Phone Companies Are Testing Tech to Catch Spam Calls. Let’s Hope It Works.

I had a call from Slovenia get past my iPhone "Do Not Disturb" last night, which really surprised me. Some searching helped me find that there is an option entitled "Repeated Calls" in the Do Not Disturb section of the iPhone's Settings. When enabled, even with Do Not Disturb on, any caller will get through if they call twice within three minutes. Mine was enabled, I've switched it off, I hope it works.

I have totally stopped answering my phone. If it’s not a number or name I recognize, they get dumped. Of course I’ve missed some important calls, but if you’re trying to reach me and you don’t leave a message, too bad. I have been inundated with robot calls. There is one particular middle eastern group that has been bugging being me for over a year. The call me from a variety of numbers, close one and they’re on to a next one. They threaten to go into my account and take money out, they are relentless. I totally ignore them, but they are a constant irritation. I so wish I could send an electrical charge thru my phone and eradicate them completely. If this continues, I’m seriously looking into a tin can and a length of string. I don’t know these people, I don’t want to know these sleeze bags. I just want my privacy and peace back.

I moved my landline over to a VoIP provider that gives me IVR (interactive voice response) service. I can program it to ask the caller who they want to speak to and this confuses all robocallers. The technology exists, for the end user, in these "alternate" phone services. You just can't get the same capability from At&T, Verizon, et al.

I am a prolific inventor with many successful patents. I came up with a way to eliminate all robocalls and almost all sales calls with a smart phone app. After a cursory search I believe that it may be patentable. The problem is that both iOS and android operating systems have rules which prevent its implementation with a third-party app. Frustrating. I can assure everyone with absolute certainty that Apple and Google can implement this method if they wanted to.

The phone companies know how to bill the source of the call, and place it with the target. The companies can clearly do something, but if it cuts out calls, they will fight to stop stopping them.

Compared to most people I get relatively few robo calls. I live in a a major city and have a major carrier. The only reason I can fathom, is I never give my number out to any retailer or cashier or vendor. Same goes for my email . .never ever give it to anyone I do not want to communicate with.

This is what the system of criminal justice is built for - to provide a deterrent against crime. Petty crime like these nuisance calls would be effectively quashed by prosecution on misdemeanor charges. Even a small sentence, multiplied by the hundreds of thousands, would do the job. Charge cell companies as accessories if the perpetrators are not in the country and the companies fail to take action after repeated warnings.

Several years ago I went to a presentation by a regional representative of the FTC at a law school near my home. He spoke about scams, generally, and telephone scams in particular. He detailed how difficult it is for the government to trace spoofed calls. I raised my hand and asked, what I thought, was a simple question: "If the NSA monitors every single telephone call that comes into and out of the USA, why can't we tell which ones are coming from spoofed phone numbers?" The FTC official had no response.

I started using Nomorobo on my VOIP line. It's reduced my SPAM calls by 99% (nothin's perfect). It hasn't blocked anything legitimate either. It's free and they're now offering the service to mobile lines as well, however copper landlines are not eligible.

There may be another way to stop these calls, coming from the billing side. The phone companies know what calls I make, that's how they bill us, including accidental calls to Belarus, etc. How about if all calls dialed had to pay $0.01 up front, whether the call was completed or not? It would be collected by the phone company completing the call in the US. That $0.01 would make robo-calling too expensive to use. For regular people in the US, we would be refunded for the first 100 or 500 outgoing calls per month. This refund amount may have to be tied to how long you've had your account. A new phone number and account maybe gets 100 free outgoing calls, one that has been established (and which the subscriber's phone company can tell has not been used for scamming) could have 500, or 1000. Another mitigation, for large companies legitimately making lots of calls, they could have their $0.01 fees refunded at end of each month if they are a known non-spammer. So for example, if a credit card company is making lots of calls per month warning of credit card fraud, that company is known US entity. For concerns about phone companies getting a windfall, there could be other adjustments (money goes into fund used for other purposes, money must be used proportionally to reduce monthly telephone charges (inverse of all those "line access" fees, etc. )

Leave it to the Trump administration to oppose a law which would actually benefit the average American citizen. This attitude is on-par with his dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Some days are better than others but on average at least 5 scam calls a day. We don't pick up our phone unless we know who it is (thank you personalized ringtones!). Sadly, these scammers are very creative and a step in front of us. For the past few months, for a couple of days in a row our voicemail will be filled with messages that just went through to vm. No ringing of phone even. The same message always says that it is from our health care provider (they know the name of it!) and says we are due for a screening. Does not say our names or anything else, just that they will call us back or we can call the number they give us. We knew right away, the first time it happened, that this was not from our health care provider because of the phone number they left. We contacted our healthcare provider and were put through to IT. Turns out they get multiple reports DAILY about different numbers used for this scam. The cycle started back up 2 days ago and we see no point in even calling IT about it. Sigh.

