Poll of the Day > Robo-calls are getting worse. Some big businesses soon could start calling more

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Robo-calls ravaged Americans smartphones in record numbers last month. But some of the nations top businesses from credit card companies and student lenders to retailers and car dealers are still urging the Trump administration to make it easier for them to dial and text mobile devices en masse.

For many smartphone owners, theres rarely a day that they dont receive an unanticipated call from an unrecognized number, some sporting an area code thats suspiciously similar to their own. In June, robo-calls rang an estimated 4 billion times, according to data published Thursday by YouMail, a call-blocking app. A quarter of the calls sought to steal financial information or ensnare people in other serious scams.

But major U.S. corporations such as Capital One, Navient and Sirius XM tap that same auto-dialing technology to tout their products or nudge consumers to pay their late bills. Their lobbying blitz to ward off tougher new rules has frustrated public-interest advocates, who say the floodgates soon could be open for businesses to pester consumers with calls and texts that they dont want while leaving people with fewer options to stop the onslaught.

"We are at serious risk of seeing the existing robo-call problem, which is already serious, get far, far worse, said Margot Saunders, a senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. If the industry is permitted to send unlimited texts and make unlimited [robo-calls], without the ability of the consumer to say stop, who knows what horrible things will happen?"

The new data from YouMail marks the highest level of robo-calls the company has ever calculated and the fourth time a record has been broken in as many months. About three-quarters of those calls were telemarketing calls, alerts from companies such as pharmacies with which consumers have a relationship and payment reminders from numbers associated with Capital One, Comcast, Wells Fargo and AT&T, the data shows.

The increases are partly due to the fact consumers are answering their phones less frequently, so callers are adopting more aggressive tactics, said Alex Quilici, the chief executive of YouMail.

The task of regulating these robo-calls rests in the hands of the Federal Communications Commission, which is studying the matter in response to a recent court decision that struck down the agencys last set of protections. The FCC declined to comment for this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/07/12/robocalls-are-getting-worse-some-big-businesses-soon-could-start-calling-you-even-more/
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It's not just smart phones. I get at least one scam call a day on my flip phone. Often with the same area code and other numbers similar to my phone number.
Plus I get other probable scam calls from 600- numbers a lot. Usually some guy asking me to donate to some police fund.

FrndNhbrHdCEman posted...

The increases are partly due to the fact consumers are answering their phones less frequently, so callers are adopting more aggressive tactics, said Alex Quilici, the chief executive of YouMail

Yeah, no shit. I used to answer my phone a lot more, in case it was something important or from someone I knew but didn't have his/her phone number in my contacts.
Now unless it's one of my contacts, I never answer it.

Kinda reminds me of the cycle of suck of internet advertisements. They got more intrusive and loaded with malware, so people started blocking them, so in turn b/c less people were seeing the ads, the companies kept trying to make them ever more intrusive.

Payment reminders from my credit card company or a reminder to refill my prescription from my pharmacy are one thing. But random telemarketers, credit card offers or car refinance offers that I didn't enquire about are entirely something different. Those sort of calls should all have to come from a system that identifies the call as such and allows me to set my phone to automatically ignore all calls with the cold call designation. They should also be required to have their company name show on the caller ID.


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Thanks Trump
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More? F you Google. What a useless company in today's society. You ruined the internet with captchas and make me avoid answering the phone at work. Can't tell you how many times over the last several years I'd pick up and get "please update your google listing" then hang up immediately. So much that they changed the message to "please don't hang up, this is important. Your google..." *slam phone*

Just another of many companies that I wish would collapse and go away.

'Rachel with cardholder services' can fuck off and die.

I just start yelling in spanish on the slim chance its a real humon
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSYEpTDO6q8" data-time="
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got a robo call from a life insurance company a few days ago

flat out said my mom doest care about her family if she doesnt sign up with this one particular life insurance company.

Ogurisama posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSYEpTDO6q8" data-time="

Hehehe
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Bugmeat posted...

Payment reminders from my credit card company or a reminder to refill my prescription from my pharmacy are one thing. But random telemarketers, credit card offers or car refinance offers that I didn't enquire about are entirely something different. Those sort of calls should all have to come from a system that identifies the call as such and allows me to set my phone to automatically ignore all calls with the cold call designation. They should also be required to have their company name show on the caller ID.

They'd charge for the feature, and catch only 15% of calls, ok?
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Blorfenburger posted...

I just start yelling in spanish on the slim chance its a real humon

Careful. The dodgy calls record the "yes" an use em for applications.
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My landline got 5 telemarketing calls yesterday, ok?

Ruined the pacing of my Golden Girls marathon, ok?
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Questionmarktarius posted...

'Rachel with cardholder services' can fuck off and die.

Same with whatever other names they use. Anytime I get a call regarding this, it always begins with "I'm (insert name here) with cardholder services, there aren't any problems with your card at this moment" - to which I always hang up.

If there aren't any problems with my card, don't waste my time calling me about it.
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ClarkDuke posted...

My landline got 5 telemarketing calls yesterday, ok?

Ruined the pacing of my Golden Girls marathon, ok?

Lmao. Wtf.

Alex1976 posted...

Questionmarktarius posted...

'Rachel with cardholder services' can fuck off and die.

Same with whatever other names they use. Anytime I get a call regarding this, it always begins with "I'm (insert name here) with cardholder services, there aren't any problems with your card at this moment" - to which I always hang up.

If there aren't any problems with my card, don't waste my time calling me about it.

Older crowds the targets.
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