Call came in and caller ID announced Pleasanton CA. That happens a lot with cell phone #'s through Verizon, but when I called the number back right away, it said it was out of order.
This is a spoofed number, there are no 201 exchanges in the 925 area code. There needs to be a law to prevent these types of illegal companies (and yes, they are companies), from calling folks even though they are on the do not call list. These companies will never give you their name because they don't want to be sued for each illegal call they make, yep, if you can get their name out of them and keep track every time they call you you will win $$$ in any court of law, what they are doing is illegal and the only way to stop them is to hit them in their wallets. Let's all do it, answer the phone, talk very politely to them (don't ever give them any of your confidential information or pay them any money of course), get the company name, now you can start logging the calls. Oh, one more thing, they indirectly claim they are with PG&E, very delicately say they are contacting all PG&E customers with important information, why doesn't PG&E stop them????? or is it PG&E the ones selling them our telephones numbers????
When I have time, I try to keep the telemarketer on the phone for as long as possible. Over an hour is my goal. But they will never tell you any useful information to use for suing them. The company names they tell you are made up or belong to a legitimate company that is unrelated to the telemarketer. They won't ever tell you their address or real phone number. Most of the calls I receive are from Florida, or that is what the telemarketer says when I ask whether I can stop by their office to sign a contract for their (bogus) service.
There are enabler companies that provide spoofed phone numbers to telemarketers, so the area code you see on caller I.D. has nothing to do with the telemarketer's location. These providers of spoofed numbers also offer robo-calling services where they call out to hundreds of numbers at a time. Only when the recipient punches a number for more information does the call get transferred to the telemarketer. One reason you may answer and hear a dead line is that the telemarketer picked up another robo-call first. So telemarketers need very little capital outlay for phone lines or equipment.
Right now, I can't think of a way to shut down these annoying operations. Certainly, taking up their time with useless chit-chat could slow them down, but only if enough people did it. Getting the Florida attorney general to shut down their telemarketers would be good, but not realistic as it must be a significant source of employment in Florida, with considerable contributions to politicians. Complaints from non-Florida residents, and issues of interstate commerce would make Florida prosecutors unlikely to take action. Shutting down the intermediary robo-call services would be an option if there were legislation that enabled it. Write your state and federal legislators.
Short of that, you can only check for familiar phone numbers on caller I.D. and not answer the unfamiliar ones. If legitimate, they will leave a message. Some phones offer call blocking to specific numbers so you can program in the ones that are repeatedly calling.
In my experience in talking to the telemarketers at length, I don't get the feeling that the person on the phone is, in most cases, the scammer, but only a low wage employee. One way to bust these operations is to get a job as a telemarketer to find out who and where they are. Most probably in Florida, so California residents would find this difficult. In any case, knowing that the telemarketer on the phone is hired help, you can use that to extend your call duration by asking about working conditions at the call center, whether they are hiring, whether they get paid by the hour or on commission, how they are trained, employee benefits, and so on. Once the telemarketer has talked to you for an extended length of time, they have an investment in you and will answer more of your questions rather than hanging up. They may need to ask a supervisor for an answer to a question that they don't know, like if they give a discount if their product is purchased by the dozen, or if it can be shipped to Dubai. Ask to talk to their supervisor. Get the supervisor's name. (Beware that the "supervisor" may just be a low wage telemarketer in the next cubical.)
There is a FCC site to report the Do Not Call violation. www.fcc.gov/complaints. You'll need the phone number, even if spoofed, date and time of the call and basic information about the service or product offered.
925-201-6133 I asked how he got my phone number and he asked me if I own my house?
How dare he. I did not answer, (these scumbags, NEVER answer any questions ever), and he said well your information is public record, and I said not for you to call me. I am on the DNC list and you cannot call me.
Of course he hung up. He was very rude and cheeky too trying to convince me it was okay to call since my info is public record? Guess what my phone number is NOT CONNNECTED to my public records at all so that is a lie anyway. He must use that to convince people he can call. Do not allow this. I hate this people.