I have started getting calls on my cell phone during the daytime that are telemarketing calls. What makes this particularly annoying is that the company or companies have figured out how to spoof the caller-id system into showing what appears to be a legitimate phone number the call is coming from (real examples):
- 248-758-9138 (called November 20th, 2:28pm)
- 313-924-7021 (called November 12th, 2:28pm)
They are using disconnected numbers, when you try to call back to read them the riot act for burning up daytime minutes you get:
- “The number you have reached is not in service, please check the number and try again.”
Since the sales pitch is itself a recording, there is no way to strike back. I am furious and can only try to get my cell phone provider to no charge me for those calls – but that really does not solve the problem. Essentially the assholes who deliberately misrepresent their credentials when calling you, like those who do the same when sending you email, may make calls and emails equally useless as the noise level grows.
I am thinking of moving to a mountain with no gadgets where people have to come talk to you face to face, and risk having you send your bear to attack them if they are too annoying. There is a special place in hell for telemarketing types who do not clearly and correctly identify their credentials.
Update: I added the second number I was getting called from. It is interesting to note that both calls came in at exactly 2:28pm on business days, both times the caller spoofed a fake number that happened to be a real number that was recently cancelled. Both times the real number appears to have been an individual who is now getting blamed by an angry mob for telemarketing calls they may not even be aware of… Potentially very dangerous. I filed electronic FCC complaints and contacted my provider, but the FCC form is pretty broken and it’s clear they don’t really know how to accept complaints about telemarketers who are being dishonest about caller-id info.
http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm (warning, their online form is pretty broken – field jumps back to Information you were able to obtain too often)
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You should contact the FCC about this, since it’s patently illegal. They might ask permission to pull your phone records in order to track down the call(s), but it could be worth it. Robodialers suck.
As for the gadget-less mountain: Lincoln, MT. You could get a plot near the Unabomber’s former shack…
I filed an complaint online, though their web form is broken in many ways… The FCC website and form led me to believe they are completely unprepared to properly investigate telemarketing calls where the caller is being less than honest by spoofing their caller-id info…
It is pretty clear from google searches of the phone numbers that angry mobs of other victims are hunting for the poor souls who happened to last have those numbers before they were disconnected.
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