Not sure this has been posted yet, so I'm going to give it a try…
"WASHINGTON — Jun 18, 2015, 3:12 PM ET By ANNE FLAHERTY Associated Press
(AP) Tired of automated phone calls urging you to vote for a certain candidate or pitching you a cruise vacation? You can now tell your phone company that federal regulators say it's OK to block them.
The question now is whether the phone companies have the technology to do it in a way consumers want.
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday agreed that Verizon, AT&T and other telecommunication carriers aren't duty-bound to connect those annoying "robocalls" if a consumer doesn't want them. Consumer groups and several states had asked the agency to clarify this point because phone companies have said they worried about running afoul of rules that require them to connect every call.
FCC commissioners mostly agreed that call blocking technology or "do not disturb" services should not only be allowed but encouraged.
On a separate matter, the FCC also voted in favor of expanding its Lifeline program to provide low-income subsidies for broadband service.
Several companies already offer consumers the chance to block individual numbers. But that approach doesn't help much because callers can easily spoof their identification and make it appear as though they are calling from a different phone number.
USTelecom, a trade group that represents many of the major phone companies, said there is "no single technical solution" to the problem because of spoofed numbers.
"USTelecom's members will continue to develop and deploy tools to their customers in order to address these unwanted calls," said Jonathan Banks, a senior vice president at USTelecom, in a statement. "We look forward to continuing collaboration with government, law enforcement and technology providers to eliminate illegal robocalls."
Echoing the sentiment of many Republicans, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform said it opposed the move by the FCC because the group said it would "accelerate the growth of abusive and costly class-action lawsuits against businesses."
Unwanted phone calls, many of which are scams, remain a top consumer complaint even 12 years after Congress passed a law setting up the Do Not Call registry. The problem has gotten so bad nationwide that the FTC has offered cash prizes for technical solutions.
Consumers groups say that the emergence of new anti-robocalling technologies suggest that phone companies have the technical ability to spot robocalls. They say that the phone companies have been dragging their feet, probably because it's easier to allow the calls than to try to find a way to stop them.
One big impact of the new rules could be seen next year in the run-up to the presidential election. When creating the Do Not Call Registry, politicians exempted themselves: Campaigns are allowed to blast your landline with the automated calls, but not your cellphone.
While that rule won't change, phone companies will be allowed at the consumer's request to drop or send to voicemail any automated phone calls to their landline, including political calls. If phone companies find a workable solution and enough consumers sign on, campaign volunteers will have to place calls in-person, limiting their reach to voters.
Most often robocalls are scams that originate overseas. But spoofing techniques allow the scammers to make the number on the caller ID appear to be local.
One common example of a scam is "Rachel from Cardholder Services." The automated voice recording encourages listeners to press a number, which connects them with someone who might promise to lower their interest rates in exchange for an upfront fee. The FTC traced the original "Rachel" to multiple people inside the U.S. and demanded refund checks, but copycat scams continue."
"One common example of a scam is "Rachel from Cardholder Services." The automated voice recording encourages listeners to press a number, which connects them with someone who might promise to lower their interest rates in exchange for an upfront fee. The FTC traced the original "Rachel" to multiple people inside the U.S. and demanded refund checks, but copycat scams continue."
Another is the infamous "Congratulations! You have won an all-paid expenses trip to the Bahamas! Press one to complete our survey. Press nine to decline".
This call showed up last night on our CID as originating as a local call from a cell phone. My sister, thinking it was a legitimate call, picked up the phone--and took the bait, following their prompts. Of course when she pressed nine, the chirpy woman's voice repeated: "Congratulations....!" I told her: "Great, you have just assured us of getting even more calls from these spammers, because all pressing nine does is tell them they have reached a live number. Don't do that!"
Arrrgh...!
+1
chainsaw gene
| 1 reply
The phone company's would have a solution to the robocalls real quick if they were hit with a 1000 buck fine for every robocall. And make the money payable to the person who received the call, My retirement would be enhance for I have a list of over 450 of these numbers since Aug 2013. Oh well just a thought, but grandchildren might be the reap the benifits of such an idea. Now I've got go and cut the grass.
