Spam calls remedy?

[JohnRoberts]

It's possible there is a reason...

usually is

Like your mailserver's ip being used by spammers. Either they register new accounts all the time, paid with stolen CCs, or your provider's mailserver isn't very secure.

As I already shared, years ago when my business email was briefly black listed it was because my web host was sharing mail servers between multiple customers. Apparently the other customer using my email server was either hacked, or a bad actor.

It rarely happens for no reason.

but it may not be your fault

Using a reliable mail/web provider and a different company as domain registrar and DNS provider helps a lot. Only, it's hard to tell which are the reliable ones. If you only need mail, look at Protonmail, or Tutanotta. Both are technically excellent. Much better than gmail, or, the worst of all of them, Hotmail.

I have been using the same web host for years and they are pretty good in my experience, despite that one time email hassle (years ago). "1 and 1" IIRC is a German based company, they have since changed their name in the US market to "IONOS". I have no qualms about recommending them for general web hosting et al.

Obviously, a 1$ a month provider like one.com isn't going to worry about your email. Mind you, one.com has a terrible offering for that price. Just don't expect them to be equal to a provider like mine, who doesn't advertise, but costs at least 50$ a month.

There is no free lunch, free email means you are the product....

JR

 

[cyrano]

There are several providers who offer free email with limited storage and paying email with more storage.

It's a viable business model and doesn't treat the customer as a product. And it's even not so hard to operate your own email server if you care to.

 

[PermO]

I took a major insurance company to court... and won.

One of those banks that "does not sell your data"

My neighbour had troubles with her phone and asked me if she could use my landline phone to make a call to her insurance company and receive a call.

Shure, no problem.

About a week after that I started receiving all kinds of spam calls for "mr Giezen" ... well, I'm not mr Giezen, that was my neighbours name, so this gave me 100% proof the insurance company had sold their data. I made shure to record 3 random spam calls as proof.

So I called them, and explained the situation and repeated their statement that they were not selling data.
I told them "I've got 100% proof that you are lying"

The lady on the phone pannicked and told me she would remove all my data.

I told her that would probabably be a wise thing to do, but that was not going to stop me taking this to court as I don't want to miss out the fun of winning a courtcase from a bunch of lying crooks.

More pannick "I will put you trough to the higher managment department, please wait"

I told her not to border as I will speak to higher managment in court and thanked them for being so stupid to engage with me.

It was fun

 

[JohnRoberts]

I figured out another way to cut down on spam calls. I bought and installed a switch to easily disconnect my land line when desired.

Since installing the switch, no spam calls. But it's only been one day.

JR

 

[sodderboy]

It was fun

Oh man, that's awesome!!
Mike

 

[user 37518]

If they are dialing to your cellphone, there is a free app called "Caller ID" which allows you to automatically block either any phone number not registered in your contacts list, or from a huge database which contains numbers who belong to either to spammers, fraud or marketing companies.

My mother was suffering, and I am not exaggerating, when the collectors of a bank used to call here every day multiple times, they claimed that she didn't pay her credit card when her credit card had already been paid and cancelled. The bank itself told my mom that she didn't need to pay anything and that they were going to send out a memo to the collectors to stop harassing her. Still, they kept calling her, my mom kept going back to the bank, they told her the same thing, etc... this continued for months. Eventually, I installed Caller ID to my mom's cell and she can now rest....

 

[JohnRoberts]

I switched off my land line yesterday after getting two robo calls (I ASSume, I never answer unknown callers).

I turned it back on this morning and so far no more robocalls.

Sometimes it seems like the entire world is involved some kind of grift.

I still catch multiple spammers trying to open accounts here.

JR

 

[user 37518]

I switched off my land line yesterday after getting two robo calls (I ASSume, I never answer unknown callers).

I turned it back on this morning and so far no more robocalls.

Sometimes it seems like the entire world is involved some kind of grift.

I still catch multiple spammers trying to open accounts here.

JR

John, a much more civilized alternative to switching off the land line is getting a call id / blocker from Amazon. There are many of them, some have outrageous prices but something like this might work: https://www.amazon.com/SDENSHI-Bloc...&keywords=call+blocker&qid=1656256670&sr=8-15

 

[JohnRoberts]

Thanks but pass... I don't feel like trying to blacklist spammers who can present whatever numbers they want... The robo caller yesterday spoofed two or three different local numbers. I ASSume it was one caller.

