Unblockable scam calls?

Fusion Voice service, features and help.
5 posts Page 1 of 1
by apl » Tue May 24, 2022 3:43 pm
I am getting frequent robocalls with the (obviously fake) "An order has been charged to your Amazon account..." message.

In the Sonic Mobile Communicator phone app, they show up with "Unknown" for the caller name, and nothing at all listed for the number.

The web Call Manager interface has a (hard to find) setting for "Calls from anonymous callers will be rejected without going to voicemail," but turning that on does not seem to work for these. I also have Nomorobo turned on there.

It would not be a big deal if it were a one-time thing, but I have just gotten SIX of these calls in a little over two hours.
Someone in the "numbers to block" thread mentioned the same issue a few days ago.

Is there really no way for either the user or, better yet, Sonic/nomorobo to block these?
It seems like blocking calls without caller id info should be simple.
by loherj » Wed May 25, 2022 8:40 am
Sonic is unable to block numbers for all users in certain circumstances due to the nature of how spam calls originate. Most spam calls use a spoofed number. This is since these numbers may be actual legitimate numbers that may need to contact Sonic.

You have taken the best precautionary steps to prevent spam calls from hitting your line by having Nomorobo turned on as well as the anonymous call rejection setting.

Since the origin is coming across as unknown it may prove to be beneficial to contact our support team and provide them with the time stamps and dates of the calls. In doing so our support team can check the internal CDR (Call Detail Record) and try and determine if the origin number has populated there.

You can also check your own CDR by navigating to https://members.sonic.net/ then clicking the voice tab on the left-hand side. Then click view voice usage and view full details to check if the number possibly populated there.

Depending on how the spam call was made it may have hit our system with no information but by contacting our support team it would be the best starting point by emailing support@sonic.com or by calling (707)-547-3400 between 8am and 10pm 7 days a week.
Jacob - Community & Escalations Specialist
Sonic
by apl » Thu May 26, 2022 4:08 pm
Sonic is unable to block numbers for all users in certain circumstances due to the nature of how spam calls originate. Most spam calls use a spoofed number. This is since these numbers may be actual legitimate numbers that may need to contact Sonic.
I understand all that, and it is great advice for the people who have posted thousands of one-off spoofed numbers in the "spam numbers to block" thread for whatever reason, but I don't see what it has to do with the example I am talking about. As I made clear, in this case the spoofing results in no number being displayed at all, and that's exactly the kind of thing that one should be able to block at the system level, or as part of the user option to block anonymous calls.
You can also check your own CDR by navigating to https://members.sonic.net/ then clicking the voice tab on the left-hand side. Then click view voice usage and view full details to check if the number possibly populated there.
The "From" number shows up as "Unknown" just as in SMC.
contacting our support team it would be the best starting point
I will contact support, but decided to post here initially because, again, it is an issue that is not specific to me, but something that other people have also posted about, showing a significant hole in Sonic's defenses against obvious spam calls.
by apl » Tue May 31, 2022 12:31 pm
In case anyone else is interested, I did get a response from support:
After looking into the call logs, it appears that the calls aren't getting blocked by the Anonymous Call Rejection Filter because they are "Unavailable/Unknown" rather than "Anonymous/Withheld". Unfortunately, there is not a setting to block "Unavailable/Unknown" calls, which is why they're able to get through.
From the end user perspective, it does not seem like there is a meaningful difference between "Unavailable/Unknown" and "Anonymous/Withheld," so it is disappointing that there is simply no way to block the former. That seems like a major hole in the system.
by virtualmike » Wed Jun 01, 2022 10:41 pm
"Anonymous/Withheld" occurs when the calling line has opted to block caller ID (either because the line is configured that way or the caller dialed *67 when dialing the call).

In this situation, in the information packet sent with the call, the caller's number is set to "P" (for "private"), which devices that show the calling number to the person receiving the call know to interpret as "anonymous," "private," "withheld," etc.

"Unavailable/unknown" means that the information packet sent with the call contains no data for the caller's number.

Thus, these are two distinct situations.
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