Inside The Seamy World of Robocalling Schemes (cnbc.com) 82
CNBC reports on the latest revelations from America's Federal Trade Commission about the tactics used by the robocall industry:
In some cases, robocalls proliferate through programs that resemble multilevel marketing schemes, where business founders push robocall packages on "members" to spur quick growth. In one case, an organization known alternately as "8 Figure Dream Lifestyle," "Millionaire Mind" and "Online Entrepreneur Academy" enticed consumers to buy memberships to gain access to a "franchise-like opportunity" to sell the organization's "proven business model" or "blueprint for success" downstream. Members paid between $2,395 and $22,495 to join, and the business claimed they could earn $5,000 to $10,000 in the first two weeks, followed by similarly large sums...
The FTC also looked at an organization called Life Management Services, which allegedly netted $15.6 million from consumers who thought they were reorganizing their credit card debt through an interest rate reduction service... Another complaint, against a corporation called First Choice Horizon, outlines how the robocaller "under the guise of confirming consumers' identities" for an offer of "bogus credit card interest rate reduction services," further "tricked them into providing their personal financial information, including their social security and credit card numbers," according to the FTC... Another organization, called Media Mix 365, which generated "leads" for home solar energy companies, called a single number 1,000 times in a year and placed millions of nuisance calls to others, the FTC says... A company called Lifewatch was a prolific spoofer, the FTC said, sending calls to consumers' phones that looked like they may have been coming from familiar numbers or numbers within the same area code. The group sold a "free" medical alert system and fraudulently claimed the system was endorsed by the American Heart Association or AARP. On the calls, people were told that they wouldn't be charged for the product unless it was "activated," but their credit cards were charged immediately, the FTC said...
For consumers wondering what they can do about the calls, the first rule is always, "hang up, do not engage. If you see an unknown caller ID, don't answer." Consumers can report robocalls or violations of the Do Not Call registry to the FTC on its website.
The FTC also looked at an organization called Life Management Services, which allegedly netted $15.6 million from consumers who thought they were reorganizing their credit card debt through an interest rate reduction service... Another complaint, against a corporation called First Choice Horizon, outlines how the robocaller "under the guise of confirming consumers' identities" for an offer of "bogus credit card interest rate reduction services," further "tricked them into providing their personal financial information, including their social security and credit card numbers," according to the FTC... Another organization, called Media Mix 365, which generated "leads" for home solar energy companies, called a single number 1,000 times in a year and placed millions of nuisance calls to others, the FTC says... A company called Lifewatch was a prolific spoofer, the FTC said, sending calls to consumers' phones that looked like they may have been coming from familiar numbers or numbers within the same area code. The group sold a "free" medical alert system and fraudulently claimed the system was endorsed by the American Heart Association or AARP. On the calls, people were told that they wouldn't be charged for the product unless it was "activated," but their credit cards were charged immediately, the FTC said...
For consumers wondering what they can do about the calls, the first rule is always, "hang up, do not engage. If you see an unknown caller ID, don't answer." Consumers can report robocalls or violations of the Do Not Call registry to the FTC on its website.
I think wrong (Score:5, Interesting)
Press 1 or whatever and then walk away. At least then it costs them 30 seconds of a real person (granted peanuts but times millions adds up) instead of the machine robocalling which costs fractions of a cent to process. And no if you believe just hanging up is going to stop them, you are delusional.
Re: I think wrong (Score:1)
Dumb time consuming questions interspersed with insane babble.
"Oh that is great, I really need a better interest rate!"
(Talks for a minute or two)
"Oh wait, how do you know what my current interest rate is? I mean if you are going to lower mine, you would have to know what I am paying now."
"Oh so I may pay less and maybe not?"
"Who did you say you were associated with? Was is Visa or was it MasterCard? ... Oh but you said you were with card services, that means I should hang up and call the number o
Re:I think wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
You are 100% correct. Hanging up immediately or not even answering just means they can make the next call and potentially find a gullible victim. If you know its a scam, and waste as much of their time on the phone as you can (talking to a real person), then you waste their time, and waste their money, and make it harder for them to make money. This is the only real way the average consumer can fight back.
Re: (Score:1)
>_ my time is perhaps more valuable (surely to me) than the next fools time?
That will always be the case, as in the pain you feel usually hurts more than the one others feel.
What I do is:
- either don't answer to lead spammers to think the phone is lost or abandoned or
- pick the phone and slide to complete the connection, usually pressing speakerphone mode.
The latter alternative makes them spend a little -- if nothing more, they lose precious time in which they could mining other suckers. I don't lose tim
NO! (Score:3)
The FCC in their magnificent wisdom allow several area codes to bill the called party at exorbitant rates.
Yes, "called party" means you, who just pressed 1 to accept...
Thank your states officials personally for allowing this scam to continue.
Each state could stop this, each phone company could stop this.
They all hate you and love taking your lunch money.
-
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=area... [duckduckgo.com]
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That's actually fake news.
First off, the called party isn't billed. The scam works by the calling "ringing once", then the called party calls back. Either d
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Thank you!
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Fuck that. I'm not answering and confirming a live number. That's how your spam and scam calls multiply exponentially. I'll bounce them to my google voice where unidentified callers get a response consisting of the automated "disconnected number" tones, followed with a disconnection.
Old news (Score:5, Interesting)
I've noticed a change in strategy. They're actually being obvious about being a scam, short of coming out and admitting it, in order to weed out anyone with common sense.
