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My grandma just lost her best friend to scammers. Through lies, constant harassing phone calls, and intimidation, they got him to "invest" his life's savings. T

My grandma just lost her best friend to scammers. Through lies, constant harassing phone calls, and intimidation, they got him to "invest" his life's savings. They even sent locksmith to change the locks on his house, and they called his new phone number the day after he changed to it. By the end he was so stressed out he couldn't sleep and was having all kinds of physical issues. Died just a few days ago. We can't start catching/blocking scammers and robocallers soon enough. The telcos can get us in touch with people from other continents, but they can't spare the time to stop or trace the calls? Their "solution" for my grandma's friend was to tell him not to have a phone for a few weeks. LOL.

dylan604 6y ago
It's actually not a bad idea. I went without a "valid" phone number since first of June this year. Had to tighten the belt for a bit. Starting using a VoIP number. Recently got a new SIM for my phone, but have not provided the number to anyone. Still passing out the VoIP number. Funny thing is, nobody robo calls the VoIP number.
- szhu 6y ago
  First, the technical know-how to use a VoIP number is not accessible to everyone. Maybe it's accessible to a good portion of people in the Bay Area because almost everyone knows someone who works in tech, but there's a lot more people out there. And second, if enough senior citizens were on VoIP numbers, I bet that's exactly where scammers would target next. The solution you're suggesting isn't so much to switch to a product that's inherently better, but to switch to a product that only people who don't fall victim to scams are using.
  - dylan604 6y ago
    Actually, I wasn't meaning for it as a suggestion for seniors. I was just saying that it's not that far of a wild notion to wait to get a new number. Growing up, my family played the get a new unlisted number game, but it did not work until going without for an extended time. That was for a landline, so I skiped that story for one with a more modern version. There is something to the waiting for a period of time before just getting a new number. The VoIP story was more of a seed planting for anyone else that might be reading and interested. Senior or milenial, doesn't really matter to me who it might be that might want to to give it a shot. Plus, seniors tend to have family members that could help them set something like this up. Don't write those seniors off so lightly
myself248 6y ago
Seriously, these people have a body count. Even with folks who avoid being victimized, I wonder how many car accidents wouldn't have happened if someone had been able to get better sleep if it weren't for one of these calls. And then you've got the direct ruin as you've described. I have no hope that they'll be held to account for the full extent of their crimes, but in a justice system that works for actual justice, they'd be counted as serial killers.
KingMachiavelli 6y ago
> Their "solution" for my grandma's friend was to tell him not to have a phone for a few weeks. Isn't the better solution to just not answer any number that is not a contact? Then review the voicemail if necessary. Smartphones at least often have the feature built in to forward all non-contacts to voicemail.

dylan604 6y ago

It's actually not a bad idea. I went without a "valid" phone number since first of June this year. Had to tighten the belt for a bit. Starting using a VoIP number. Recently got a new SIM for my phone, but have not provided the number to anyone. Still passing out the VoIP number. Funny thing is, nobody robo calls the VoIP number.

szhu 6y ago
First, the technical know-how to use a VoIP number is not accessible to everyone. Maybe it's accessible to a good portion of people in the Bay Area because almost everyone knows someone who works in tech, but there's a lot more people out there. And second, if enough senior citizens were on VoIP numbers, I bet that's exactly where scammers would target next. The solution you're suggesting isn't so much to switch to a product that's inherently better, but to switch to a product that only people who don't fall victim to scams are using.
- dylan604 6y ago
  Actually, I wasn't meaning for it as a suggestion for seniors. I was just saying that it's not that far of a wild notion to wait to get a new number. Growing up, my family played the get a new unlisted number game, but it did not work until going without for an extended time. That was for a landline, so I skiped that story for one with a more modern version. There is something to the waiting for a period of time before just getting a new number. The VoIP story was more of a seed planting for anyone else that might be reading and interested. Senior or milenial, doesn't really matter to me who it might be that might want to to give it a shot. Plus, seniors tend to have family members that could help them set something like this up. Don't write those seniors off so lightly

myself248 6y ago

Seriously, these people have a body count. Even with folks who avoid being victimized, I wonder how many car accidents wouldn't have happened if someone had been able to get better sleep if it weren't for one of these calls. And then you've got the direct ruin as you've described. I have no hope that they'll be held to account for the full extent of their crimes, but in a justice system that works for actual justice, they'd be counted as serial killers.

KingMachiavelli 6y ago

> Their "solution" for my grandma's friend was to tell him not to have a phone for a few weeks. Isn't the better solution to just not answer any number that is not a contact? Then review the voicemail if necessary. Smartphones at least often have the feature built in to forward all non-contacts to voicemail.