I am recently receiving 20+ unwanted calls on my landline.....suggestions??

[Glynda]

It's called ID spoofing, they are not calling locally but spoof the caller ID because you may be more likely to answer and it does not good to block the number because it changes all the time.

I have an Android cell phone and use the Do Not Disturb feature, you can add exceptions like let calls through that are in my contact list. Calls ignored go to voicemail so if it's important they can leave a message.

But what is their purpose? What do they want?

 

[DrQ]

One is that I do use it for faxing. Overall that works in my favor.

I can connect my Printer/Fax to my Ooma VOIP, just in case anybody needs to FAX over a VOIP connection.

 

[DrQ]

But what is their purpose? What do they want?

• They want to play "Whack-a-Mole" with spam filters for known spam numbers
• They want to masquerade as some other company to commit fraud
• They want to make the call appear that it is coming from a local exchange to make the sucker/victim more likely to answer the call
• They hide who they really are

 

[dioxide45]

But what is their purpose? What do they want?

They want you to answer so they can either sell you something or scam you. They make massive amounts of calls. They actually call multiple numbers simultaniously and the first one to pick up routes to a person on their end and they start the grift. This is why so many times you answer and it is nothing but dead air. They only need to scam or sell a few people to make money.

The same is true for the massive amounts of spam. It is cheap to send out and they only need a tiny percentage of people to fall for it for them to make it work.

 

[callwill]

I had a spam on my cell phone "is this Mrs X" I said "who's calling" and they repeated, is this... I said I'm not answering your question until I know what you are calling about--he said "don't be such a Bit.." I was suprised, but at least it was a person (the conversation ended there of course). Then--he Called Back!! I couldn't believe this--it's harassment, but there is nothing that can be done.

They want to record you saying the word YES>

 

[dioxide45]

They want to record you saying the word YES>

This only applies to cell phones where they can then start auto billing whatever service to your cell phone bill. They can't do that with landlines and the only way they can collect money is for you to actually give them a credit card number.

That said, I think the "can you hear me?" scam is more urban legend or internet hoax. I am not aware of any known instances of someone being billed charges to their cell phone due to this apparent scam.

 

[GetawaysRus]

There are a few of us dinosaurs who still have landlines. Why?

2 main reasons for us:
1. Our mobile phone carrier is Verizon, but our home is in an area with very poor Verizon wireless service. After several calls to Verizon customer service, they finally gave me a device called an LTE Network Extender. The extender hooks up to our home network. I don't understand the tech, but when booted up, the screen shows that it is connecting to about 10 different satellites. It definitely helped improve our signal strength and my wife was finally able to reliably send texts containing images. But even if we set our mobile phones to wifi calling, there are still areas in the home where the wireless signal is weak. (Before Verizon we used Sprint. We had the same problems with Sprint. Sprint gave me a gadget called an Airave to improve the wireless signal.)
2. Our home security system requires a phone line so that it can communicate with the alarm monitoring company. Yes, for an installation fee and an additional monthly fee that would get tacked on to our bill, we could switch that over to wireless. But again, wireless service where we live is just not that great.

And no, I don't live in the boonies. I live in a major suburban area of Southern California in a city with a population of about 175,000.

(I mentioned how difficult it was to send texts with images prior to installing the LTE Network Extender. It took me some time to understand why and to get that corrected. If any of you have Verizon mobile service and find that you can send texts with words only but cannot send texts with images, you are welcome to "Start a Conversation" with me and I'll explain what the problem may be.)

 

[Tia]

They want to record you saying the word YES>

Why is that? I have heard that before.

 

[Tia]

Our landline has been extremely quiet , thankfully, considering the election and Medicare. We put on it an option with Century where before the call rings through it says 'this caller does not take marketing calls, press 1 to continue' . Guess if they hang on long enough the call still comes through . For a while the robots did hang on long enough so rang, but seems to of finally stopped.

 

[Sandi Bo]

I can connect my Printer/Fax to my Ooma VOIP, just in case anybody needs to FAX over a VOIP connection.

I don't think I have an Ooma or a VOIP In all seriousness, I need to look into being able to FAX using more modern methods. However given my current situation, I haven't been motivated to do so.

 

[jp10558]

I don't think I have an Ooma or a VOIP In all seriousness, I need to look into being able to FAX using more modern methods. However given my current situation, I haven't been motivated to do so.

I'd suggest just stopping doing faxes if at all possible - there's no real "modern method" for faxing lol.

 

[easyrider]

I did this. I also have reasons for keeping my longtime land line number. That phone sits in the kitchen and gets all the spam. Occasionally someone valid leaves a message.
I made the switch when the second cell line was cheaper than the land line cost.

I remember the call that had us port all of our landline numbers to cell phones. The phone company called and wanted us to upgrade our business lines which would increase the costs but provide free USA long distance calls. Our main reason to keep a land line was our 800 number and faxing. I can't remember the exact amount this saved us each month but it was substantial. The added benefit was all of the incoming calls came to our cell phones which is good for business.

Now days, I'm use to not answering the phone and my phone is mainly used to stream music or play poker, lol.

Bill

 

[Luanne]

I live in the capital of my state. We get very poor, and sometime no, cell service at our home. So we have a landline. When we were in California we got good cell service, but I worked for the phone company so our landline was free.

 

[DrQ]

I'd suggest just stopping doing faxes if at all possible - there's no real "modern method" for faxing lol.

