Ok, how many of you have gotten calls that were dialed by an automated system?
You know the kind. Your phone rings and if you pick it up there is a \u2018pause\u2019 before someone gets on the line.
Who then proceeds to tell you that,
\u201dthe FBI needs your information..\u201d
\u201cyour car warranty is about to expire..\u201d
\u201cyou owe money to such and such and we can reduce the amount…\u201d
\u201cwe are in the neighbor hood doing x for the Jone\u2019s etc.\u201d<\/p>\n
The list is just about endless.<\/p>\n
Or how about getting messages on your voice mail or answering machine that tell you \u201cto call 800-xxx-xxxx ext. xxx for a very important matter.\u201d Or \u201cyou have an outstanding balance please call 800-xxx-xxxx etc.\u201d<\/p>\n
These calls and nearly all like them are made by \u2018dialing programs\u2019. There are two types most in use today.<\/p>\n
The first and most common is the programs that actually dial a whole set of numbers for a given area code and prefix.
Example: 310-473-xxxx from 0001 on up.<\/p>\n
The second is used mostly by fraudsters, bill collectors (illegitimate and some times legitimate) and other scammers.
The program dials a given set of numbers the same way.<\/p>\n
HERE IS THE KICKER: So where to find the \u2018tone\u2019. I have created a looped tone with out the message that I use. It plays the ‘beep beep beep’ twice in a row. I will try and find a ‘place’ to put it when I can for easy download. Check back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ok, how many of you have gotten calls that were dialed by an automated system?You know the kind. Your phone rings and if you pick it up there is a \u2018pause\u2019 before someone gets on the line.Who then proceeds to tell you that,\u201dthe FBI needs your information..\u201d\u201cyour car warranty is about to expire..\u201d\u201cyou owe money … Continue reading “Stop Spam Calls”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":587,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,20,75,13,8,1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/587"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikemartinezonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Since the calls are made by machine they follow rules! And we can exploit them to our advantage!
The programs were designed to save money by dialing fast and not wasting the time of (expensive) people. Although one could argue that wages in Bangladesh aren\u2019t that high, you still need real people, even if they don\u2019t speak proper English, to carry on a real conversation.
So when the dialer get\u2019s an out of order or line disconnected \u2018tone\u2019 it marks the number as \u2018no good\u2019 and moves on.
If however you pick up the phone the system knows the number is valid and puts you through to a person who will then annoy the crap out of you.
Same goes for the calls on answering machines and those going to voice mail \u2013 if the dialer get\u2019s an out of order or line disconnected \u2018tone\u2019 it marks the number as \u2018no good\u2019 and moves on. If your machine or voice mail answers with a \u2018message\u2019 like, \u201chello we are not here \u2026\u2026\u201d the call then plays the message to call a certain 800 number back etc.
With any of these calls the absolute worst<\/strong> thing you can do is actually call that number!!
Your phone will be marked as \u2018valid\u2019 and \u2018worth calling\u2019 forever!
[This also applies to spam email too!! Never<\/strong> respond to spam email to ‘be removed from list..’]
So how do you we beat the machines?
Quite simple actually.
By playing the \u2018call could not be complete\u2019 or \u2018number disconnected\u2019 tone before your answer message.
That\u2019s right by simply placing that \u2018beep beep beep the number you are dialing…\u2019 tone before <\/em><\/strong>your message you will kill the auto dialed call. If you are like me you can even play the tone before you answer a live call!
Just play the tone then record your message.
Make sure you tell people who should<\/em> be calling you – family friends – that they should ingnore\/wait for the actual message.<\/p>\n
Here are a couple links to the tones with the associated message.
Remember you only need the \u2018tone\u2019 at the beginning to make the dialer think the number is bad.
You can find them here:
Disconnected number:
Wave format:<\/a>
Call not completed as dialed:
Wave format<\/a><\/p>\n