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Robocall Madness
#47242 12/16/17 05:20 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
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Thanks to call blocking and nomorobo I have not been particularly bothered by rob calls on my iPhone until recently. Now I am being hit with robo calls with my phone number but different area codes or from a single phone number in different area codes. Apparently the robo callers are using VOIP and "spoofing" the calling number to avoid call blocking and anti-robot calling tools such as nomorobo. Even worse these pests are apparently willing to call late at night and early in the morning well outside normal hours. Thus has the war between advertisers and privacy escalated to yet another level.

My questions are
  • Has anyone else encountered this?
  • Has anyone found a successful way of blocking these annoying calls?


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Robocall Madness
joemikeb #47245 12/17/17 08:18 AM
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I have been getting something similar: my area code, my 3-digit prefix, last 4 digits different and vary from call to call. Elsewhere I have seen this called "number spoofing" and it is indeed becoming more prevalent.

I have not seen any method of blocking these. Personally the frequency of this type of call seems to ebb and flow.


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: Robocall Madness
joemikeb #47258 12/20/17 05:41 AM
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Huh. I've been seeing exactly the same thing. It started about a week and a half ago.

If there's a way to block these calls, I sure haven't figured it out yet. frown The calls come from area codes all over the US, but they all seem to be spoofed VOIP numbers.


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Re: Robocall Madness
tacit #47261 12/20/17 06:01 PM
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On further research I have found the FCC is aware of the issue of spoofed caller IDs. The practice is illegal and at least two miscreants have been caught and fines totaling $183 million have been levied in 2017, but the difficulty in tracing these calls to their source (which is often outside U.S. jurisdiction) means only a tiny number actually get caught and an even smaller number are prosecuted. This latest tactic of using the target's phone number or some portion thereof) appears to be intended to counter the FCCs tracking efforts as the spoofed numbers are used only once.

I have not been hit with spam texts — yet, but a recent update to NoMoRobo includes an experimental feature that attempts to block or at least segregate spam text messages! This is based on "whitelisting" your Contacts list and NoMoRobo's list of known spam sources. Once suspect texts have been segregated the user has the option to block or whitelist the sender.

Surely better tools will emerge, but in the meantime spoofed caller ID's can be reported to the FCC here.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein

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