Thank you for the well researched and well documented information. It's very helpful!
(assuming you'll read this) Can you tell tell us if you're on a POTS line or VoIP such as Uverse, Xfinity, etc. please?
Also, what is the total investment in all of the devices?
My reason for asking is that the great setup you propose may be the only option for POTS lines... which is unfortunate as AT&T (and the very few) other hard wired - POTS - services are trying to get rid of the POTS service altogether, as I'm sure you are aware of. (Witness how the rates for POTS lines keep climbing at an insane rate - and the cost of each "feature" is becoming prohibitive (which is a Joke as you know - since ALL of the features - per line - on an ESS5 or ESS7 switching (exchange) system come turned on by default, when the unit is shipped and installed - and them manually turned off just to charge to have them reactivated).
The reason to switch everyone to VoIP is sinister and unnecessary. It cost near nothing for the TelCo's to route calls and maintaining VoIP networks... It's just the internet.
The point that (I'm finally getting to) is that we need to organize and put pressure on the phone companies to stop this muckraking. They are responsible because they have everything to win from scammers and robo-callers... yet we pay outrageous sums of increasing money each month for something that costs them near nothing. Why? Because we are not a business. There's no negotiation for private individuals.
I'm not a fan of getting government involved in yet another way they can abuse the loopholes in laws (like the DNCR - Politicos and "charities" are allowed to harass me? NOT!) and of course, without proper oversight, they just open new ways for the corporations to screw us.
Someone please start a group to stop this madness and make the phone carriers accountable! I'll be the first in line to support that.
Meantime we're stuck having to pay even more money (without a refund from Ma Bell) on more and more equipment to fight a war that shouldn't exist, just to make the phone companies richer. Blocking isn't going to put that much of a dent in the money they get from scammers. There's just not enough people willing to invest and learn how to set up and program the array of boxes. (What happens to all those blockers when AT&T gets fined for profiting off of this and stops all the B.S.?)
12 Aug, 331-684-9879, -UNAVAILABLE-, auto blocked, new Chicago criminal scammer number used spoofer.
This post is intended for those who have just encountered their first series of criminal scammers and want to know how to do something about those unwanted harassing calls. Don’t just complain – TAKE ACTION!!!
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Criminal scammers target the poor, elderly, and uninformed. Anyone who gives computer access, personal info, and/or credit card numbers can lose hundreds to thousands of dollars!!!!! Claim you don’t own a credit card and want to MAIL a check. Get their name and address and then report the scammer. Some scammer employees are posting messages that you should just use the drop option to take you off their caller list. This scam adds your name to multiple scammer phone lists!!!
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Scammer employees are also posting msgs that anyone advocating call blockers are just scam advertisers selling their own product brand. There are many different brands of blockers. Choose one and start blocking those scammers.
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This post is rather verbose, but I hope the following may be a help to anyone trying to defeat this criminal scum!!!!
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HARASSMENT AND SCAMMER HISTORY
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Only 2 of 176 unwanted calls got thru my blockers from 1 Jan 2015 to present.
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We had been receiving harassing calls for months, but the number of calls per day finally exceeded our toleration levels. The telephone company was unable to block the calls because many of the harassment calls were being generated using a device called an ID spoofer which generates phony caller ID’s. Police informed me that the callers are largely U.S. and overseas criminals, drug users, inmates, convicts, scammers, and other refuse who do not obey federal no-call laws.
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One of the options to defeat the harassment calls is to change to a new unlisted telephone number, but this would be giving-in to the criminals. It would also make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for legitimate callers, friends, and family from around the country from contacting you. The telephone company’s call blocking service is limited, costly, and time consuming. Legal action and call tracing by the phone company using back tracking through the local telephone switching matrix is possible for local origination calls. Other calls are more difficult to trace especially when caller ID spoofs are used to impede normal call tracing. There had to be a better option than a new unlisted phone number, and there is.
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The harassment calls, scammer calls, telephone solicitors, political calls, Etc, are engaging in an “Act of War” by essentially taking over your telephone. I am a retired military officer. One of the many training courses I attended in my 27 year career included training in “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. One of the maxims is to know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never need to fear a battle. After experiencing this assault, I proceeded to research the situation and develop a plan of action.
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I had been program manager and program engineer for installation of many USAF class 5 digital telephone exchanges, but had been out of the business for many years. In talking to the police and the telephone company engineers/technicians, I found out about the new technology to generate digital spoofing calls with phony Caller IDs using computer APPs. This matches with the pattern of the Caller ID data I had recorded from the harassment calls. Analysis of the data confirmed that I had both robo scammers/solicitors and an individual in my town responsible for the harassing calls.
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Research also showed call spoofing can be generated from smart phones, I-pads, computers, robo call devices, or any device with phone access and a spoofing application. Some devices will allow spoofing and also generate robo voice traffic. Additional indication of spoofing is the fact that the Caller IDs sometimes had full 10 digit numbers and other times had only the 7 digit local origination numbers with known out of state robo call messages.
