caller I.D.

[steveno]

it seems like more companies are finding out my cell phone number. if nothing shows up on caller I.D. I just delete it. however I'm kind of curious as to who is really calling. is there a website out there that you can use to find all of the information without having to pay for it?

 

[16thVACav]

Just Google the number.

 

[Watchdog]

Just Google the number.

No guarantee that'll work. Just for fun, I Googled my own number. The response isn't even close to where I live. And no names are provided. Plus, scammers use fake numbers a lot of the time.

Sometimes a reverse look up will work, but usually involves paying for the detailed information.

The whole thing's probably more trouble than it's worth.

 

[wingriderz]

Last month we switched from Metro P C S to Boost. Bost gave us two new phones .With that it has an app that dectecs tel markers and scams the app has been free so far.

 

[DWalt]

A typical day for me is getting 8-10 phone calls from places and people I want nothing to do with. That is why am practically wearing out my answering machine. I screen every call before I answer it, and answer only those coming from people I know. On my cell phone, I do not answer any call coming from someone not on my contact list. Similarly, my Spam inbox gets many more eMails than those which I will read. They all get automatically dumped. And my snail mail box is about the same. Sad, but that's the reality of communications life today.

 

[rwsmith]

Several types......

The first is someone greets you by name, then starts blabbing. A variation on this is that they don't start speaking right away then laugh and say they were having problems with their headset to get you off guard, then start blabbing. None of this works with me.

The second, you hear the sounds of a 'calling room', but the person that dialed you has taken a pee break so that's all you hear.

The third type is that you pick up, hear nothing but mechanical noise and after a minute it disconnects.

Just while sitting here today reading the forum, I've had two 'empties'.

 

[steamloco76]

I really hate spam calls to my cell phone made by "burner" cell phones with my local area code. I used to answer local calls even if I didn't recognize the number. Now all those "wireless caller PA" IDs go directly to voicemail. They also list names as 12345678910 to try and confuse spam dump systems. We NEVER answer our home phone, all the calls go to the voicemail.

 

[DWalt]

My favorites are those calls where you first hear a lot of background noise like people talking. Then there are those with voices saying "Hello?, Hello?, Hello?" and sometimes "Mr. ______? Mrs. ______? How are you today?" And those with recordings trying to sell something or get contributions. And this time of the year here, local political candidates wanting votes. Early voting starts here today.

 

[kwselke]

I got one last week which started... "It's a new year and we need to talk about your auto insurance." I said, are you a human being or a machine? The reply was, I'll add your number to our Do Not Call List, and she hung up.

 

[radar1972]

All our phones have a contact list of family, friends and businesses we WANT to comminicate with. If an incoming call is not identified as one of them, it gets ignored. If it's something the caller thinks is important they can leave a voicemail and I'll decide if it's important or not.

 

[steveno]

googling a number only gets you a list of websites and they will only go so far and after it that they want money.

 

[cmore]

An app called Hiya can be set to block incoming calls that are not
ID'd. It will send a text to the number asking "who are you?".
If they send a text with ID the app will ask if I want to take the
call.

 

[vytoland]

crazies are everywhere....do not engage.....

 

[Tom S.]

No guarantee that'll work. Just for fun, I Googled my own number. The response isn't even close to where I live. And no names are provided. Plus, scammers use fake numbers a lot of the time.

Sometimes a reverse look up will work, but usually involves paying for the detailed information.

The whole thing's probably more trouble than it's worth.

While that is true for individual numbers, if it's a known telemarketer, you will get a response on Google, usually saying who it is and a list of people's complaints.

 

[Tom S.]

I got one last week which started... "It's a new year and we need to talk about your auto insurance." I said, are you a human being or a machine? The reply was, I'll add your number to our Do Not Call List, and she hung up.

Then she added your number to a list of numbers that connect to live persons and then sells the list to other telemarketers. Same as if you "Press 1 to be added to our Do Not Call List". It's a scam coming and going.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

The Google results are occasionally useful, but I seldom bother.

I no longer answer if the number is not someone I want to talk to.

I believe that the post about collecting answering info for sale is correct. Since I have stopped answering, junk calls have dropped to 0 - 2 a day. And since I don't answer them, they are not much trouble, anyway.

 

[Tyrod]

I usually let them babble on after I set he phone down. Eventually, they will hang up, but not till after they've expended a few calories jacking their jaws.

Then there's the time share sales folks that want to send me on an all expense paid trip to Orlando. I tell 'em, "but I live in Orlando". They then say wouldn't I like to stay in a 5 star luxury hotel? I tell 'em "I'm not sure there are any real 5 star luxury hotels in Orlando, at least not any that didn't buy their rating". "Besides, as Dorothy says, there's no place like home". Click

I worked with a guy once that when he got a sales call acted like he had a mild case of Down Syndrome. My belly used to hurt from laughing so much. He'd keep the telemarketers tied up for 15 to 20 min.

 

[16thVACav]

Or you could handle the call like Tom Mabe:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdoogjic4I[/ame]

 

[HKB]

Nine times out of ten when you give out your number it goes into a database which is then sold to venders that do cold calling for their business.

Rule number one, never give out your number.

 

[Tom S.]

Nine times out of ten when you give out your number it goes into a database which is then sold to venders that do cold calling for their business.

Rule number one, never give out your number.

I give my number out all the time, just not in the proper sequence.