To white list callers I need to know who is calling... The very few calls I get that I actually pick up and talk to, are not from people I would have on my white list. I had one old semi famous musician who met me while he was visiting inside Peavey call me to talk about recording gear.

A better question is why do I still have a land line since it no longer is POTS but coming from my DSL modem?

I am old and don't pursue change for the sake of change.

JR

 

[user 37518]

Thanks but pass... I don't feel like trying to blacklist spammers who can present whatever numbers they want... The robo caller yesterday spoofed two or three different local numbers. I ASSume it was one caller.

To white list callers I need to know who is calling... The very few calls I get that I actually pick up and talk to, are not from people I would have on my white list. I had one old semi famous musician who met me while he was visiting inside Peavey call me to talk about recording gear.

A better question is why do I still have a land line since it no longer is POTS but coming from my DSL modem?

I am old and don't pursue change for the sake of change.

JR

John, in my case I can program the numbers I want to allow, so it doesn't matter if they spoof their numbers, it gets automatically blocked if its not on the list.

There are other blockers which once a phone call enters, it will automatically ask for the person to dial in the "number" key, if its a robo caller it wont do it, if its a real person it will then ask them to record their names, only after that, the phone will ring and will let you know who is calling before it transfers you to the person. With this approach, only the people who reeeeally want to speak to you will go through the entire process, otherwise, they will hang up.

The only reason I have a land line is for the reasons I mentioned in another thread, I have multiple times been disconnected in the middle of an important call with my cellphone, or after hours of waiting for someone at the bank to pick up the phone it will then get disconnected. Also, I try to give my phone number only to those which I am very fond of, like family and friends, so whenever the phone rings I am sure it is someone I know.

 

[JohnRoberts]

John, in my case I can program the numbers I want to allow, so it doesn't matter if they spoof their numbers, it gets automatically blocked if its not on the list.

indeed I am familiar with the concept white lists.

There are other blockers which once a phone call enters, it will automatically ask for the person to dial in the "number" key, if its a robo caller it wont do it, if its a real person it will then ask them to record their names, only after that, the phone will ring and will let you know who is calling before it transfers you to the person. With this approach, only the people who reeeeally want to speak to you will go through the entire process, otherwise, they will hang up.

That is not the cheap device you linked to which appears to be a crude black list device.

As I shared I have a friend who aggressively controls his phone access and successfully sued multiple donot call violators (in small claims court IIRC)..

The only reason I have a land line is for the reasons I mentioned in another thread, I have multiple times been disconnected in the middle of an important call with my cellphone, or after hours of waiting for someone at the bank to pick up the phone it will then get disconnected. Also, I try to give my phone number only to those which I am very fond of, like family and friends, so whenever the phone rings I am sure it is someone I know.

Funny my land line is through my DSL so only as reliable as my internet connection.. Ironically I suffered disconnects on my faux land line when trying to get my DSL connection serviced.

These days my most reliable communication vehicle is texts via my smart phone

Most robo callers hang up before my answering machine picks up, so that effectively screens them out and allows serious callers through. I can listen to voice messages while they are recording and pick up if it is a human I want to talk with.

I guess I could disable the ringers on my phones. I would still be able to hear my answering machine answer. I have only encountered a handful of robocallers so aggressive they left messages on my machine. They routinely spoofed multiple numbers so blacklisting them would be more work than just switching off the land line for a few hours.

If I needed to accept calls for business (I don't) I might use some form of auto screener or insist they leave a message on my machine.

JR

 

[crazydoc]

I kept my land line because I thought it might be more reliable than mobile. Wrong - last week the land line and internet were both down for 12 hours - turns out they both are apparently routed through Verizon who had fiberoptic cables broken.
My mobile is thru AT&T so that was still working. My power goes out at least 6-10 times a year, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours. Water is from a well so that's dependent on power. Propane price has gone high with gasoline, so though it's reliable the furnace blower and oven need electricity.

Modern infrastructure (and other technology dependent services) have become completely unreliable for me. I bought two portable generators when I moved here and wired the house and well (on a separate service) so I can plug them in if power off more than a few hours.

