[Nfbmo] Telemarketers flooding phones and cell phones
James Moynihan
jamesmmoynihan at gmail.com
Tue Apr 3 19:36:43 UTC 2012
Gail
I was also offered free cruises but I did not go.
Cordially,
Jim Moynihan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gail Bryant" <gbryant at socket.net>
To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 5:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Telemarketers flooding phones and cell phones
> Yes Dan. I've been offered so many two-day cruises to the Bahamas, I'm
> seasick.
>
> Gail Bryant
> Columbia Braille Teaching Services L.L.C.
> 1212 London Drive
> Columbia, MO 65203-2012
> Phone: (573)817-5993
> Cell: (573)268-4962
> gbryant at socket.net
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of DanFlasar at aol.com
> Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 3:28 PM
> To: nfbmo at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Nfbmo] Telemarketers flooding phones and cell phones
>
> HI all,
> I've been noticing an enormous increase in telemarketers calling both
> my land line and my cell phone in the last month. I'm now getting at
> least 3 spam calls on my cell phone and 1 or 2 on my land line daily.
> Has anyone else noticed this? How have you been dealing with it? Below
> are my comments on the source of these calls and what you can do about
> it.
>
> And if you have suggestions, I'm all ears.
> I consider this to be on-topic because we all depend on our phones and
> as blind and visually impaired consumers, it's a bit more difficult for
> us
> to distinguish these calls from legitimate ones.
>
> These new calls call at all hours from 8 am to 10 PM. They rarely leave
> a message and sometimes the calls end after 3 rings. If you have caller
> ID, you'll get just the number - no description. I check on-line every
> time
> I get a new spam call to find out more. The experience I've gathered
> from
> users reports is that if you actually answer the call, you might get a
> notice to press 1 if you do not want to receive commercial messages -
> DON'T
>
> PRESS ANYTHING! Doing so tells the telemarketers that they have a live
> number.and won't stop the calls. Don't call the numbers to have
> yourself
> taken
> off their calling list - they will just hang up on you.
> It doesn't matter if you're on Missouri's Do Not Call List or the
> national one either, for both cell phones and land lines - these are
> auto-dialing robocalls that go numerically through all possible
> combination
> of
> numbers in an area code and exchange. Almost all the area codes for
> these
>
> calls have come from Eastern Washington State around Seattle and Tacoma,
> but
> also from Oregon - a few have been from Clearwater, FLA.
> Though most are telemarketers, some have been coming from legitimate
> nonprofits. One company in Auburn, WA contracts with non-profits to call
> their current and former membership lists to get you to renew your
> membership/subscriptions, etc. It is legal for these organizations to
> call
> - they
> are not covered by the Do Not Call laws. But they have to take your
> number
>
> off their call list if you request it.
> The biggest problem with this new group of callers is that they call
> 3 times,hang up without leaving a message. You have to call them and
> they
> will ask you to send money to your alumni association, public radio
> station, trade journal or the like. They called at all hours. I
> suspect
> that
> the organizations that contracted with these telemarketers got so much
> bad
> feedback that the robocalls may be discontinued soon.
> It is also legal for a company you do business with to call you
> soliciting new services. You can tell them you don't want to receive
> such
> calls
> and they have to note that in your record - if you so desire.
>
> There are a few things you can do:
> 1. If you have caller-id (hopefully talking caller-id) and you don't
> recognize a number from an unfamiliar area code, don't answer it. If the
> caller is legitimate, they'll leave a message.
>
> 2. If the caller doesn't leave a message, don't call the number back -
> that puts you higher on their calling list! Most of these calls are to
> get you to buy a security system, get a credit card, repair your debt,
> refinance your home and the like. These are not legitimate offers - they
> are
> only seeking to get personal information from you - they are phone
> phishing.
> Don't ever give personal information to an unsolicited call unless you
> know
>
> the company and have requested the service. Better yet - you initiate
> the
> call!
>
> 3. Block the number: Contact your land line provider to find out how
> to block a phone #. Charter offers a service that will block up to 12
> numbers - not nearly enough but it's a help. If you're a Charter phone
> user,
> pick up your handset, get a dial tone and press *60. You will get a
> voice
> menu instructing you how to proceed.
> Sprint offers a page detailing how you can eliminate different types
> of phone contacts such as voice, pictures, texting, etc.
> Contact your cell phone service provider to get info on how to block
> phone #s.
>
> If you're a Sprint customer, here's the link, Logging in will take you
> to the page describing their calling services including blocking calls.
> Here's the link for Sprint.
> _https://mysprint.sprint.com/mysprint/pages/sl/global/login.jsp?targetPage=h
> ttps%3A%2F%2Fmysprint.sprint.com%2Fmysprint%2Fpages%2Fsecure%2Fmypreferences
> %2FmyPreferencesLanding.jsp_
> (https://mysprint.sprint.com/mysprint/pages/sl/global/login.jsp?targetPage=h
> ttps://mysprint.sprint.com/mysprint/pages/secur
> e/mypreferences/myPreferencesLanding.jsp)
>
> I think you can get up to at least 100 phone #s blocked. Once you add
> and
> save the phone #s, you have to turn off your cell phone for a minute or
> so. The blocks will take effect within 15 minutes after your phone is
> turned back on.
> You can also call your provider and they will be happy to tell you how
> to do this and, if you tell them you're blind or visually impaired, they
> will do it for you if you wish. I don't know what Verizon or AT&T offer.
>
> 4. There are apps for the Android platform - I don't know about the
> iPhone - that you can use to block known spammers. One is called
> MrNumber
> that
> analyzes calling patterns among their customers as well as web reports.
> If they notice that the same numbers are calling multiple subscribers
> multiple times, they will flag it as a suspicious #. They have a web
> page
> where
> users can report their experiences. I don't know much about how good the
> service is, how much it costs and how legitimate it is but it's been
> reviewed on some on-line business sites. Anyone know anything about it?
> Again -
> this is only available for SmartPhones using the Android operating
> system.
>
> Does anyone know of a similar app for the iPhone?
>
>
> This is just going to get worse until consumers demand action from
> State Attorneys General and comments to the national DoNotCall lists.
> These
> practices are blatantly illegal.
>
> Finally, cell phone customers can get free directory assistance. Sprint
> asks you to fill out a form - not fillable on-line - that you can print
> out
>
> and fax or mail to them. It does ask for verification of visual
> impairment via a health care professional. If anyone's interested, I can
> send an
> attachment to the list.
>
> Dan
>
>
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