Spam texts

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  #16  
Old 07-18-2020, 06:41 AM
bocaabend bocaabend is offline
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Download Robotkiller. It works
  #17  
Old 07-18-2020, 06:46 AM
fdpaq0580 fdpaq0580 is offline
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Default Careful doing this.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu from NYC View Post
If you want to have some fun see how long you can keep the crooks on the phone asking silly questions. I walk around the house while doing this and can get quite a few of my daily steps in this way
I used to love messing with unsolicited calls in the old days. Nowadays, it can be dangerous. Many scams just want you to pick up so they know they have a good number. Others would love you to talk your head off while they record your voice so they can piece together a call that has your actual voice for the purpose of identity theft or some other nefarious scheme.
So, be careful trying to mess with scamerers, it could bite you in the butt.
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Old 07-18-2020, 07:16 AM
davephan davephan is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu from NYC View Post
They cannot have an unlimited number of numbers to call from.
Wrong! The CallerID information can be faked. You can be presented new fake CallerID information with each call. There are billions of telephone and name combinations. A computer can program a new fake CallerID number and/or name with each junk call or junk text. Blocking each number is like “Wack a Mole”. You will never win that game.

I don’t know if the iPhone feature “Silence Unknown Callers” can stop the junk texts. Try “Settings”, “Phone”, turn on “Silence Unknown Callers”. If that doesn’t work, post your results.

If that method to filter out junk texts doesn’t work, hopefully, Apple could add that as a new feature. No one wants to receive junk texts. That feature does work to stop junk telephone calls.
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Old 07-18-2020, 07:26 AM
davephan davephan is offline
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I just found a possible solution to your junk texts. On the “iPhone”, “Settings”, “Messages”, turn on “Filter Unknown Senders”. That looks like it should stop the junk text messages.

If you have an “Android” cellphone, replace it with an IPhone.
  #20  
Old 07-18-2020, 08:00 AM
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zendog3 zendog3 is offline
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We could stop this in a year if we all agreed to only vote for a presidential candidate who promised to stop spam calls and emails. Pass a law making a $1000 fine per instance of spam calls and emails, and let bounty hunters catch the spammers. $500 to the bounty hunter and $500 to the US treasury. This would make a lot of new millionaires and zero out the budget deficit in one fell swoop.
  #21  
Old 07-18-2020, 08:20 AM
davephan davephan is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zendog3 View Post
We could stop this in a year if we all agreed to only vote for a presidential candidate who promised to stop spam calls and emails. Pass a law making a $1000 fine per instance of spam calls and emails, and let bounty hunters catch the spammers. $500 to the bounty hunter and $500 to the US treasury. This would make a lot of new millionaires and zero out the budget deficit in one fell swoop.
The problem with that is the junk callers are coming from overseas, outside of the reach of the US laws.

But there are ways you can stop those junk callers from annoying you, if you choose to do that. Or, you can keep putting up with the junk callers! Every month and every year, there will be more and more junk callers. Those companies only need to make money on a very tiny fraction of the people who fall for the advertising or scam.

Filtering out the junk callers is dirt cheap, if it saves you thousands or hundreds of thousands to prevent a scam that could have cost you or a vulnerable person that you know.
  #22  
Old 07-18-2020, 08:45 AM
Number 10 GI Number 10 GI is offline
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I got a call from some guy with a terrible accent telling me my computer was infected and that he could repair it. I started calling him every four letter word I know and questioned his parentage, sexual preferences, honesty and intelligence. When I hung up he was spitting and sputtering, couldn't get out an intelligible word.
  #23  
Old 07-18-2020, 09:03 AM
DonnaNi4os DonnaNi4os is offline
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Spam calls and texts drive us all crazy. I have found that blocking a number is ineffective and, in fact, it establishes you as a legitimate number and increases the number of spam calls/texts. I learned long ago not to answer any number I do not recognize on caller ID. If it’s important they will leave a message. On your cell phone you can silence unknown callers and I get a pop up that states “potentially spam” to numbers recognized by my carrier as such. I have a landline with a phone made by AT&T. I have put all of my important numbers in its directory. Should my phone ring with a robo call it doesn’t ring. Callers that are not programmed into my phone will receive a recording saying you have reached a phone with smart block, state your name. Callers have the option to do so, I hear their name from the phone’s speaker. I am instructed to press 1 if I wish to take the call. It works like a charm. It has cut back my nuisance calls by 95%. It was worth the cost of the phone which was around $95 with 4 handsets. With elections approaching and calls increasing I am so happy to have this phone.
  #24  
Old 07-18-2020, 09:13 AM
davem4616 davem4616 is offline
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I'm waiting for my 19th call informing me that this is my final opportunity to extend the warranty on a car that I no longer own before my option to do so ends...I love jerking the chain of the heavy accented guy that wants to fix my computer remotely, I tell him to hold on for a couple of seconds and just leave him hanging on the line for awhile

