What to do about spoofed spam calls?

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › What to do about spoofed spam calls?

boland

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#253221 1-Aug-2019 15:42

I'm on a spam call list and I receive phone calls frequently. Initially it was a +61 Oz number, so it was easy to block. But now they have switched to spoof NZ Mobile numbers.

The number is different every time. When I call back, I get a non-existing phone number error message.

I've contacted my provider, but they say it can only be reported when I'm called 5 times by that number.

Right now I've installed a call blocker that blocks all unknown numbers. It's a risk that I miss important calls, but I'm sick of the spam calls. Is there anything else I can do?

I believe this can be solved technically by the providers, by just not allowing to spoof invalid mobile numbers? Who can I report this too?

Stu

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#2287241 1-Aug-2019 15:47

Report it to your provider. They'll want details of times, caller's number etc.

ETA: and don't call the numbers back.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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boland

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#2287242 1-Aug-2019 15:49

Stu: Report it to your provider. They'll want details of times, caller's number etc.

I've reported it, but they say they can only do something with it if I receive multiple calls from the same number. They literally said to me in this case they cannot help as the number is different every time.

I'm on Skinny Direct.

Stu

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#2287244 1-Aug-2019 15:52

That's always the same response, and that's about all you can do. I doubt anything will change under current laws and policies.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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Linux

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#2287245 1-Aug-2019 15:52

Ever played the game ' whack a mole ' ?

This is what it's like trying to block these callers

richms

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#2287246 1-Aug-2019 15:57

Contacts only is a good start for accepting calls. Legit callers can send a text to you still.

Richard rich.ms

Benjip

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#2287294 1-Aug-2019 16:57

If you happen to be using an iPhone, the iOS 13 Beta (and obviously the upcoming final release) has a great feature which is simply "silence unknown callers". They just get sent straight to Voicemail where 99% of them wouldn't bother leaving a message.

I assume there's something similar already on Android.

pristle

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#2299806 15-Aug-2019 14:12

I feel your pain. We recently had a 'spray' of '07' numbers.

Letting them divert to voicemail has its own pitfalls, they can harvest additional info such as your name or alternate contact details too, depending what is included in your message.

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xpd

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#2299820 15-Aug-2019 14:44

"You obviously know who you've called, so leave a message or contact me via another means - have a nice day"

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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mattwnz

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#2299822 15-Aug-2019 14:50

Do any NZ phone providers yet provide captcha systems to stop automated call bots as an option? eg the caller types in a code that they hear to make sure they are not a bot. It also stops politicians doing those automated calls they doing at election time. Personally I now never answer calls that I don't know the number of. I let it go to voice ail. The number of non english messages that I can't understand is a bit of a concern, as I have no idea why they are phoning me.