NEW YORK, NY – Everyone gets them – and it’s starting to go from nuisance, to disruptive. Robocalls, Spammers and other automated dialers; it’s beginning to actually go from annoying to interfering with my day to day operations.
They come in on both my telephones and mobile device. Constantly, all day and it is becoming far more than a nuisance to the point where the FCC is going to have to start getting more aggressive on this practice. Isn’t that what they do? I mean, they should stop worrying so much about Network Neutrality and free up some more time to work on this horrendous nuisance; stop messing around with something which isn’t broken and solve a real and growing problem.
It really is sad that it’s getting to this point now. I probably get these scam calls more often than the average person as I have multiple phone numbers and businesses and some of my lines have been forwarded and used for many years, but this is crazy now. I even have an app called RoboKiller, however, it’s just not good enough; the calls still ring the phone before the app can recognize them and those rings are an interruption only for the call to be ‘killed’ a few seconds later. I touched on one of these nuisances back in June of last year when Caller ID started to identify them as actual Illegal Scams.
It’s now gotten to the point where I am receiving scams on my home phone, work phone, cell phone – all day. A few weeks ago I received a call from someone telling me they were calling from Microsoft support and when they happen to know some identifying information about my computer, such as its Microsoft product identification number, or something like that, I almost fell for the scam. More recently Apple called and they wanted to ‘protect me’ from some unauthorized activity they noticed with one of my Apple accounts and they knew the email address associated with my apple ID; Still, I wasn’t falling for it. This “Apple” support center calls a few times a month.
These crooks are just getting too smart and they have access to way too much information. At this point, I’d like to see the elimination and banning of all text message solicitations, automated dialers, robo-callers with pre-recorded messages (those calls that begin with “please do not hang up” which prompts me to – guess what? Immediately hang up). Many of these calls have an important message for me; they want to let me know that I have won a trip to Cancun all expenses paid, I need to verify my Google listing, I have unpaid tax fines and there are currently charges being pressed against my personal file (whatever that means) but I could pay a fee today and do away with all of that inconvenience, etc.
Two of my family members don’t even pick up the phone anymore; they have voicemails that explain this new policy of not picking up and I can’t blame them. Phone number spoofing is making even your average telemarketer from Nigeria appear as if they are calling from around the block, your county, or from a cell phone using the same exchange (first three numbers) which appears to be similar to yours increasing the chances you’ll know this individual calling, only to find out they’re calling about your vehicle warranty that is soon expiring. Enough of this nonsense already, before no one even picks up the phone anymore.
About The Author: John Colascione is Chief Executive of Internet Marketing Services Inc. He specializes in Website Monetization, authored a ‘how to’ book called ‘‘Mastering Your Website’, and is a key player in several Internet related businesses through his search engine strategy brand Searchen Networks®
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