Nothing stopped them, not even the fact that I stopped answering the phone and had a recording asking legitimate callers to leave a message for me to get back to them. The same call center would call back every fifteen minutes sometimes for hours. I realized I wasn't using my land line anymore. I was paying for them to solicit me. I canceled my land line last week. It's been very pleasant in my house since then.

They seem to last for a few weeks or months and then they go away, only to reappear again months later. I suspect when the government starts to close in on them they close up shop and go somewhere else using the same call list. I also get a few spam texts from time to time.

I have been very careful of whom I give my cell phone number to. If it's a matter of some form I have to fill out where there is no need for them to call me, I don't give it to them. They can spam my email instead cuz I just delete it.

But it still didn't help. Now I rarely give my cell number out to anyone I don't know on a first name basis. I'm not even sure how much good this does. I suspect their autodialers dial random numbers from time to time and when they get a live one they keep it forever. Even if you change your cell number and never give it out to anyone I think they will eventually get you.

When these jerks call (usually between 6 and 9pm hoping to interrupt dinner), I note the number (if there is one) and manually add it to my internal block list. We can tell when these asshats call back, because the phone will ring once and display "Call blocked".

Saved my sanity. (Well, until we reach the 30 max, anyway).

I don't think I will ever get a landline back again.

Scam robo-call, blanketing the entire state. Ridiculous. Interestingly, since I submit the complaint, the volume of the call has dropped from three to four times a day to less than once a day . . . not sure what's up with that!

The people who do this are using spoofed numbers, so reporting them does little good. If you google the phone number you usually find a treasure trove of other people who are having the exact same problem with dozens of people reporting the bogus numbers.

Which is unfortunate, because that means the bozos will just keep calling . . . sigh.

If you do find something that stops it, let me know because I have yet to find anything. What seems to work best is reporting them to your carrier so they can block the numbers at their level and they might be able to figure out where they are coming from if they originate from the same carrier or data source.

the Do Not Call list, so we just have to deal with them. I tell my receptionist to hang up on any recorded messages. It gets very annoying and disruptive.

They just will not give up.

And if I actually get a human, he gets nasty and hangs up.

I pretend to be interested, give them a fake CC number, fake last 4 of SSN. Then when they ask for the CC customer service number I give them an 800 number for a sex line. They then say they will put me on hold while they verify my account. I then put them on mute and wait for their reaction, which varies between extreme anger and resigned amusement.

By stringing out the call ("can you hold while I go get me card?" "oh I need to put you on hold, someone is at the door" etc.) I can string the call out to 15-20 minutes when I have time. If everyone did this, these folks would be out of business.

Oh, and I also report the call to the FCC. Every single time. I'm not sure if this helps, but filling out the online form only takes a couple of minutes or so and at the very least will help make them aware of the extent of the problem.

did the mistake to give a contribution to St Jude Hospital for the children. After that I get calles from everyone asking for money. I mean at least 10 different organizations. I remember telling one woman I was on a fixed income and I would send $10.00 and she has me for $25.00 and wouldn't let up and I finally said forget it am not sending anything. Now if am in the kitchen and answer the phone and they ask for me and I don't know who it is I tell them she is out of the country and won't be back for 3 yrs. Sometimes it works.

If I do not recognize the number, I do not answer. If they want to talk to me they can leave a message on my voice mail.

I turn on the police/fire scanner in the background then answer the phone with "Telemarketing Fraud Division; how may I direct your call?" as soon as the connection becomes 'live'. This usually results in an immediate hangup, sometimes with an "Oh, s#!^" as they cut the connection

If I actually talk to a live body I get their name, their company's name, and a callback number. Then I thank them, tell them I have enough information to file the complaint, and hang up. One guy got so upset that I was reporting him that he was almost in tears - "I'm just trying to make a living here; that's not very nice". (I told him that the drug dealer down the alley was just trying to make a living, too, but we got him shut down.)

If I'm in a chatty mood I'll keep them on the line a bit, and ask them why in the world I should trust them with any of my personal or financial information, since they've already shown a willingness to break federal law by calling me. What other laws are they willing to break?

I usually go to the Ooma web site (the system we're using for VOIP phone service) and add the number to the blacklist, so we never get another call from that caller ID again, and they will just get a message that their calls are being blocked.

If the FTC and FCC get enough complaints they eventually DO take action - the FCC is a bit more responsive. Last year one of the more active phone spammers got hit with a $3.6 million fine. I report *every* one of these illegal calls (both live person and recorded message scams) to the FTC and FCC (www.donotcall.gov for FTC, and http://www.fcc.gov/complaints for the FCC).

