House passes anti-robocall bill in major crackdown on spam calls
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/house-anti-robocall-crackdown-spam-calls. The Congressional sausage factory keeps grinding. Maybe someday they will get there!
@myjackcity#101221 LOL this legislation is worthless.
Basically this just forces the FCC to implement STIR/SHAKEN by making them mandate its implementation, which is ONLY targeted towards the Tier 1 phone carriers. Only cell phone users will be able to see the "check" or lock icon, or whatever graphic the handset maker and phone carrier agree on to show a subscriber that an incoming call originated from the carrier that owns the number showing on the Caller ID.
For STIR/SHAKEN to be effective with scammers it has to cut the answer rate down to 10% of what it is now. Not even 1/2 will cut it. It has to decimate the amount of callbacks that victims make back to scammers to have any effect at all.
And even if that happens, scammers will just prune their Caller ID they're sending to the VOIP blocks in the numberspace, which Tier 1 providers cannot verify. For a decade maybe longer the only information you will get out of that authenticated icon is verification between mobile-to-mobile calls and mobile to major landline calls. Commercial calls will still come that are valid but cannot get authenticated.
DEBT COLLECTORS will obviously be working furiously trying to get their outbounds to get an authentication icon on them. And none of the phone companies will want to pass on the name of the carrier of the calling party. Because if it's Bandwith.com why the fuck would you want to pick up the phone? All calls coming out of BW are garbage.
Other than that, this legislation literally does nothing.
The one thing that legislators could do that would end this once and for all is to force carriers to keep personal phone directories from opt-in subscribers stored at the phone switch and they must do filtering directly on the switch itself so the handsets never get pinged at all if there is no valid match. To get an exception around the filter would require government registration that you are a local medical provider who has provided services to the subscriber, or from a local/state authority. Nobody else can get around the filter. If you want to call that person you better be on that person's contact list or the call will not connect.
If you implemented this feature, all robocalling would cease immediately. But at the same time nearly a huge part of the debt collection industry would die along with it.
@kenzo#101223 agreed. Do you think this is the end of the conventional phone number? 100% internet calling based on apps and email?
@myjackcity#101224 The phone as we’ve known it for 150+ years is getting closer to death. And it’s literally being killed by VOIP companies not due to innovation, but their lack of care for the traditional telephone subscriber.
Some telecoms are quietly allowing the traffic to be shoved on to the network, some are even assisting the scammers directly and have Hindi-speaking staff to assist them in roboblasting victims. Others are too afraid to get that close to scammers but are happy to work with dialer guys who basically act as traffic brokers to put their outbounds on their network.
Like these Florida dialers... plenty of dialer guys down there work directly with these vacation scammers are also directly partnered with carriers.
At the end all that matters is traffic. What I'd like to prove to telecoms is that it's just as fruitful to do the traffic in the reverse direction and send the junk calls back to the source.
Well said.
@kenzo#101229 we also saw a glispe of private companies trying to end the currancy system as we know it with Lyra. The feds squashed it like a bug, but I wonder how long that will be kept down. Change is here. It is a small world. Corruption is a disease. Peace and understanding starts at an individual level.
My Experience with American Scammers.
While most of the scam baiting community typically focuses on Indian scammers, which often pose as Microsoft or a certified technical support company, I have become quite aware and focused on the various scams run in the USA. From the day I got my cell phone I've been receiving unwanted, "promotional" calls. Whether its a free cruise, free car insurance, free $100USD rebate voucher, credit-card debt relief, student loan, or business loan, some call center always seems to be running a "limited promotion" and never fails to call me and check if I want in. I've opted out many times and requested to be put on their do not call lists, however, few if any have respected my request. Through repeated interactions and a bit of research myself I've been able to identify a majority of the companies/call-centers which attempt to scam me. In said research I often come across many others experiencing the same thing as I am: receiving unsolicited calls for goods/services that are obviously too good to be true. Typically the only thing they want you to pay is a "shipping fee" or "government fee." These "limited promotions" they push so heavily are anything but limited. After keeping track of several of these promotional scam companies for over three years now, I can now confidently say that these are simply tactics which these companies use to pressuring you into to signing up or going ahead with the call. "Exclusive," "limited," "lucky," "winner," and "today only" are merely a few of the buzzwords these scammers spew while interacting with people. A "limited free cruise promotion" has lasted over three years strait and a "free rebate voucher" has lasted just as long. I've given these companies bad reviews where I can and called them regularly for years wasting their time and money, but besides a few name changes and revisions to the script they read, nothing has really changed. On rare occasions I've actually gotten to speak with the "manager" at a few of the call centers. Some cuss me out and tell me to never call back while others just want to know why I keep calling. Sadly I've received little to no substantial information from these managers about how or why the companies are operating in the way they are. However on one occasion a "manger" told me that their service is free because after signing up they sell off your phone number and address to other promotional companies and also that they use your credit card info, which you would give them for a $1.00 shipping fee, to sign you up for magazine subscriptions that you would have to manually cancel with another company.
