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It has occurred to me that I have not received my daily call from Rachel in several weeks. Apparetly, she has been busted, at least for the time being:
What I do not understand is why it was so hard to track this down. It would seem to me that a consumer organization of outraged call recipients could have ponied up a substantial reward for any call center employee who would blow the whistle, and identify to Do Not Call enforcers the physical location of their operation and any other pertinent details, like who pays them their wages.
I spent a lot of energy in the past finding out the then major source of such calls. It isn't hard now, and just about everyone involved knows who the big players are. After the FTC failed miserably and repeatedly, even after a few Congresscritters got these calls while in session, I changed my personal tactics.
I now use a free program called "phonetray" to block unwanted calls. However, I have to look up numbers from time to time to vet them. In one of my reverse directory searches I found out where the real problem lies, hidden in the comments about one number. Are you ready?
The real problem lies with the phone companies, with specific blame on Pac-Bell. The technology already exists to stop these calls and bring the scams to a screeching halt. So why hasn't it been done? Think of the old 3rd class mail analogy. The post office made lots of money off it because it required minimal effort and processing. In the instance of phone companies, there is a tiny charge a phone company can collect when processing the caller ID information on a call. These scammers make MILLIONS of calls, to the point that the phone companies are making a lot of money by allowing them to go through unimpeded.
Now it all begins to make sense. AT&T doesn't allow blocking on 1-800 numbers. It won't allow the reporting of these scam calls, and if you try, the company will refer you to "your local police department." It will not treat them as harassment calls even if they call dozens of times a day. The amounts of money involved are too great for them to want to stop the calls.
Until the pass-through charges for caller ID are no longer allowed, the phone companies are on the side of the enemy. Unless some class action attorney comes up with damning emails and can show a number of people ripped off, the chances of the phone companies re-thinking their policies are slim.
I am seriously considering using a Google phone number now as my contact number and blacklisting ALL incoming calls on my local phone that don't get forwarded through that number. Between the Rachel calls and the bill collectors trying to find my neighbors, only about one call in twenty on my line is legitimate.
I've just stopped answering calls from numbers I do not recognize. The problem is convincing DH to do the same.
Thar would require ME to pay the phone company for caller ID, to defend me from the malicious complicity by the phone company in the calls being routed in the first place. Phone company collects profits on both ends, which winds up in their shareholders Cayman Island bank accounts. Textbook example of free enterprise at its best.
Ever since I dropped my land line and only use a cell, junk calls dropped dramatically. Some still get through, but only once. If it's an 800# or out-of-state area code, I don't answer it. Then I google the number to figure out what it was for (most never leave a message). All junk numbers go into a contact called "Junk Calls." The prefs for this contact are then set to block -- I'm never even aware if they call again. Any different junk calls that I get are added to this same contact.
Thar would require ME to pay the phone company for caller ID, to defend me from the malicious complicity by the phone company in the calls being routed in the first place. Phone company collects profits on both ends, which winds up in their shareholders Cayman Island bank accounts. Textbook example of free enterprise at its best.
Just don't answer. Can't your program your mothers..fathers...best friend sean number. So if a random number calls don't even pay attention. If someone truly needs you they will leave a message.
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