“I don’t know how they’re getting away with this.”

Every time I think I’m getting too cynical, some asshole or another will come along and remind me that I’m not cynical enough.
A recent example is the horrific car warranty “telemarketing” which has plagued my cell phone in the past few weeks.
My cell phone, get it?
I’ve had it for years, and like many clueless Americans, I always kind of assumed that cell phones were sacrosanct, and that no one could call them unless you were dumb enough to give out your number. No more. The latest generation of criminal spammers uses robocall technology to randomly generate numbers in the hope of targeting any that ring.
And on top of that, they use Caller ID spoofing (available here to anyone) to completely conceal their location and identity.
Mind you, although I’m sophisticated enough to Google a number that appears to be the source of a harassing phone call, at first I was foolish enough to believe that someone named “Angie Xxxxxx” in Chewelah, Washington was behind the suspicious car warranty scam. But then I also saw that another woman named “Euralee Xxxxxx” in New Bern, North Carolina was also involved. (I tried calling both of “them” back, but naturally, “their” numbers have been disconnected.)
I learned that these same two “people” (who probably once had listed phone numbers) had been irritating thousands of clueless citizens just like me, who dutifully checked them out, and warned others:

thor
Why can’t the federal government get their s@$t together, crack down on this crap and figure out how to protect their citizens. We are paying billions to companies with outstretched hands and this is what we get. Now the FCC is trying to ditch analog TV signals to sell to cell phone companies and for what so we can have more of this crap? I have had it. I want my money back! These people won’t stop calling even after being on the national do not call list!
2009-04-29 02:32:47 UTCkegler280
Received call on my business cell today. Didn’t even bother answering. I knew that this was the same a@#holes that called the other week from 262-513-8290. This is clearly a scam. I don’t know how they’re getting away with this. These people have no conscience. They should be strung up!!!

Well, in all probablity, they are not even telemarketers, but criminal phishers, and they might not even be in the United States.
It’s easy to say that this should be made illegal, but it already is. The best analogy is to Nigerian spammers. What bothers me is that there is nothing to stop them from calling your cell phone, and in what seems like a cruel joke, impersonating ordinary people, who then find themselves hated by thousands and getting death threats:

An anonymous reader writes
“A nice little old lady I know has had her number spoofed by some car warranty scammers. They’re calling hundreds of potential victims per day pretending to use her phone number, and the angry ones call her back; some of them have even left death threats. She’s terrified. Some well-intending anti-telemarketing folks have posted her address on the ‘net as well. How can we figure out where these scammer bastards are, and what’s the state of the current legislation to prevent caller ID spoofing? I called the FBI in Boston (near where she lives) and they said they can’t help. She’s called her phone company, but they said they can’t help either. She’s had the same number for over 50 years and doesn’t want to change it.”
If the Feds can’t or won’t handle it, what’s the best approach here?

I feel very sorry for this woman (like the two who appeared on my Caller ID, her mistake appears to be that of having a listed phone number), but I don’t know what the Feds can do. Technology is outpacing the ability to police it.
As to the “DO NOT CALL” registry, forget it. It’s useless against criminals, and besides, many of these people are beyond the reach of the United States.
It’s easy to say, “just change your number!” but I don’t want to do that. What would be really nice would be to track some of these people down, and see to it that they are severely punished.
Hmmmm….
Maybe I should update the Classical Values Torture Poll, and ask readers which punishment should be applied to spoofed Caller ID telemarketing spammers.


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13 responses to ““I don’t know how they’re getting away with this.””

  1. apotheosis Avatar
    apotheosis

    These people are a biblical plague. I get them too.
    I’d describe what should be done for them for addition to your poll, but it’d render this site distinctly family-unfriendly.

  2. Anon Avatar
    Anon

    Well, since they’re not ‘enemy combatants’, torture would be legitimate in this case, right? I suggest strapping them down, then play a recording of the same stuff they spam us with, repeatedly. Loudly. With the dial tones and everything. Think of it as an audible version of water torture.
    And this is coming from someone that has a cellphone who only uses it to dial home to family, who rarely gets called on it by family (due to land line at work), and who has said spammers hit said cellphone more than said family members.
    I’m not sure how they do the spoofing, but there does appear to be some sort of number forwarding if you actually go through the 2ND FINAL NOTICE spiel. No clue if it’s a 900-number that they get to charge you on, but something needs to be done. Either finding out explicitly where and who are doing these, or some sort of concentrated campaign of something like Credit Card Chargebacks to fry them monetarily. They are scammers, and since nobody in government is really pushing on this, somebody else has to strike back.

  3. Sigivald Avatar
    Sigivald

    I’ve heard that what’s going on is thus:
    Company A wants to sell people stupid, overpriced, but legally legitimate “added warranites” for their cars.
    Company B says “we can call people and connect them to you for a fee, and we promises, cross our heart, that all the phone numbers are legitimate and we’re not breaking the laws”.
    Company B takes the money, robo-calls everyone in the world, and rarely if ever bothers to connect calls to Company A.
    Company A is out their money, and Company B doesn’t give a damn, because Company A suddenly finds out that their contact information doesn’t work anymore…

  4. RT Avatar
    RT

    The lady mentioned in the article is getting death threats over the phone and the FBI and local police don’t give a damn? She should go to her US Reps and senators and complain through them. Things would probably start to happen then.

  5. Jardinero1 Avatar
    Jardinero1

    No criminal prosecutions are required. The problem is that long distance phone service is no longer metered. With unlimited long distance, a phone spammer has every incentive to call as many numbers as possible. The only solution is to charge by the minute for outgoing calls or assess a small fee to the caller for every call that is answered. That would add up to significant charges for the caller who makes thousands of calls per day.

  6. HMI Avatar
    HMI

    I don’t know what works or doesn’t for cell phones. In NY, for such calls coming in over a land line (despite the Do Not Call List), I was told by Verizon that the Attorney General would have to get involved, and the only way to do this would be to a) Press *57 following receipt of such calls
    b) Go to the police station to file a complaint about harassing phone calls
    c) Call the Verizon business office to notify them of my actions.
    d) Hope that the AG’s office pursues it.

  7. Pax Avatar
    Pax

    To take a lesson from spam, what we need is a voicemail based CAPTCHA system for phones. A voice could ask you to punch in an answer to a simple verbal math problem in order to ring the phone.
    This will inevitably happen.

  8. Len Avatar
    Len

    I’ve been using a bicycle horn with good success. 🙂

  9. Roy Mustang Avatar
    Roy Mustang

    Nigera. The only reasonable solution is a thermonuclear solution. Some may disagree.

  10. Donna B. Avatar

    The solution here it to not buy new cars. Nobody ever bothers me with deals to warranty my 1991 Ford pickup.

  11. Joseph Hertzlinger Avatar

    My response is to press “1” and then try to waste their time. OTOH, they’re the experts in that field.
    As for punishments, James Lileks had a suggestion.

  12. brian Avatar
    brian

    This and the “lower your rates” thing are both phishing scams. All they want is your credit card number.
    They aren’t in the US, so we have no jurisdiction. They are in a country that doesn’t care, or is profiting from the criminal activity.
    The solution is to “accidentally” drop an “anchor” on the undersea cable connecting their nation to the phone grid.

  13. Georg Felis Avatar

    I’m waiting for Obama to get a call from them in the middle of a press conference.
    “Excuse me, I should take this.”
    “Uhh.. Hm… Hey General, I think I have a target for those B1 bombers we’re not using right now.”