I have names, addresses and phone numbers to most of, if not all of, these companies that contact me regularly. A shocking detail I discovered was that they are all supposedly located in Florida. And a good number of them are in West Palm Beach or Fort Lauder-dale. The exact reason for this I don't know, however I suspect there may be a loop hole in Florida or the counties in which they operate.
If it would help I could certainly share more detailed information about these individual companies.
@ThomasOMalley#101296 please share. You are spot on in your analysis. The biggest question is how is the frequency of the calls controlled so well? It seems to be a well coordinated distribution of call lists and dialing.
In other news Equifax May Not Pay You That $125 Settlement Because It Screwed Too Many People: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nea8xq/equifax-may-not-pay-you-that-dollar125-settlement-because-it-screwed-too-many-people
The FTC continues to bone the people. Credit monitoring like LifeLock is a joke. Essentially a legal scam promoted by many. After a year or 6 months of coverage, they hope you forget to cancel and start paying. The bank will freaking call you if they see suspicious activity! Also check your damn statements every month!
Don't be duped by these phone and email scams | Fox Business
It looks like nerdwallet.com and AARP are getting into the scambaiting game. Isn't that cute? They still believe in the FTC.
Police captain records a scam artist phoning her and threatening to ARREST her | Daily Mail Online
So when the police scambait it is newsworthy and funny. Yeah that's a good job raising awareness... but most local cops are just as powerless as regular folks. So cute when other people discover scambaiting, isn't it?
Some more info on lead generators, the scammers of scammers.
What is a ping tree?
A lead seller's list of potential buyers is sometimes referred to as a ping tree. This is because, for each incoming lead, there are usually several outgoing pings to the potential buyers.
This appears to be the marketplace for leads. It is software driven.
Ping post = ping tree = lead auction
Finally the answer. This is what a lead auction is. It is a software for buyers and sellers of contact information. This needs to be publicized.
congress is still trying to pass the TRACED Act
Department of Justice approves Live Nation / Ticketmaster merger under certain conditions. Department of Justice investigating whether Live Nation / Ticketmaster violated said conditions.
Welcome to America. Backasswards.
Parents pay thousands for 'brain training' to help kids with ADHD and autism. But does it work?
https://wondery.com/shows/bad-batch/
Snake Oil is still peddled even today. By Betsy DeVos herself.
Kids need activity and structure, any benefits from these centers could probably be achieved with a number of social programs and individual attention. Any brain exercises or neurological stimulation is just bogus.
Stem Cell therapy is largely a scam. Research, applications, and potentials in the field do exist, but anyone who says they are going to inject stem cells in your spine to magically fix them is full of it. That's not how stem cells work.
FTC admits in Bad Batch they don't have enough capacity to regulate the market. How about this? Ban the practice outright.
@myjackcity#122792 WTF…everything is political to some people
@FattyMatty#122796 DeVos is a scammer from a scam family. She is the only one being mentioned here. Amway history set the precedence for the scam industry operating just within the bounds of the law.
Fascinating!
Who knew prisons operate call centers?
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3a8nqv/the-bloomberg-campaign-reportedly-had-a-contract-with-a-company-that-uses-prison-labor
#1 - I bet Bloomberg did not know the vendor violates the TCPA on his behalf either. I know there are some political exemptions, but I bet this vendor does not play by the rules.
#2 - does the state of Oklahoma operate a call center that violates the TCPA?
#3 - there is nothing wrong with paid prison work. The prisoners are the only ones here who are not guilty.
I would like to thank all the scammers for taking the day off on Christmas as to not interrupt the festivities. Perhaps it would be nice if those benchode scammers would cease operations during weddings, funerals, medical emergencies, sporting events, important business meetings, watching the TV, procreation, reading, gaming, and oh yeah all other aspects of daily life. Happy New Year bencodes!