They've abandoned the 1 in 1000 who might fall for a clever scam; they're searching for the 1 in 1000000 so gullible that they will go along with a transparently obvious scam.
Re:Old news (Score:4, Interesting)
The PSTN is dead. Long live the PSTN. (Score:4, Interesting)
The very fact that we have to protect ourselves from the Public Switched Telephone Network tells you everything you need to know about our government, big money, bought and paid for legislators, and what the future of the human race looks like when advertising and commerce is valued above human life and decency. We probably deserve to go extinct at this point.
They are very skittish (Score:5, Interesting)
Whenever I get a scam phonecall and feel like having some fun, I engage with them. I created a fake profile: fake name, fake address, fake credit card (with the BIN code and the customer service number matching the service I tell them it's from), fake social security number, &c. All of it is completely valid-looking data; the only thing wrong is that when they call the credit card company pretending to be me (with the information I gave them), they won't get through. "I just used this card this morning to get cappuccino at Starbucks!" I tell them. "I've been having trouble with this card recently and I've been meaning to call card member services about it. Can you help me with it?"
The thing that always amuses me, though, is how quick they are to hang up and abandon the call the moment something doesn't look right. If the first words out of my mouth are anything other than an answer to "which credit card do you have the highest balance on?" Click. If I ask for their company name? Click. If I tell them I had my identity stolen recently and I want to make sure it's safe to give them my credit card number over the phone? Click. Or, they immediately set upon me with cuss words and bad language. Never a "there seems to be a problem, would you please double-check your information?" You'd think a reputable business would at least have that level of friendliness...
If I have some time ... (Score:1)
I'l pick up the phone and screw with them too. Do that a few times and the calls really drop off. Seems they might have an internal "do not call" list for the scammers to avoid people like us.
At this point, it is always a robo-call wanting "press 1" to be transferred. Frustrating when I want to screw with them.
About 2 yrs ago, my "new landlord" called wondering where my rent check was. Of course he had a very thick accent.
All they had was a random phone number. Idiots. At least have a plan before you ca
Re: (Score:2)
How much time do you spend on this? I get too many robocalls and way too BUSY to waste their and my times. :(
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, not very much time at all. My fake identity is saved to my phone's notepad so I can use it any time I want, and each spammer call is usually over within five minutes. And I actually use this to help my work - when I'm stuck in a rut or facing an intractable problem and a scammer call comes in, if I don't choose to ignore it, then I have some fun with it and it gets my mind off work just long enough so that I can return to the problem fresh.
I work in the telemarketing business (Score:2, Funny)
and we get such a bad rap. Robocalling, as you term it, uses technology that gets better and better each year, to improve our ability to bring special offers to the public. Telemarketing makes a positive impact in many lives, from things like CBD oil, to refinancing, tech support, and prepaid credit cards for those who lack the ability to get conventional plastic.
And through the use of AI, the process becomes more streamlined every year, allowing the marketing industry to impact and improve more lives.
Re: (Score:2)
Poe's law.
A few things I try (Score:3)
If you have the time and can keep them on the line, you reduce the number of potential victims they cant reach.
"It's done. Where do you want the body?"
"My car has a million and a half miles on it. Gimme a warranty."
"Hold on, I'm trying to buy the target card off the internet! Do you take an FSA card?" and I give them random numbers. This usually ties them up the longest.
I give the phone to my two year old who doesn't understand how the the ear piece works and just talks into the mic.
Lol, nope (Score:2)
"the first rule is always, "hang up, do not engage. If you see an unknown caller ID, don't answer."
Nope.
These people are my prey, lol. They call me on my (never-used) home phone, so I will happily fuck with them for as long as they can take it. If a call comes in on that line, 99.999999999% the time it's a scammer.
I admit I feel a warm sense of satisfaction when they realize I've made them jump through hoops and wasted their time, making them feel like fools and making them angry. And maybe, just maybe by
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My goal is to make them hang up, lol. That's a "win" in my book.
I also have a list of Hindi insults that I use, and that really sets them off after they tumble to the fact that I'm just fucking with them.
This is a good source: https://www.scribd.com/documen... [scribd.com]
Re: (Score:2)
That's perfect, thanks for posting the link. Eagerly awaiting the next interest rate reduction call to see if I'm pronouncing "bhai chod" and "jhaant ke pissu" correctly.
Easy Solution (Score:1)
Retire SS7 and IPv4. Use only IPv6 and make all legit spoofing history. The numbering system is about 20 years old now, and even Windows XP supports it. This way we will be able to:
-Identify the country of origin [ipverse.net] of each call and geoblock.
-Easily locate the ISP and customer based on IP address alone. [whtop.com]
-Prevent callers who block or spoof their caller ID (as their IPv6 endpoint would be required to complete the connection).
-Allow legitimate calls from schools and doctor's offices, because everyone will have
Re: (Score:2)
The numbering system is about 20 years old now
SS7 is from '75, IPv4 is from '81.
Wasting scammers' time (Score:3)
Or, if you don't want to waste your own time in the process, a chatbot will do it for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Seamy? (Score:2)
FTC reports? (Score:2)
... Consumers can report robocalls or violations of the Do Not Call registry to the FTC on its website.
Which does exactly nothing when the phone number on your caller ID was spoofed... and still does practically nothing in all other situations.
It seems to me that the only way to actually catch these criminals is for the police to receive the call, give the crooks a valid credit card number... and then watch where the money goes. It also seems to me that the criminal elements almost certainly maintain a blacklist of known law enforcement phone numbers... so I wouldn't suggest holding your breath in anticipat
One time (Score:2)