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Comment by h2odragon | Hacker News Reader

Now can we do something about all the other spam calls please? Something like 90% of the calls I get are spam.

I no longer do, but only because I recently learned that some carriers allow you to block them completely, before they ever reach the phone. For example, on T-mobile, you just dial #662# to activate it, #632# to deactivate it, and #787# to check if it's currently enabled.

Wait, what? Would that work on Ting?

#787# and #632# work for me on Ting with an X3 SIM, but #662# says "unable to process request." I'm guessing you actually need to be a T-Mobile customer to use the service.

I have T-Mobile and a Pixel. With their blocking measures combined, it's very rare that I get robocalls.

The industry is implementing STIR/SHAKEN which should help somewhat.

https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication

If you have time you can figure out who is behind each one and take them to court. You just about need to be an unemployed lawyer to get all the paperwork right, but it is possible.

Out of curiosity, if you are in the US, have you put yourself on the no call list?

https://www.donotcall.gov/

I did this probably over 10 years ago, I have not changed my phone #, and I receive very few spam calls. I did receive some in 2015 and stated I would like them to remove me from there list and not contact me again, and I never heard from them again. The majority of "spam" I get is from recruiters offering me jobs for tech I haven't done in 15 years :(

I'm in the US, have had the same cell phone number since 2004 [1], and have put it on the do-not-call list, and it doesn't seem to have made a difference. I receive 2x as many junk calls as legitimate calls, but at least an unknown number in my cell phone's area code (where I haven't lived since 2007) is a strong signal that its nobody I want to talk to. (But I can't tell my phone to filter unknown numbers by area code)

[1]: https://xkcd.com/1129/ applies well to me.

"You successfully registered your phone number ending in XXXX on March XX, 2006."

I still get 5-10 spam calls per day.

I tried this multiple times over the past several years and it seemed to make little difference for me. I'm thinking whoever had this number before me gave it out to anyone and everyone. I will try signing up for this list again. Thanks!

Most spam calls I get are about the soon-to-expire warranty on my car or the student loans I haven't had since since the 20th century. They always hang up when I ask if it's a scam.

"You successfully registered your phone number ending in xxxx on May 05, 2017."

... The number of calls went up and stayed up months after i did that.

what are the mechanics of adding oneself to this list? I just did, but how is this realistically going to stop robocalls?

It will stop robocalls from law abiding callers. Unfortunately, most robocalls are spammers who are frauding anyway, so the list doesn't matter.

I think it just enables you to collect damages of $3000/call if you are able to identify the entity robocalling you and you sue them.

Add another condition: "and they are under US jurisdiction".

Technically, yes, you can obtain a judgement against a call center operating outside the US, but you're never going to collect on that judgement.

The DNC list doesn't work. Scammers ignore it. Politicians are exempt. Any nominal business relationship is also exempt.

> Politicians are exempt

True, but they mostly call you if the polls are closing and your haven't voted yet.

> Any nominal business relationship is also exempt.

true, but here again they have a relationship and are at least somewhat useful. They also aren't robo calls, but a real person spending their time calling you so they won't abuse your time like robo calls do.

I get a constant stream of political push-poll callers from both major parties.

As for the business calls - it's a lot of car warranty crap and similar mostly useless, borderline scammy sales pitches.

Your business calls are scams and nothing to do with the legitimate businesses with an established relationship.

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