So I recent received my first ATT SMS text message spam. This is roiling because I rarely use SMS, and have a limited number of "free" messages on my phone. So if this gets really bad, I'll have to cancel the service. I'm not paying for dickholes to spam me.
(956) 250-6131
It wouldn't surprise me if this is a hacked Android phone that is now spamming everyone, and the owner doesn't even know. They'll figure it out when they get their bill, I suppose.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Screw You, Robodialers!
Finally, there's legislation afoot to force robocallers to knock that shit off.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250053/fcc_cracks_down_on_telemarketing_robocalls.html%23tk.rss_news
"The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has approved new rules requiring telemarketers that use autodialed or prerecorded telephone calls to sell products to get written approval from customers before sending them the robocalls."
And apparently they've closed the "previous relationship" loophole. Whatever that means, in the context of buying and selling wholesale lists of numbers.
Now I'm sure the other trickery will begin - calling, letting it ring once, hanging up, then waiting for YOU to call THEM since you don't know who they are and think you missed a call. But at least you don't have call back the "one ringers". Anyone who does that doesn't deserve a return call.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250053/fcc_cracks_down_on_telemarketing_robocalls.html%23tk.rss_news
"The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has approved new rules requiring telemarketers that use autodialed or prerecorded telephone calls to sell products to get written approval from customers before sending them the robocalls."
And apparently they've closed the "previous relationship" loophole. Whatever that means, in the context of buying and selling wholesale lists of numbers.
Now I'm sure the other trickery will begin - calling, letting it ring once, hanging up, then waiting for YOU to call THEM since you don't know who they are and think you missed a call. But at least you don't have call back the "one ringers". Anyone who does that doesn't deserve a return call.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Monday, October 17, 2011
Finally, a new scam
This number:
Appears to be a phone phisher for a change! It demanded that I enter my "Sprint Customer PIN".
Ha! Welcome to my banned list. Say hi to all the real estate bullshitters.
- 800-000-0611
Appears to be a phone phisher for a change! It demanded that I enter my "Sprint Customer PIN".
Ha! Welcome to my banned list. Say hi to all the real estate bullshitters.
Monday, May 9, 2011
And the calls just keep on coming
So it's been a few months and the robo-dialers seemed to be calming down; I hardly got bothered at all during April! But I've received 3 calls today alone from my latest May addition, 406-852-8377. They seem to be working through a block of the 8300 suffixes.
I'm wondering if these are now coming from internet phone numbers. It's just that easy to change out old numbers for new, and discard the "poisoned" numbers that aren't yielding connections anymore.
The sad part is they'll eventually throw away the poisoned numbers which will be recycled by the carrier or ISP. Some poor business or nice person will acquire it, only to discover that folks are blocking their brand new number due to the misbehavior of the number's predecessor.
So now, folks need to search for the new number online to see if it has a bad reputation, then demand a cleaner one from the phone provider. Let's make it the phone company's problem.
I'm wondering if these are now coming from internet phone numbers. It's just that easy to change out old numbers for new, and discard the "poisoned" numbers that aren't yielding connections anymore.
The sad part is they'll eventually throw away the poisoned numbers which will be recycled by the carrier or ISP. Some poor business or nice person will acquire it, only to discover that folks are blocking their brand new number due to the misbehavior of the number's predecessor.
So now, folks need to search for the new number online to see if it has a bad reputation, then demand a cleaner one from the phone provider. Let's make it the phone company's problem.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Robo-dialer filtering
I don't get a lot of phone calls. I don't call a lot of people, and lots of people don't call me. What can I say, I'm not the socializing type, and oh, I work A LOT. Most of my outside contact comes from email, private lists, snail mail, UPS, and general meatspace - managers and coworkers in office meetings, store clerks and customers, bartenders, waiters, bank tellers, mechanics, the rare gas station panhandler, the odd freeway gesture. No cops lately...
Well, that's not exactly true. I get lots of calls from robots.