Robo calls are totally out of hand. It's to the point where I don't even want a phone anymore.

Some people don't have a clue as to how to use contact lists to filter calls on their phones. Some can't use a modern phone's programmable features and some can't remember their own children's numbers. My 89 y/o father, a brilliant man in his day, still relies on the old Rolodex he's used for decades. He has a smart phone but can only use it as a phone because that is what he used throughout his life. He was also trained to be polite and so will answer ANY call that comes to him, including foreign calls. Hanging up on someone is deeply anathema to him. To you and I, robocalls are just a nuisance, but to old people they are a much greater danger. The elderly are often TARGETED just because they are easy marks and always answer their phones. Scammers even have blacklists of #s where they know old people live. Live callers love these lists because they know the numbers have a much higher chance of getting answered by someone who has limited will power and a ready credit card. They will hammer that number daily until that person gives in, I've seen it happen. My point here is that no matter what the government or industry creates to protect us from phone scammers, if it requires any sort of consumer action to initiate then it is useless for old people. Most elderly simply cannot understand the complexities long enough to press the right buttons to protect themselves. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE CONSUMER INTERACTION TO PROTECT OUR ELDERLY FROM THIS SCOURGE.

I'm an American working in the Middle East. I have a US phone, and a Middle East phone. I get no robocalls, or unwanted calls on my Middle East phone, but my US phone receives them all the time, typically at night, due to the time difference I'm sure. I registered my US number with the National Do Not Call List, which slowed down the number of calls, but did not stop them. Is this Robocalling thing just a US problem? If so, what regulations do other countries have in place to prevent this, and why can't we have the same regulations? Maybe consumers like us should be a little more vocal with our elected representatives and start calling them to see why we can't have the same considerations as other consumers?

Don't blame the big telco's for his headache. The robocallers use VoIP, and enter the landline and cellular systems via small rural telco's that: 1) have access to the North American phone system, 2) have too few subscribers to make them profitable. So robocalls come through rural phone providers that get a bump in income from servicing robocallers. The major phone companies can determine the source of calls onto their network, and block them, but if uncle Buck and aunt Tillie are calling you from Podunk to NYC they have to connect the call. So we are kind of stuck for a solution. The "cheapest solution" would be to regulate these small companies that act as a portal for spam on to the phone networks. AT&T, Verizon, et. al. do get "settlement fees" for connecting robocalls, but as more people don't answer the phone, the spam traffic ties up resources on their phone system. But who calls anyone anymore?

There is a simple and free way to avoid spam call. All Smart phone have a Do Not Disturb feature. Just select it and then go to Exceptions and select contacts. Only calls from your contact list will ring/sound. All calls will come through and they can leave a message, but you won't run to the phone for a spam call. It means keeping your contact list up to date, but that's a good thing too. I did this two years ago and because I don't answer spam calls they have slowed from 3-4 a day to 2-3 a week. If you answer, the spammer system knows it's an active phone and will continue to call. If someone not in my contacts needs me they leave a message and I can decide if I want to call back...Stress level down to zero

Am totally relying on voicemail (if people really want to reach me, thy'll leave message), avoid saying, "Hello" when answering, and Caller ID from my contacts.

"Anthony Marino set his mobile phone to “Do Not Disturb” before going to bed, but he sensed it flicker in the dark." I had that problem too. Now my phone does not display anything when on Do not Disturb. Another issue is spam text messages.

The solution to this is for your phone service provider to charge 1 cent to connect every phone call. Charge 1 cent for every call someone makes. I am more than willing to pay 1 cent for each call to a friend or family member. That would probably add around 20 cents to my total cellphone bill a month. But this will destroy the robo call industry which relies on making millions of calls a day.

IMO, the answer to this problem is to criminalize robocalling. Civil fines against companies are ineffective when a company can just shut down and reopen under another name. Jailing the owner(s), however, introduces a whole other set of disincentives.

For landlines, there is a device called Sentry that you can buy through Amazon. If you set it up properly, it eliminates robocalls. You set up a white list of 'good' numbers. Everyone else has to hit a number to add their number to the white list, then call back to ring through. Robocallers will never do this. In one year using this box, we've had 1 spam call. What I do not understand is why the telcos can't set up something like that, or why it can't be integrated into landline or cell phones.

If the law allowed me to bill my provider for every spoofed call I got (since, hey, it's theft of service), I suspect telecoms would be a lot more eager to solve the problem in a permanent way. We're long overdue to motivate them, I'd say.