I usually answer the cell calls, as not all of my doctor's phone lines are in my contact list

I too have just started to receive 'spam' texts....I just delete them
  #25  
Old 07-18-2020, 09:31 AM
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There was a new law passed at the end of 2019 to address robocalls. It toughened the penalty but more importantly required the phone companies to install anti-spoofing software in their system. This should detect when callers are not showing the actual phone number they are using. The roll out of this improvement is ongoing now.

The law also directs the FCC to " to create rules that will help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted texts or robotexts, which are also plaguing smartphone users."

The present head of the FCC is Ajit Pai who spent some of his career at a lawyer for Verizon and is viewed as a friend of the telecom industry and a foe of regulation of that industry. It will be interesting to see what new regulations the FCC suggests.

At least Congress has shown some interest in helping with your spam text problem.
  #26  
Old 07-18-2020, 09:36 AM
danglanzsr danglanzsr is offline
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Default Limit on the number of phone number available to scammers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu from NYC View Post
They cannot have an unlimited number of numbers to call from.
That is correct. They only have 9,999,999,999.
  #27  
Old 07-18-2020, 09:47 AM
Mumbles Mumbles is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu from NYC View Post
Keep blocking they will run out of numbers eventually.
Well, unless you have 62.5 more years to live, you'll never be able to see them run out of numbers. They have them in the millions.

Just sayin'.
  #28  
Old 07-18-2020, 10:32 AM
Dilligas Dilligas is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 View Post
I used to love messing with unsolicited calls in the old days. Nowadays, it can be dangerous. Many scams just want you to pick up so they know they have a good number. Others would love you to talk your head off while they record your voice so they can piece together a call that has your actual voice for the purpose of identity theft or some other nefarious scheme.
So, be careful trying to mess with scamerers, it could bite you in the butt.
You don't beat identity theft by not answering phone calls or texts. You beat identity theft but controlling your credit cards and bank accounts. Two step authorization in all accounts, text on any transaction over an amount (mine is $10), putting a lock on all credit bureaus, and of course different and complex passwords, and don't use debit cards, only credit cards (you can have your ATM bank card restricted to ATM only instead of also a debit card). Then the only way they can try is to steal your purse/wallet, but you will know immediately.
  #29  
Old 07-18-2020, 10:52 AM
rlcooper70 rlcooper70 is offline
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I recently got a call from my wife's phone number ... and she was standing next to me. And I have attempted to stop the scam by calling the number back ... and they are someone whose number was used and they have no idea why. I hate to say we need the government to make it illegal ... because "government as the solution" is an anathema .. but that's the only thing I can think of.
  #30  
Old 07-18-2020, 01:26 PM
NJRICHARD NJRICHARD is offline
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I have found that typing in response to any text messages in CAPS....STOP.... I usually then receive another text message stating UNSUBSCRIBED .....and it has stopped a majority of text messages. The insurance to have my car repairs covered was stopped when I told them I have 300,000 miles on my car. We have to accept that when solution is found another will be discovered to counter it....the world of computers. How did we live without them?? THE GOOD OLD DAYS!!
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