These people simply disregard all federal laws against this. Just google "rachel from card services" and you'll see what I'm talking about. They use spoofed numbers so your caller ID info is worthless. All of their operators are schooled on their operation and they will never give you any specifics on who or where they are. One of my employees told me he tried to screw with them like you are describing and he wound up on a shit list they called day and night relentlessly. He had to have his number changed. In the rare event that the FCC does manage to track them down, they get off with a fine it is a small fraction of the millions they make in profits. Even if they do get shut down permanently (and I don't think any of them have ever gotten jail time), there are dozens of other cockroaches ready to take their place. I think the FCC does the best they can, but without stronger regulation and more funding for enforcement there's only so much they can do.

From the Dominican Republic. No joke.

I didn't pick it up. They tried calling back that same day too.

pretending they are fixing my government issued computer because its sending out a virus. Its was reported to them by Microsoft.

Historic NY

Jup, they called me to - here in Norway... But they was talking so bad - that even I who is not fluent in english had problems hearing what they was talking about.. So I just told them to F*** off and told them that if they tried to call me once I would devastate THEIR computer with some virus I had lying around.. And I also told the lady on the phone - that Microsoft doesn't call customers that way - and that your "shenanigans" have been in the news papers for the last couple of mounts, so stop even pretend working for Microsoft..

It also helped that at the time she claimed I was sending virus out on the net - my computer was closed down - and I know my computer dosen't had any virus on it, as I have had a total scan just 9 hour before - before I got to bed - they called my 9 in the morning..

They have never ever tried to call me after that...


Diclotican

and they said Mr. A . -------- the name of my uncle who died 9yrs ago. They then hung up when I told them he was dead. I've started giving some of these telemarketers the address of the cemetery, telling them he moved.

The guy on the phone walked right into the trap.

Does that really work in real life?

From Sept 7 on, I've received 4-6 calls every day from recordings & live people hawking home security systems (as well as Cardholder Services and local roofer. It was like the telemarketing floodgates had opened!) After trying everything, and getting increasingly upset, I gave the recording the right answers to get to a real person. I asked him "What do I have to do to get you people to stop calling me?!"

He said, "Buy our Honeywell Home Security System." In other words, pay us protection money and we'll leave you alone.

I said, "I'm on two Do Not Call Registries."

He said, "Well, you have Obama to thank for all the telemarketing calls. He (unclear what he thinks Obama did... loosened restrictions maybe?) to stimulate the economy... all to get the moulignon in the White House reelected."

I said, "What? What did you just say?! Are you being racist now?!" He hung up.

I filed yet another complaint with the Do Not Call registries. I sent an email to Honeywell, whose website has NO address, NO phone numbers, NO email address... but I found I could send a message to their blogger, on the condition that I agree they can use my email to spam me.

Then I called SWBell and got their options package for an extra $7/month with Call Blocking and that kind of stuff. I hated to do that, and wasn't sure it would help, but my health can't take this constant barrage of irritations. I've not gotten a single telemarketing call since then, so I guess it did the trick.

I found this website all about the home security telemarketing. It's unreal. What do they hope to accomplish by calling the same person multiple times each day?! http://stoptomwithhomeprotection.wordpress.com/

I'm pretty sure that a couple of hours' research is all one would need to set a computer up as a call-box which could hammer the shit out of those call centers hundreds of times a day with a screeching white-noise tone, or an automated message of one's own. It wouldn't stop the outgoing calls, but it would interfere with the call center's line of income--live suckers who call back.

If a thousand people did it at once, a call center could be shut down. If everyone did it, they'd all be out of business in three weeks.

So I'm sure it's illegal now, because The Man doesn't tolerate the little guy pulling what He does as a business model. I'm not going to try it.

if u come up with a configuration for that I would config my PC to be a "Amateur Survey PC" or something like that.

A CD full of telemarketers scream & pulling their own hair out might be a big seller.

Recall that you and I do not enjoy the rights and privileges of other, more important "people."

using your STB grab the remote, push MENU button......

then come down to FIOS Digital Voice.... click there
then go down to CALLING FEATURES and activate the DO NOT CALL feature.

You can then add numbers from the CALL LOG.

Card service used to bug me all the time & I even threatened them bodily many times, if I could find the office, Id follow them home, they just laffed.

This has reduced a lot of annoyances, it has a setting to block all ANONOMYMOUS calls but can not block UNKNOWN calls.

It also has a setting to block all calls, I have not tried this but, it should show incoming calls in the call log so returning call to humans you may want to speak with is easy.

In PA annoying calls can cost like $3000, but consumer get no cut & marketers do not seem to be afraid.

If I answer a robo call I usually try to get a human so I can ruin there evening.

CAPS are to indicate a setting on the TV screen or remote buttons.

I would like to see the fines made much bigger, jail time for repeat offenders & victims of these a-holes should get a cut of the fines for compensation for annoyances & time it takes to fill out forms.

From the article in the OP:

...Insisting that my credit card bills are too high!

I've got them calling my cell multiple times a week, sometimes twice in the same day..

Pick up my cell phone.. MRAAAAAAAAAAAAAW right in your ear, followed by "This is your captain speaking.."

*click*