0
bertfw
| 2 replies
If the phone carriers wouldn't permit spoofing in the first place, these calls would be very easy to deal with on the consumer end. Phone companies claim they have to allow spoofing so that large companies can make calls out on one number, but provide a different callback number. I say if the companies are so big that this is an issue for them, then they should have the resources to get enough phone numbers to run their business. Spoofing should be stopped, end of story.
As for VOIP services such a Google Call, these are simply a framework for fraud and the companies that connect these IP services to the public network should be 100% liable for any calls made using their service. That would really cut down on VOIP being used by all scammers, foreign and domestic.
Yep, that's another alright (going through various names like a chameleon changes colors)!
It's been quite a while since I got any of those type of telemaggoter scam calls though.
Another is the Microbrain tech support scammers (although those are usually from offshore) or the so called auto warranty calls... to name a slight few.
Ours seems to be on the uptick lately---especially with the "Microbrain" calls. My sister thinks I am "obsessed" because I spend so much time here, but I told her had it not been for this website and the news media getting the word out about these scammers, we could have very well become victims ourselves---which we can ill afford.
For a while I was getting such "calls" from the "Microbrain" bunch too ... the idiots didn't even bother (and/or were too lazy) to even bother to change their CNAM and CNUM (still a spoofed #), had reported it many times and even blocked it ... but it always showed up on the blocked list/log. Calls were pretty much about the same day each month too ... since last November. Last time I got their annoying scam call was about a little more than a month ago!
I agree. This is getting out of hand. So much for protecting the consumer.
+5
Badge714
| 3 replies
Here's the story from last nights NBC News: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/fcc- ... ll-they-n378051 I found that there was a lot of misinformation in the story. They played up the 'you are allowed to opt out of a call by pressing 'x' during your call' & 'you can sue for $1500. for getting these calls'. As regular peepers at 800 notes know, most to all of these calls are coming from outside North America. Press 'x' to be removed from a calling list? Do so at your peril! What the phone companies just don't seem to get is how fed up people are with these calls. First company out of the gate is going to get people's business.
More confusion ... and less resolution! Unlike legitimate business the scammers won't opt you out by pressing any number... instead the calls will increase from them and other lowlife scammers!
+1
Kat
Not sure if this should go here or in a different thread, but I just got this related e-mail from Nomorobo:
<< Today is a great day in the battle against robocalls.
Yesterday, the FCC voted to officially allow carriers to offer robocall blocking services to their customers!
The message was loud and clear - it's your phone and you should be in control.
If you want more details, just do a search for "FCC robocalls" and you can read all the news stories about it. There was too much to put in this email.
And, this couldn't have happened without your help.
If you remember, back in January, I went down to Washington to show the FCC just how big this problem is.
I told them that over 35% of all of the calls that Nomorobo analyzes are blocked. (2.8 million robocalls were stopped last month, BTW.)
I told them about all of the emails that I get from people like you that are sick and tired of these calls and just want some peace and quiet.
I printed out all of the comments that you sent in (all 25,481 of them) and dropped them right on the FCC's doorstep. It weighed over 250 pounds!
It worked.
They listened.
Your voice was heard.
Nomorobo is now safe. It's not going anywhere. If anything, it should be available on more carriers in the upcoming months.
This is a really good day for consumers and a really bad day for robocallers.
So, now that I've taken a quick victory lap, I have to get back to the task at hand - protecting you from robocalls.
If you have any other questions or comments, just reply back to this email. I'm happy to chat.
To repeat: Senior citizens are prime victims of the phone call predators. Educate seniors in your family and of your acquaintance. Teach them about Caller ID, and how to pause to look at the ID before they pick up a call. If the name and/or number are not familiar, they should not pick up the call. I volunteer at a senior center, and I hear plenty about predatory phone calls.
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