Verizon Fights Back Against Mobile Phone Spam

The Register is reporting that Verizon filed two separate lawsuits earlier this week against companies it claims spammed their customers with automated telemarketing calls. In addition to seeking a cease and desist, they are also apparently seeking "monetary damages."

Comments

phonetables

[b100dian]

Please develop a filtering software w/ rules for phone numbers.
I will configure it myself:)

Just don't let anyone "Ping" me:)

Easy solution to phone spam...

[Anonymous Coward]

Simply charge the sender the full rate to send the message..

Well Duh!

Re:Easy solution to phone spam...

[E8086]

"the caller pays for whatever is normally paid to call a landline phone, and you pay the difference."

Close, the caller pays what they would pay if they called out of their area code which is why I agree with the other reply;

"why not move the cell phone numbers to a separate area code then?"

Happens enough when someone has a 'normal' line and a cell both in the same area code, one's a free local call but the other I have to pay for even if my 'normal' line bill says free calls in same area code. It would be nice to know which calls I'm going to have to pay for, it's not much but it might eventually add up to something. "Land-lines" can keep 636 and cell phones get 939.
What's with having to pay for incoming calls? They use up your plan minutes yet you don't have any control over when someone calls you, yes you could always not answer, but someone will probably consider it rude. With the nice high monthly plans with extra long contracts you'd think there would be at least another option with "free nights and weekends" how about free nights or weekends and free incoming calls, I think a free same carrier calls option exists.

As for the call spammers, they should be lined up and spammed with big cans of spam by the "can you hear me now?" guy, or a least a recording.
whack...can you hear me now?...thud...can you hear me now?...ow!, my random body part...can you hear me now?

Would this be considered "stealing" Verizon's bandwidth?

Re:Telemarketing is just another job

[bloodredsun]

I thought that they were complaining about "pre-recorded messages" more than auto-dialers. The issues with auto-dialers is that it is illegal to use them to ring cell phones not normal ones. Using these two technologies together means that you can simultaneously call thousands at the same time with no worker involvement, obvously a huge boon to SPIT companies but a pain in the arse for everyone else. This could have a greater impact than spam as spam doesn't disturb me when my computer is off or intrude when I am at home.

I don't know how it works elsewhere but in the UK, auto-dialers are allowed but with the restriction that if the person being dialed picks up and no one from the call centre makes the call live within 2 seconds then the call is dropped. This means that if you answer the phone and get a strange dead line, you know it's a telemarketer and you can happily put the phone down without having to convince them that you don't need double glazing/conservatory/new power supplier.

And for the record, I once worked as a telemarketer for a business to business travel provider that only ever called during working hours and to people whose job it was to speak to me (and I dialed my own numbers - the company didn't like auto-dialers). Even then I didn't stick it long, as it was low paid and it did suck.

It's not just Verizon customers...

[DeathAndTaxes]

I got a phone call that was automated and in spanish about 2 weeks ago. I googled the number and came up with this page:

http://www.payphone-directory.org/discussion/sub2. html

Its not just Verizon customers. I can only hope that I (as a Sprint customer) receive some sort of "umbrella" benefit from this.

Eh?

[squoozer]

Ok, I must be missing sonething here. I haven't RTA (sorry) but how can Verizon sue the spammers? If the spammers are paying to send the messages then they are at worst in breach of their contract with Verizon? If they aren't paying to send the messages then thats a whole different ball game and surely there must be some form of criminal activity going on. In which case the police should be involved.

I hate spam in all it's forms but I can't help feeling this is like the mail service suing junk mail producers.

Mobile phone scamming -- no limits

[martijnd]

I (loc: Taipei) regular receive the weirdest phonecalls on my mobile, people have tried to:

• Borrow me money (several) ["do you have a credit problem", we at borrow 50% no questions asked"]
  
• Tried get my address in return for free gifts ["now free handbook to Hong Kong Disneyland"]
  
• Told me my son had been kidnapped, and that I should transfer money by bank (sidenote; thankfully I have no son)
  
• I could earn lots of money by just going to a cash machine and entering a few numbers (various versions, "tax refund" application, immediate money return "investment" ,...)
  

Most people I know & work with get these calls, and of course its usually elderly who fall for these scams. The kidnap story scares the hell out of anyone who gets it.

Most cash machines have warning stickers against these kind of practices. Its all psychology of course, it works wonderfully with fear & greed.

Massive thefts of private information (banks have lost all credit card info through employee heft) make it possible to "personalise" these stories. (Its sounds damned real if they have your bank account number)

Volume is about 3-4 calls per person per week, so with 23 million mobile phones you'd figure somebody would notice these calls.