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cmarion3's avatar
cmarion3
New Contributor

Caller ID City, ST-no one there. Multiple calls a day

We receive 5-15 calls a day where the caller ID is a city and state only, and sometimes just The Hartford (up to three times a day). No one is ever there or leaves a message. I have tried to answer to find out who they are, but no answer, just empty air. I ignore them, but it is a time waster and interrupter and leaves us scrambling when it is a wanted caller. Most calls are daytime/evening. 

They come from all over the country, NV, CA, FL, SD and most common is CT where we are located.

Is this a condition of internet phone, spamming, robo calls?

Is there anyway to combat it or report it?

anonymous calls
Block anonymous calls
block calls
call blocking
caller ID
harassing and spam phone calls
nomorobo
Phone spam
phone spoofing

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  • yak's avatar
    yak
    Contributor III

    Some of those calls are coming from Russia and Ukraine.  The spammers like to pick American cities with interesting names that make you look twice.  For a few seconds, you wonder if you have a friend in that town.  The spammers set up their computer to dial 100 phone numbers at the same time.  But they only have 2 human beings to handle the calls. If you answer your phone "Hello" and the 2 human beings are already on the line..... you will get dead air.  Silence.  Congress held a hearing recently asking the phone companies to please make an effort to stop this endless robocall problem.

    The only thing you can do is to buy one of the home phones that allows you to block calls.  For $25 you can get a phone that blocks 60 calls. For $80 the phone blocks 300 calls.  Your home phone doesn't even ring when it senses a blocked caller. 

    One recent spammer set up his Caller ID to say Doctor Brad Gray (or something similar).  No one wants to miss a call from a doctor.  They were selling security systems.  The Hartford is not really calling you about insurance, but the spammers want you to think it is your insurance agent calling.  They have "spoofed" the Caller ID.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    It is a result of "internet phones" and robo calls.  Ever since the phone companies moved their service to computer networks, computers and software can make telephone calls.  Lots of telephone calls.

    I'm just curious, but are all the City/State numbers the same?  The latest ploy of scammers is to keep changing their numbers.  This tactic is to bypass the Nomorobo service and any call-blocker device or service.  You'll block the number but they'll just call back with another number.  You'll eventually fill your blocking device with single calls but you're only blocking ghosts.  In the pass 45 days, I've had one call from 22 different numbers.  To combat this, I'm only allowing calls from 38 known numbers.

    Granted, some numbers are habitual offenders and worthy of blocking...but, lately...most are not.  I used to steadfastly report nuisance calls to the FTC...but it does absolutely, positively nothing.