We’ve all gotten them.
Like an unwanted plague, those annoying robocalls always seem to come just as we’re sitting down to dinner or getting ready to watch a football game.
The messages are varied but most have one thing in common: They’re trying to sell us something.
Some robocalls are looking to steal our personal information
Some implore us to buy solar panels or donate money to a political candidate, while others ask us to support a local charity or take a ride-share survey.
And it gets worse. Some of these automated calls offer fraudulent credit card services or questionable auto warranty protection. In many cases, they’re simply trying to steal our personal information.
They’re increasingly targeting our private cell phones
These calls have traditionally targeted consumers’ home phones. But that’s changing.
Now they’re showing up with increasing regularity on our private cell phones, and the Federal Communications Commission is looking to stop it.
FCC, tech firms and telecoms form Robocall Strike Force
The FCC and a coalition of more than 30 tech companies and telecoms — including Apple, AT&T and Comcast — recently formed a Robocall Strike Force that’s focused on combating automated phone calls. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler offered his views on the issue at last week’s launch of the strike force in Washington, D.C.
“Robocalls are a scourge,” he said. “It’s the No. 1 complaint that we hear from consumers at the commission. We receive more than 200,000 complaints a year. Americans are right to be fed up with robocalls. They are an invasion of privacy, and this scourge is rife with fraud and identity theft.”
The bad guys are winning
The problem, Wheeler said, is that “the bad guys are beating the good guys” with technology.
“Voice over Internet Protocol calls from scammers in foreign countries rely on networks that aren’t ready to deal with them,” he said. “The ability to spoof a legitimate phone number is a downside to a digital environment.”
In some cases, a fraudulent telemarketer may want you to think the call is from your bank or another company you’ve done business with. The telephone number may show up as “unknown” or “123456789.” Other times, the number is a real one belonging to someone who has no idea his or her number is being misused.
Local business owners are inundated by the calls
Bob Bekian, owner of Loyal Studios in Burbank, said the robocalls he gets on his cell phone often appear to be familiar. “They usually mask the number so it looks like it’s coming from the 213 or 818 areas code and those are the areas I normally deal with for my business, ” he said. “That tactic makes you less guarded.”
Bekian, whose studio does TV and film production, said he gets the calls day and night — sometimes as late as 8 p.m.
“I get pretty pissed,” he said. “I want to tell them to take me off of their list but with a robocall you can’t do that. Eighty percent of the calls I get are for solar panels and the other 20 percent are construction calls asking if I need work done.”
Tom Adams, owner of Century 21 Adams & Barnes in Monrovia, is also inundated with them.
“I get them every day and they’re always sales calls,” he said. “It’s usually solicitations for insurance, travel or vacation opportunities. They always start off with a recording and then you have to push a button to get a live person.”
One of the bogus calls Adams received was for a Caribbean cruise.
“I knew there was a trick to it so I stuck with the call and they finally told me they needed my credit card number to hold the reservation,” he said. “When I tried to get the name of the company they hung up immediately. They don’t want to get reported.”
Phone companies urged to provide robocall-blocking options
Wheeler said call-filtering options are being developed to curb automated solicitations and he added that “there’s nothing in the rules that prohibits carriers from offering call-blocking.”
“Let’s start solving the issues immediately,” he told the strike force. “And let’s improve it tomorrow — and then make it even better the day after tomorrow.”
Wheeler is asking all of the major phone companies to develop an action plan that would provide consumers with robocall-blocking options.
AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, also spoke at last week’s Robocall Strike Force meeting.
“While many people like to portray this as a simple issue to address, it isn’t,” he said. “These unwanted calls span a wide range. We have calls that are perfectly legal, but unwanted, like telemarketers and public opinion surveyors. At the other end of the spectrum, we have millions of calls that are blatantly illegal. They are violating the Do Not Call registry or, worse, trying to steal your money or identity.”
Stephenson said regulatory and law enforcement agencies need to go after the “bad actors.”
“Shutting down the bad guys is a necessary step, and a powerful example to others,” he said.
How to deal with robocalls
The Federal Trade Commission is also fighting to stop unwanted automated calls and the agency offers some tips for people who receive robocalls:
•Hang up the phone. Don’t press 1 to speak to a live operator and don’t press any other number to get your number off the list. If you respond by pressing any number, it will probably just lead to more robocalls.
•Consider contacting your phone provider and asking them to block the number, but check to see if they charge for that service. And remember that telemarketers change Caller ID information easily and often, so it might not be worth paying a fee to block a number that will change.
•Report your experience to the FTC online at or by calling 888-382-1222.
And just for the record, not everyone is plagued by robocalls.
Carolyn Barber, a principal with Clifford Swan Investment Counselors in Pasadena, said she only began using a smart phone earlier this year, although she’s used her husband’s on numerous occasions.
“I think that’s why I haven’t been plagued with this yet,” she said.