Robocalls Shaken/Stir

[tangent]

Many VOIP providers still only have partial shaken/stir implementations. Anybody got one that actually lets you filter calls based on whether or not the Caller ID is spoofed or am I going to have to run my own pbx?
Lately I've taken to sending any calls that aren't whitelisted to an IVR.

In the event I get a live scammer/telemarketer I ask them to hold for a moment before dumping them in a parking lot that plays this for the hold music (enjoy and stick around just past the 1 min mark for the best part):

What's your favorite way to torment robocallers?

 

[David L]

Telemarketers have been around for a long time. It was not as bad, by any means, as it is today but my father use to have a loud fog horn when they asked to speak to the man or lady of the house.

Back in my parent's day it was the door-to-door salesmen...in my day phone calls to our landline and tv commercials...today since everyone has a phone glued to their hands, Robocalls...cell phones make it very easy for the Telemarketers today...


Here is one from Tom Mabe:

I use to listen to Tom back in the day, he had several pranks on Telemarketers...didn't know he has CDs...

MABE,TOM - Revenge on the Telemarketers: Round One - Amazon.com Music

MABE,TOM - Revenge on the Telemarketers: Round One - Amazon.com Music

www.amazon.com

 

[David L]

Here is some of Tom's I collected:

 

[tangent]

When the parking lot times out if they haven't hung up they get this recording I spliced together.

Back in the 90's I pulled off some pretty epic prank calls using software synths and computerized voices. Police actually investigated one or two of them, never got anywhere but I did stop.

 

[Lucian]

Many VOIP providers still only have partial shaken/stir implementations. Anybody got one that actually lets you filter calls based on whether or not the Caller ID is spoofed or am I going to have to run my own pbx?
Lately I've taken to sending any calls that aren't whitelisted to an IVR.

In the event I get a live scammer/telemarketer I ask them to hold for a moment before dumping them in a parking lot that plays this for the hold music (enjoy and stick around just past the 1 min mark for the best part):

What's your favorite way to torment robocallers?

When the parking lot times out if they haven't hung up they get this recording which is some recordings I spliced together.

Back in the 90's I pulled off some pretty epic prank calls using software synths and computerized voices. Police actually investigated a one or two of them, never got anywhere but I did stop.

Callcentric.com has pretty good filtering and anti robo all features. My voip carrier

 

[looney2ns]

Many VOIP providers still only have partial shaken/stir implementations. Anybody got one that actually lets you filter calls based on whether or not the Caller ID is spoofed or am I going to have to run my own pbx?
Lately I've taken to sending any calls that aren't whitelisted to an IVR.

In the event I get a live scammer/telemarketer I ask them to hold for a moment before dumping them in a parking lot that plays this for the hold music (enjoy and stick around just past the 1 min mark for the best part):

What's your favorite way to torment robocallers?

I think it is @The Automation Guy that is using FreePBX | Open source, web-based, IP PBX management tool. that he has setup so anyone calling has to press 1 to get a person, I'm sure there is more to it, but he says his way works.

 

[tangent]

I think it is @The Automation Guy that is using FreePBX | Open source, web-based, IP PBX management tool. that he has setup so anyone calling has to press 1 to get a person, I'm sure there is more to it, but he says his way works.

Yeah I do something similar based on a schedule and if I'm getting a lot I send all unknown numbers there. It is pretty effective but can cause some issues too. I also use nomorobo but it's had a low hit rate lately. Perhaps it's time to take Jolly Roger Telephone | Revenge Has Never Been So Sweet for a spin.

 

[garycrist]

When I feel like Fkn with them, I'll answer "Police department, Griggs". Then let the fun begin!
If they continue I then interrogate them as to their emergency or what the problem is.

My best one was years ago, with a gal selling me unlimited for Mothers Day, all day long distance to my mother.
Boy did I get "excited" as I had her sign me up (I think it was her 1st. sale)! After she filled out her paperwork,
she asked me for the phone number for my mom. I replied Heaven. After searching her data base, she asked me what state
that was in. I said "passed away". After a delay she got it and said "We do not have line there, hung-up and I chuckled.

