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Caller DI
@sbcglobal.net

Caller DI to nwrickert

Anon

to nwrickert

Re: My phone just rang and my own number was on the caller ID

said by nwrickert:

Apparently caller ID is easy to forge from VOIP.
I was led to understand that it's also possible to forge caller ID from a regular landline without VOIP.

IIRC, there's a company or two that provides a subscription-based service where a caller decides what number they want to appear to be calling from, then inputs that number on a website before they make a call.

The primary market for Caller ID spoofing seems to be collection agencies who have people trying to dodge their calls using Caller ID. Apparently, chances are good that if a call is listed as coming from your number, you're likely to pick it up, if only to see who it is.

Someone posted a link for a piece of hardware known as a "call manager" a while back that ran about $100, but featured the ability to reject calls that weren't on a pre-programmed "white list." That's about the only way I know of to avoid junk calls entirely and obviously that method only works for phone numbers you're aware of beforehand.

Some people swear by the DNC list, but it's only fair to point out that there's nothing to stop unscrupulous (and fly-by-night) telemarketers from making use of that list, especially since the numbers on it are almost all viable numbers. A firm has to stay in one place for the FTC to catch up with them for prosecution, and not all telemarketing firms are obliging enough to stay in one place long enough to be found and busted.

altermatt
Premium Member
join:2004-01-22
White Plains, NY

altermatt

Premium Member

said by Caller DI :

That's about the only way I know of to avoid junk calls entirely
Or just get an answering machine and screen your calls---don't pick up if you don't want to. What's wrong with that?

Caller DI
@static.qsc.de

Caller DI

Anon

said by altermatt:

said by Caller DI :

That's about the only way I know of to avoid junk calls entirely
Or just get an answering machine and screen your calls---don't pick up if you don't want to. What's wrong with that?
Nothing. Except that screening your calls in the manner you described still allows the yo-yos to waste your time.

With that call manager device, unless a call was on your pre-programmed whitelist, you never got it: it was bounced. Bounced calls do not waste your time.

If you think screening your calls offers the same benefits as having unknown inbound numbers rejected in the first place, it doesn't. Screening calls involves you still having to listen to people trying to get through and that still takes up your time, regardless of whether or not you allow them to get through and actually speak with you.

I'm not saying that there's a "right" or a "wrong" here, merely "efficient" and "inefficient" ways to control your incoming calls, that's all. And compared to bouncing unknown callers in the first place, screening them is comparatively inefficient.
Caller DI

Caller DI to altermatt

Anon

to altermatt
said by altermatt:

said by Caller DI :

That's about the only way I know of to avoid junk calls entirely
Or just get an answering machine and screen your calls---don't pick up if you don't want to. What's wrong with that?
Nothing. Except that screening your calls in the manner you described still allows the yo-yos to waste your time.

With that call manager device, unless a call was on your pre-programmed whitelist, you never got it: it was bounced. Bounced calls do not waste your time.

Screening calls, OTOH, involves you still having to listen to people trying to get through and that still takes up your time, regardless of whether or not you allow them to get through and actually speak with you.

I'm not saying that there's a "right" or a "wrong" here, merely "efficient" and "inefficient" ways to control your incoming calls, that's all. And compared to bouncing unknown callers in the first place, screening them is comparatively inefficient.

CUBS_FAN
2016 World Series Champs
join:2005-04-28
Chicago, IL

CUBS_FAN

Member

Desperate telemarketers. So desperate they are investing in spoofing capabilities.