calls concerning the sale, lease, rental, or exchange of goods and/or services, regardless of past contact between calling parties or their third party affiliates, will incur a $5000/hr convenience fee, minimum billing for 1 hour, to be paid to _your name_ at POBox ... in full within 90 calendar days of the current date. This fee may be waived at _your name_'s discretion. Press 1 to accept or hang up to decline." Bonus points if you fit the fee discussion in before the call center switchboard hand-off to a live operator.

kevstev 7y ago
I actually got so fed up with robocallers, and really people just calling me in general that I looked into setting up a 900 number. If people really want to intrude and take up my time, they can compensate me for it. Unfortunately, 900 numbers apparently went away in the 2000s. Such a shame, it really would have solved the problem quite efficiently.
- xbkingx 7y ago
  Wasn't there some kind of scam people used to pull where they'd add a prefix to a cell phone's outgoing calls, such that it bounced through a paid service relay? If I recall, someone would nab your phone, add the dialing prefix to the settings, and then return the phone to you. From that point on, all outgoing calls would actually be calling a 900 number, which then just called the outgoing number. The phone's owner would then get caught with a massive bill from the 900 number. It was an updated version of one of those original 'boxes', maybe a modified brown box? I forget all the phreaking terminology now, but I wonder if there's another olde timey phone phreaker trick that could be exploited.

kevstev 7y ago

I actually got so fed up with robocallers, and really people just calling me in general that I looked into setting up a 900 number. If people really want to intrude and take up my time, they can compensate me for it. Unfortunately, 900 numbers apparently went away in the 2000s. Such a shame, it really would have solved the problem quite efficiently.

xbkingx 7y ago
Wasn't there some kind of scam people used to pull where they'd add a prefix to a cell phone's outgoing calls, such that it bounced through a paid service relay? If I recall, someone would nab your phone, add the dialing prefix to the settings, and then return the phone to you. From that point on, all outgoing calls would actually be calling a 900 number, which then just called the outgoing number. The phone's owner would then get caught with a massive bill from the 900 number. It was an updated version of one of those original 'boxes', maybe a modified brown box? I forget all the phreaking terminology now, but I wonder if there's another olde timey phone phreaker trick that could be exploited.