anybody else get this stuff

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jsburger
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by jsburger »

dusty wrote:I regularly get calls from Microsoft telling me my email is in the process of be discontinued unless I call them. I also get calls informing me that a company (not named) has gone out of business and there are funds to be rebated but they need me to return this call.

I just learned this week that it is unlawful for the phone company to block robocalls unless the customer specifically requested that the calling number be blocked. There has been a congressional committee appointed to look into it. Our Government at work.
You can register on the federal do not call list and it does not do any good. That is because there is no enforcement. The only people that follow the list are the legitimate conscientious company's.

Why do you answer calls that you don't recognize the number?

It might be illegal for the phone company to block calls but there are apps. Android allows blocking. The problem is that the scammers spoof random phone numbers so you can block one and then they call back on another number.

I know you remember when FAX machines came out and the advertisers would send unsolicited FAX's to a machines phone number. The government acted fairly quickly to squash that for the most part.

It is time for that again. Times have changed so good luck if Robo calls stop any time soon.
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john_001
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by john_001 »

dusty wrote:I regularly get calls from Microsoft telling me my email is in the process of be discontinued unless I call them.
And if you call them, it's one of those pay-per-call numbers that you're automatically charged a big fee for ...
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dusty
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by dusty »

jsburger wrote:
dusty wrote:I regularly get calls from Microsoft telling me my email is in the process of be discontinued unless I call them. I also get calls informing me that a company (not named) has gone out of business and there are funds to be rebated but they need me to return this call.

I just learned this week that it is unlawful for the phone company to block robocalls unless the customer specifically requested that the calling number be blocked. There has been a congressional committee appointed to look into it. Our Government at work.
You can register on the federal do not call list and it does not do any good. That is because there is no enforcement. The only people that follow the list are the legitimate conscientious company's.

Why do you answer calls that you don't recognize the number?

It might be illegal for the phone company to block calls but there are apps. Android allows blocking. The problem is that the scammers spoof random phone numbers so you can block one and then they call back on another number.

I know you remember when FAX machines came out and the advertisers would send unsolicited FAX's to a machines phone number. The government acted fairly quickly to squash that for the most part.

It is time for that again. Times have changed so good luck if Robo calls stop any time soon.
I don't answer calls I don't recognize. They go to my answering machine which records any message the caller might leave. Most leave no message.
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RFGuy
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

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dusty wrote: I don't answer calls I don't recognize. They go to my answering machine which records any message the caller might leave. Most leave no message.
Keep in mind that any answering of the phone, either by yourself or your answering machine, triggers the robo callers to put you on the list to call back. During the first 2 seconds after answering, the robo callers software is looking for a human voice. Once it detects one (even from your answering machine), it puts you on a callback list. If you answer your phone, that is why they recommend pausing and not saying anything for 2 seconds to see if another human comes on the other end first...to limit your call backs from the robo caller. I am able to add phone numbers to a block call list on my landline phone which happens to be a VoIP provider. I think I am up to about 500 numbers that I have manually added to the block call list over the last decade. I do the same on my cellphone. There are also apps available for cellphones that automatically block known spammer numbers, but I have heard mixed reviews of these in the past.

I had one particularly nasty robo caller call me a few months ago. The same number would call in succession 2-3 times back to back, less than a minute later. I let it go the answering machine each time and it would repeat day after day. I would add them to the block number list, but they would keep calling with a new, slightly different number. I finally answered and talked to some guy in an Indian call center. I asked to be removed from their list, but of course they are not going to do this. Did this again a few more times before finally I must have blocked all the numbers available to them for their robo caller and it stopped. They certainly were the most tenacious one I have encountered yet.
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rcoder
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by rcoder »

Got the same message twice and all I have are Mac's. What should I do???
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by garys »

rcoder wrote:Got the same message twice and all I have are Mac's. What should I do???
Just reboot and try again. :)
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everettdavis
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by everettdavis »

Here is another popular rouse some folks fall for just while browsing the web or news sites:

Someone is browsing a subject let’s say early American history and a survey question is presented.

“Are You Smarter Than A 7th Grade Civics Student?” as an example of one survey that presents 100 questions about Civics, aspects of American History and general citizenship questions.

I did a Google search for the phrase “are you smarter than a 7th grade civics student” and in 0.56 seconds I had 7,290,000 potential places returned…. See graphic below.
Sample Quiz Question Sites.png
Sample Quiz Question Sites.png (60.5 KiB) Viewed 21850 times
I fully expected what was coming at the end of the questioning, and was not disappointed….

At the end of the 100 questions, which I and suspect most over 50 here in the forums could ace. I did anyway. Some were just way too simple, and the photo attached on some were intended to take your mind away from the subject, and some spot on subject.

Congratulations (Your name inserted here) you scored a perfect 100%!!!

You were browsing right? Logged in to Google Chrome perhaps…..

How did it know your name? The browsers have unique bits and pieces about you cached in records they store on your machine. Some are in Cookies, a file that has something of your browsing history. You go to a site to order something and the site knows what you last looked at and provides you with links to what you last reviewed and often presents eye candy of something similar they want to sell you.

Did you ever fill out a contact form and your computer had all the information to populate the fields for you, ready for you to click and fill them in automatically? Form Fill data they call it. You get the idea.