 

[David L]

I was turned on to a phone App a few years back, pre-pandemic, you would call someone you wanted to prank but the number they saw was not yours. You were able to record the interaction. Here are some examples:

PrankDial - The Original Internet Prank Call Website

We're the #1 prank call site on the web! Send pre-recorded prank calls to your friends from a disguised number, then download and share the recorded reactions on Facebook and Twitter!

www.prankdial.com

 

[The Automation Guy]

I think it is @The Automation Guy that is using FreePBX | Open source, web-based, IP PBX management tool. that he has setup so anyone calling has to press 1 to get a person, I'm sure there is more to it, but he says his way works.

Yeah. I turned it on one year during an election cycle. Even if the "do not call" list works, the politicians exempt themselves from that so you always get tons of calls that you'll never be able to block.

When someone calls my home number, the PBX system immediately answers the call without actually ringing any of the home phones. It's an IVR that's says something like "We would love to speak with you, but are blocking spam calls. Please press 1 to be connected to The automation guys household". If the caller presses any button, the system will forward the call to a set of actual phone extensions so that phones in the house ring and someone can answer the phone. The benefit comes in the fact that an autodialer never connects to a real person in time for them to hear the announcement. They don't know to press a number and the system automatically hangs up on them without ringing any extension after about 10 seconds when there isn't a button press.

It has stopped 100% of the unsolicited/undesired calls to our house. I am still shocked at how effective it is.

Honestly we don't use the home phone to make/answer calls...... ever. But for the cost of service (about $3.50/mo) I feel like it is worth the benefit in case there is an emergency at home. Someone just needs to pick up a phone and dial 911. No looking for cells phones, etc. But more importantly, we use the intercom feature of the phone system all the time, so I'm not getting rid of the phone system anytime soon, even if we don't use it to call people on it.

There are plenty of free PBX software options out there and with a digital to analog conversion box (I use an Obi202, but I understand they are no longer being sold), a person could use their existing analog phones and change to a digital phone system for a couple hundred dollars. By moving to a VOIP service provider and dropping the standard phone service, you would make up this upfront cost in just a couple of months. I pay about $3.50/mo all-in for service (including e911 service). (It's actually $80 every two years for unlimited incoming and outgoing calls and e911 service).

I was turned on to a phone App a few years back, pre-pandemic, you would call someone you wanted to prank but the number they saw was not yours. You were able to record the interaction. Here are some examples:

PrankDial - The Original Internet Prank Call Website

We're the #1 prank call site on the web! Send pre-recorded prank calls to your friends from a disguised number, then download and share the recorded reactions on Facebook and Twitter!

www.prankdial.com

I could easily add something like that to my system, but I never really cared to go back and listen to any of them so I've never bothered. If a caller didn't press a number correctly, instead of the system dropping the call, it could forward the call to a special extension that plays "Lenny" - a recording of an guy that sounds really old with hearing loss. You can set the system up to record the calls too (but it's not required). (While you have to set it up manually in FreePBX, I believe it's already configured in PBX in a Flash which is what I use).

HowTo: Pwn Telemarketers with Lenny | Crosstalk Solutions

www.crosstalksolutions.com

 

[tangent]

When someone calls my home number, the PBX system immediately answers the call without actually ringing any of the home phones. It's an IVR that's says something like "We would love to speak with you, but are blocking spam calls. Please press 1 to be connected to The automation guys household". If the caller presses any button, the system will forward the call to a set of actual phone extensions so that phones in the house ring and someone can answer the phone. The benefit comes in the fact that an autodialer never connects to a real person in time for them to hear the announcement. They don't know to press a number and the system automatically hangs up on them without ringing any extension after about 10 seconds when there isn't a button press.

