Deluge of spam calls

Joined
Sep 15, 2002
Messages
1,509
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
Has anyone had a substantial increase in spam calls the last three days? I've had over 50 since 7:15am on the 27th! Four already this morning. I would normally only get a few a day if I'm lucky with an occasional zero call day. I went through the numbers and there was only one that called twice. Various area codes. This is an Ooma landline. The phone has a call blocking feature, but has a limit of 200 numbers, which would have been filled a couple years ago. At this rate, it would take less than a week! Thank goodness they don't have my cell number.

Sometimes the calls are within minutes of each other while others are 45 minutes to an hour apart. 99% are hang ups. One idiot leaves a pre-recorded message saying "We have something very important to tell you. If interested, please call us back." Uh...OK!

I'm guessing they have some sort of computer VOIP setup that spoofs numbers that just keeps calling people and guessing its mostly from one source. Me being on the receiving side of this, I wonder why they don't have some code written that tells them -this number has been called 500 time with no answer-delete it-.

Thinking about unplugging it for a couple days. But as its probably a PC calling me, it won't care that its ringing 10 times with no answer vs the four before the machine picks up.

I'd love to find the origin and go Office Space on all their equipment!
 
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Has anyone had a substantial increase in spam calls the last three days? I've had over 50 since 7:15am on the 27th! Four already this morning. I would normally only get a few a day if I'm lucky with an occasional zero call day. I went through the numbers and there was only one that called twice. Various area codes. This is an Ooma landline. The phone has a call blocking feature, but has a limit of 200 numbers, which would have been filled a couple years ago. At this rate, it would take less than a week! Thank goodness they don't have my cell number.

Sometimes the calls are within minutes of each other while others are 45 minutes to an hour apart. 99% are hang ups. One idiot leaves a pre-recorded message saying "We have something very important to tell you. If interested, please call us back." Uh...OK!

I'm guessing they have some sort of computer VOIP setup that spoofs numbers that just keeps calling people and guessing its mostly from one source. Me being on the receiving side of this, I wonder why they don't have some code written that tells them -this number has been called 500 time with no answer-delete it-.

Thinking about unplugging it for a couple days. But as its probably a PC calling me, it won't care that its ringing 10 times with no answer vs the four before the machine picks up.

I'd love to find the origin and go Office Space on all their equipment!

It's summertime, people are rediscovering what the old normal is, scammers and spammers are back. Summer officially started about 8 days ago. They have tweaked their software around whatever FCC things put in place they feel worked OR feel like the eyes are off the ball (they can't block spam calls not identified as such. Just ask who would be calling from 800, 888, Oklahoma, California numbers, or same first 6 as yours etc...) Let it go to voicemail and dont pick up.

Everything old is new again.
 
I haven't noticed an increase, but I have Nomorobo on my land line and it does a pretty good job of screening spam. One ring and then nothing. I do still get the occasional call from a local or far-flung number that I don't recognize. They never leave a message.

I think Nomorobo is free for land lines--check it out to see if yours qualifies.
 
+2 for Nomorobo. Also, check your phone for a key that says "Block Call" and use it . Frequently. We hardly get any BS calls anymore.
 
Don’t forget the emails. It’s crazy how many people are trying to get our information. Probably to legitimize an illegal.
 
My iPhone doesn’t even ring on unknown phone numbers. They all get routed to voicemail. Only callers in my Contacts get through.

If it’s important the caller can send a text.
 
Has anyone had a substantial increase in spam calls the last three days? I've had over 50 since 7:15am on the 27th! Four already this morning. I would normally only get a few a day if I'm lucky with an occasional zero call day. I went through the numbers and there was only one that called twice. Various area codes. This is an Ooma landline. The phone has a call blocking feature, but has a limit of 200 numbers, which would have been filled a couple years ago. At this rate, it would take less than a week! Thank goodness they don't have my cell number.

Sometimes the calls are within minutes of each other while others are 45 minutes to an hour apart. 99% are hang ups. One idiot leaves a pre-recorded message saying "We have something very important to tell you. If interested, please call us back." Uh...OK!

I'm guessing they have some sort of computer VOIP setup that spoofs numbers that just keeps calling people and guessing its mostly from one source. Me being on the receiving side of this, I wonder why they don't have some code written that tells them -this number has been called 500 time with no answer-delete it-.

Thinking about unplugging it for a couple days. But as its probably a PC calling me, it won't care that its ringing 10 times with no answer vs the four before the machine picks up.

I'd love to find the origin and go Office Space on all their equipment!
I have had OOMA for many years. Great service. Great price. Nomorobo does not work on OOMA unless you purchase OOMA Premier for a $10/month upcharge. Forget that!
What I did when the spam/robo calls got out of control was to purchase an AT&T phone system that has whitelist call blocking. This has stopped the robocalls completely. You already know that trying to blacklist these callers doesn't work, the answer is to whitelist the callers that you want to answer. This requires a little time to program all of the numbers of the people you want to talk-to into the phone system. Callers that are not in the whitelist can still get through, but they have to hit the pound button on their phone and announce their name before the phone system will let them ring through. Spam/robo callers will not do this, in the last 3 years that I have had this phone system this has only happened one time.

The AT&T phone system that I have can come with 1, 2, 3, or 4 handsets...
 
I get calls everyday from insurance companies and car shield warranty scam. Sometimes I'll answer the ones that get thru T-Mobiles scam shield and screw with them. Scam shield catches about 95% percent of the scam calls but some get thru.

I made the mistake of giving my number to insurance agents when I bought a new car and car shield got my name address and number from Illinois DMV when I applied for plates.

I'm at the point of getting a new phone number and a voip number I'll give to people I don't trust
 
Yes, volume has picked up dramatically in the past three days. Most of them are coming in marked spam or telemarketer. My phone is set to not even ring for those, and if it is important, they can leave a VM.
 
ArcherDriver - I do have a blocker but it has a 200 call limit. Would have been filled years ago.

atikovi - I don't answer, but the machine does. That's when the hangup occurs.

wag123 - Regarding the whitelist phone...sound like a great feature!!!
 
What if it's from a land line?
They can leave a voicemail.
Don’t forget the emails. It’s crazy how many people are trying to get our information. Probably to legitimize an illegal.
That's quite the leap you made there...

OP, I too have been getting an increased amount of spam calls. I assumed it was due to voting season, but I've been getting several calls from IA and ME which I'm nowhere near. If I get two calls from a number and they don't leave a voicemail, I block the number. Have probably blocked 3-4 in the past week.
 
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