Zaidy036 wrote:

On 7/20/2018 6:26 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
I had one of these calls yesterday - "your computer has stopped
communicating with the Windows server", or something like that.

I used my usual: "hang on while I get the police on the other line";
that usually makes them hang up pretty smartish.

However, thinking about it afterwards, I wondered: would it be possible
to devise something that could do something to their systems, while
pretending to do whatever they ask? I've never gone beyond the initial
call - I have always seen through them so far, it's not been difficult!
- so I don't know what they ask you to _do_.

I suspect it isn't likely to be possible, but it would be _so_
satisfying ... (-:

Yes, have the Federal law changed to require that the telcos not allow
the calling number to be changed and that it must record the actual source.

Spoofing has been a long-time problem that the telcos are unwilling to
address. There are many online services to assist with spoofing.

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides...-and-caller-id
"Under the Truth in Caller ID Act, FCC rules prohibit anyone from
transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller ID information with the
intent to defraud, cause harm or wrongly obtain anything of value.
Anyone who is illegally spoofing can face penalties of up to $10,000 for
each violation."

Oooh, it's illegal if the intent is to commit harm. Yeah, big deal,
like the law is going to stop illegal spoofing. Plus there are
legitimate uses of spoofing, like a someone calling as a rep for their
company and wanting to show the company's phone number and name in the
Caller ID. Even Google Voice can use spoofing: you can configure their
Hangouts Dialer app to show your Google Voice number instead of your
cell phone number. I don't want anyone calling me on my cell phone
number, especially since I don't dole it out to anyone. I want them
always calling me at my Google Voice number. The app directs my
outbound calls through a Google Voice hub that then re-originates my
outbound call from their hub with the phone number and name from my
Google Voice account. When a callee sees me calling, those that know my
age-old phone number, especially if they have me in their contacts list,
will know it is me calling. They won't know who the hell is calling
them if they see my cell phone number (which can change when I get a new
phone or change carriers).

Only when technology gets involved with spoofing get blocked. That's
why NoMoRobo, albeit not perfect, does impact the number of spoofed
calls you get since most spoofing is used by robodialers (whether it
then redirects to a voicemail system, a human-sounding fake voice, or to
a real human telemarketer - robodialers are at the front end).

The problem the telephony providers had before was the FCC also has
their call completion rules. Providers would end up violating those
rules when blocking spoofed calls. The FCC granted them an exemption.

https://arstechnica.com/information-...rge-you-extra/

Although "authorized" to block spoofed callers, the providers are likely
to offer it as an extra-cost add-on feature; i.e., if you want it, you
pay. While they've been given a go-ahead, tis likely to take 5, or
more, years before it shows up if they do it on their own versus
adopting NoMoRobo (or simply adding the simultaneous ring where you
could add NoMoRobo).

Just getting the telphony carriers to add simultaneous ring has had
dismal results. It inflicts internal costs that they would be hard
pressed to get their customers to pay for.