Better Ask Barry: Robocalls

Are you tired of getting robocalls? There are steps you can take to cut down on unwanted calls – some more effective than others.

Jeremy Deysach gets about 15 robocalls a day, but instead of hanging up, he stays on the line with the scammer for hours.

“If I’m on the phone with them, they’re not scamming some elderly person who’s betting on hope,” he said.

Just about anyone who owns a phone gets machine-made calls.

California, the nation’s most-populous state, ranked No. 2 overall for robocalls in 2018, at about 5.3 billion, just behind Texas, with 5.32 billion. Salinas received a total of 6.1 million robocalls in April 2019 alone.

You can see the frustration on Facebook: Nicholas gets dozens of robocalls a day and Kelly posted that he’s blocked more than 3,000 numbers so far.

Bring up your phone’s app store and you’ll find a long list of programs promising to end the madness.
Some are free, and most work the same way: Users who get a robocall report it to the app, and the next time the same number calls another user, it’s marked as spam.

Deysach gave Robokiller a try, but it didn’t last. The robocalls were back that same day.

“All the feedback we get is very positive,” said Oscar Murillo, a Verizon manager.

Major cell carriers now offer their own lines of protection. Verizon has a free Call Filter, but the app isn’t 100% foolproof.

“It should be identifying that it’s a spam call,” Murillo said.

One tech expert says he doesn’t think the technology is there yet.

“In order for that app to work, you have to know it’s a bad number,” he said. “Someone would have had to report it, it had to have been used.”

Number spoofing takes seconds. Meaning, it’s just a matter of time for the machine to work around it.

“If I’m a scammer and suddenly my number stops working I just change it from 1,2,3,4 to 1,2,3,5 and I keep calling,” Johnson said.

Robocall blockers are up front that results vary. In fact, Robokiller makes no guarantees.

Meantime, a California lawmaker has submitted a bill that would require telecommunications companies to crack down on “neighbor spoofing.” Those are robocalls that appear as a local caller.
Remember, if you have a question, Better Call Barry. You can call, email, or click here .