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I just think this is uniquely American problem and for some reason American carriers are completely uninterested in dealing with it. Here in UK I get maybe....1

I just think this is uniquely American problem and for some reason American carriers are completely uninterested in dealing with it. Here in UK I get maybe....1 spam call every 3 months? If even that. And it's always the same robo-voice that you can recognize within 2 seconds and disconnect. I have absolutely no issues answering my phone.

arlcode 5y ago
Yeah same here in Germany. Zero ever on my mobile phone (and I know the number has been leaked by at least one breach). Maybe 1 per month on the landline of my parents and these days it's exclusively "Microsoft" trying to "fix" their computer (weirdly enough with an English speaking scammer). Either Germans are not a valuable target for "legit" companies or some regulation is working it's magic behind the scene.
- rightbyte 5y ago
  My feeling is that Americans are easier targets of fraud for technical and legal reasons. E.g. 'stealing someones identity' is a thing. Where I live, SSN and driver licenses are public record (you can get a photo copy of anyones driver license), so they are unusable for fax scams. Having a system built on such items being 'secret' is probably a culprit.
- distances 5y ago
  I've been thinking that what probably helps too is the fact all German speaking countries are wealthy. Much harder to build a spam center with human callers.
  - arlcode 5y ago
    Could be that. On the other hand some (legitimate) support call centers are located in Eastern Europe so it's possible to find enough German speakers there (although not native ones).
- nobody9999 5y ago
  >Either Germans are not a valuable target for "legit" companies or some regulation is working it's magic behind the scene. IIUC, telecoms in DE charge the originator of the call for call completion, while in the US, telecoms charge the originator and the recipient. As such, US telecoms have a vested interest in completing scam/spam calls while that is not the case in DE. I may be misunderstanding this, so if someone more knowledgeable could comment I'd appreciate it.
krageon 5y ago
If you were older (say, 80) you would get significantly more. As you approach 60, they will start to ramp up slowly to that amount. I don't know why, I presume they find this information somewhere.
ASalazarMX 5y ago
After the lock down Mexico has seen an absurd increase of spam calls, and I suspect most of Latin America as well. More than the law, I blame the weak law enforcement.

arlcode 5y ago

Yeah same here in Germany. Zero ever on my mobile phone (and I know the number has been leaked by at least one breach). Maybe 1 per month on the landline of my parents and these days it's exclusively "Microsoft" trying to "fix" their computer (weirdly enough with an English speaking scammer). Either Germans are not a valuable target for "legit" companies or some regulation is working it's magic behind the scene.

rightbyte 5y ago
My feeling is that Americans are easier targets of fraud for technical and legal reasons. E.g. 'stealing someones identity' is a thing. Where I live, SSN and driver licenses are public record (you can get a photo copy of anyones driver license), so they are unusable for fax scams. Having a system built on such items being 'secret' is probably a culprit.
distances 5y ago
I've been thinking that what probably helps too is the fact all German speaking countries are wealthy. Much harder to build a spam center with human callers.
- arlcode 5y ago
  Could be that. On the other hand some (legitimate) support call centers are located in Eastern Europe so it's possible to find enough German speakers there (although not native ones).
nobody9999 5y ago
>Either Germans are not a valuable target for "legit" companies or some regulation is working it's magic behind the scene. IIUC, telecoms in DE charge the originator of the call for call completion, while in the US, telecoms charge the originator and the recipient. As such, US telecoms have a vested interest in completing scam/spam calls while that is not the case in DE. I may be misunderstanding this, so if someone more knowledgeable could comment I'd appreciate it.

krageon 5y ago

If you were older (say, 80) you would get significantly more. As you approach 60, they will start to ramp up slowly to that amount. I don't know why, I presume they find this information somewhere.

ASalazarMX 5y ago

After the lock down Mexico has seen an absurd increase of spam calls, and I suspect most of Latin America as well. More than the law, I blame the weak law enforcement.