Sonic.net

We are receiving a new and difficult-to-handle form of phone spam about every other day starting in the last few weeks.
The caller spoofs caller ID to the form of
our area code - our exchange - four random digits.
Even with wild cards, we can't reasonably block everyone in our area code and exchange.
I'm wondering if there is a way to block all numbers in our exchange except for those in a whitelist.

And a second question: what is the message that a blocked anonymous caller hears, if we use that option?

If Sonic implemented the ability to use wild cards for the call reject list I could cut my spam calls in half.

We're now getting several spam calls every single darn day, some using our area code and exchange digits in the caller-ID field, others with garbage in the caller-ID field. Far more spammers than real people calling us.

Sonic folks, is there any point in reporting these to you? I know you have no way of identifying the source where caller-ID is spoofed.

I've reached the point where I just ignore the telephone unless a voicemail is left.

And so far most of the voicemail recordings are either silence-and-click or else are robocall spam.

The telephone -- it was a great invention, while it lasted.
Email, ditto.

I'm expecting robots to be knocking on front doors to play advertising messages next.

ankh wrote:The telephone -- it was a great invention, while it lasted.
Email, ditto.

Makes you want to scream, right?

A useful feature on phones might simply be to block EVERYTHING, then whitelist numbers you want to receive calls from. Even then, they'll probably start spoofing those numbers too to get through.

Can't win...

Hey Sonic staff, a question --

Can you do anything with spoofed caller-ID calls?
Is there any point in reporting them? Like, are you counting them or anything?

Also, do you report identified scammers to the FTC?

Recently I emailed you a robocaller's voicemail that contained a callback phone number. I got a "thank you" from Sonic Support but no info about how or if that's useful to report.

I'd think changing the voicemail message to sound more human might be a useful way to capture more of the robocall callback numbers, for instance -- or setting up a robot to send a "1" and then make vague "uh-huh, yeah, tell me more, oh, wait, can I call you back? Tell me a number I can call back to reach you" -- that kind of responses to the people who pick up when a robocall gets answered.

Of course if you could get a latitude and longitude, sending a drone .... no, that would be evil.....

A Robot That Has Fun at Telemarketers’ Expense - The New York Times

Sounds great.

Can we refer spam calls to that bot using Sonic's phone system? If so, how?

The NYT piece says:

"... add the phone number 214-666-4321 to your address book. Then, the next time you get a call from a telemarketer, patch the number in, merge the calls ..."

My address book is on Rolodex cards. I'm one of those easily confused old people the article talks about, or getting there.

Just three-way the call to the number in the article. If your phone has a memory, you could program the entire dialing sequence into it.

Just three-way the call

OK, I found the instructions you posted in an earlier thread: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=149

Dale was discussing the notion that Sonic might provide a basic handset along with the service -- so that could include programming in the bot-three-way feature (sounds dirty, doesn't it?). That would be great, providing a "f*ck you" button for dealing with spambots right on the handset.

We can dream.

Once "three-way" has been done, can I then hang up and leave the spambot talking to the replybot, not tie up our phone line?

More than one spam call an hour the last few days.

"This is Amazon, we are calling you to authorize ..." claiming it's about an approximately $1000 iphone purchase.

In between those are the calls from a company claiming to be wanting to buy our house, they just need a little more information.