If you need help on ROBO calls..... [Archive]

JOHN COOK

04-05-2018, 08:51

My wife recently discovered a way to block ROBO calls. Apparently businesses have purchased a block of numbers in my area code (SC) that have the same area code and the first 3 digits of the phones in this area. We have Panasonic phones and when we get a call that we don'r recognize ( via caller ID ) we just hit Menu and scroll down until we find Settings and find the word Block Single Number. We enter the number
(area code then number) and then hit Save. Since last Saturday we have blocked 33 phone numbers. After doing this, occasionally the phone will ring one short ring and that is it. Most of them don't ever ring again. This is no way connected to your provider. ( such as AT&T) It is a feature of Panasonic phones.

Maybe other brand phones have this feature. Play around on your Menu you might find it. It's working for me........

john :banana100:

PS. We get phone calls with the number 000-000-0000. They are blocked.........

JB White

04-05-2018, 09:58

Made me look!! :)

My LG doesn't have it. Not so far as I can tell. Too bad for me because I get those same/similar robo calls. In the past, if the number didn't show up as a name on my directory it meant it was someone I didn't exchange numbers with. So as a rule I would hit 'ignore'. Not a good rule. Businesses and doctors etc. use more than one number. Also, if somebody changed numbers as was calling to inform I would miss it. Couldn't go back and log in the change because it wasn't stored due to the ignore feature. Sort of a PIA. Not everyone leaves a VM all the time because they typically rely on the 'missed call' record to await a reply or retry later on.

Blocking a known single spam call would have worked out nicely.

Sunray

04-05-2018, 10:14

Lotta unnecesssary fuss when you can do this.
https://www.donotcall.gov/

Allen

04-05-2018, 10:20

I bought a Panasonic phone just for that purpose. After I bought it and read the instructions I found that it will only block a total of 36 numbers so it isn't doing me much good. Prior to that I bought a phone blocker from a seller on ebay for about $40. It claimed it would block hundreds of numbers. After installing it my wife complained that the phone had gotten too quiet to suit her (she gets dozens of BS calls each day from her relatives). It turned out it was blocking ALL calls. I loved it but my wife started raising cane so back in the box it went.

Years ago I read where someone had come out with a phone that required a 3 digit extension after the normal number exactly like a business phone but w/o the cost of a business phone account. It would take years for the robo callers to hack this I believe. I haven't heard about the phone since.

A phone is a personal possession and we pay rent for the phone line. It is not public property and we should have laws that cover us as such but we don't. Often it is some branch of the government themselves abusing their authority to take polls and such.

Allen

04-05-2018, 10:29

Lotta unnecesssary fuss when you can do this.
https://www.donotcall.gov/

That was a joke from day one. While "W" had good intentions it would not and could not be effective if there were exclusions (which there was). The "Do not call list" excluded ANY non-profit organization and government agency. Most everyone who called would say they were some kind of charity and were exempt from the program. Still, the way the ruling was originally set up was if you told someone NOT to call you again, regardless of who or what they were they were not to bother you again. The problem with that is most of these telemarketers come up unidentified on the caller ID and use dozens if not hundreds of phone accounts (numbers). It helped but in recent years the government has been the biggest abuser. For me it began with Mitt Romney robo calling everyone to tell them not to vote for Trump.

clintonhater

04-05-2018, 11:01

The "Do not call list" excluded ANY non-profit organization and government agency.

Also, ANY company with which you have a legit account! Many of the ones I get are from my own CC companies! Yes, a joke, exactly like many other fed laws & programs allegedly intended to "help" citizens; a total waste of time to sign up for it.

edpm3

04-05-2018, 11:46

Lotta unnecesssary fuss when you can do this.
https://www.donotcall.gov/

This law is violated all the time because there is very little risk to the violators. It's incumbent on the person receiving the call to file a report. If I did that with every unsolicited illegal call, I would be spending an hour a day just reporting violations. Not worth it.

Many of these robo calls have become so sophisticated that it sounds like a real human being is calling you, but it's not. The computer-controlled recorded human voice relies on voice recognition (yours) to deliver its next line according to whatever algorithm or program it relies on. For instance, if you ask if the caller is a real human being, the computer-controlled voice chuckles and then assures you that it is a real person. But it isn't. I also get a kick out of callers with heavy Indian sub-continent accents who introduce themselves as "Bob" or "Jim." They usually are trying to get me to turn over control of my Windows computer to them, except I don't have one. Those are the guys I ask to wait a minute while I take something off the stove, then I set the phone down and leave it. Every minute they're waiting for me to return is a minute they're not bothering someone else. It's the least I can do.

PaFrank

04-05-2018, 01:05

Lotta unnecesssary fuss when you can do this.
https://www.donotcall.gov/

It may help, but I still get 4 - 5 a day... I gave up on reporting them years ago... it seemed like when i reported them, i got MORE!

What gets me is they ridiculous locations I get on my caller ID.. Like we haven't caught on yet that these people are scamming us.. Yeah that must be uncke Finius in Bumbleweed Okalahoma calling!!! I'll answer it!! NOT.

JOHN COOK

04-05-2018, 01:58

Allen, my wife asked this question this A.M. I hope it's more than 36 cause we are approaching that number. We only had one call today so far.

john

Mark in Ottawa

04-05-2018, 02:21

I do love the live calls from India that start with "Hello, this is the Microsoft Technical Office calling", after which they start to lie to you about your computer sending out error messages. I got one yesterday and asked the caller if he was calling from India or Pakistan. He tried to tell me that he was calling from New York. I just laughed at him a bit, told him that I knew he was lying and hung up.

