Cell phone telemarketing/robo calls | GTAMotorcycle.com

Cell phone telemarketing/robo calls

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regder

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My cell number seems to have gotten on a list for these f'ing things. I counted six calls yesterday. All robocalls from "IRS"/"Department of Justice"/etc, except for one selling duct cleaning.

I doubt any of these companies are in Canada so no point wasting time with the CRTC. What can be done to stop these calls?
 
Ya it is a pain. I just got a message all in Chinese. I am not Chinese.

If you are on iPhone the latest iOS upgrade is suppose to help with this.

Otherwise I just stop answering the phone unless it is a known number.




Sent from the Moon!
 
I've been getting those for years, but this week so far three Chinese messages, and two messages from the same robot voiced lady going on about something to do with my sin # and that CRA and RCMP were coming for me. For a while I was getting calls from New Zealand about some cruise I won.

I'm guessing I entered my number somewhere and they sold it to telemarketers. Just don't answer and block. My block list is almost half as long as my contacts now.
 
My house has no air ducts and I don't own a computer.....for anyone that calls.

True story though, one year there was a small issue with a tax return we submitted. The Canada Revenue Agency kept calling to see if they could sort it out and I kept answering the phone thinking it was a scam and telling them to eff off.
 
I never answer calls I do not recognize the number of. I do a quick google search of the number and 9/10 it has been flagged by others as spam.
 
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sburns said:
If you are on iPhone the latest iOS upgrade is suppose to help with this.

Otherwise I just stop answering the phone unless it is a known number.
Click to expand...

Latest iOS allows you to send unknown numbers straight to voicemail without ringing. Good for telemarketing calls, bad for work calls.

Michael0124 said:
Just don't answer and block. My block list is almost half as long as my contacts now.
Click to expand...

Problem is it's always a different number. With VOIP, these guys can buy a massive list of phone numbers to cycle through. Doesn't even have to be a local number, they can change the call display to look like a local number.

wonderings said:
I never answer calls I do not recognize the number of. I do a quick google search of the number and 9/10 it has been flagged by others as spam.
Click to expand...

I used to ignore these calls when it was one a day. Now it seems to be more and more calls every day.

At least I don't get the free cruise call that started with a fog horn anymore.
 
I've had the chinese calls twice before I blocked it on my android. Just today a different call with only a partial message, then asking if I wanted on their do no call list to press 2. I reported both numbers to DNC site, not that it will do any good. Also wrote them up on Canada411
 
regder said:
except for one selling duct cleaning
Click to expand...

Got a call for duct cleaning. Asked if I get a discount if I don't have any ducts (I don't). Got put on hold. Guy came back and offered me 10%. I insisted on at least 50%. Finally got him down to 30% after some back and forth between him and his supervisor. I know the physical address of the park on my street. I set up an appointment and gave them that. Haven't had any more duct calls since.

regder said:
At least I don't get the free cruise call that started with a fog horn anymore.
Click to expand...

Those free trips are too expensive.
 
Had a call for window cleaning. I told them it was great because I had just hurt my back and my windows were filthy. Could they come by and give me an estimate...if it was reasonable I would get it done. I guess I forgot to mention I was on the 25th floor.
 
Glad I am not the only one who got the "fog horn" calls. I must be the travel industry selling numbers as I always seem to get them soon after returning from vacation.
 
Oh yeah, this is pretty rampant, I just block the numbers, done wonders for my peace of mind.
 
i like how the duct cleaning guy tries hard to speak native english.
 
I'm bored with life, so I answer ALL these calls and keep them on the phone as long as I can.
The duck calls, I alternate between
'yes I have about 100 but how will you catch them out on the pond?'
and
'I don't have ducks, do you do geese?'
The travel calls, 'I'm on a no-fly list so what transportation can I use to get to your destination?'
Love the IRS calls.
'Who do you want to talk to? There are 6 of us here.'
I don't get many repeat calls. :)
 
I asked the guy calling to confirm he's male. When he said yes I said that was too bad. "If you were a female you could get a job that brought you more respect. You could become a prostitute."
 
I love the duct cleaner calls! I string them along for as long as I can, then after telling them I have 24 BIG DUCKS and a few Geese to be cleaned, they leave the line.
 
Blooton said:
Had a call for window cleaning. I told them it was great because I had just hurt my back and my windows were filthy. Could they come by and give me an estimate...if it was reasonable I would get it done. I guess I forgot to mention I was on the 25th floor.
Click to expand...

About 20 years ago I was getting calls on our landline (remember those? LOL) for a window installation company. They would NOT stop..and back then there was little you could do about it.

Finally I got fed up and played along one day. The salesperson thought they'd hit the jackpot as I got quotes for no less than about 30 windows in my "home". When we got to the end I asked them if the installers have REALLY big ladders. The guy assured me they did. It was that point that I told them I lived on the 6th floor so make sure they bring the REALLY long ones.

The calls stopped after that.

When we bought our house I was one of the first aboard the VoIP thing - still am to this day, actually...for the landline we haven't actually used in years, but that's another story. Subscribed to a virtual Fax (remember those? LOL) second line that was incoming only. All received faxes were digitized and emailed to me.

So, you guessed it....same crap. "DISCOUNT WINDOWS AND DOORS!". 4 or 5 feckin faxes a day, some multiple pages.

So, again, I finally played along. Got a big huge quote for all sorts of windows and doors our house didn't even have. Told them that I'd just send them a fax photo of one "really weird" window so they could look at it and quote me properly on that. Got THEIR fax number. Promptly hung up, logged into VoIP management portal...and redirected all their own faxes right back to their own incoming fax machine.

For years and years....every time they tried to fax-spam me, someone...somewhere, was spamming themselves. I saw it in the call logs.
 
Anyhow, back on Topic, Freedom Mobile announced that as of November 15'th they're going to have a system in place that will block ALL spoofed number calls.

Looking forward to it. Although I've been thankful my cell number has been 99% spam call free for the 15 years I've had this current number, in just the last month or three it has increased greatly. I haven't yet enabled the feature on my iPhone that just blocks anyone not in my contacts list, but I will if need be.
 
Evidently that's arising from a CRTC requirement, so it ought to apply to all phone companies. It's about time. I hope it actually works.

CRTC steps up fight against nuisance calls in Canada - Canada.ca

The CRTC today took further steps to reduce the number of unsolicited and illegitimate calls Canadians receive. To offer Canadians an additional level of protection, telecommunications service providers must implement a system to block calls within their networks by December 19, 2019.
www.canada.ca www.canada.ca
 
I've find it amazing that it came to the point of regulation to fix this issue.

I'm no telecommunications engineer, but it seemed to me that if I can pickup the phone and with just the press of a few buttons be talking to someone on the other side of the planet..that the phone companies should have been able to verify if that call from a Toronto area code is actually coming from Toronto...not bangladesh.

Based on the fact this is now actually happening, it seems they almost certainly had the technical ability all along.. why they refused to actually implement it is anyones guess.
 
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