Are you suddenly getting a ton of spam/scam calls on your landline? We've been getting two types almost every day and all hours of the day and night. One involves a recording saying you might not be getting your stimulus package or something like that. The other is from a recorded "Don Joseph" saying he can get you a better, lower rate on your credit cards. I can block calls on my cellphone but can’t do much on my landline
We can't leave it for our answering machine to pick up because either mom or all of us might be sleeping.
I looked online to see how you can block calls.
OK, so we started to block those calls using that CALL BLOCK button. However, you can only block 25 calls on our Panasonic.
But we discovered an aggravating thing. Don Joseph uses a ton of different numbers and they're local calls. Same recording, but different numbers. What the heck is going on?
The recording asks you to press #1 if you want to talk to someone. Art once tried pressing on 1 and got someone but as soon as he started to say, "Take us off your call list," the person hung up.
Aggravating.
We finally decided to call Hawaiiantel and talked to Kiki who told us that the phone numbers are fictitious and computer generated. There's nothing the phone company can do about it because each number is different.
Kiki asked if we'd registered our number with the Do Not Call list. Art told her we had a while ago. She said it needs to be done every year. I quickly looked it up online and told her it said that once we do it, we don't have to register again. She said it's wrong and that we need to redo it every year.
Here's a link to the Do Not Call Registry.
POSTSCRIPT:
The calls have decreased a little bit, but now we're getting something that is listed from the federal government with an 808 area code.
I keep getting a series of calls from ever-changing numbers and cities from energy company, another says the warranty on my car has expired. Sometimes during the day I let them ring til right after the final ring before my answering machine would pick up, then I pick up the phone, and immediately hang up so they can't even leave a message. I get a number of different construction company calls, also calls from bmi. There are also the I d changing long numbers with letters calls I don't answer. Also had a few calls recently claiming my computer being compromised from Microsoft security. These despite being on Do Not Call List though I'll try renewing my listing again. There are also the occasional calls with real person saying, "Hi Grandma" or "Grandpa" I hang up on -- obvious scams.
ReplyDeleteFWIW I hadn't registered for several years but just now when I went to re-register they verified I'm still registered so I'm not sure it's necessary to do every year.
DeleteMy daughter just told me the same thing. However, when I did it, it worked. I don't understand.
DeleteWe don't get many, thank goodness and are able to just let them ring.
ReplyDeleteSure am sorry you're dealing with this Kay, but this does explain something. For a couple months I've been getting the same message "Hi... this is Tina. Call me back at blah blab blah" but always from different phone numbers on my landline. I have Xfinity phone service so I just hit 'Block' on each call, but I don't think it's helping. Thanks for including that link to the Do Not Call registry, I forgot all about that.
ReplyDeleteI installed an ap called robot killer it costs $30/year but doesn't allow any called that aren't in my contacts list but they can leave a voice mail if wanted. It works almost too good but my phone is silent most of the day. It costs about $31/year.
ReplyDeleteI find it irritating that that phone, internet know all about US, and still can't/won't do anything about these calls. It's all about what Congress doesn't care about...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%
DeleteI never answer numbers I don't know. Rarely do they leave messages.
ReplyDeleteDoordash has been our nemesis. They were calling us three or four times a day, once in the middle of the night. I called to complain. They said there was nothing they could do. But they must have done something b/c the calls have ... well, they haven't stopped entirely, but almost. Now we're thinking of canceling our land line, even tho' we prefer talking on the old phone b/c it has a better connection.
ReplyDeleteWe don't pick up any calls that are from numbers we don't recognize. If it's someone that needs to speak to us they will leave a message. We got lots of calls before the election but I would block each one. Calls have slowed since then. I get them on the cell phone too and block them there but as you said they generate new numbers to call from often times trying to look like numbers we'd think were local calls.
ReplyDeleteI've been getting a lot of spam in my email that goes to junk. I can't seem to set my preferences to have it just be deleted. Any suggestions?
We gave up our land line years ago. Just hated the rings. Even pulled out plug from wall ar night. So now we are all on smart phones and they too have daily weird calls many just spoofs.
ReplyDeleteBut sadly some are CRA imposters asking for immediate payment of money owed. CRA is Canada tax a gen year. They do not make call nor send our emails except to registered clients who need passcode to get their info. Still crocks fool innocent people daily. It is sad that those spams are so easy and people so hooked.
Solutions are out there but people still fall into traps.
No call lists have been bypassed by hackers too. Digital tech has its drawbacks.
We keep our landline for hurricanes in case cellphone towers go down.
DeleteThe best way I have found to avoid these is to keep one phone number sacred. We have a landline telephone and each of us have a cellphone. We keep our cellphone numbers sacred, i.e. we never enter them into an online form or put them down on a paper form when filling out paperwork. We always give our landline phone number. It of course doesn't ring and goes directly to voicemail. We check the voicemail daily but 95% of all calls hang up when they don't get a live person, i.e. are scams or telemarketers. Occasionally we get an actual call of interest but that is rare. Everyone that knows me knows that if they want to talk to me in person right away, they need to call my cellphone number.
ReplyDeleteDoing this, I get maybe two or three junk calls per year on my cellphone which is a much more manageable amount than several a day.