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Caller IDs with only 7 digits usually originate from within the local area code. One of the local calls used my own phone number as the caller ID, and two of the caller ID’s used phone numbers with only one digit different from my phone number. I confirmed that the owners of these local phone numbers did not originate the calls. Spelling errors and robo messages using these numbers clearly proved use of a spoofing application.
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I have found an effective way to combat these harassment/robo callers that has been over 95% successful. I spread the word by posting the following to 800notes.com/phone and other selected web sites each time I receive a NEW harassment/robo call.
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CALL BLOCKERS WORK!
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We research a harassment/scam caller then post this msg every time a NEW robo number calls. NEVER press X to opt out, and NEVER respond in any way because it just adds your name to multiple robo scammer calling lists.
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The federal no-call list is a joke – criminals ignore the law and the government does nothing. The phone company wants the money from robo companies and will do nothing to stop the harassment/robo calls. Local police do not have the manpower or technology to track/block these calls. Here is a one-time relatively low cost way to beat those harassment/robo calls.
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You can defeat >95% of harassment and robo calls. Go on-line to Amazon and purchase an in-line "CPR CALLBLOCKER"! It has an inventory of up to 1200 numbers in the call blocker list. Be careful in setting up the list or you get unexpected blockages of valid incoming calls. Start by blocking all calls using caller ID’s of UNAVAILABLE, PRIVATE, or WITHHELD. Then block hot spot robo area codes (Chicago, New York, Florida) which have NO friends or family – 201, 212, 214, 239, 312, 321, 323, 331, 347, 516, 518, 630, 708, 772, 773, 815, 847, and many others. Finally, only block individual phone #s in area codes with friends and family. ONLY use 3 digit area codes, OR full 10 digit phone numbers. Never use 7 digit inputs to the blocking list or you WILL have problems! Keep a complete written list of harassing area codes and individual blocking numbers. A small glitch when entering a number into the list can mess up your entire blocking list requiring a hardware reset and complete reprogramming of the list.
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Harassment/robo callers frequently use a spoofing APP to create phony incoming caller ID’s on your phone. Hidden characters in a spoofed Caller ID’s number can sneak the robo call past some blockers. An optional secondary SENTRY BLOCKER with a 1000 entry blocker list ignores hidden characters and blocks/kills the call when it’s turned ON. SENTRY BLOCKER also effectively dumps any unmonitored scam callers. There are many other brands of call blockers than the ones described. Choose yours and BLOCK THOSE HARASSMENT CALLS!!!!!
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It is really great fun watching a call blocker/Caller ID recorder light-up then dump a call when the unwanted Caller ID matches the blocking list!!! One can especially enjoy it when the call blocker hangs up on a persistent harassment caller!!!
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CALL ZAPPER sends out a telephone office signal that the phone line is disconnected. Many
auto scanning robo systems will then automatically remove the number from
their calling list
CPR BLOCKER has list of up to 1200 entries for area codes and/or phone numbers. Upon
detection of a blocked number, the blocker hangs up all lines. All other
calls are passed thru unless Sentry Blocker rejects/hangs up line.
SENTRY BLOCKER hangs up on all black listed phone numbers. White list numbers are
passed thru for phone/answering machine. Non-listed numbers have blocking
British/Spanish/German msg for solicitors to hang up, and tells other valid
unlisted callers to dial zero to leave msg on answering machine - this auto
blocks all unmonitored robo calls. Up to1000 entries in call list.
When Sentry Blocker is OFF, all calls pass thru to phone/answering machine
unless blocked by CPR BLOCKER.
2nd HOME PHONE rings only ONCE if either BLOCKER blocks call. Call rings
thru if blockers are OFF or call is passed by blockers.
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CALL HISTORY
(2014)
(Documented history starts with May 2014)
May – 37 harassment calls
Jun– 31 harassment calls
Purchased and Installed CPR BLOCKER!
Jul– 26 harassment calls with 7 auto blocked.
Aug– 35 harassment calls with 23 auto blocked and 12 #s added to blocker list
Sep– 38 harassment calls with 26 auto blocked and 10 #s numbers added to blocker list.
Installed secondary SENTRY blocker – Start to build Black & White blocking lists
Oct – 53 harassment calls with 46 auto blocked, 4 #s numbers added to blocking list.
Nov – 31 harassment calls with 28 auto blocked, 3 #s added to blocker list.
Dec – 16 harassment calls with 14 auto blocked, 2 #’s for blocker list. (Spoof of my own Phone #)
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(2015)
CPR BLOCKER kills selected robo area code hot spots. SENTRY BLOCKER black list kills individual phone #s. SENTRY white list passes friends and family. SENTRY also kills unmonitored robo calls.
