Category Archives for phone call

The tools are available to stop robocalls, so why do so few telecom’s use them?

Contest Winners Ethan Garr and Bryan Moyles at DEF CON 23

Contest Winners Ethan Garr and Bryan Moyles at DEF CON 23 from FTC’s website

Why aren’t telecom companies giving us the tools we need to block robocalls?

For the past two years the FTC held contests at the international DEF CON conference, the worlds largest annual hacker’s convention held in Las Vegas, awarding prizes for the best and most effective tools to fight robocalls.  According to the FTC, last year the contest titled Zapping Rachel, named for one of the most prolific robocalls in the country, the familiar  “Rachel from card services,” was a big success:

Zapping Rachel marks the latest step in the FTC’s ongoing campaign to combat illegal, pre-recorded telemarketing calls known as robocalls. The contest challenged participants to design a robocall honeypot which is an information system designed to attract robocallers, and help law enforcement authorities, researchers, and others gain enhanced insights into robocallers’ tactics.

Three hackers were awarded prizes for their creations help officials capture these robocallers.

This year at the 2015 DEF CON 23 hackers were awarded prizes for creations that include programs that can be used by consumers. Continue reading →

ROBO CALLS: More than an annoyance, they put you at risk

RachelCardServicesTelemarketers aren’t simply the annoying dinner-interrupters they used to be.  Things have changed. There are fraudsters out there on the other end of these calls who can go so far as to manipulate recordings of your voice, then use those recordings to take over your accounts. They use programs that “spoof” phone numbers – making your caller ID show fake numbers that appear to be cell phones, local calls, 800 numbers; they  even spoof your own phone number – all to get you to answer the phone and talk to them.

The FTC advises you to hang up on these calls, don’t speak to them.  But, this advice is a couple of years old.  Did you know those phantom calls, the one’s you answer and no one is on the other end, are the first step for many of these fraudsters? According  All Tech Considered author AArti Shahni, just answering those calls can put you on a list of live bait for scammers:

Here’s an experience some of us have had. The phone rings. You pick it up and say “Hello. Hello. Helloooo.” But nobody answers. It turns out there could be someone on the other end of the line: an automated computer system that’s calling your number — and tens of thousands of others — to build a list of humans to target for theft.

Collecting numbers that reach live people is the first step.  After your number is established as a working number, next come Continue reading →