Deluge of calls driving people crazy

By Jude Mead

I’m losing the battle! Yesterday I received 14 robocalls on my landline and five on my cellphone. For years I never answered a number or name I did not know. Today, however, I have to use the same caution when I see a name or number I do recognize because robocallers fake the caller identification information using a new technology called spoofing. This makes it easy for fraudulent telemarketers to trick us into thinking a friend or a business entity is trying to call. Apparently, spoof calls get by filters. Even using a preventative measure, such as registering on the National Do Not Call Registry, is no longer a solution to the problem.

What is a robocall? If you answer the phone and get a recorded message on the other side, then it is most likely a robocall. Most of these calls want to sell you something or are trying to get personal information. People are getting so many robocalls in one day that they have become a nuisance. A recent press release by Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) stated that the number of robocalls in 2018 has increased by more than 36 percent from the previous year and reached almost 48 billion in total. The senator went on to say that he realizes that people across the state are tired of getting flooded with these calls. That is why he supported passage of the bipartisan TRACED Act, legislation introduced by Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Ed Markey (D-MA) to help stop the problem. 

However, ending robocalls altogether may prove difficult because robocallers are tech savvy. They use one of the numerous web portals and apps that enable any caller to create a confusing path to the original location. In other words, the calls bounce around the telephone network before connecting to us, making it hard to trace them back to their origin. Sometimes the call comes from India or another country, and by the time it reaches our phone it will say it is coming from someone in our area using our own area code. The calls can also evade block lists and spam filters though targeting thousands of phones in a short period of time with minimal effort.

Ian Barlow, a staff attorney and the coordinator of the do-not-call program at the Federal Trade Commission understands consumers’ frustration. “We have received a record number of consumer complaints. They reached more than five million in 2018. Over two-thirds of those calls were about prerecorded messages. I would say that robocalls are the top consumer complaint,” said Barlow. According to him, there are two main reasons why robocalls are becoming a huge concern: the people behind the robocalls are tech savvy, and robocalls are low cost. “The people making the calls know the internet and how to use it. It is also inexpensive to run the software.  It costs them a fraction of a penny for every call that gets picked up. If no one answers they don’t pay. This makes it easy for scammers to reach victims for information or money,” said Barlow. 

The FTC is trying to reduce the impact of these calls, but it is not that simple. “We have implemented law enforcement and effectively completed 127 of the 148 cases we filed, but it can be difficult. I like to compare it to speeding. Officers give tickets and have speed limits to cut down on speeding. That helps, but it doesn’t stop speeders. It would be way worse if there were no rules,” Barlow said. 

While robocalls are illegal, some prerecorded calls are not. These phone messages are permitted because they are informational and come from a known source. The most common ones that fall into this category include flight cancellations, appointment reminders, political calls, school closings and calls from medical providers. 

The FTC is working diligently to reduce robocalls in a variety of ways. These include allocating funds for increased enforcement actions against illegal robocalling, creating software to help block these calls, and promoting consumer education. It hopes to eventually prevent unverified numbers from ringing on our phones, but stopping them altogether may be impossible. 

When you do get a robocall, take the advice of the FTC and either do not answer it or immediately hang up the phone if you get an unwanted message. Don’t press any numbers, even the one they tell you to press to be removed from the calling list. According to the FTC, this may lead to more robocalls. You can try blocking the number, but telemarketers change caller ID information often, so it may not work.  We can only hope that a solution is found soon. In the meantime you can file a complaint or voice a concern by going to the donotcall.gov website.