Follow
Share

It's hard enough dealing with all these robo-calls, but seeing one's own Caller ID show up is downright unnerving. No way I could be calling myself using that telephone number.


And now I am getting people I don't know calling me saying they found my phone number on their Caller ID and wondering what I wanted. I try to be polite saying I am sorry but I never had called them, then explaining it's robo-callers spoofing my telephone number.


What is scary is that my phone number is unlisted but if you type it into the Google search, you will find my name, my age, my date of birth, my home address, and names of relatives. And these crazy notices about criminal activities, 4 sources found... to which one would need to pay $1.99 or whatever to find out about these criminal activities. Yeah right, I never even had an over-due library book :P


Not a happy camper.

This discussion has been closed for comment. Start a New Discussion.
Find Care & Housing

24 Comments

Newest
First Oldest
First
If your cell number is the one compromised, I recommend downloading the app https://www.robokiller.com/ . It' $24.99 but 95% of my spam calls get blocked! If you have a sense of humor you can set up voicemail templates to "talk" to the scammer. Sometimes they talk back and it's hilarious. I don't work for or know anything about the company but it has saved me! Ive gone from 30-40 calls a day to 1 or 2 a week!
(2)
Report
One thing that worked for me was to just get a new phone number. This might be practical for everyone, but new phone numbers are "cleaned" which means they are not resold until it has been verified that incoming calls have completely stopped. I went from have multiple scam calls per day to zero overnight.
Of course you need to make a list of friends/family/businesses and get word to them that your number has changed, but in my experience the people who really needed to get a hold of me were able to adapt to the new number. And it was just so nice to know that every time the phone rang, it was someone I knew.
(1)
Report
Be careful. We are advised now not to pick up phone at all. Don’t let them know it’s a live number because they keep calling back. The worst part is some scammers are truly awful and if the phone is picked up the person is charged for international calls. Then hundreds of dollars have to be removed from telephone bill. It’s best to just let it ring. Do not answer if you don’t know the number. An important call will leave a message.
(1)
Report
DeeAnna - Eunice, I can't stop laughing :)

Verizon has started the one ring thing, too, whenever a SPAM? calls appears.
(0)
Report
I set my android phone to block all calls from numbers not in my contacts. When someone leaves a message and I know I want to talk with them, I just add them to my contacts so the phone rings next time they call. I have a land line in my home office with a cordless speaker phone base and a couple of handsets in the kitchen and bedroom, but I turn the ringer off on everything except the office base and I turn that ringer off when I'm not working in there.
(2)
Report
Sometimes when I get a phone call from a telemarketer, I will do a Carol Burnett impression of Eunice--speaking in a whiny voice and yelling complaints at my husband or kids while on the phone. 

Yesterday, 5 minutes after I woke up from taking a nap 💤, I got 3 robo-calls. It was as though the robo-computers had been watching me sleep and knew that I was now awake and available to answer their phone calls. Weird!! 😡
(2)
Report
AT&T is now blocking robo-callers. They blocked one that called me today. My phone rang once and then stopped. Caller ID said “AT&T ALERT: telemarketer”.
(3)
Report
Dollyme, I found that answering the phone in a foreign language and then blocking the calls that occur for the next several days really slows the calls down.

I don't get even 1 a month now. I guess they think I am a scammer as well because I answer in a foreign language.

