Neighbouring/Spoofing calls are making me mental - when is the PM fix?

[_Andrea_]

I got my first call at 6:41 this morning, luckily I have DND enabled until 7:30. I've now received six calls in as many hours. Because they're neighbouring my number, and the number changes every time, I can't keep up with all the numbers to block. This is extremely irritating. When is Public Mobile going to come on board with the concept of Call Control? Telus offers it, and PM is on their network. I'm almost ready to switch to Telus just for this feature. 

[_Andrea_]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I answer everything. Oh it's junk. Block. Carry on. I get very few junk calls now though. Perhaps since I changed to a never used number a while ago.

I just don't see the harm. Yeah they consume a minute of my limited minute plan. But I have hours of calling add-ons anyway.

I really dislike businesses that exist to take my money blocking my private number call. I go elsewhere. You don't want my business? See ya.

Since I use my number for the door buzzer, I now use DND overnight too.

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The problem is they're not even telemarketer calls, they're after money - and some unsuspecting grandma or grandpa will fall for it. So that's a big part of my contempt for them. Then, there's also the problem of them calling me once or twice an hour. On normal, blissful days I can go a day without any calls from anyone so the fact that the only calls I get in a day are from them is extra ugh. It's seconds, but still time wasted blocking every call. 

Last robo call I got on the day of my venty post actually caused a missed "telehealth" call from our GP (for my son) which directed him to my voice mail, then when I called back, I couldn't get through because he was already on his next call. V annoying.

So far so good today though, so I'll try to let this go. Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts and insight! Maybe one day PM will have call control. 

[_Andrea_]

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@Luddite wrote:

@_Andrea_  I've given up trying to block them and instead:

• leave Silence Unknown Callers activated on all the time
• add missed calls to my blocked caller list, especially if they've left a message

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If I leave "Silence Unknown Callers" activated - will those calls at least go to voice mail? I imagine they would since I'm not "blocking" unknown callers. I just got three more calls yesterday, same fashion. I suppose I could also train myself to not care. 😂 The principled part of my brain is not there yet, though.

[hTideGnow]

@_Andrea_   cool.. earlier i was wondering if M means Memory.. but these are SPAM, no way they are.  Thanks for clarifying.

[_Andrea_]

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@HALIMACS wrote:

Question all.

In the screenshot that @_Andrea_ provided, what does the "M" stand for in front of the location Vancouver on the itemized call entries?

I've checked a few family phones (Apple vs Android) and don't see a similar descriptor.

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Hello, sorry I'm just catching up on all responses now.

I have an iPhone with dual SIM. I have two numbers that come through my phone; one for personal calls and the other number for our family business. I've labelled calls that are made to my personal cell with an "M" (for "Mine); where the calls made to our family business line are marked with an "S." So, when a call comes in, it is marked with an "M" or an "S" so I know how to answer.

[_Andrea_]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

(you might not want to post these pic here as we all know the first couple digits of your phone number 🙂   ) 

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haha, it's okay. Common enough in BC, I'm not worried. What's another crank call, if anyone in here actually cares enough to figure out the last four digits. 😂

[_Andrea_]

Hello, sorry I'm just catching up on all responses now.

I have an iPhone with dual SIM. I have two numbers that come through my phone; one for personal calls and the other number for our family business. I've labelled calls that are made to my personal cell with an "M" (for "Mine); where the calls made to our family business line are marked with an "S." So, when a call comes in, it is marked with an "M" or an "S" so I know how to answer. 

Hope that explains things. 😁

[HALIMACS]

Question all.

In the screenshot that @_Andrea_ provided, what does the "M" stand for in front of the location Vancouver on the itemized call entries?

I've checked a few family phones (Apple vs Android) and don't see a similar descriptor.

[Nezgar]

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@Meow wrote:

There are other tricks these nasty people are doing. Somehow when I was with other provider they managed to leave a message directly in my voice mail bypassing 'calling' my phone.

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Simple to do... from a non Telus Mobility/Koodo/Public mobile phone, call any one of the voicemail access numbers across Canada directly, and enter the 10 digit number of the person you'd like to leave voicemail for without ringing their phone:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/Updated-list-of-Voicemail-Access-N...

Apparently it's a big problem in the US with spammers utilizing this method to leave spam voicemail for people. Lucky we haven't seen more of it here.