Roadkingtrax

04-05-2018, 02:56

Ive had to use the HIYA app on the phone. It blocks any sequence of a starting phone number. First 3, first 6. The SOBs are getting crafty.

Allen

04-05-2018, 04:58

Allen, my wife asked this question this A.M. I hope it's more than 36 cause we are approaching that number. We only had one call today so far.

I am wrong. It only blocks 30. It is a Panasonic 6.0 plus cordless model KX-TG6572. Color is wine red. Outside of the box it just states that it will block numbers. The instruction pamplet inside states that it will only store and block 30. Hopefully and apparently you have a different model. Bought this at WM about 3 years ago for $60 or so. I had it a long time before using it so I can't return it and wouldn't know a better model to buy anyway.

JOHN COOK

04-05-2018, 06:27

Mine is Panasonic Model KX-TGEA20, WE NOW HAVE 34 BLOCKED NUMBERS..

JOHN

Sorry about the caps...

barretcreek

04-05-2018, 08:30

I want Caller ID which shows a street address the s.o.b.'s are using, so I can stop by and explain what DO NOT CALL means.

clintonhater

04-05-2018, 08:56

I want Caller ID which shows a street address the s.o.b.'s are using, so I can stop by and explain what DO NOT CALL means.

Worth a flight to India or Nigeria?

IditarodJoe

04-06-2018, 08:53

Thanks, John, for the heads up. We have a Panasonic TGE234B system that I bought a couple years ago and it does have that feature - cool!. :banana100: The phones "talk", announcing the caller's name or number whenever a call comes in. As we have hand sets all over the house, if we don't recognize the name/number, we just let it go to the answering machine. We're on the national Do Not Call list but still typically get one or two junk calls a day. For whatever reason, our junk callers virtually never leave messages. In the rare instance that it's actually someone we want to talk to, we can just pick up a nearby handset when they start to leave a message.

Still, we've had a few really persistent robo-callers in the past, so this will be a good way to deflect their calls. Thanks again!

Johnny P

04-06-2018, 03:13

Allen

04-06-2018, 03:46

I have received calls from myself.

Is that like being "beside yourself" ?

I've heard about that too and when callers come up unidentified there's no name or number to report to the DoNotCall registry, same if they used a false ID.

Most of my annoyance calls are low tech though. I'm turning 65 soon and getting a slew of callers wanting to sell me supplemental insurance policies to go with Medicare that I'm not on yet. Prior to that it was hundreds of political poll calls both state and federal. What we do is just not answer it if we don't recognize the number on the caller ID. Our phone is set up for the answering message after the 4th ring so the phone doesn't ring forever. As stated above by others, no one ever leaves a message.

If I didn't have a wife I wouldn't have a phone or at least it would stay turned off till needed.

JOHN COOK

04-06-2018, 05:48

There was an explanation on TV that the scammers first put in your number, then they put in the number they want to show on your caller ID. Blocking it does nothing as the number is computer generated rather than a legitimate number. I guess Mujibar got careless and entered my number twice, as I have received calls from myself.

Johnny, you could be right. I don't know if that info is correct or not. I can say this, last Sat. or Sun. we started blocking calls as stated and we have had only one today. We usually have 8- 10 a day. Everything from burial expense,life insurance , long term care it goes on and on. I'm happy with the results so far.

john

dryheat

04-06-2018, 06:51

Do you still have a land line? That's like honey to flies. But my (poor)relatives get them on their cell phones. Because they can't afford a real carrier. They just got the classic, Hi, I'm Bob(with heavy Indian accent). I noticed that your computer is infected. I need to take control of it to fix it. They're poor but not dumb.

PWC

04-06-2018, 09:34

Years ago, I started changing my middle initial on all non-gov't forms / applications I fill out...Walmart, Costco, grocery stores, Harbor Freight.... If / when the caller leaves a message for who they are trying to contact....gotcha. When I get mail, that goes straight to the trash, I can tell who sold my info.

Johnny P

04-07-2018, 07:08

Johnny, you could be right. I don't know if that info is correct or not. I can say this, last Sat. or Sun. we started blocking calls as stated and we have had only one today. We usually have 8- 10 a day. Everything from burial expense,life insurance , long term care it goes on and on. I'm happy with the results so far.

john

It is not unusual for us to get calls from our area code, but also get them with the first three digits of our phone number. If Mujibar lived in our small town I would know who he was. We get that both on or land line as well as cell phone number.

Former Cav

04-07-2018, 10:09

if it's NOT a robo call and you got time, keep them on the line with bu11chit. after about 10 minutes you can tell them they are a chump!

Johnny P

04-08-2018, 06:32

If you answer them or press 2 to be taken off their list, you go on the do call list.

Gaffer

04-09-2018, 12:57

Well the old Ma Bell looks better all the time. The mess we have today wastes a lot more time and energy than people realize. The reason we have this mess is due entirely to those clowns in Washington breaking up the old AT&T. We once had the best telephone company in the world but now it is a conglomerate of companies all trying to outmaneuver each other with cheap distorted communications. Why we put up with it is beyond me. It is way past time to put a stop to it. That "Do Not Call List' that the government has is worthless and works about as well as anything else the government does.

JOHN COOK

04-09-2018, 03:45

That "Do Not Call List' that the government has is worthless and works about as well as anything else the government does.

This has been well stated on previous post. I have AT&T and up until 30 minutes ago I had 49 calls blocked. 5:35 EDST had my first call today. A new caller never heard of them so they are now blocked.

john