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Discussion Boards => Off-Topic => Topic started by: cadence4u on February 03, 2019, 05:32:14 pm
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Are YOU plagued by robocalls? Study reveals spam calls almost doubled in the last year with a record breaking 26.3 billion recorded in 2018!
A new report from Hiya said Americans received 26.3 billion spam calls last year
People receive an average of 10 spam calls per month, often from telemarketers
The barrage of spam calls has increasingly led people to not answer the phone
Robocalls really are on the rise.
A new report from caller ID service Hiya found that Americans received a whopping 26.3 billion spam calls in 2018.
That marks a 46 percent increase from 2017, when users logged about 18 billion robocalls.
The report highlights the growing issue of invasive phone calls - a problem legislators and Silicon Valley tech giants have recently moved to crack down on.
What's more, as people in the U.S. get a barrage of spam calls, many are increasingly choosing not to answer the phone at all.
'As our phones continue to be inundated by robocalls, many people no longer want to pick up the phone at all,' Hiya CEO Alex Algard told The Washington Post.
However, not all automated calls are bad; some may be alerting users that their prescriptions are ready at the drug store, or could concern important notifications from their bank.
When users don't answer the phone under the fear or receiving a robocall, they can often miss out on important calls, according to the Post.
In its analysis, Hiya found that people received an average of about 10 spam calls per month.
People received about 60 incoming calls from 'unrecognized numbers or numbers not linked to a person in their contact list,' the Post noted.
The top area codes that were targeted by spam callers in 2018 were Texas cities including Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth.
Of the spam calls received, most of them were 'general spam,' followed by fraud, telemarketers and robocallers.
'Unsolicited robocalls are the #1 source of consumer complaints to the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission,' Hiya said.
'This incessant problem is only getting worse due to a lucrative profit motive for scammers.'
The FTC has backed up this claim, recently telling The Verge that it deals with about 500,000 user complaints about robocalls each month.
Why did the government shutdown lead to rise in ROBOCALLS?
Many federal agencies, including the FTC and FCC, were closed during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The shutdown lasted between December 22nd and January 25th - a total of 35 days.
During that time, users saw a spike in robocalls, as scammers tried to cash in on the government shutdown.
Users who attempted to register with the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call Registry were unable to as a result of the shutdown.
The Do Not Call Registry is a database of phone numbers who do not want to be contacted by telemarketers.
The website came back online once the shutdown ended, but during the time that the FTC and FCC were closed, their websites were down as well.
It meant that consumers couldn't receive warnings about robocall scams and the offices couldn't record consumer complaints, according to the Washington Post.
Nomorobo, a call blocking service, saw a 'severe' rise in the number of consumer complaints during the shutdown.
One frightening scam in particular warned users in a voicemail that the 'recent government shutdown is affecting [their] standing with the IRS.'
Robocalls have become so common that a 2018 report predicted almost 50 percent of all mobile calls will be scam calls this year.
Telecom providers and the FCC have taken steps to put an end to incessant robocalls.
The FCC is increasingly calling on carriers to adopt the staken/shir method, a protocol that would attach a certificate of authenticity to each phone number, adding an extra layer of verification.
T-Mobile has said it will bring the protocol to its users soon, while AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have said they will also adopt it.
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I do get robocalls. It used to be that numbers would show up on my caller ID that were out of my area code.
Nowadays, many calls come from my area code and even my local town prefix. They have gotten sneaky!!
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Yes.. Thought they would end when we stopped our wireless phone account. Now however our cell phones are getting called more and more frequently. Even when you opt out they continue to call. So frustrating! And we are on the no call list!
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Yes, on both my landline and my cell phone. I sometimes answer them on cell and tell them to call me back as I can't talk right now and then I block the number on my cell phone.
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We get about 2 a day and just hang up. Soooooooooooooooooooo annoying !!
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Robocalls: I do not even talk to them!
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I have an app on my phone that does good in identifying the spam calls. I don't answer any calls that I don't recognize the number. If it is an important call, they will leave a message.
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I get them everyday and I just hang up or don't answer. Home phone is worst but I get them on cell also
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all the time..i block when i can
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I get so many it's not even funny. I get on landline and cell. I have accessed do not call list more time than I can remember but that does no good.
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I had one spammer who called me 4-5 times a day and that didn't include other calls. I used to answer and immediately hang up. I had a message on my answering machine that told them if they were selling, I wasn't buying because I was broke. That worked for humans, but not the robocalls. Don't have to do it anymore. The answer is Nomorobo. It's free if you have Comcast/Xfinity (the one thing good that company does for us).. Spam calls ring once and gone. Peace and quiet. Political calls and any health insurance, doctors, or family can still get through. I used to get 6 a day. Now I get 1 or 2. Very quiet around here lately. I am lonesome. NOT!!! :D
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YES! Mainly on my cell phone.
