Free Republic

After a telemarketer swore at his son nearly 10 years ago, Roger Anderson set out to cause robocallers, telephone fraudsters and scammers as many problems as possible. His solution was to create an artificial intelligence call-deflection system that puts incoming spam calls on the line with a ChatGPT-powered personality, keeping fraudsters talking in circles as they attempt to extract financial information from a chatbot. "This is really an incredibly silly idea," Anderson, who founded the Jolly Roger Telephone Company, told Fox News. "But in a way, I think it's the only way to combat unsolicited telemarketing because we just can't...

With phone spam on the rise, a plucky band is fighting back with practical jokes, air horns and inane conversations about spaghetti When he gets a robocall, Robert B. Eckhardt doesn’t necessarily hang up. If he isn’t too busy, Dr. Eckhardt, a professor of developmental genetics at Pennsylvania State University, stays on the line and asks random questions, such as, “Do your parents know what you’re doing?” If he can string the caller along for 10 minutes, Dr. Eckhardt considers it a minor victory in the war against telephone spam. Most people get annoyed by calls from telemarketers or scam...

Have telemarketers found a way around the do not call list? I have been getting calls from telemarketers where they always ask for the wrong name. When I reply that they have the wrong number, they say, "well, maybe you can help me." The first time it happened, I listened for a minute, wondering why this person on my phone would be asking a stranger for help. When I realized what they were up to, I simply hung up. I've had several calls since, with the caller using the same tactic. Anybody else have any experience with this scam?

I got a call from a telemarketer asking me to listen to a audio clip from newt. I listened to it. After t hat the lady came back on and asked if I would like my name on a petition created by Newt to stop wasteful Gov't spending, drill oil here etc. She went on and said I would get that along with his new book for a 100 dollar donation. I said I can't afford that right now. She went on further to ask if 20 would be ok. I agreed. It was explained I would receive a bumper...

Some central Iowa voters said a voicemail message on behalf of Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has gone too far. The automated messages, also known as robocalls, have been ringing phones in Iowa homes since the last presidential debate. The message talks about a relationship between Sen. Barack Obama and '60s radical Bill Ayers.... "It was vicious," said independent voter Marilyn Greene. "It was a hateful, vicious message." She said there's too much on the line in this election for candidates to stoop to this level. "Stick to the issues," she said. "What can you do? What are you looking...

Click Here

I work at a mortgage company and I deal with people who do financial transactions so breathtakingly moronic that some them require a helmet. I think of one man who bought a jeep from a local dealership. When the jeep broke down, he took it to the dealership and asked them to repair it. When they couldn’t repair it, he asked to trade it in. When they couldn’t trade it in, he handed the salesman the keys and said, “Here, you deal with it.” Later, he bought a truck from another dealership, because it struck him that he might need...

The Truth about Cell Phones and the National Do Not Call Registry If you’ve received an e-mail telling you that your cell phone is about to be assaulted by telemarketing calls as a result of a new cell phone number database, rest assured that this is not the case. Telemarketing to cell phone numbers has always been illegal in most cases and will continue to be so. In response to recent e-mail campaigns urging consumers to place their cell phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry, the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission issue this advisory to...

Telemarketers will soon have access to your cell phone number. This spring, all cell phone numbers will be put into a directory. The good news is, you do not have to worry about losing your friend's cell phone number. The bad news is, telemarketers will be calling your phone and using up your minutes. "It would be an option if you wanted to be in a directory or not. There could be some advantages - some people are virtually unreachable. About 5% of the cell phone users don't have a land line listing anywhere, so you lose your friends cell...

Nearly one year ago, I signed up (and paid the fee) for the Arkansas "Do-Not-Call" list. As advertised, it took nearly 3 months for the calls to all but totally stop. Yippie! I also signed up for the Federal list soon after that program began. The Arkansas law is more restrictive, but I figured that it couldn't hurt. In the time between the Arkansas list kicking in and the supposed Federal list's start date (October 1) I only received a couple of telemarketing calls. And those just about panicked when I told them I was on the list... Then the...

There's just over a year to go before the 2004 presidential election, and everybody in the nation is extremely excited. Except of course the public. The public, shrewdly, pays no attention to presidential politics until all of the peripheral dorks have been weeded out, and it's finally time to make a selection between the two main dorks left over. So what does the public care about right now? Telemarketers. The public hates them. It hates them even more than it hates France, low-flow toilets or ''customer service.''

Signup Against Telemarketer Calls Starts Friday 1 hour, 46 minutes ago By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. households tired of unwanted telemarketing calls can begin registering on Friday for a national "do not call list" due to be launched by President Bush. Telemarketers who call numbers on the list after Oct. 1 face penalties of up to $11,000 per call under the popular measure that Bush will kick off in a White House Rose Garden ceremony at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The measure got a boost from the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday when the agency voted 5-0 to support...

Hang up on telemarketers -- for good You really can fight back against those blasted calls. Here's how you can sign up for the new National 'Do Not Call' Registry, plus some ways to fight e-mail spam and junk mail. By Liz Pulliam Weston Your home is about to get a lot quieter -- especially around dinner time. The Federal Trade Commission will put a leash on telemarketers July 1 by activating a national do-not-call list. Once you sign up -- a free service, by the way, and don’t let scam artists tell you otherwise -- the government promises...