If you need help on ROBO calls.....

[JOHN COOK]

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

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

[JB White]

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]

Lotta unnecesssary fuss when you can do this.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

[Allen]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

[QUOTEI 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 ][/QUOTE]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

JOHN

Sorry about the caps...

[barretcreek]

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]

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?