My IVR is a lot less inviting, but I had been directing callers to it more selectively (time conditions, certain area codes, prefixes). Mine is a booming echoing computerized voice (a deliberate attempt at making speech recognition harder) that says this number doesn't accept robo calls, if you're not a robot dial <2 digit #> to complete your call otherwise please press 1 (no distortion of this part) and then it plays a SIT tone (number not in service sound). There were some robocallers that automated pressing 1 as that was a pretty common screening technique by some large providers. If you dial correctly nomorobo still screens the call before the phones ring. If I'm going to send more calls to my IVR I probably should make it less off putting.

 

[David L]

Yeah. I turned it on one year during an election cycle. Even if the "do not call" list works, the politicians exempt themselves from that so you always get tons of calls that you'll never be able to block.

When someone calls my home number, the PBX system immediately answers the call without actually ringing any of the home phones. It's an IVR that's says something like "We would love to speak with you, but are blocking spam calls. Please press 1 to be connected to The automation guys household". If the caller presses any button, the system will forward the call to a set of actual phone extensions so that phones in the house ring and someone can answer the phone. The benefit comes in the fact that an autodialer never connects to a real person in time for them to hear the announcement. They don't know to press a number and the system automatically hangs up on them without ringing any extension after about 10 seconds when there isn't a button press.

It has stopped 100% of the unsolicited/undesired calls to our house. I am still shocked at how effective it is.

Honestly we don't use the home phone to make/answer calls...... ever. But for the cost of service (about $3.50/mo) I feel like it is worth the benefit in case there is an emergency at home. Someone just needs to pick up a phone and dial 911. No looking for cells phones, etc. But more importantly, we use the intercom feature of the phone system all the time, so I'm not getting rid of the phone system anytime soon, even if we don't use it to call people on it.

There are plenty of free PBX software options out there and with a digital to analog conversion box (I use an Obi202, but I understand they are no longer being sold), a person could use their existing analog phones and change to a digital phone system for a couple hundred dollars. By moving to a VOIP service provider and dropping the standard phone service, you would make up this upfront cost in just a couple of months. I pay about $3.50/mo all-in for service (including e911 service).



I could easily add something like that to my system, but I never really cared to go back and listen to any of them so I've never bothered. If a caller didn't press a number correctly, instead of the system dropping the call, it could forward the call to a special extension that plays "Lenny" - a recording of an guy that sounds really old with hearing loss. You can set the system up to record the calls too (but it's not required).

HowTo: Pwn Telemarketers with Lenny | Crosstalk Solutions

www.crosstalksolutions.com

Yeah I have had the OBi200 for many years. Can't beat a free phone number through Google Voice. We had a landline prior, which we miss, it use to work flawless until we started getting noise in the line, after a 6 month fight, AT&T refused to replace their main line which was causing it, they obviously wanted landlines to go away.

Had a buddy want to get off his VoIP with Comcast so I told him about the OBiTalk (Polycom), I knew they no long made them, so we searched for a Used one. Crazy, some of the prices out there. I ours die it will not be replaced...

 

[The Automation Guy]

When I first moved to the PBX system, we used the Obi product exclusively since we still had normal analog phones. Over time I switched out all of the analog phones to IP phones, so the only thing I use the Obi for is to bring caller ID information into my automation system. I use a caller ID box for this, but it is old enough that it requires an analog phone connection. So whenever the home phones really rings (ie someone got through the IVR), one of the extensions that the system calls is the Obi device and the caller ID box connected to it sees the caller ID information which is then available in the automation system. Of course now I get so few calls on my home phone (maybe 1-2 a year) that I certainly won't be replacing it if it dies.

 

[The Automation Guy]

My IVR is a lot less inviting, but I had been directing callers to it more selectively (time conditions, certain area codes, prefixes). Mine is a booming echoing computerized voice (a deliberate attempt at making speech recognition harder) that says this number doesn't accept robo calls, if you're not a robot dial <2 digit #> to complete your call otherwise please press 1 (no distortion of this part) and then it plays a SIT tone (number not in service sound). There were some robocallers that automated pressing 1 as that was a pretty common screening technique by some large providers. If you dial correctly nomorobo still screens the call before the phones ring. If I'm going to send more calls to my IVR I probably should make it less off putting.

