It can be done here and has been discussed at some length in various topics
The following is a link to a post that links to some
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Please, posters. Don’t include links in your posts to subscriber only sources of information. It can be annoying when the paywall hits you.
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Yeah I do that too, but theres a problem when the call comes from the local health service which has silent numbers… And the unknown numbers still get sent to voicemail and dont leave a message so I get an SMS telling me that someone called but didnt leave a message. GAHHHHH.
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While it can be annoying, their subscribers might not be consciously aware they are linking paywalled articles, and some sources allow a few free articles per month, and others none.
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Australia has introduced rules to detect, trace and block scam calls…
https://www.acma.gov.au/articles/2020-12/new-rules-detect-trace-and-block-scam-calls
The challenge all countries face is as one ‘hole’ is plugged to scammers, quickly they find alternative ways to spread their tentacles and misery. With the UK, it might stop direct international calls with local numbers, but quickly alternative means will be used such as not using local numbers, using numbers which may look similar to local numbers, move their activities within the UK with willing crime gangs, don’t use caller ids (which often is very successful as large organisations/government departments with PBX phone systems and many individuals do this and one can’t tell who is making the call until it is answered), route through a local exchange, hijack local phone systems through hacking/phishing and the list goes on.
Even with the introduction of the Australian rules, have you noticed a significant reduction in scam call this year? Highly likely you have noticed no change (could even be worse) and this shows how hard it is to control. Government are trying to plug a leaky sieve, only with leaks appearing elsewhere. As indicated above, the only real solution is to design a new phone system, adopted worldwide, which specifically addresses scam calls and spoofing. Until then, governments, telcos and regulators will always be one step behind or playing catchup with the scammers.
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I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t surprise me. I know how to change my own caller ID. I said that because every time I’ve called one of the spoof numbers back, it hasn’t been connected.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
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A nice choice of answers, bearing in mind that the caller is often just someone trying to make a living.
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That is how I look at it. I get very few ‘scammers’ calling; most are just call center workers trying to earn a living.
They are generally polite, so I am polite in return. It is a waste of both their time and my time trying to make a sale to someone who is not interested, me, so the quickest way to end the sales pitch is say you already have whatever is being flogged. You are then removed from the call list.
Whilst I don’t know about the technicalities of VOIP calls and all this, I’ve been told by someone who really does that it would be possible to identify numbers being routed through Australian numbers, and stop them. But this would involve upgrading our outdated infrastructure and technology, a very costly process no doubt. Maybe Telstra could cutback the pay-packets and bonuses of all their executives on the grounds that they are not providing a service that protects their customers as well as they could. Whilst I wrote ‘force’ Telstra to do something about this issue, I know Choice has no legislative power, but I know pressure from Choice and its community does have an impact. Good advice from posters about how to go about it so let’s get onto it. We owe it to our vulnerable, don’t we?
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Totally agree!
It’s a mistake to engage with scammers, unfortunately they are not trying to sell us anything, but they’re gathering information, putting together our ID profile to pass on to others in the scamming industry. They have already established that they have got hold of a working phone number and that we answer the phone… that’s already worth a lot.
More information can follow by getting into a conversation with them and unwittingly reveal many more details. They are not just workers, what they are doing is illegal.
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I read somewhere that they want you to speak, and especially to say the word ‘yes’ so they can record your voice intonations, sounds etc. These can then be ‘manipulated’ and used with organisations, such as my credit card company, that use voice recognition to identify you. This is the same principle used for the lady who is directing you in your car to your destination. She has pre-recorded a whole series of words, containing every possible sound combination, and these can then be computer-generated into any sentence required. So I don’t answer the phone to unknown numbers on either my landline or my mobile.
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The majority are phishing expeditions (obtaining your personal details to use them to commit fraud) attempting to install dangerous software on your computer (to allow them to control your machine and/or defraud you) or more direct frauds such as the Nigerian scam.
In my experience the first two are the most common in relation to cold-call phone contact.
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I much prefer to try to re-educate them.
I had a scam call from a dodgy looking number today, +43 825 930085, so I thought “Go ahead. Make my day”.
I answered and it was some male with poor English and a strange accent.
Despite my best attempts to re-educate the scumbag, he rudely hung up in my ear.
You just can’t help some people.
A classic unintended consequences. Who would have thought getting almost free calls these days would mean that we are unable to use the phone because there is so much scamming going on because it is dirt cheap. When we went on a UK holiday 3 years ago we knew that the NHS service was free and available to Australians. That meant that when we needed a Doctor not one doctor in 20 would take our appointment till we found a Private doctor who did a great job but charged $A 200 for a consultation. Our travel insurance though was excellent. What will be next in unintended consequences?
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In part it is the different philosophy of the two systems. The phone system was designed to be tightly controlled with a single connection path between the parties. The internet was designed to not control who can connect to the system and to be self-healing around blockages by sending packets by other routes.
When some authority decides they don’t want the internet to be so free and open it is not so easy to lock people out or to control their content. This applies to some
governments wanting to control what their people read and what their dissidents say, as well as any of them attempting to prevent phone scammers from polluting the system with spurious transactions for corrupt purposes.
Of course the ‘phone’ system that most are using these days is packet switched data just like the Internet. Whether it is the mobile cell network, or fixed lines via NBN.
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We’re still on copper. It makes little difference. The spammers don’t know whether a number is old tech or VOIP. The call cost to the spammer is the same.
Copper. As is everyone, to greater or lesser degrees. Some part of the communications link is by cables connecting devices.
But for scammers, the cost of bulk sending emails or SMS is a fraction of a cent per intended recipient.
The cost of a phone call via any method varies, depending on whether the recipient answers the call.
No answer, zero cost.
Answer the call, then the caller (scammer) is up for call charges, which could be a local call, say 22 cents, or from cell network, more. Or via satellite, huge.
So I try to always answer a call from an unknown number, even if I then hang up straight away or listen for some hello, just so the caller pays.
And before someone says that if you answer the call, the scammer knows they have a ‘live’ number, they should also know that they have a number that if called, results in call costs incurred, and nothing to be gained.
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How does that work with mobile plans with unlimited calling and texting if they work domestically? There are also VOIP plans that offer unlimited international calling for a very modest amount.
Get caught out? Move on to the next supplier.
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“unlimited” for calling and texting is always subject to fair use conditions imposed by the telcos. The gist of most of them is what would be expected of a normal person using the service.
Go about trying to make hundreds of calls or SMS a day and see how far you get before you are in breach and get kicked off the service.
