Congress can put the robocall plague on hold

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Froma Harrop

Syndicated columnist

I oversee the care of an ailing man who’s pushing 90. When I’m with him, the sound of his phone ringing sends a minor shock to my system. And his phone is ringing all the time.

“That’s probably a robocall,” he says, obviously aware that these autodialed spam and scam calls are usually up to no good. He knows deep down not to give personal information to a stranger on the phone, but sophisticated fraudsters sometimes don’t sound like strangers to him.

Americans received an estimated 48 billion robocalls last year, 17 billion more than the year before. Only 1 in 5 served a useful purpose, such as a reminder of a doctor’s appointment.

Though robocalls make everyone nuts, they are a menace to the elderly. Cognitive decline can lower one’s defenses against scams. Older people are often trusting and generous. They may be lonely and thus susceptible to a friendly-sounding voice. (Some recordings do a very good job mimicking real conversations, complete with pauses and background noise.) This group is more likely to have landlines, which offer fewer options for blocking robocalls. That’s why its members heavily populate the “suckers lists” maintained by criminal enterprises.

And the cons are oh-so-clever. They may start with official-sounding words, such as “Our records show that your doctor has ordered a …” Their come-ons often promise “free” stuff, say, a medical alert system, or help paying for drugs. To get the “bargain,” the victims must provide personal or financial information, which is what the sharks are really after.

Another robocall tactic is to issue threats, often from someone claiming to work for a government agency. The callers may warn of unpaid tax bills for which the person answering could be arrested. Or they may scare the mark by saying his or her Social Security number could be at risk. Again, the prize is access to bank account information, a Social Security number or a credit card.

Until recently, the technological defenses have been few. Crooks have tricks to make a call look local on caller ID. Some use numbers impersonating legitimate businesses or institutions.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/harrop-congress-can-put-the-robocall-plague-on-hold/

[BigmanPigman]

1. I got two calls that said I was going to be jailed or taken to court

and would be responsible for paying all the legal fees if I didn't call them back. Something was wrong with my taxes was their excuse. I screen my calls but you can see the number they called from so I called them back (from another phone) and the place never heard of the govt group they were supposedly calling from.

About two weeks later there was an announcement at my big supermarket warning shoppers about these calls that apparently many people were receiving. Then it was on the news for this area.

[mwooldri]

2. Fix it easily. Charge per call.

If the phone rings, charge the calling party five cents. Exempt the first 200 calls per customer per month. Price their business model out of existence.