<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:lucida console, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8218"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8265">Here is a totally different strategy for robocalls, which I learned from Consumer Reports. <br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8263"><br><span></span></div><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8264"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8299">Use <a id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8300" href="https://www.nomorobo.com/">https://www.nomorobo.com/</a></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8838" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8352" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8299">Follow the instructions. It costs nothing. I have used if for almost a year and am happy.</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8479" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8543" dir="ltr">This is how it works:</div><ul id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8742"><li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8746">You follow the instructions to go to your account with your telephone provider.</li><li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8745">When someone calls, the call is also forwarded to the Nomorobo computer. <br></li><li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8744">Between the first and second ring, Caller ID info is transmitted. <br></li><li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8743">If Nomorobo recognizes the number, it answers the phone and sends a "busy signal".</li><li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8835">Meanwhile, my phone thinks the call is answered and doesn't ring a second time.</li><li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8835">If my phone only rings once, I don't answer.<br></li><li id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8741">If I bother to look at the caller ID, it is typically something like "Name Not Found". <br></li></ul><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8666" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8689" dir="ltr">What is really good is that Nomorobo learns the numbers of bogus callers before they call me the first time.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8983" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8833" dir="ltr">I am not aware of ever having missed a "real" caller.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8572"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8219" class="qtdSeparateBR">Paul<br><br></div><div style="display: block;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8298" class="yahoo_quoted"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8297" style="font-family: lucida console, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8296" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8295" dir="ltr"> <font id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8989" face="Arial" size="2"> <hr id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_9002" size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> conspire@linuxmafia.com <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, May 4, 2016 1:30 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [conspire] (forw) [GoLugTech] Terrible customer<br> </font> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_8546" class="y_msg_container"><br>1. Passing along posting below for amusement value.<br><br>2. Junk robocalls on the voice line have some fascinating aspects.<br>For example, sometimes the calling software is so primitive it doesn't <br>attempt to distinguish between lines answered by a human and lines<br>answered by machines. The 'Rachel from card services' scam-call<br>(<a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/whats-deal-rachel-card-services-your-top-3-questions-answered," target="_blank">https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/whats-deal-rachel-card-services-your-top-3-questions-answered, </a>other voice-actor names include Anne, Tiffany, Michael, and Heather)<br>is one of those.<br><br>I've been playing with a promising tactic Duncan MacKinnon suggested,<br>and wish to pass it on. Duncan suggests saying nothing at all when you<br>pick up a call from an unknown number. The reason? Because some of<br>these incoming calls are _solely_ designed to probe which numbers <br>have 'live' humans answering them, e.g., some of the ones where you <br>say 'Hello, hello?', nobody answers, and the unheard caller hangs up a<br>few seconds later. Probably many of the calls that reel off recorded<br>pitches (or send you to a human in a boilerroom) are logging this data,<br>too.<br><br>Point is, you want the calling robots to mark your telephone number down<br>as 'no human reached'. Otherwise, your number goes on the schedule to<br>call much more often.<br><br>Duncan points out that a genuine human caller, even if put off balance<br>by lack of an answering 'Hello?' will soon say something, e.g., 'Anyone<br>there?' Then, you have a conversation.<br><br>I've tweaked Duncan's method by quietly whisling a tune (or whistling<br>tunelessly), quietly enough to not register for robots logging call<br>results but audibly enough that a human caller will parse it as an<br>answering caller.<br><br>I _think_ that's a winning tactic. The only possible downside is that<br>if there's a robocall you _want_ to receive (and give it this treatment <br>because you don't recognise the number), and it's _dumb_ robocall software<br>that does nothing until it hears a human say 'Hello?', you might miss<br>the call. I'm taking my chances on that.<br><br>Reminder: Caller ID lies. Anyone using VoIP to call you, such as the<br>'Microsoft Technical Support' scam-callers Steve Litt mentions, can and<br>will have Caller ID set to an arbitrary value of the caller's choosing.<br>For example, I got several 'Microsoft Technical Support' robocalls that<br>claimed to be from 1-888-888-8888. I was curious enough about the <br>number that, on the third time, I said 'Hello' or 'Speak!' or something.<br>For the record, when heavily Hindi-accented 'Roy' spoke up representing <br>'Microsoft Technical Support', I laughed into the telephone and hung up.<br><br>3. FYI, the linuxmafia.com server was offline this morning from 9:15 to<br>11:20 AM because PG&E was restringing street power lines on this block<br>of Altschul Ave. This was scheduled maintenance work.<br><br><br>----- Forwarded message from Steve Litt via Tech <<a ymailto="mailto:tech@golug.org" href="mailto:tech@golug.org">tech@golug.org</a>> -----<br><br>Date: Wed, 4 May 2016 13:18:37 -0400<br>From: Steve Litt via Tech <<a ymailto="mailto:tech@golug.org" href="mailto:tech@golug.org">tech@golug.org</a>><br>To: <a ymailto="mailto:tech@golug.org" href="mailto:tech@golug.org">tech@golug.org</a><br>Subject: [GoLugTech] Terrible customer<br>Organization: Troubleshooters.Com<br>X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.13.2 (GTK+ 2.24.30; x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu)<br><br>Yesterday I was a terrible customer.<br><br>Around 10pm yesterday night (say what?) I received a call from "Roy"<br>from "Microsoft Certified Technology" or something like that. "Roy" had<br>a thick Indian accent.<br><br>Roy was helpful enough to let me know that there was some unauthorized<br>activity on one of my Windows computers, so I went to my Daily Driver<br>Desktop (DDD) to perform whatever instructions he gave me. My DDD is<br>Void Linux with Openbox window manager, no panel, with dmenu and UMENU.<br><br>Roy instructed me to press Windowskey+R. He actually had me find the<br>Ctrl key and move one to the right. These guys are good: All tech<br>support should learn from them. Anyway, I went to my DDD and tried to<br>comply with his wishes, trying to imagine what Windows would do.<br>Unfortunately, I didn't know what Win+R does (it allows you to insert<br>one command to the command prompt: I learned that later). So after<br>about 8 minutes, when I described the result of Win+R as "a list of<br>stuff", he hung up. But I'd consumed over 5 minutes of Roy's time, and<br>my wife and daughter were laughing their asses off while I did it.<br><br>I'm SUCH a bad customer!<br><br>SteveT<br><br>Steve Litt <br>April 2016 featured book: Rapid Learning for the 21st Century<br><a id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1462395842934_9059" href="http://www.troubleshooters.com/rl21" target="_blank">http://www.troubleshooters.com/rl21</a><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Tech mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Tech@golug.org" href="mailto:Tech@golug.org">Tech@golug.org</a><br><a href="http://lists.golug.org/listinfo/tech" target="_blank">http://lists.golug.org/listinfo/tech</a><br><br>----- End forwarded message -----<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>conspire mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com" href="mailto:conspire@linuxmafia.com">conspire@linuxmafia.com</a><br><a href="http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire" target="_blank">http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire</a><br><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>