The FCC has done essentially nothing about this. It really can't do anything. The culprits are criminals in foreign countries. It can't touch them. The phone companies could care less. They make money on junk calls. Thus, the "solution" they came up with is already dead on arrival. The solution is as follows: a CAPTCHA, similar to what the Times uses to screen comments. Somebody calls your phone. It does not ring. Instead, the caller hears "Hi. you're reached the Snerds. Please enter [any prescribed combination of numbers or letters] to continue." If a human is listening, he or she can enter the code. THEN your phone will ring. Otherwise, the call will roll to voicemail. Goodbye robocalls. Yes, you'll miss some calls, but they will roll to voicemail. If somebody really wants to talk to you, he or she will leave a message. The criminals will not leave a message, because they need their phones to just keep calling. My cell phone only rings if the call is from a contact. Maybe once a month a real call ends of in voicemail. It's not a problem. The vast majority of robocalls don't leave a message. I'm hoping that there is some after market product in development that will allow us to use the CAPTCHA on our individual phones. We cannot look to the government or the phone companies for help with this.

I no longer answer any calls unless I recognize the number. If it is a genuine number, most people will leave a voice mail message. So very annoying.

The print headline on page A1 for this article states that your concern about robocalls is that they not interrupt you at dinner. That is chief, and only, problem with spam. The culture and law enforcement allows it. Yes, allows it. This has been the precedent since 1993 when spam first started to become a major problem. Your email, your phone, your phone line and cell signal to your phone, is public property. The side of your house isn't free to use for advertising due to some miraculous technicality. How is this allowed to happen you ask? Because you didn't complain, and you're still not going to complain so it will become worse. Marketers and the other hand are very motivated to speak up and grease the wheels with money. Where else can you get victims to pay for their victimization and be happy about it? It is well within our power to stop spam. It always has been. Our government will not because only the marketers are telling them what to do.

On a landline with an answering machine one can screen calls, that is, listen to the caller as they start to leave a message. If it's a legitimate call we answer. It's the only certain way to weed out the scammers and spammers. Why don't mobiles offer the same capability?

Who answers random calls anymore?. Actually, who answers phone calls anymore?

I was billed, and paid Google for one year of blocking spam and robo calls. After 2 or 3 months it stopped blocking them. It was called "Hiya".

I have been receiving the multiple international calls from Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Sierra Leone, Russia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Moldova, Kiribati and with USA ID: United States, New Smyrna Beach, Daytona Beach, Big Rock, IL and many from my friend Anonymous, Unknown Caller, No Caller ID etc. After mistakenly calling back Slovenia two weeks ago, I was contacted via text by Verizon, my provider, and asked to enroll in their international plan. The ten second call to Slovenia cost me $48.00. I contacted my provider, and after an hour texting they credited me the $48.00. They had no clue about the scam. I requested that my international incoming and outgoing calls be blocked. I cannot make any outgoing international calls but.....incoming international calls continue, which make me believe that those international aren't international at all. I only answer numbers I recognize. So, I am seriously thinking about changing my phone number, leaving Verizon or even getting rid of my iPhone and going back to the - maybe safer- flip phone. It seems the phone companies can do it all but fix this issue... Like my friend's father said 50 years ago, "They can send a man to the moon, but they can't fix Atlantic Avenue."

We are rapidly getting to the point where no one answers their phone anymore unless the caller is in their contact list. Most of the robo calls I get are spoofed versions of my own phone number, which has the area code of the place where I used to live years ago. In my case, it's easy to tell that an incoming call is spoofed, since any legitimate callers from that area are already in my contact list.

I am wondering if there’s a system that would detect when a robocaller number is blocked by many people, then that number is automatically blocked or disabled completely by phone providers.

My landline service is from MagicJack. When you dial my number, the service asks the caller to enter a single, random digit to continue. Robocalls have disappeared for me. There are potentially positive calls being blocked. To deal with them, I recommend text and email alerts to substitute for robocalls that notify me. In that people now ignore phone calls routinely, the cure needs to be more than what is in the article. I recommend the above - it would work (until robo-caller AI is able to respond to the request, as least), at which point phone calls will be made obsolete, with text/email being the only practical methods for communication. Any form of robocall, even the current 'official' schemes - e.g. appointment reminders, credit card issues, are indistinguishable from fraudulent ones, even with stir-shaken.

I am honestly considering getting rid of my cell phone. Ninety percent of the phone calls I receive are scams. Why should I have to put up with that? Life is short.

Include in your voicemail message the fact that you never answer your phone but will respond to a message. Then call those folks whose call was important. Let your friends know that you never pick up. If your friends do not leave messages--oh, well. My caller id only lasts for one or two rings for some mysterious telephone reason so "leave a message" is the only way most people will get a response. If you happen to be right there when the caller starts to talk and it is a known caller you can always pick up. This may sound unfriendly, but 20 or more spam calls/day are difficult to handle. I am always aware that the caller knows who and where I am so answering and screaming are not a safe response.

I recently asked friends in Europe if they were plagued with these constant scam calls, and they all said they did not get them in Europe, but as soon as they came to the states they did. So what is the rest of the world doing, that our phone companies are not? This seems to be preventable.

You can set your phone to only ring on calls from people in your contacts. Let the rest go to voicemail. Real people will leave a message, Robb Allen’s do not.