Again I'm lucky I only get a few spam calls a day, but that damn Linda Davis just won't give up.

 

[user 37518]

indeed I am familiar with the concept white lists.

That is not the cheap device you linked to which appears to be a crude black list device.

As I shared I have a friend who aggressively controls his phone access and successfully sued multiple donot call violators (in small claims court IIRC)..

Funny my land line is through my DSL so only as reliable as my internet connection.. Ironically I suffered disconnects on my faux land line when trying to get my DSL connection serviced.

These days my most reliable communication vehicle is texts via my smart phone

Most robo callers hang up before my answering machine picks up, so that effectively screens them out and allows serious callers through. I can listen to voice messages while they are recording and pick up if it is a human I want to talk with.

I guess I could disable the ringers on my phones. I would still be able to hear my answering machine answer. I have only encountered a handful of robocallers so aggressive they left messages on my machine. They routinely spoofed multiple numbers so blacklisting them would be more work than just switching off the land line for a few hours.

If I needed to accept calls for business (I don't) I might use some form of auto screener or insist they leave a message on my machine.

JR

My land line is also via DSL, but I still find it to be much more reliable than my cellphone. I get Internet via optic fiber, I haven't had too many issues TBH, actually I get everything via DSL: TV, Phone, Internet. In the last three years I've only had 3 incidents in which I have lost internet service for a long period of time, one of them was because someone physically disconnected my cable from the utility pole. On the other hand, I have lost count on how many times my call has been disconnected using my cellphone in the last month.

Call me old or retrograde, but I can't stand using Whatsapp for things which require a more serious dialogue.... I just have to call, and people get annoyed for this...

 

[AnalogPackrat]

I kept my land line because I thought it might be more reliable than mobile. Wrong - last week the land line and internet were both down for 12 hours - turns out they both are apparently routed through Verizon who had fiberoptic cables broken.
My mobile is thru AT&T so that was still working. My power goes out at least 6-10 times a year, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours. Water is from a well so that's dependent on power. Propane price has gone high with gasoline, so though it's reliable the furnace blower and oven need electricity.

Modern infrastructure (and other technology dependent services) have become completely unreliable for me. I bought two portable generators when I moved here and wired the house and well (on a separate service) so I can plug them in if power off more than a few hours.

Ah, California! Leading the way to a beautiful Utopian future! We experienced exactly the same things the last few years we lived there. By comparison, here in a small Southern red state we have experienced no outages of any kind in over 10 months.

Our home is in a rural area a few miles out of a small town and we are next to the end on the local power feed. Our place in CA was exactly the same. In those 10 months we've had snow, freezing rain, strong straight line winds (50+mph gusts), many thunderstorms, and only a blink here and there. CA is broken.

Again I'm lucky I only get a few spam calls a day, but that damn Linda Davis just won't give up.

Spam calls, unfortunately, continue to plague us periodically.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I am enjoying success so far with switching off (disconnecting) my land line when I see a robo caller trying to reach me (caller ID shows on my direct TV).

Now I am experimenting with how briefly I need to disconnect the land line to fool them into believing my number doesn't work.

Quiet for now....

JR

 

[gyraf]

Around here (Denmark) it's quite easy: You add your name and telephone no. to a no-call list - anyone commercial or selling anything are under obligation to check that list every time before calling. And they're very much motivated to check it

/Jakob E.

 

[JohnRoberts]

What a great idea....

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I actually got my first real phone call today on my land line. My stock broker is retiring in Oct so he called to smooth the hand off of my account.

First non robo call in months.

JR

 

[user 37518]

Around here (Denmark) it's quite easy: You add your name and telephone no. to a no-call list - anyone commercial or selling anything are under obligation to check that list every time before calling. And they're very much motivated to check it

/Jakob E.

Same thing happens here in Mexico, but it is always the case that they will call you anyway until you "remind" them that they are supposed to check the list and not to call you... Once, the bank called me, I reminded the caller that I was on the list and they hang up on me.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I find it hard to talk to recordings... An old friend of mine is more aggressive about suing these pukes (in small claims court). I still find switching off my land line when a robo caller is pursuing me, pretty low effort, and effective. Before I started doing this I had some pukes loading up my answering machine with messages.

JR