Scam Calls

[Gidoza]

I'm just wondering - is there any way to "block" scam callers that are coming from a consistent location?

Taking my account more seriously right now and looking through the records of calls in my account.  Over the last month I've got callers from the same place over and over again, using fake numbers that are never the same twice.  Obviously from something I signed up for online that wasn't "real," but I didn't give away anything more than my phone number and they're not getting anything out of me.


However, they quite stubbornly keep calling.  If I don't answer, they keep calling.  If I do answer, nothing I say will make them remove me from their phone list, ever (there's always this excuse that I need to give some sort of credit information or "sign up" or whatever before they can remove me).  Like the scam is exceedingly obvious, and you'd think that after rejecting them 20 times they'd have figured out by now that they can't weasel any money out of me, but they keep trying for some reason.

Anyways, anything to be done about this at all?  I guess I can block each new number individually, but there's millions of unused ones I'm sure.

Thankfully, they've mostly toned it down so it's less of a problem now and more of a future question.  Appreciate the responses - take care!

[Gidoza]

@BKNS27 Noted about the AI.

[hTideGnow]

HI @Gidoza 

yes, but it is funny, sometimes you will see how the V# change to a "regular" phone number

and this is what it calls Caller ID Spoofing.  CRTC wants telecom to do something, but I think only new phones work.  I heard new iPhone can take advantage of what telcom did , but i still can't figure out how 

[BKNS27]

@Gidoza 

You can use an app called Truecaller but still no guarantee that spam calls will be filtered out.

With Ai nowadays, scammers will try to record your voice so they can scam family members so don’t answer or don’t say anything if you accidentally answered the call.

[Gidoza]

I've seen those V#### calls before.  However, it's not showing up as those for me.

These spam calls are taking the form of being an area code of a number reasonably local to me most of the time (but not all of the time).  That is to say, the three largest cities and my province code are all consistently being used, and then sometimes other random stuff.

In any case, they *are* easy to pick out - as most calls that are real actually just show the business/personal name of the caller when it's ringing, or "Private Number" if it's something like a doctor - so I've rarely needed to "guess" whether the call is real or not.

Also, the "fake" calls have the distinct operation of showing up as a single panel of numbers on my call display.  That is to say - when it's a fake call, it always shows up as something like 14506789012 instead of 1 (450) 678-9012.  The latter is almost always a real call.

[hTideGnow]

yes @hairbag1 , I am surprised no carrier block it on the network level.

if you look at the caller id quick, you will see it showing as a V########### number before changing to a "regular" 10 digits number.  So, the network sees it clearly it is not the number it should be, they should block all those junks

[Kels12]

@hairbag1 thank you. And yes @hTideGnow  is.  Correct. Hopefully you get this resolved @Gidoza 

[hairbag1]

@Kels12 

good suggestion. As @hTideGnow pointed out...the bad-guys know how to "spoof" any number so that it looks like the call is coming from someone in your area. They're perdy devious nowadays !!

[Kels12]

I think to block scam callers, you have to do it from your device on settings. Go to settings, than go on apps, and than go on the "phone" app and it should give you that option. I just did it last night on my phone actually. I think all phones should just automatically block spam callers. 

[hairbag1 · Accepted solution]

@Gidoza 

here's my advise...NEVER answer a call from a number you don't recognize or aren't expecting a call from. If it's a legit caller, they can leave a message and you can call them back. Otherwise, as soon as the bad-guys know you answer any calls..well...they keep calling, and calling ...

It'll take a few weeks but eventually they quit if you just won't answer their calls

[hTideGnow]

HI @Gidoza 

it is something called Caller ID Spoofing.  honest, I don't think there is much you can do.  And you are right, blocking won't be effective too as they keep changing number

if you keep your contacts up-to-date, you can use the feature "Silence Unknown Callers".  But that would still send the scammer to voicemail , and important thing is you have to keep your contact up-to-date all the time.  And if you are waiting for calls back from Government or Doctors, that is not good as they usually call using Private caller and they don't levae voicemail