I should probably change my system so that instead of hanging up on the caller, it would play a recording of a SIT tone instead.

To the uninitiated, the benefit of playing a SIT tone is that most autodialers will remove a number from their system when they experience a SIT tone. At least that I what I've been told!

 

[tangent]

When I first moved to the PBX system, we used the Obi product exclusively since we still had normal analog phones. Over time I switched out all of the analog phones to IP phones, so the only thing I use the Obi for is to bring caller ID information into my automation system. I use a caller ID box for this, but it is old enough that it requires an analog phone connection. So whenever the home phones really rings (ie someone got through the IVR), one of the extensions that the system calls is the Obi device and the caller ID box connected to it sees the caller ID information which is then available in the automation system. Of course now I get so few calls on my home phone (maybe 1-2 a year) that I certainly won't be replacing it if it dies.

So you're using a POTS line?

I should probably change my system so that instead of hanging up on the caller, it would play a recording of a SIT tone instead.

To the uninitiated, the benefit of playing a SIT tone is that most autodialers will remove a number from their system when they experience a SIT tone. At least that I what I've been told!

The SIT tone is part of the my main IVR recording with a little pause before it plays.
There's a pat fleet number disconnected recording that ends with "or ask your mother for assistance" that you might like. Pat Fleet Phone Call Error Intercept Message Recordings

 

[The Automation Guy]

So you're using a POTS line?

No we are VOIP.

When I first made the transition from POTS to VOIP, I used the Obi device as a bridge from the PBX system to my old analog phones. Basically I had a single extension on the PBX system which the Obi device was connected to and it would ring all of the analog phones in the house (due to the daisy chain wiring of the old POTS line). I eventually replaced all of my analog phones with digital IP based phones and they all have individual extensions now. It's generally a mixture of Grandstream and Yealink devices with a single Obi phone thrown in for good measure (it was a cheap wireless option for a phone that would have been difficult to run a ethernet line to). Now the only thing the Obi device does is bridge the PBX system and my analog caller ID box to get that information into my automation system.

 

[pete_c]

Here use two Way2Call boxes originally on two copper lines and now on two voip lines.

I can do anything with incoming calls here.

For a bit in the early 2000's would send the doorbell ring to the telephones CID. I can also change my outgoing CID here with the same box.

I played a bunch with this stuff in the 1980's. (magic box tinkering)

I do play a SIT tone here on spam calls.

I like the idea of hold music...

 

[garycrist]

So much for "Blue Boxes" or the nickel and the coin return button "Honestly operator,
I am not hitting the phone"!

This is for the younger crowd:

Ma Bell once published the DTMF tones that were used for "dialing" calls as well as the "Busy Signal".
So the bad guy goes to a pay phone, gets a dial tone, generates the DTMF tones to make a long distance call.
Before the other party answered, the perp generates the "Busy" signal defeating the phone company's billing.

After a while the phone companies got wise and started asking people why they talked to a busy signal for (fill in the blank) minutes!

Coin Return Trick.

Some pay phones, (yes before cell phone there were payphone every where) had a coin return button in the upper right of the phone.
One could take a nickel drop it in and an smack the coin return, getting a dial tone and the nickel back.
Direct dial was great as one could keep feeding the same nickel back to keep talking.

 

[pete_c]

Much fun back then....and very easy to take over trunk lines.

I had a "old" Commodore Pet computer as a BBS connected to 6 ventel modems connected to payphone (lines in a building I owned) in the 1980's Easy stuff at the time.


It was just a hobby and never related to work.

 

[David L]

I worked for a Long Distance company back in the 90s after MCI broke up AT&T. I remember a conversation about our PBX being hit where a call would come in, transferred to an existing extension (where no one answered) and the caller would use that extension to make calls out. Think about this, our LD phone company were finding calls on their own bill to fraudulent overseas numbers, Haha, too funny...