Subject: Info: Nuisance phone calls - Null messages on an Answerphone ? From: Questioner@ Sender: Questioner@ I append http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/std/nuisance_phone_calls.txt Someone asked what to do about nuisance phone calls, & Null messages on an Answerphone etc. Standard reply: Well if it's really only genuine silent callers { Some clubs have loonies. If you've helped run a club, it may be some club looney. Been to any shadey singles bars or web sites lately ? Broken up with anyone lately ? I've heard (hearsay, not personally) of lousey blokes, after a girl gave them the shove, stick bits of paper in phone boxes "For a good time phone The-Girl's-First-Name 123456" Not that some girls wouldn't also be equal to similar nasty tricks. Sold anyone a dodgey insurance policy or car etc ? or other grudge match club/ business/ personal issues ? Inadvertently been annoying someone who maybe foolishly thinking you must be doing it deliberately ? If you'r trying to guess if you might know who may be calling you, if it might be a pervert, don't even assume it must be from someone of the gender you might prefer as partner, it might also be from someone of a sex you don't fancy. If there's heavy breathing or dodgey silence, some say blowing a whistle tends to put off perverts. Could be a bored kid, maybe in another time zone, playing patterns on a keypad, which may explain strange times (I used to get bouts of those). Parents wouldn't even know later from a phone bill, if from a flat rate line. Thieves may try to figure times people are out, to rob a place. Could be any daft/ weird/ perverted/ bored/ human on the planet. } Genuine Mistakes: { Not just humans mis-dial: Sometimes a memory phone can dial the wrong number, (one of mine did on one button). Sometimes phone exchanges mis-route. Sometimes humans genuinely dial the wrong number Then you answer, & They hang up 'cos it's not their friends voice, Then they quickly dial your number again without bothering to check, (from their same number, as shown on my PC+ISDN identifying screen), & again you answer with you name or number or even just Hallo & they hang up silently Again. The solution to these wasters after a repeat, is: Pick up the phone & say _Absolutely Nothing_ This forces caller to speak first, with their name & in their language. Then You have the pleasure of hanging up silently on them for a change. You also get a clue what nationality they are from their words & accent. (Rarely mine or host country's, usually some other 3rd language, likely 3rd country nationals are too challenged to say Sorry in either English or German). After a few more silent answers these numb skulls finally start to think, check their number & they don't call you again. Don't worry about missing calls from real friends or businesses, they invariably say in some language you understand "Hallo, is that Your_Name or Your_Company" Sometimes business people just type wrong number into a data base or fax machine, & computer automated calling does the rest (OK, they're not silent so you'll know from a fax/modem tone) Any PC with a modem call unit may run amok. } Phone Sales / Phone Spam / Sometimes semi robotised initial call Yes it does make sense for sellers to make you silent calls ! ... { Phone robots may be trying silent calls at different times of day, to figure when you are in, before compiling lists for human sellers of products/ services. If they are on a flat rate tarif, they won't care how many calls they make, annoying us all even more. Why might someone Not speak to you ? Why might there be silence ? If from a call centre, human callers wouldn't make personal calls one at a time, then wait idle while it rings & answers. They'd have a computer calling lots of numbers, & waiting until/ if answered, to hand to a queue of waiting human sales staff, occasionally the queue of sellers would run out, all busy, as a few called people would answer close together & there'd be a short wait before a human came available to sell you their product. They're on flat rate probably, you'r waiting, why would they hang up, they might (or not) only after some seconds switch a robot announcer on, to keep you on the line. If you answer any of their questions, they'll more likely sell or cross trade your number in a list of "live suckers" to other associate marketers. (Just as if you answer/ click on a spam email web ref., they may sell your email address to other spammers as a live contact). Sometime it's robot dialer "you've won a million" scams. As of late 2011 there was a spate of "Buy cheap Italian food" calls, in German language, but coming from Italy. } Identifying Your Caller: { Caller ID on reception costs a few pounds more per month in Britain. & is available on Analogue lines, does Not need to be ISDN. Deutsche Telekom sell phones with caller ID display, (certainly for ISDN). Whether number remains recorded after caller finishes would depend on exchange & phone. British Telecom exchanges can show last number that called you. Some people have a permanent record 'cos ISDN PBX (English) = TK-Anlage (German) = Local Call Office (American) keeps a permanent log a PC can display, (Some German logs tend to have last digits suppressed by German law) My phone system shows the caller name "SPAMMER" on my PC screen as it rings. Done with a combination of ISDN card & BSD, If you want that: I am a Computer Consultant http://www.berklix.com/jhs/cv/ I've contributed the source code to public domain software. http://www.berklix.com/free/ } Ex Directory { Even being ex-directory doesn't stop it, though must reduce it. I get occasional calls even to my fax numbers, that aren't faxes. Even to my unpublished 2nd fax no. Some scam companies have phoned various numbers that were never published, I guess random dialling, or maybe someone in phone company sold numbers. } Remedies: { If it becomes persistent, report to police, phone company, &/or change phone number. Modern phone exchanges allow a lot easier trace back of criminals, pervert etc calls than old exchanges used to provide. } Don't Just Hang Up, Waste A Spam Sellers Time, To Your Advantage & Pleasure ;-) { They interrupted you, calling you to the phone, that cost you time & concentration. They owe you - Make them pay : { Reduce their sales per hour, tie up their phone lines ! If you'r lucky they'll mark your number on their computer as wasting Their time, so they & their waster associate firms will note not to call you again. Isn't that an incentive to waste Their time ? eg Say "Wait A Minute!" Do Not listen to their reply. Just put phone down on desk. Wait a bit, then say "Hang on I'll get the wife/ husband/ phone owner!" Do Not listen to reply, Wait a bit "Hang on, he/she's coming !" ... "Just A Minute !" ... "Hold On !" A handkerchief on the desk nicely muffles the phone speaker while you work & they wait ;-) Eventually, they'll hang up, later your phone may long loud beep [presumably from the exchange] indicating you should hang up too. Doesn't matter if you'r out of the room & don't hear it, The phone will work after you put handset back for a short while. } If enough of us do this it might drive a lot of phone seller wasters out of business, & before then they would learn to mark & share those numbers not worth calling, cos they wasted their time too. { Email spammers buy lists from wholesalers, & get rebates on new updates, if they send in feedback on dead & alive addresses. One assume some phone spammers will do similar: If you waste a phone spammers time, they may do you the favour of marking your number as not worth calling again. If you'r lucky, the phone spammer may sell your number back to a phone spam wholesaler as "Black list of numbers to be removed from spam list." } } http://www.berklix.com Computer Consultancy http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/cv/ My Resume - English & German http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/contact/ Contact - German for business also OK. http://www.berklix.com/free/ Free Software http://www.berklix.org Free Organisations & Clubs