Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/03/27/ftc-fines-four-robocallers-beh.html
The FTC says the 4 companies made ‘billions’ of pre-recorded calls to phone numbers throughout America.
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I received a robocall just 5 mins ago.
They are like fleas. Annoying AF.
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Twice a day, and it’s driving me to cancel my phone. F’ing annoying!
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but…but…but…how am I going to find out how to lower my credit card interest rate now???
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All this will do is drive them overseas, where the FTC has no jurisdiction.
Oh wait, they’re already overseas, judging from the accents of the people going “Hello? Hello? Hello?” into my voicemail. (If the number isn’t on my contact list, I decline the call. If it really is for me, and really is important, they’ll leave a message.)
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Aye; I already get robocalls from China, where the recording is in Cantonese or Mandarin.
I block each one as they come, and so my blocked caller list never stops growing.
O_O
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Yeah, I was going to say it’s a good start, but it just leaves a vacuum that will be filled. I’ve received two this morning alone.
Small drop, huge bucket.
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I get 3 calls a day trying to sell me health insurance. I am an insurance agent. I am not buying insurance from Nick & Tony’s Call Center, thanks.
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^^^^Came to ask the same thing!
Unfortunately, it sounds like they’re not being shut down.
They shouldn’t have just fined them, they should have released the phone numbers of the executives.
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This will accomplish effectively zero. The Telcos need to start doing their job, and they need to crack down on people spoofing telephone numbers. There’s no legitimate reason for it.
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" that it slapped multimillion dollar fines on[ four robocallers behind “billions” of US calls]
Be nice to see a follow up on just how much money they actually get. As I understand it, these things are bargained down routinely to a tithe of the original amount or even less since otherwise the defendant can take it to court and maybe spend even less that way.
Some of those “billion dollar fines” we hear of can end up getting down to a level you or I might write a check for without serious heartburn.
I’ve been getting odd robocalls in Mandarin or Cantonese that appear to be scams relating to Bank of America. The called ID numer never goes anywhere. It’s a number I’ve had for well over a decade so there’s no possible legit connection to anyone Chinese.
Although one has to consider people who give fake numbers when they know they are going to end up on someone’s **** list. I used to get endless calls from the US Army Association over some debt someone owed who had kindly given them my number instead of theirs when getting a loan or such and then skipped town. Went on for a couple of years before I finally decided to call them back and sort it.
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I’m normally against lurid human rights violations; but spammers aren’t people. A mere fine seems hideously lenient.
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ive finally silenced the ring and vibrations for calls, with custom notifications for the few people i know who actually ever try to call.
if someone really needs to get ahold of me now, it’s text or voicemail.
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Thank you, John Oliver
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I’m with you. Violent crime against one person is dealt with harshly.
IMO, minor stuff against hundreds of millions of people should add up to being equivalent to at least a murder or two. We could use weight factors. Thus murder for example would have a weight factor of 1.0, and the harsh sentence it gets is just whatever the current penalty is.
Let’s say we put the weight factor for a robocall at 0.001. It’s a minor inconvenience all by itself.
But, if you multiply it out, i.e., 1,000,000,000 x 0.001, that’s equivalent to 1,000,000 murders. That’s what the penalty should be if found guilty. We can’t execute the bums a million times, but we can sure do it once.
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Why. Not. Both!!
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More like the addresses.
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At this rate I’d expect them to be placed in charge of the FTC. And, hell, the FCC while we’re at it.
(Having said that, the phone has been quieter for the past week or two.)
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