Today’s post is the first official post of Blogtober! It was supposed to be a wrap up of September’s posts but there were only four. You can easily catch up to them on your own.
I decided instead to write about robot calls. Lately, I’ve been getting multiple calls a day from numbers simliar to my phone number. I get calls like these every so often but this past week has seen a noticable uptick.
There’s one right now – that makes #13 today!
Ok, so what’s up with these calls? I figure they’re robots. Then I thought, maybe since we’re so close to the election here in the US they’re political calls. Except, I’m no longer registered to vote where my area code is. So, what’s the deal?
“Neighbor-Spoofing” & Caller ID Spoofing
What I’m expiercing in “Neighbor-Spoofing” or “Caller ID Spoofing“. It’s when a spammer or con artist uses a phone number simliar to yours in hope’s that you’ll answer it. In fact, they’re calling from a completely different number. They’re masking their real number with a fake one.
What can you do?
Don’t bother putting your number on the national Do Not Call list. I did that a few years ago but it doesn’t stop scammers and robocalls.
- Use your cell phone provider’s spam filter. (I had mine set to high spam only. I switched it to medium & high, let’s see if it makes a difference).
- Use third party apps to block calls.
- Block the numbers yourself one by one.
The important thing is to never answer a phoney looking call. Let it go voicemail if you’re not sure. Answering a robocall or spammer let’s them know you’re an actual person. Especially don’t talk them because if it’s a robot, it will keep calling.
“Don’t push buttons — even if the robotic voice says doing so will prevent further calls. Put no faith or trust in the robot voice. Either just let it go through to voicemail or hang up immediately if you mistakenly picked up.”
via The Verge
Lily Snyder 
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