Anytime you deal with banks, governments and company billing disputes, you need a fax.

I dorked around with a company with a billing dispute for over 6 months on a bill that I had paid and had a copy of the cancelled check from the bank. Six times, they sent me an email address of the person I was discussing the issue on the phone to send the PDF of the check and it went nowhere. I found an online dispute method that asked to fax the proof and BOOM! the issue was resolved.

I don't think I have an Ooma or a VOIP In all seriousness, I need to look into being able to FAX using more modern methods. However given my current situation, I haven't been motivated to do so.

This was meant to show to others that you can set up a FAX without a landline.

 

[DrQ]

I live in the capital of my state. We get very poor, and sometime no, cell service at our home. So we have a landline. When we were in California we got good cell service, but I worked for the phone company so our landline was free.

In our area, I don't think that you can get a landline any more. Businesses still may be able to get POTS, but they are trying to migrate consumers to VOIP on the fiber network.

 

[Luanne]

In our area, I don't think that you can get a landline any more. Businesses still may be able to get POTS, but they are trying to migrate consumers to VOIP on the fiber network.

I would be very surprised if landlines were not still offered.

 

[callwill]

Why is that? I have heard that before.

What is the “Say Yes” Scam? - Experian

Learn what a say yes scam is, how fraudsters can record you saying yes and commit fraud and how to protect yourself from this scam.

www.experian.com

 

[callwill]

I'd suggest just stopping doing faxes if at all possible - there's no real "modern method" for faxing lol.

My wife was an independent service provider in the health care field. Every insurance company she dealt with required billing information to be faxed.

 

[jp10558]

My wife was an independent service provider in the health care field. Every insurance company she dealt with required billing information to be faxed.

My point is just that I go 5+ years between anyone asking for a fax, and when they do it's a real PITA to get it to work - my work pays for a "modern faxing" tool in Ring Central - and the last time I tried it, the remote Fax system would just fail it till I went and paid to use a land line ancient fax machine. Hence my "No Modern Method". And with traditional phone lines going away and apparently various VOIP faxing just not working, eventually these people will find they cannot actually get or send faxes anymore and get pulled into the 21st century. My entire life fax has been the least reliable way to send any data, and worse - the public fax machines most normal people have access too will sometimes spit out onto the machine "confidential data" like hours after you've left because it decided it actually couldn't send the fax.

If anyone ever gives me a choice, I'm not doing fax.

 

[pittle]

I get very few calls on my landline phone, because I use Magic Jack. To get though, you have to press the random number they give you in order for my phone to ring. I am careful about putting my cell number to various businesses and keep it just for friends and family.

 

[callwill]

My point is just that I go 5+ years between anyone asking for a fax, and when they do it's a real PITA to get it to work - my work pays for a "modern faxing" tool in Ring Central - and the last time I tried it, the remote Fax system would just fail it till I went and paid to use a land line ancient fax machine. Hence my "No Modern Method". And with traditional phone lines going away and apparently various VOIP faxing just not working, eventually these people will find they cannot actually get or send faxes anymore and get pulled into the 21st century. My entire life fax has been the least reliable way to send any data, and worse - the public fax machines most normal people have access too will sometimes spit out onto the machine "confidential data" like hours after you've left because it decided it actually couldn't send the fax.

If anyone ever gives me a choice, I'm not doing fax.

We have a VOIP "landline" via Ooma with their extra Linx device for the fax/printer (as someone else posted about). We got ours for free from someone that was moving. We pay 6.51 per month for their basic service (recently raised from 6.38). They do have an upgraded service we have never really explored that includes many more features for a whopping 10 bucks a month.

 

[easyrider]

I get very few calls on my landline phone, because I use Magic Jack. To get though, you have to press the random number they give you in order for my phone to ring. I am careful about putting my cell number to various businesses and keep it just for friends and family.

I forgot all about our Magic Jack line. We bought this to preserve my wife's parent's land line number that goes back 60+ years.

Bill

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

About a month ago, I started getting 20+ unwanted calls per day. It happened to be at a time where we had lost power here in South Carolina.....I still don't think that had anything to do with it...but maybe??

I then went into the Do Not Call Registry....which can take 31 days....I am on day 41.

I got another 22 today.....I might get a couple more....they usually start around 9am, and end before 8pm.

I called my Landline provider company...no suggestions there.

I have reasons to keep my landline.....so please don't advise me to 'cut' that.

I have turned my phone's Ring DOWN...so that the 20+ daily calls don't bother us quite as much.

I was thinking the Election was part of the 'spam'...and now Medicare Enrollment.....not sure.

I answered twice today....just to see who might be calling......nothing there. I suspect now that might OFTEN be the case

I have contemplated changing my phone number...but will THAT get rid of it?

(Please read ALL of my post....I have presented details so as to eliminated simple solutions such as "....get rid of the landline, etc. "

Thanks

Keep your phone. Keep your phone line. Hire an answering service to answer and screen all your calls.










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[dioxide45]

I would be very surprised if landlines were not still offered.

They probably are, but perhaps not in the traditional sense. Copper landlines are slowly being phased out.

 

[Talent312]

We're old school and still have a landline (magic Jack).
We mostly use it to call our cells when we need to find them.
-- they usually turn up in a pants pocket or couch --
But also, if we don't want the other party to know our cell #.
---------------------
Our hardware has a screening feature that requires callers
who are not already in our directory to enter a random #.
I'll see a "screening" message light up, but very few get thru.