Jan – 26 harassment calls with 25 auto blocked, 4 #’s added to SENTRY black list ( non-existent area codes).
Feb – 14 harassment calls with 14 auto blocked, 4 #s added to SENTRY black list.
Mar –40 harassment calls with 40 auto blocked, 7 #s added to SENTRY black list.
Apr – 24 harassment calls with 24 auto blocked, 4 #s added to SENTRY black list. 2 area codes added to CPR blocker
May- 21 harassment calls with 21 auto blocked, 6 #s added to SENTRY black list, 2 area codes added to CPR blocker.
Jun- 26 harassment calls with 25 auto blocked. 1 #s added to SENTRY black list, 3 area codes added to CPR BLOCKER.
Jul – 18 harassment calls with 18 auto blocked, 5#s added to SENTRY black list, 4 new area codes added to CPR BLOCKER.
Aug – 7 harassment calls with 7 auto blocked, 2#s added to SENTRY black list, 0 new area codes added to CPR BLOCKER. (Current as of 12 Aug 2015)
MOST RECENT UNWANTED CALLS
163, 18 Jul, 9:10am, 312-465-3520, WIRELESS CALLER, auto blocked, Chicago credit card scammers
#164, 21 Jul, 12:40am, 484-207-0773, AUTOGUARD, auto blocked, warranty scammer
#165, 23 Jul, 6:55pm, 312-809-5233, BC FIN ASSIST, auto blocked, Chicago nest of scammer vipers, breast cancer charity scam
#166, 27 Jul, 11:55am, 806-611-6600, UNAVAILABLE, auto blocked, Microsoft Computer scam
#167, 29 Jul, 3:15pm, no number, UNAVAILABLE, auto blocked, no msg
#168, 30 Jul, 1:05pm, no number, UNAVAILABLE, auto blocked, no msg
#169, 31 Jul, 4:45pm, 281-525-0322, RPT#, auto blocked, New Texas area code, no msg
#170, 4 Aug, 9:10am, 331-684-9882, AURORA IL, auto blocked, Chicago area criminal scammer nest, probable the Breast Cancer charity scam
#171, 5 Aug, 4:05pm, 630-635-8097, rpt#, auo blocked, Chicago area criminal scammers, no msg
#172, 7 Aug, 2:25pm, 312-757-4197, -UNAVAILABLE-,auto blocked, Chicago area vermin criminal scammers, fake utility bill demands immediate credit card payment or service will be cut off
#173, 11 Aug, 6:55am,612-399-6331 9, -UNAVAILABLE-, auto blocked, no msg, bogus number
#174, 11 Aug, 1:15pm, 312-757-4197, -UNAVAILABLE, auto blocked, Chicago area vermin scammers
#175, 12 Aug, 9:00am, no number, -UNAVAILABLE-, auto blocked, no msg
#176, 12 Aug, 7:30pm, 331-684-9879, -UNAVAILABLE-, auto blocked, Chicago criminal scammers
Thank you for the well researched and well documented information. It's very helpful!
(assuming you'll read this) Can you tell tell us if you're on a POTS line or VoIP such as Uverse, Xfinity, etc. please?
Also, what is the total investment in all of the devices?
My reason for asking is that the great setup you propose may be the only option for POTS lines... which is unfortunate as AT&T (and the very few) other hard wired - POTS - services are trying to get rid of the POTS service altogether, as I'm sure you are aware of. (Witness how the rates for POTS lines keep climbing at an insane rate - and the cost of each "feature" is becoming prohibitive (which is a Joke as you know - since ALL of the features - per line - on an ESS5 or ESS7 switching (exchange) system come turned on by default, when the unit is shipped and installed - and them manually turned off just to charge to have them reactivated).
The reason to switch everyone to VoIP is sinister and unnecessary. It cost near nothing for the TelCo's to route calls and maintaining VoIP networks... It's just the internet.
The point that (I'm finally getting to) is that we need to organize and put pressure on the phone companies to stop this muckraking. They are responsible because they have everything to win from scammers and robo-callers... yet we pay outrageous sums of increasing money each month for something that costs them near nothing. Why? Because we are not a business. There's no negotiation for private individuals.
I'm not a fan of getting government involved in yet another way they can abuse the loopholes in laws (like the DNCR - Politicos and "charities" are allowed to harass me? NOT!) and of course, without proper oversight, they just open new ways for the corporations to screw us.
Someone please start a group to stop this madness and make the phone carriers accountable! I'll be the first in line to support that.
Meantime we're stuck having to pay even more money (without a refund from Ma Bell) on more and more equipment to fight a war that shouldn't exist, just to make the phone companies richer. Blocking isn't going to put that much of a dent in the money they get from scammers. There's just not enough people willing to invest and learn how to set up and program the array of boxes. (What happens to all those blockers when AT&T gets fined for profiting off of this and stops all the B.S.?)