Got a phone call yesterday.

[Fla Dem]

Phone rings, I look at caller id, shows a name I don't recognize and a local #. Been getting a lot of those lately. I don't always answer calls from entities I don't recognize, but sometimes I do if it's local and there is a name listed. When I do answer, usually there's no one there or it's some automated call about my microsoft warranty, blah, blah, blah. But I'm involved in some local activities and it could be call related to one of them. Most of the time I let them go to voicemail. But decided to answer this one.

Me: Hello
Them: Hi did you just call me?
Me: No who are you?
Them: I just got a call from you at this number.
Me: No wasn't me. Someone must have hijacked my number.
Them: OK, bye.

So now someone or some automated calling system has hijacked my phone number. I didn't ask the caller what name was shown, but assume it was mine. Scary stuff.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. A couple of weeks ago I checked my phone when I got up and had an angry voice message

Some angry guy left me a message asking why I was calling him. It came in at about 9am, not a time of day I'd be calling anyone. And I think it was in Florida and I'm in New York. My friend said someone must have hijacked my number. This is scary stuff!

[Fla Dem]

4. Well there may be hope. Looks like congress is working on something to end Robo calls.

FIngers crossed.

Want the Robocalls to Stop? Congress Does, Too
A bipartisan bill introduced by House members would require phone carriers to offer screening technology to customers at no additional cost.

By Neil Vigdor
June 20, 2019

Besieged by nearly five billion unwanted automated calls from telemarketers and scammers last month, Americans are poised to get relief from robocalls under a bipartisan compromise bill introduced in the House on Thursday.

The measure would require phone carriers to offer screening technology to identify and block spam calls at no additional cost to customers within 18 months of the bill’s being enacted.

Known as the Stopping Bad Robocalls Act, the legislation was first introduced in February by Democrats, who finally reached a deal Thursday with Republicans on the bill’s language.

The revamped bill was unveiled by the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Frank Pallone Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, and the committee’s ranking member, Greg Walden, Republican of Oregon. It would apply to both wireless phones and land lines, according to Mr. Pallone, who said he was optimistic about the bill’s chances of winning House and Senate approval and being signed by President Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/us/politics/stopping-robocalls.html

All I could post as I don't have a NY Times subscription.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Thanks! That is good news!

This really has gotten way out of hand!

[SCantiGOP]

13. Really not scary at all

The spoofing equipment picks a random number to display, using the area code and first three digits of the number it is calling. So, there is a .1% chance that they will pick your number. Out of hundreds of thousands of spoof calls made daily, your number is probably used many times a day.
Best thing to do is simply hit the button to end the call. Don't answer, don't do anything and the whole incident is over in seconds.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

2. Spoofing. Common practice among telemarketers and scammers.

We get calls like this all day long at work.

[Fla Dem]

5. I guess I didn't understand what spoofing meant. Thought they just used non active #'s.

And yes I have gotten calls from myself before, just figured they had some software that made your own name and number show up on caller ID. That bothered me, but not as much as my name and # showing up on someone elses phone.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

7. They spoof any number.

And of course, the call id data is part of the spoof. It’s not hijacking, as that would be using your line to make calls, they are not, just spoofing the call id data.

I regularly get calls seemingly from Harris Semiconductor (a local gov’t contractor in Central FL), which are robocalls or other scams.

[FoxNewsSucks]

3. I got a call from my own number once.

Usually scam calls spoof the area code and prefix. I never answer them. I moved 14 years ago, and never changed my cellphone number. Everyone I actually know from "back home" is in my contact list. Any number showing up with my old area code are obviously spoofed.

I never needed to change my number, now I'm glad I didn't since it makes the BS calls easier to spot.

[SharonAnn]

10. I've received a couple of those, too. I'm pretty sure I didn't call myself.

[murielm99]

8. I got one of those the other day, too.

A lady asked why I was calling her. I didn't call her.

[Fla Dem]

9. This is really getting out of control. Hope Congress acts fast.

[OregonBlue]

11. My husband gets them all the time. He calls the number to

let the people know their number is being used and suggests they call their state Attorney General office. If enough of us complain they may finally do something.

[Fla Dem]

12. Good thought. Will absolutely do it.

[NotASurfer]

14. So if I took the voicemail message in Mandarin left by a robocall

And made that my voicemail greeting, would it at least confuse the machine into thinking it called itself on another spoofed number?