I'm getting more of those calls on my cell phone too. I still have a landline and most of the spam goes to that number. I let it go to voice mail and they usually hang up. My house is a dead zone for my cell phone so it's been helpful to keep a landline. Thanks for the do not call info!
ReplyDeleteThe Hiya app helps to block out some spam calls on my cellphone.
DeleteWe get calls about our extended warrantee on our car and truck.
ReplyDeleteThe truck is now 27 years old, and the car is 18. LOL
Kay, perhaps you could take a mo-girl-t to explain to me why Americans are so scared by "Friday The 13th" or just the number 13 in general ?, it seems to be a completely unfounded and irrational fear. BTW, last year something occurred that could`ve totally edited the anxiety they have about that day out of their minds forever, in their first match of the World Cup the USWNT annihilated Thailand 13-0 and for them it turned out to be a very lucky number because they went on to lift the trophy 5 weeks later (i still love watching Rose Lavelles goal in that match, it was a classic). Now, that one key and specific example makes a total nonsense of the fear of the number 13!, i wonder why 335 million Americans didn`t realise that ?.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm.... I've heard that Judas was the 13th disciple to sit with Jesus at the Last Supper. Also heard that Jesus was crucified on Friday. In Norse mythology, Loki was the 13th guest who ruined a dinner party and caused the world to be plunged in darkness? I have no idea. However, I believe once a myth is put forth and people start to believe it, it can go on forever. Sort of reminds me of Trump making people believe that the entire election was a fraud.
DeleteIn Japan, the number 4 is bad luck because shi (Japanese for 4) also means death.
And yes, it's all irrational. I imagine having movies like Friday the 13th doesn't help either.
I didn`t actually know most of those things Kay, cheers for telling me it was genuinely fascinating. BTW Kay, i dont know if you follow chicks soccer, but just an admittedly irrelevant although quite interesting foot-note (no pun intended) to the above com-girl-t, in that a4-girl-tioned 13-goal rout back in June of 2019 Alex M-***** scored 5 of them, but i`ll tell you something Kay, i`ll bet that bird would`ve given literally half of her own fortune to have scored all 13 of them ! ! !, i dont think i`ve ever seen a bird who loves scoring goals so much, its actually quite exhilarating and inspiring to watch. That bird is such a great player.
DeleteI don't answer my phone and often just turn the ringer off. Most of the time by far there is no message left so I figure they are not important enough to care about. Of course, I do tend the one or two people who are trying to reach me. My kids text.
ReplyDeleteAll my usual contacts have a special ring, so that I know who's calling by the ringtone. If it's the default, I don't answer. If anybody needs to get me, they can leave a message. And I also have enabled the call blocker from 7 at night until 5 in the morning. Nobody can do more than leave a message for me, except for family who I have flagged can call anytime. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe get the same thing here ...three or four times a day. We never answer unless we know the number and if it's somebody who wants us they can leave a message.
ReplyDeleteI only answer those I recognize and was a bit relieved that the calls have dropped off since the election. The scammers rarely leave a message and if they do, the scam is obvious.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about the 'low-budget scammers', as it were, is that they`re the ones who are reviled and chastised the most. Where-as the major league scammers like 'Bitcoin' are allowed to get away with murder, conning millions of people out of their life savings. Once again, another bizarre double-standard with-in our society.
ReplyDeleteDo they do phone calls too? I've never run into anything with Bitcoin.
DeleteOh yeah Kay, Bitcoin is an outfit that revolves wholly and exlusively around lies and deception, but because a lot of so-called 'celebrities' and 'politicians' are in on the con as well the authorities tend to conveniently overlook it or accept it as being a legitimate business which it certainly isn`t. I dont think they bother doing phone calls though, they instead choose to perpetrate their bull-**** on people via much more visible and supposedly respectable methods.
DeleteWow! Thank you for the warning.
DeleteAfter the election my house phone pretty much stopped ringing. It has a button that turns the ringer down to almost nothing as well, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder that you have to update every year. I do it for my mom’s phone, too, as you can list up to three numbers.
ReplyDeleteMy cell phone and our tv, when it's on, tell us who is calling the land line and we just ignore it unless we know who it is. We have not had calls at night so far. The constant emails are ore of a nuisance and unsubscribing doesn't help much.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a land line. Spam calls on my cell have been relentless this last year.
ReplyDeleteI use the Hiya app to block out some of those spam calls. When other spam calls come in, I block their number on my cellphone. I can't do that on the landline.
DeleteFingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun little topic.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a landline anymore. I checked my cell number; yep it was previously registered in May of 2005! I get maybe 5-8 calls a week from numbers I don't know, usually allegedly from in town or nearby suburbs. If they don't leave a message, I immediately block the number.
Soooo, I went back to the website, and registered again. It accepted my re-registration, without any acknowledgement that I was already on the list. Maybe registering once every 15 years will stop the calls. I'll keep you posted! Linda in Kansas
That is the weirdest thing. I'll have to tell my daughter.
DeleteI cancelled our landline earlier this year. Such a relief to get away from those spam calls and no more ringing phones at all times of the night. I still get some spam calls on my cellphone but then I just block them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting conversation earlier about scammers called Bitcoin. I do believe in Bitcoin but I don't understand who would call people about it.
Interesting to learn about the Hiya app. I'll look into it if my cell phone's spam calls become too annoying, thanks!