[paulie_a]

It seems that phone companies won't do anything about it. Nor the FCC

There's a bunch of solutions. I received 19 spam calls spoofing cell numbers. That's a felony

I suggest everyone that get an illeagl robo call to call your rep Everytime. Ask them to block India entirely. The problem would be solved very quickly. Or block all calls from Florida and Texas. The nuclear option

The basic one is just waste their time. Ask a lot of questions. And then tell them you were doing that

[linsomniac]

I started doing that once. After 2 or 3 of those time wasting calls, I got one that the person said "Thank you for playing <my phone number>, you will continue to receive calls" and they hung up.

IOW: They have so many resources available, and it is so cheap for them to make the calls, that even after they knew I was going to waste their time, they continued the calls.

This was after I had tried their options for "press 1 to be removed" and talking to someone and saying "please remove me from your list".

The thing they may not have been anticipating: I had 3 numbers forwarding to my cell phone. Up until this call I didn't know which of them was on their list. I cancelled that phone number, and the calls dropped to almost 0.

[ThinkingGuy]

and talking to someone and saying "please remove me from your list".

This could very well be an urban legend, and I know that most telemarketers are untrustworthy anyway, but I've heard somewhere that you actually have to explicitly say "put me on your do-not-call list" because the phrase "remove me from your list" allows them to interpret it a request to remove you from the do-not-call list.

Like I said, probably an urban legend.

[nulbyte]

It's one of those technical things that makes sense when it's said, but doesn't really hold any merit. Here is what the law requires.

> If a person or entity making a call for telemarketing purposes (or on whose behalf such a call is made) receives a request from a residential telephone subscriber not to receive calls from that person or entity...

This is from 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(d). If someone says "please remove me from your list," I believe any reasonable individual should understand that as a request to stop calling.

If they get a request to stop calling, a telemarketer must immediately record the number to the company's do-not-call list and comply with the subscriber's request in a reasonable period of time not exceeding 30 days, and the telemarketer must honor the request for 5 years.

If you want to get technical about it, it doesn't even say the request must be made on a phone call. Presumably, one could make a written request. Perhaps someone could even offer as a public service a way to preemptively send copies of form letters to the addresses of known telemarketers requesting no calls. Someone like the postal service.

[paulie_a]

Don't bother asking to be removed. Give them bullshit info and waste their time.

Considering they are committing a felony by simply making the phone call. It's a felony to spoof phone numbers. Everyone from the top down should be facing 20 years

[ceejayoz]

I've taken to pressing one and just shouting at max volume "LAAAAAAAAAAAAA" into the phone until they disconnect. Seems to work; they tend to taper off fairly rapidly.

No one wants the hearing damage, I suspect.

[Scoundreller]

I do the same thing for Mandarin calls.

I need a Mandarin sound board to keep them on the line since I don’t know any more than “Nihao”.

[netsharc]

Hah, Google already showed off their "book a hair appointment and have a human-sounding robot call the salon for you", what the callees need is a robot that either try to figure out if it's the real IRS calling (although, wait, the IRS sends letters) or an Indian scammer. If it's the latter, then run the "tie them up unnecessarily" script.

Until the scammers figure this out and respond with their own bot. Then, just like Twitter, it'll be bots spamming each other..

[parliament32]

Half of this exists: in Android you hit "Screen Call" and the google bot picks up for you. It says something like "this user is screening your call, please state your name and the reason you're calling" and their response gets transcribed live onto your screen. From there you can either pick up the call or hang up + spam mark it.

It's honestly pretty great, I use it all the time.

[paulie_a]

It is really great and I use it 50 percent of the time. But I fuck with them the other 50 percent. The more I waste their time the less money they make. Ive started calling my reps Everytime I get a call. I am reporting multiple crines

[cestith]

This is supposed to be a forum for civil discourse. As someone who lives in Texas but has friends and family all over the country, I don't find banning all my calls from crossing state lines to be a very civil suggestion. How about all the calls that spoof Illinois numbers that call my Illinois-numbered cell phone? How is keeping me from calling my mother going to stop that?

Fuck your ban.

[paulie_a]

Easily. It's the nuclear option. The state of Texas will make arrests for the illegal Industry they allow. It will force action. One day later you can call your mother

And please don't give me a lecture about civil discourse. I clearly stated my opinion

If I am banned. Fuck my ban as you clearly stated

[klyrs]

The reason people are reacting badly to this is that your suggestion amounts to collective punishment, which is widely recognized as a human rights concern. Your suggestion is uncivilized. We've got a right to critique it. If you feel "lectured," that's your problem.

[cestith]

You clearly stated your opinion that people in Texas should not be allowed to call people in other states. That's what you clearly stated.

[paulie_a]

Yes I did. What point we're you attempting to make.

[cestith]

My point is why are you trying to punish 25 million Texans and 18 million Floridians for a bunch of people in India using VOIP to make calls appear as if they're from all over the US? How is that effective or ethical?

Wouldn't it make more sense to punish the phone companies letting them do this? Is this just prejudicial hatred on your part against a couple of states you don't like for some reason?