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Yes, at work and at home but at home I don't answer.
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I get them. I get a lot of spam calls too. I add it to my blocked number list.
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I'm getting SO many bogus calls on my phone the past month or two. It didn't used to be that much of a problem. They're all local numbers, never leave a message or anything, I don't even know what the deal is.
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Yes.. Thought they would end when we stopped our wireless phone account. Now however our cell phones are getting called more and more frequently. Even when you opt out they continue to call. So frustrating! And we are on the no call list!
They were not allowed to do that when people were paying for their minutes. Or they were not suppose to. Somehow it charged people when voice mail picked up.
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I'm getting SO many bogus calls on my phone the past month or two. It didn't used to be that much of a problem. They're all local numbers, never leave a message or anything, I don't even know what the deal is.
Do like the rest of us and don't answer it. Most people do not answer their phones any more. Leave me a message and I will call you back. That is my motto.
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yup i get plenty of them. Lately I have been answering them and sometimes they give you an option to be taken off their list. If not, I push whatever they say to get a live person and tell them I'm not interested and to take me off their list. It has cut down on the amount of phone calls I get.
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YEs, it annoys me to no end. My landline is transfered to my cell phone due to some issues with the actual phone at home, and i never know when the call my cell or my home. I started using Nomorobo with my land line and some of those calls have stopped, the ones that come in I either ignore or if I answer I just hang up adn block the number. But it is very difficult to know, I was looking to work recently and i never new when the call was work related, always answered now I just ignore them.
I have also notice that the calls come from phone numbers that start like mines area code 339 or area code 615 and then a different number, I guess they want you to think that someone you know is calling you. Very annoying
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Hello! :D :)
I get so many calls it can be so irritating. What annoys me the most is when they try to make it seem as if I gave them my number to learn more about their business. I'm like you find my number online and your not interested in what I want. :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose: :heart: :rose:
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Seemed to be getting more and more. My husband wants to buy a whistle and use it when we don't recognize the caller. Told him that is too harsh and just let it ring. If it is important they will leave a message
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We usually do not answer, or sk them to remove our name/number from their list. Sometimes I just lay the phone down and tie up their line.
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I used to answer these types of phone calls but some of these robocalls that telemarketers are using are fraudulent and sometimes threatening so I decided to block all blocked calls from reaching me.
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4:28 am yesterday morning we got a call from "ever source" and a friend of mine got a call at 4 am yesterday as well. Since when was they aloud to call so early?
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We get a lot of robo calls, I like the idea of leaving it off the hook.
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I don't answer the phone anymore unless I recognize the number.
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I am home alone all day most of the time, so at least I get to talk to someone once in a while.
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Yes, I usually get at least one robocall per day and sometimes as much as 2-4. I never answer the landline phone in our home that they come in on; I just check voicemail periodically to see if any of the calls are for real and they hardly ever are. We get everything from the traditional IRS scam to the "I've fallen and can't get up so need a medical alert bracelet" type of call.
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Oh,yea,but i never answer the phone.
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if I don't know the caller I don't answer it
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Yes I constantly receive them. You ask to be removed or you block the call and they just use another number. I just don't answer any calls that I don't recognize the number.
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Use nomorerobo dot com & donotcall dot gov
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Yes, they are so annoying and intrusive.
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I get so many Robo Calls, so every time that they call now, I just block their number each time. It is frustrating to block every call, but I hope that it will pay off.
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I get so many Robo Calls, so every time that they call now, I just block their number each time. It is frustrating to block every call, but I hope that it will pay off.
It doesn't matter. They call from a different number the next day. I am to the point that if I do not know who it is I do not answer the call. Leave a message and I will call you right back. It is ridiculous. And the donotcall.gov is a joke because I have been signed up with them for years and I have started getting a ton of calls.
They need to make it so that if your number is called and you are on the do not call list YOU the owner of the number get $5000 per time you are called. The government could stop this if they wanted to. Make strict laws and enforce them. But we don't enforce any other laws so why bother with this one. Grrrr
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I might get weird sales calls when i sign up on the web for information.
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I get the weirdest calls on my cell phone. Last week I got a call and they left a message that said if I did not call them back immediately I would get arrested. Fortunately I have been able to avoid capture :)
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Some days it seems like I get twenty or thirty spam calls. It really drives me crazy.
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I get the weirdest calls on my cell phone. Last week I got a call and they left a message that said if I did not call them back immediately I would get arrested. Fortunately I have been able to avoid capture :)
Yeah those calls are from people claiming to be from the IRS. And the way they word the call is enough to tell you it is fake.
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No thank goodness.