4 ms·
In addition to the other comments here, there seems to be a significant difference in the ease of making calls from different numbers in the US vs EU, both in c
by cge 3y ago
In addition to the other comments here, there seems to be a significant difference in the ease of making calls from different numbers in the US vs EU, both in caller id and in the call source. I get constant spam calls to my US phone lines, never from the same numbers and now usually from geographically nearby area codes (same-area-code spam seems passé these days). I get a handful of spam calls a year to my EU phone lines, but they are usually from international, outside-EU numbers, seemingly in hard-to-pursue jurisdictions. (This ignores some of the impressive texts in the EU a few years ago that managed to come from short names of real banks; those seem to have been an unusual exception and I assume the exploit involved was fixed.)
Looking at VoIP sites, I can easily get a phone number in seconds, for cents, with almost no documentation, and any area code, in the US. Lines in the EU cost significantly more, take longer, and often require documentation, especially for geographic area codes.
I expect that the type of access used in the US for these calls simply isn't feasible in the EU, and so the calls there need to be from 'real' numbers in countries where the scammers are safe, which then makes them easy to filter out and far less effective. The access in the US just seems weirdly open.
- HPMOR 3y agoThis is complete speculation, but I imagine it is a function of the United States developing telecommunications first (+1 area code). People needed easy entry to the communication networks and screening bad actors was not a major concern. Whereas European and other regions developed their infrastructure later, when these threats were more salient.
- pindab0ter 3y agoSay that's the case. What's preventing them from implementing similar requirements now?
- Scoundreller 3y agoAnd a stronger culture of "calling party pays" outside of North America. VoIP rates to call a euro mobile number can be $$$. Meanwhile in Canada, it's the same cost as a landline, and available for fractions of a cent to any nobody like me.