Programmer Writes Script That Calls Back Phone Scammers 28 Times Per Second

[long coat]

If you are on AT&T get AT&T call protect. It will stop some calls from ringing your phone, if you block a # with it, they can't even leave a VM. (If you block a # using your contacts, it just kicks them to VM.) It will also tell you of its a telemarketer.
I love it & it has cut my spam calls down. The ones I do get I will some times talk to and say "howmuchdidiwin" they then hang up on me for some reason.

 

[IndyDave1776]

I am really forced to answer most calls unless they have a wonky area code. I get a lot of word of mouth referrals.

This is good. Referrals from people who, well, speak out the other end may not be good for business!

 

[voidsherpa]

FCC needs to do something about this. It's only getting worse. I'm up to 4-6 per day on my cell/business line. I jokenly wonder how bad it could get, ha... 12-16 a day? I hope the string up the SOBs behind this, but they wont.

 

[churchmouse]

FCC needs to do something about this. It's only getting worse. I'm up to 4-6 per day on my cell/business line. I jokenly wonder how bad it could get, ha... 12-16 a day? I hope the string up the SOBs behind this, but they wont.

They do not have the ability past threats to stop this. Mostly off shore outfits.

 

[Thor]

The wife had a new one yesterday, she doesn't answer any numbers she doesn't recognize. This one left a message in a robot voice. It said that an arrest warrant had been issued and that if she didn't want to have the police show up at the door she should call this number immediately...area code for metropolitan Seattle.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Here's more detail on the "neighbor spoof" method.

Familiar-Looking Numbers Are The Latest Twist In Robocalls

 

[T.Lex]

So, back in the day, our family got nearly consecutive cell numbers. It was cool.

But now, to follow up on the neighbor-spoofing, it gets confusing.

I actually got a call from one that appeared to spoof the number from city offices. A couple days later, I got a call from that number asking why I was calling her. I explained that her number had been spoofed, and apparently they spoofed mine, too.

That was interesting.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I keep getting the student loan scam up to 3x a day. I managed to trigger a callback from a real person who left his real number to call him back. I reported him to the FCC for violations. I doubt it will lead to anything, but it doesnt hurt.

 

[T.Lex]

I love the stories about people turning the tables on these guys. I tried that once, walked a guy through the beginning parts of figuring out how to make it work.

But, pretty quickly, it ended up just being a waste of time.

 

[JettaKnight]

Here's more detail on the "neighbor spoof" method.

Familiar-Looking Numbers Are The Latest Twist In Robocalls

Big take-away from that story: The FCC chairman carries a BlackBerry. For realsies?

 

[JettaKnight]

Getting pretty tired of the caller ID "neighbor" spoofing... the ones that use the same first three digits of your number so it looks like a familiar line that you'd answer.

It's not a huge deal for me... I just reject all calls with my same three numbers at this point... but now I'm getting calls from other people accusing me of calling them over and over (because my number is also in this spoof pool).

****ty situation that I can't really imagine has a great solution, outside of the place doing it being raided.

That will be hard to do. India doesn't really want to kill this cash cow. (insert your own Hinduism joke here.)

For anyone interested in who's calling, these Reply All episodes were really engrossing. He actually goes to India to meet the scammer.
https://gimletmedia.com/episode/long-distance/
https://gimletmedia.com/episode/103-long-distance-part-ii/

 

[IndyDave1776]

Why can a talented hacker not combine technologies using this along with ransomware, track back the calls to their true origin, hack into their computer system, and rather than demanding a ransom simply tell them they are done? That should at least set them back a while even if the local government is disinclined to actually do anything about them. It seems that there may be room to cause financial havoc for them as well given that I can't imagine people sophisticated enough for this nonsense hiding cash under their mattresses, pinned to the drapes, or taped to the bottoms of drawers.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Big take-away from that story: The FCC chairman carries a BlackBerry. For realsies?

That is the only secure platform from my understanding. .gov is who keeps them afloat today.

Android is a nightmare for security and Apple wont cooperate to give anyone enough control to truly secure the iDevice platform.

As a systems admin that used to run a Blackberry server, I REALLY miss those days. I could control the devices easily and make them do whatever I wanted. Now I have to rely on my users to accept changes for the few things I can do on iDevices.

