People are getting so many Spam calls, or Robo-calls as my father calls them, that people don’t answer their phone at their houses anymore. This is especially terrifying, when you have to be reached for something urgent. This upsets me and should be something addressed by the cellular provider. However, the majority of the providers still send Spam to your phone because they feel as if it is not their problem when in reality it is.
As someone who has an ancient phone hooked up to our landline, I hear every single call that comes through the house. The fact that spam blocking technology has not been integrated into the cellular companies to control these types of spam is infuriating. What’s even worse is that now I do not trust any phone calls made to my home phone. Instead, I have to rely on my cellular phone, which still occasionally still receives Spam calls.
With that in mind, every call that comes through the US has to go through a gateway controlled by a cellular carrier. The fact that all these calls overseas can mimic a local number is terrifying and is the cellular providers responsibility. If that phone number is changing its number before it hits the shore, it is dangerous. This should never occur and it is only a matter of cost. The technology is there and you could put infrastructure and controls to manage it. We are allowing profit by these phone companies at the expense of people’s privacy and state of mind.
This is especially worrisome when thinking about the elderly and people with disabilities who are unable to tell the difference between what is reality and what is spam. By targeting these types of people, spammers are able to rob innocent people of their hard earned money. By using pre-calculated scripts, a scammer can earn the trust of its prey and convince them to release personal information. This is unacceptable and needs to be combatted. This is not a matter of personal choice and rationality, but a matter of cellular companies trying to save money so that they can make more. I want to see this issue taken more seriously, as it spreads doubt and perpetuates distrust in society.
-Melvin
Melvin Blogs 