Also make sure to turn off the option to bypass your PIN when "calling from your own phone" because if someone spoofs the caller ID with your number, they get right into your voicemail box. This is configured insecurely by default with Telus/Koodo/Public Mobile.

[srlawren]

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@_Andrea_ wrote:

When is Public Mobile going to come on board with the concept of Call Control? Telus offers it, and PM is on their network. I'm almost ready to switch to Telus just for this feature. 

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@_Andrea_ FYI you may also want to consider Koodo -- same network of course and also offers Call Control.  I use Koodo post-paid on my main line, and since enabling this feature, I believe I've had dramatically fewer (if any) robocalls come through or been able to leave me a voicemail.  It's pretty useful.

[Meow]

Blocking spoofed numbers is good and not so good idea.

It could be legitimate number you are blocking which might call you one time in the future.

But it IS annoying. I got a call on my land line from a lady from Alberta asking me why did I call her (Ontario). Friend of mine got a call from his OWN number... What can I say... 

There are other tricks these nasty people are doing. Somehow when I was with other provider they managed to leave a message directly in my voice mail bypassing 'calling' my phone. That involved calling voice mail (wasting minutes) and deleting message; it was ALWAYS something in Chinese.

My rule of thumb is if I do not recognize number, I do not answer, period.

[TheGx]

@_Andrea_ :Try the Robokiller app and let the rest of us here know if it any good at blocking scam callers, let us know how much this app costs and how long the free trial is. I seen their commercials on TV but never used it.

[Anonymous]

I answer everything. Oh it's junk. Block. Carry on. I get very few junk calls now though. Perhaps since I changed to a never used number a while ago.

I just don't see the harm. Yeah they consume a minute of my limited minute plan. But I have hours of calling add-ons anyway.

I really dislike businesses that exist to take my money blocking my private number call. I go elsewhere. You don't want my business? See ya.

Since I use my number for the door buzzer, I now use DND overnight too.

[Nezgar]

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@Staliger wrote:

I just blocked them one by one, and soon all such calls stopped.

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Just keep in mind that blocking callers, without taking the actions I previously mentioned just forwards those callers immediately to your voicemail.

A robocaller system will still see the call to your number as "answered" because of this.

[Luddite]

@_Andrea_  I've given up trying to block them and instead:

• leave Silence Unknown Callers activated on all the time
• add missed calls to my blocked caller list, especially if they've left a message

[Staliger]

@_Andrea_ Also had similar stuff when numbers very identical to mine called. I just blocked them one by one, and soon all such calls stopped.

[Nezgar]

Since a lot of these calls aren't really telemarketers, Lenny won't prove too interesting.

The main priority might be to just make sure that when you don't answer that it doesn't result in a useless voicemail message you have to go and delete after.

To prevent that, you can set the conditional forward for declined and blocked calls to go to a dead-end instead of your voicemail.

To set, dial: *67*0000000000#

To undo, dial: ##67#

Now when you get a call you know is a junk call, simply decline the call and the caller will hear something to the effect of "Sorry you call did not go through" (voip.ms) or "Your call cannot be completed at this time" (SaskTel)

The idea here being the robodialers may blacklist your number due to the "not in service" response, and you get the added bonus of not having to go and delete junk voicemails after.

[HALIMACS]

@_Andrea_ 

You're doing the right thing. 

NEVER answer any calls from numbers/people you either don't recognize or are not on your contact list.  If the person calling you needs you bad enough, they will leave a voice message, if they don't bother leaving one, you likely didn't need to hear from them.

IF YOU DO ANSWER, and the caller is a spammer, it's likely your number will get logged as one which will get answered, so anticipate spam calling to increase (at least in the short term).

[darlicious]

@_Andrea_ 

I recommend @Nezgar 's Lenny......

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/Lenny-the-Telemarketers-worst-nigh...

[hTideGnow]

Yes, this is in fact a very common trick these days.  Spammers make up numbers similar to yours and fool you thinking its a real calls (ppl are now smart enough not answer 1888 calls)

I got this sometimes too , not as much as you 🙂

Just not pick up and it will die down eventually.  It's not really an issue with the mobile provider.  Everyone gets these calls these day unfortunately.

(you might not want to post these pic here as we all know the first couple digits of your phone number 🙂   )