Getting a huge number of junk phone calls? and E-mails?

[leftyladyfrommo]

They all have weird phone numbers, weird area codes. Some are actually from India and Dubai. You just add a 91 to the number and it's overseas. I check them out on google every day. And they are all scammers or selling something.

We also have noticed a huge number of pop ups on our internet.

Anybody know what's going on?

[MineralMan]

1. You're on a list of some kind.

I'm not getting those calls. That things are popping up in your browser could indicate that you have some malware on your computer. Probably you should do a malware scan with malwarebytes or another scanning tool designed specifically for malware.

Your info has gotten onto some lists in some way. Good luck getting off them.

[merrily]

2. Did someone have an important message about your credit card account?

I think I got that call every day at noon for around a year. Then it stopped. Now, it started again.

It's illegal because I am on every Do Not Call list I can possibly be on.

The one time you want the NSA on your phone call........

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. I don't think there really is a Do Not Call List anymore.

Too many ways to get around it.

[merrily]

8. I just got another call. Bridget must REALLY want me to save on interest.

What a saint!

[SeattleVet]

14. The Do Not Call list is really working very well...

I have not received a call from a legitimate telemarketer in many years. I automatically assume that any other calls I get from people/companies that are ignoring the DNC list are just the scammers. Since they are already breaking the law, I don't hold back when the rare one gets through the blocking that I have in place. The FTC and FCC have slapped some pretty substantial fines (well into the 10's of millions of dollars) on several of the most egregious offenders.

I use an Ooma VOIP phone system at home, and pay a little bit for their 'Premier' service which gives access to 2 blacklists (this makes our complete 'phone' bill about $15/month). There is the Personal Blacklist, where you add callers as they come in - those numbers are forever blocked unless you remove the block. There's the Community Blacklist, where, if enough people have added a number as a scammer, adds these numbers to what is being blocked for you. Finally, Ooma has a hook in to the NoMoRobo system, which intercepts most robocalls before they ring and either diverts them directly to voicemail or gives them a 'your number is blocked' message. That system uses a simultaneous ring feature that enables them to see if a massive number of calls are coming from a single source; then it blocks that number from ringing at my home and handles the call.

Where I used to get 5-10 scam telemarketer calls a week a couple of years ago, now I only get maybe 1 call every 2 weeks or so from some criminal enterprise that made it through the blacklists.

(Before our resident telemarketer takes offense again, I have absolutely NOTHING against legitimate telemarketing companies or the people that work for them. I never hear from them, since they are following the law. The ones that I have issues with are the criminal scammers that do whatever they want to do to try to get around the DNC laws, and the people that support those crooks.)

[Kablooie]

3. We had to buy an answering machine that blocks numbers.

they still call all the time but after one ring the machine hangs up.
We get 6 or seven every day from the same numbers.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. I don't answer my phone any more.

I wait to see who leaves a message.

[tularetom]

5. The worst ones are the guy from India with the American sounding name about my "Microsoft computer"

I have no trouble getting rid of him, I just tell him I have no computer and he hangs up.

The one that won't give up so easily are those from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). I sent them a contribution a few elections back, and IMO, they blew it on candidates of dubious Democratic credentials. So every time they call with their hands out, I remind them of it. Do you think they care? No effing way, they just babble on with their spiel as if I never said a word, revising their demand downward as the "conversation" continues. After a few minutes of this I can't listen to anymore and just hang up.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. I get tons of unwanted e-mails from them.

I just get tons of unwanted e-mails period.

[merrily]

10. If you unsubscribe, the Democratic organizations will stop sending you

emails. It make take a time or two, but they do respect it.

[merrily]

9. The good news is that they no longer need donations from their "traditional constituencies."

That was the game plan and they've implemented it.

But getting callers to volunteer to call you and getting you to donate your $25 helps keeps everyone invested. Good for GOTV.

[merrily]

11. I never thought of telling him/them I have no computer. Duh. THANKS!

I did tell one of them I didn't believe for a second that my computer was sending him error messages, but it never stopped him.

[csziggy]

12. I've told DCCC and DGA to go away and to not call me anymore

I'm nice about it but I tell them *I* will target who my money goes to and that I will not donate to organizations that give to candidates more conservation than I would select.

DGA supported Charlie Crist, the definition of DINO; DCCC supports Bill Nelson, another DINO, though they may be the best we can get here in Florida, so long as the Florida Democratic Party and the national organizations keep allowing the party to slide more and more right.

For a few years I could tell them I have no money since I had to meet the co-pays for a number of operations. Now I can tell them I have no money since my husband just retired and we're still trying to figure out how much money we really will be getting. At the rate things are going, soon I will be able to tell them I have no money since the subsidies for our insurance we got through HealthCar.gov were disallowed by SCOTUS and my insurance payments will be more than we will be getting monthly...

[former9thward]

15. They don't care because they are not from the DCCC.

They are call centers the DCCC has contracted with. The person you are talking to could be conservative, liberal or just have no clue or no interest in politics. It is just another minimum wage/skill job to them.

[MisterP]

13. johnnyreb and I were discussing this VOIP system to block spoofers

my sister's mother-in-law had been exploited for thousands by these fiends

http://www.nomorobo.com/