Your browsing experience is shared for them to reference the next time you visit. That may not be all that is shared for they may not be the only ones looking at cookies data.

Let’s presume you are a proud citizen and want to show off your Civics prowess and it just asked you; “Would you like to share your results?”

You clicked Yes, and it prompts you to login on Facebook - hastily you do, not thinking about what the application you are running on the internet is doing in the background.

The application presents you a place for your Facebook login name and password, and even opens a second browser window to Facebook and uses that information to log you in, sharing your 100% score, just as you instructed it to……

Wait just a minute…. You gave your Facebook login name and password to an application that did that for you. What else did it do with your information? …… You don’t know… and when you close that quiz screen, any record of what was done may disappear on your computer…. It was never written there, but it darn sure may have been transmitted around the world to a system harvesting login information…. Let’s see Twitter, and any other places it might suggest are in play too…..

Whether on the computer, your phone or any other device (especially when connecting through public WiFI) are danger zones.

Millions of folks do these things every day. Some are innocent and do what they suggest, and others are replicas of those sites, and do whatever they want.

Think about your on-line activity more... You may well be knowledgeable in Civics or Music, Movies, Celebrities or whatever the in-vogue subject of the day is…. Question is: are you smarter than a hacker?

In the 1983 War Games movie, it was about a kid accidentally hacking into NORAD while looking for games using a dial-up modem.

The most relevant dialog came after the computer, playing itself, learned while formulating Global Thermonuclear War Game Strategies.

It, by playing tick-tac-toe a game that ends in stalemate after stalemate when computer played both sides, presumptively learned strategy that it forecast into the running Thermonuclear War Game….. the dialog went like this;

Joshua: Greetings, Professor Falken.
Stephen Falken: Hello, Joshua.
Joshua: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

It is sort of the same thing only different….

Everett
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JPG
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by JPG »

Good advice.
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RFGuy
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by RFGuy »

everettdavis wrote: In the 1983 War Games movie, it was about a kid accidentally hacking into NORAD while looking for games using a dial-up modem.

The most relevant dialog came after the computer, playing itself, learned while formulating Global Thermonuclear War Game Strategies.

It, by playing tick-tac-toe a game that ends in stalemate after stalemate when computer played both sides, presumptively learned strategy that it forecast into the running Thermonuclear War Game….. the dialog went like this;

Joshua: Greetings, Professor Falken.
Stephen Falken: Hello, Joshua.
Joshua: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

It is sort of the same thing only different….

Everett
Everett,

I love that movie (War Games) and the reference to it. That movie is a classic. It is scary how many times we have come to the edge of nuclear war and annihilation. Below is just one such incident from radar misinterpretation that is eerily represented in the movie with the attack false alarm.

October 5, 1960—False alarm suggests attack
American base in Greenland, Severity: 3
Radar at the Thule Air Base in Greenland detects dozens of nuclear missiles launched from the Soviet Union towards the United States. The American military begins measures for high alert, but suspects something is wrong, considering that Khrushchev is visiting New York. It turns out radar had misinterpreted a moonrise over Norway.

https://www.wagingpeace.org/nuclear-close-calls/
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UncleSnick
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Re: anybody else get this stuff

Post by UncleSnick »

Hi All,

I get these calls all the time. I do my part to save you all from getting called. Whenever I can, a few times a week, I pick up the call and talk with these clowns as they are all scams that I've researched and am well aware of. I engage them as if I'm really believing their story. It's a game to me. I try to see how long I can remain believable without giving them ANY useful information. I get them to invest time and, like car salesmen, they start to get desperate so they hang on longer. When they finally realize that they're never going to get anywhere with me they get really upset that they spent so much time in vain and get REALLY mad. They accuse ME of wasting their time! This is really delicious. I then tell them that I kept them from scamming some defenseless person. They usually are furious at this point, cuss me out and then hang up. This usually takes anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes. I know its only a small dent in their millions of calls they attempt every day but I have satisfaction that I helped someone else not get called and maybe scammed.

A few things to know:

1) They have algorithms that they use to increase the chance that they'll increase their 'earnings'. The following increase the likelihood you'll be called: 1) If you answer the call. 2) How much time you actually spend on the call. I do both so get called very often. If you don't want to get called more, just let the call go. Don't pick up.

2) The phone numbers they use aren't real. They make it look like they're calling from a phone in your area. This is called 'spoofing'. They randomly spoof numbers that look to be from your area hoping that will increase the likelihood you'll pick up.

3) Blocking the numbers is useless as they randomly spoof numbers every time they call.

4) Calling back and hollering at someone will just get you calling a random neighbor and hollering at them. Since they didn't really make the call they'll be really confused and likely mad at you. AND now that neighbor you just cussed out knows your number!

5) There are great free call blocker apps. The best I've found for iOS is "Hiya". It has the option to block 'neighbor calls'. This will block calls that are not in your contact list from any area code and 3 number prefix you select. This goes a REAL long way to cutting down on the spoofed calls.

6) If you want to understand more about how / why these people do this, listen to the following 2 part 'Reply All' podcasts (link below). They go all the way to India to confront scammers. What they learn along the way explains the 'business' of these robots-scams.

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all ... mletPlayer

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all ... mletPlayer

I hope this helps you / someone you care about.

NIck
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