It does create laughs when it is a call I am expecting from a number I am not.
(2)
Report
They call me too, I block, they call from another #. The one that is hounding me now is to help me pay off my college debt...supposedly....I asked for help. I am 72, graduated from college 45 years ago, it is a little late!
(1)
Report
When they call and ask for me by name I have been telling them that Joan is my mother and she has passed away, I am only answering her phone to clear up any matters regarding her death. They generally hang up and fewer and fewer calls are coming in.
(3)
Report
No legislation is going to stop scammers from Africa or Asia from robocalling, they operate with impunity. What we need is to force telecoms to block these numbers without forcing users to pay extra for the service, apparently they are much better at it in Europe so it can be done.
(5)
Report
In NY, Senator Schumer is trying to get a bill passed that will largely eliminate robocallers. They even call my mom on her private line at the memory care facility. I'm sure they regret it though because Mom is partially deaf and never wears her hearing aids. All they get is "What? What? Who is this? I don't understand."
(3)
Report
Yep, I have seen me calling me for the last week. Same with Omaha Steaks. The do not call list is a feel good joke from the politicians.
(1)
Report
Thank you gladimhere! I will investigate.
(1)
Report
Shane, my service provider limited blocked calls to fifteen. My smart phone, on the same service seems to allow blocking an infinite number of numbers. A function of the phone rather than the service.

Check your phone's owner's manual. On my phone I touch and hold the number I want to block and three options come up, one of which is to block. I probably have 40-50 numbers on that list.
(4)
Report
I read comments all the time about the do not call list not working - the thing about the do not call lists is that criminals and scammers are obviously not interested in complying so you are pretty much guaranteed that any calls you do get are scams, at least I'm not getting companies asking to clean my ducts or selling time shares any more.
(2)
Report
I so agree with you. I am on the “Do not call” list and reconfirmed this last year. Being on that list doesn’t seem to matter anyway.

These robocallers tap into my local area code & the first 3 numbers of our area exchange so the calls look like they are from my town.

I heard chatter last year that Congress was going to try to do something about this but with the rate our US Congress is going these days they are obsessed with litigating anything to do with our current administration.
The only people benefiting from anything Washington DC are attorneys.

Back to robocalls I have a phone to block 15 numbers. I go through that list & delete & add new numbers that call us frequently.

I absolutely hate robocalls. Unfortunately I don’t know if they can be controlled or eliminated. I have my doubts.
(1)
Report
I despise robot callers! Blocking numbers doesn’t help at all. It’s annoying! They call back on a new number. Drives me nuts.

My husband said he read a report that said if you answer and ask them to place you on Do Not Call list it doesn’t work either. They are looking for live calls and if you pick up they know they have a live number and will keep calling. It’s terribly frustrating.

It’s random robo dialing. I started having fun with it at times. I figure if they are going to drive me nuts I will annoy them back. 🤣 haha They deserve it!
(2)
Report
I have been getting all of those robo calls about health insurance. Or scammers. It's aggravating. The last one was saying they were from the IRS and they were going to sue me. I said good luck with that because I am broke. Had a couple that were close to my cellphone number but some came up as restricted or unknown. It scares the bejesus out of me when I see those.
(2)
Report
I have found blocking the numbers actually slows the number of calls and will occasionally stop them for days.

It is creepy to get a call from someone saying you called me, uh nope, sorry.
(1)
Report
I get 3-6 Robo calls a day and most of them start with the same area code that I have.  I rarely answer the phone.  I let the answering machine answer the phone and if the caller is someone I want to talk to, then I pick up the phone or call them back.  I haven't had a call from my own phone number, but I have had phone calls supposedly from friends...but they did not leave a message.
📲 📞 📳 = 📴
(1)
Report
FF, yup, I don't have my own number calling me, but numbers that are very close to mine. Welp, I never answer them, instead will block the number. That keeps them away for a while. I figure that if they don't leave a message, it must be a robo call. Had a new approach just a few days ago. There was voice mail left, a recording of air, actually. The recording lasted as long as voicemail let it. Probably a ruse to try to get me to call back.
(2)
Report
These darn robo calls purposely spoof numbers similar to our own phone numbers, to trick us in to answering! I get 2-3 a day from random numbers with the same first 3 numbers as my phone numbers. Always a spoofed number.

for a few days those darn social security scammers called me 3 times a day!
(2)
Report
Robo calls pick numbers randomly. The start with 299-3000, then 3002, then 3003, etc.
(1)
Report
This discussion has been closed for comment. Start a New Discussion.

Recent Questions


Popular Questions


Related Questions

Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter