S.N.A.F.U. Project - Spoofers Need A Final Undoing

Question

Victim less Crimes? Robocalls, Caller ID Spoofing, IRS Scams, These are all things associated with having a telecommunications contract which pretty much affects anyone these days. there are unscrupulous persons all over the face of the earth using VOIP and spoofing services to conduct robocalling campaigns with the intent of defrauding our loved ones and it goes on 24-7 all year long. I am asking the Element 14 community to engage into combat with these insensitive individuals. Technology has been created to allow us to avoid the unwanted annoyances of greedy Telemarketers using Caller ID, Caller ID spoofing has been the criminal response. What some individuals have done is create electronics to weed out robocallers(Tele-zapper,CPR5000, and a number of devices that function so poorly they are no longer available)

Cutting to the chase, it would be wonderful/and profitable if a member of the community could develop a device that can use the spoofed caller ID information by calling from a celular phone connected via USB dongle to confirm if the ID'd # is indeed busy, and not spoofed to allow the caller to dial 1 to be routed to the base station and either be answered by user or leave a message. In the event the cell call gets a cant't connect , or this number is out of service message, the caller gets disconnected. If the device could access a database of suspected robocall numbers to preempt the previously described process and then follow through on Spoofed call detection that would streamline the call screening process and put a serious SNAFU in the scoundrels process.

mcb1 · Accepted Answer

Many of our annoying calls from "Microsoft" are skype type calls and targetting landlines. The game here is to string them along for as long as you can, so it delays them ringing someone else. For NZ based phones if you prefix with 192 it stops the caller ID from being sent, so there is no system (apart from DAB ) that can be used. However lately the game is to call mobiles in the hope the missed call will prompt you to call back, and they charge like a wounded bull. I'm also aware of a payback for an automated dialling system .... The business was using an automated calling system to annoy everyone, so someone decided to turn the tables and set up an automated caller to ring them all day and played music. They decided to stop auto dialling if the calls stopped. It was on the news which gave anyone else the warning as well, and so far we've mostly avoided a repeat. They make the mistake here of calling between 6 pm and 7 pm when most people are home watchign the news. Our first comment is "wonder what they are selling", and sure enough ... I like the ones that say we'll be in your area, and when asked what area that is, the response is 20km away ... I usually respond with "good luck then, I'm not there and hang up". But yes telemarketing is annoying and not going away. mark

DAB · Answer

I have a simpler approach. I no longer answer my phone unless I know the number on the caller id. I have told everyone I know that I will pick up their call if they just identify themselves and so far it works. When I grew up it was considered rude to let the phone ring more than three times. Now, I do not even bother to look up. The phone has no longer become an instrument of communication, it has become an unwanted annoyance. I wonder what Alexander Graham Bell would think of his invention as it is used today. DAB

shabaz · Answer

It's the automated call systems that are annoying. They will ring until one actively mutes the phone, and they can repeat daily, and they are smart enough to hang up the call quickly if they hear silence. But basically there is a lack of intervention by government and service providers. Often the systems will originate calls from another country, to make it harder to initiate legal proceedings, and also because then it's easy to modify the caller ID presentation number to make it harder to block a specific number. Although there are some suboptimal workarounds (like apps on mobile phones) I think its at the point where a technical solution is not needed for the end user, but for governments to enforce service providers to do something about it, because they can easily see that the calling number is different to the presentation number (they are two separate fields in the out-of-band data when a call is set up from one network to another). We don't have access to that difference by the time the call arrives on our phones, it has been filtered out by the service provider.

jw0752 · Answer

Hi Rene,

I have found myself answering with anger in my voice and then I have to apologize when it turns out to be someone I know and want to talk to. We may all be more connected than ever before but in many ways it is not as good as it used to be. Another thing that bugs me is you can't look anyone up in the phone directory anymore. If you don't have their phone number from some other source you are out of luck. Last gripe is that my children will not answer my calls but they will answer a text message. What's with that?

John

rmcoutu33mcintoshent · Answer

Being in a position where my significant other is undergoing treatment for renal cancer we can't afford to ignore a tele # from out area code spoofed or not. This makes a painful situation So much more difficult. Telemarketers suck the marrow from our elderly bones!

mcb1 · Answer

This makes a painful situation So much more difficult. Sadly something you can't avoid, and good luck on the treatment. Here in NZ there is supposed to be a black list that all members of the Telemarketers are meant to abide by. Not sure if there is one in your location, and whether they will honour it. The telecom companies here have banded together to help isolate and hopefully eliminate many of the overseas calls that are 'spam/false/just a nuisance' as they realise it is impacting on their network and customers. You realise that once you've found a solution, they'll find a way around it. It's very similar to making something idiot proof ... there's always a better idiot around the corner Mark

danielw · Answer

I've answered with a rather gruff tone to the mother in law, I then have to explain about expecting it to be a call centre on about viruses or my internet connection. She didn't seem impressed!

You're also spot on with children not answering calls but will answer texts. Yet I see them chatting to their mates holding the phone like they are on the apprentice even when they are on their own, nobody else needs to hear!

If it's annoying me, sometimes I'll say random words loudly, "TROM-BONE" is a firm favourite, Though you do need to emphasise a separation in the word for maximum comedy effect!

Is she on the phone, or so hungry she's confused it with a cracker with a nice bit of cheese?

S.N.A.F.U. Project - Spoofers Need A Final Undoing

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