EDIT: Like location services. They are MY devices that the company owns. However I cant force the user to leave location services on so the device can be tracked if lost or stolen. And if I want it turned back on after my MDM tells me they disabled it, if they dont want to turn it back on I cant force them. (and HR wont take action) One local user I kept asking for a month to do it. I finally went to his desk and asked to see the device. I turned it back on and told him he was not allowed to turn it off. His supervisor was also notified. Thank God that wasnt one of my users that is an 8 hour drive away. I also cant force them to use their provided iTunes account. So if they quit after changing to their personal iTunes account or change the rescue email to their personal address, we cant unlock the phone again and its a brick unless they are nice enough to cooperate after they leave. DEP is helping with the latter, but it still happens.

 

[Thor]

Blackberries are pretty much the .gov issued digital sidearm.

I had a boss once who was issued one, he put it in the drawer of his desk and when they came back to upgrade it a year later he pulled it back out of the desk and handed them the box. So they took out the new one and basically forced him to use it...he then found he could use it as a weapon to make bad things happen to other people when he was traveling (then turn his off).

 

[actaeon277]

That is the only secure platform from my understanding. .gov is who keeps them afloat today.

Android is a nightmare for security and Apple wont cooperate to give anyone enough control to truly secure the iDevice platform.

As a systems admin that used to run a Blackberry server, I REALLY miss those days. I could control the devices easily and make them do whatever I wanted. Now I have to rely on my users to accept changes for the few things I can do on iDevices.

EDIT: Like location services. They are MY devices that the company owns. However I cant force the user to leave location services on so the device can be tracked if lost or stolen. And if I want it turned back on after my MDM tells me they disabled it, if they dont want to turn it back on I cant force them. (and HR wont take action) One local user I kept asking for a month to do it. I finally went to his desk and asked to see the device. I turned it back on and told him he was not allowed to turn it off. His supervisor was also notified. Thank God that wasnt one of my users that is an 8 hour drive away. I also cant force them to use their provided iTunes account. So if they quit after changing to their personal iTunes account or change the rescue email to their personal address, we cant unlock the phone again and its a brick unless they are nice enough to cooperate after they leave. DEP is helping with the latter, but it still happens.

management needs to make it a condition of having the phone, and employment, and enforce it.
Turn off your location, phone gets disabled.
Phone is disabled, you must not be doing your job.... a certain grace period, then discipline.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

Why can a talented hacker not combine technologies using this along with ransomware, track back the calls to their true origin, hack into their computer system, and rather than demanding a ransom simply tell them they are done? That should at least set them back a while even if the local government is disinclined to actually do anything about them. It seems that there may be room to cause financial havoc for them as well given that I can't imagine people sophisticated enough for this nonsense hiding cash under their mattresses, pinned to the drapes, or taped to the bottoms of drawers.

Somebody did do something like that, and had it posted on the web for anyone who wanted it. He quickly took it down though. IIRC basically what it did was when they connected to your computer, it reversed it and gave you control of theirs. He did state that using it for any damaging purpose would be violating fed law and potentially carry a long term in fed PMIA prison and hefty fines. Since the scammers work from outside the US the feds can't really do much without local cooperation, but since you would be hacking them from inside the US well...

ETA Here is an article about the one I was talking about.
https://www.csoonline.com/article/2...nst-fake-microsoft-tech-support-scammers.html

And here is one where someone actually did hack them.
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/08/15/tech-support-scammer-tricked-into-installing-ransomware/

 

[IndyDave1776]

Somebody did do something like that, and had it posted on the web for anyone who wanted it. He quickly took it down though. IIRC basically what it did was when they connected to your computer, it reversed it and gave you control of theirs. He did state that using it for any damaging purpose would be violating fed law and potentially carry a long term in fed PMIA prison and hefty fines. Since the scammers work from outside the US the feds can't really do much without local cooperation, but since you would be hacking them from inside the US well...

ETA Here is an article about the one I was talking about.
https://www.csoonline.com/article/2...nst-fake-microsoft-tech-support-scammers.html

And here is one where someone actually did hack them.
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/08/15/tech-support-scammer-tricked-into-installing-ransomware/

Very enjoyable read. Thank you very much!

 

[1911ly]

For the last month I have been averaging a couple calls a week from the "IRS". They always have an Indian accent. What a joke. The last guy couldn't even tell me my name.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Getting pretty tired of the caller ID "neighbor" spoofing... the ones that use the same first three digits of your number so it looks like a familiar line that you'd answer.

It's not a huge deal for me... I just reject all calls with my same three numbers at this point... but now I'm getting calls from other people accusing me of calling them over and over (because my number is also in this spoof pool).

****ty situation that I can't really imagine has a great solution, outside of the place doing it being raided.

I get these on my cell all the time. Same with DoggyMama's phone. I just reject them, since I don't know anyone that has a similar number. I figure if it's legit, they'll leave a message. To date they never have.