The vast majority of my phone calls come from robo-dialers are trying to "lower my mortgage". They seem to follow a pattern, calling mostly between the middle to the end of the month. I believe they acquired my number back when Countrywide whored its supposely private, confidential data. They've been sued for this of course, but cat's out of the bag, barn door's wide open, information wants to be free, yada yada yada.
Since then my phone number has probably been resold dozens of times in the context of a mortgage, and none of them check to see if I still have a mortgage at all. At this point, I'm inclined to believe they're now ripping off EACH OTHER selling invalid data. Ha!
One is actually very slick. They dial and hang up, likely triggering a "missed call" notification with a CallerID return number. When YOU call back to find out whose call you missed, they start their recorded pitch. Because YOU called THEM, they're free to do as they like, and it's not a crime to dial a "wrong" number and hang up. It's a technical dodge that keeps them legal, barely, and still incredibly annoying.
The rest of these are completely ILLEGAL. My number is listed on the Do Not Call List, but they don't honor it. I suspect the DNC list is yet another way for illegal bastards to harrass more people. After all, here's a group of people that don't get called much now. You KNOW they're going to answer their phones. None of these junk callers have any legitimate business with me. I don't have that mortgage anymore.
My current dodge is to save the numbers to my iPhone under the name "Do Not Answer". I assign a special ringtone to that address - a long loop of silence. I composed it myself just for this - all those years of piano lessons were not wasted, Mom... Maybe I need to sell it on iTunes. $:^D
Below are all the useless robo-caller numbers that have harassed me. The (406) numbers seem to be extremely active nowadays. Checking my phone at the end of the day I've seem some that called up to 5 times a day, starting at 8AM and stopping at 9PM.
I would be interested in an app that could aggregate them from shared locations and add them to my contact list under the junk call label so that when they call I wouldn't hear the ring even the very first time. Only one of us should take the hit.
While I'm fantasizing, I would also like on the iPhone to be able to remove the vibrate-mode from specific individual contacts as well, so that when these bastards robo-call me while I'm in a meeting and have shut off the ringer, my phone doesn't still buzz. That's something that a silent ringtone can't address.
Here's my list of junk callers; I have sorted them to remove duplicates. I'd like to see a wikipedia page that folks can add to. Though I like the apps that perform blacklisting, they don't necessarily publish their blacklists openly.
Phone-spam filter list:
I don't want junk callers to stop using numbers I've banned, of course, but I also want people to be able to ban numbers as they appear. So it's a race I guess.
And if someone "accidently" makes my phone-spam filter, guess what. They are always free to leave a message. I delete their recordings all the time - and that's another feature I'd want to add - don't let them leave messages if they're on this list. If they want to reach me, they can pay for a stamp and write me a letter. The post office can use the business, and the paper usually gets recycled. A neighbor's bird always needs something to crap on.
Well, that's not exactly true. I get lots of calls from robots.
The vast majority of my phone calls come from robo-dialers are trying to "lower my mortgage". They seem to follow a pattern, calling mostly between the middle to the end of the month. I believe they acquired my number back when Countrywide whored its supposely private, confidential data. They've been sued for this of course, but cat's out of the bag, barn door's wide open, information wants to be free, yada yada yada.
Since then my phone number has probably been resold dozens of times in the context of a mortgage, and none of them check to see if I still have a mortgage at all. At this point, I'm inclined to believe they're now ripping off EACH OTHER selling invalid data. Ha!
One is actually very slick. They dial and hang up, likely triggering a "missed call" notification with a CallerID return number. When YOU call back to find out whose call you missed, they start their recorded pitch. Because YOU called THEM, they're free to do as they like, and it's not a crime to dial a "wrong" number and hang up. It's a technical dodge that keeps them legal, barely, and still incredibly annoying.
The rest of these are completely ILLEGAL. My number is listed on the Do Not Call List, but they don't honor it. I suspect the DNC list is yet another way for illegal bastards to harrass more people. After all, here's a group of people that don't get called much now. You KNOW they're going to answer their phones. None of these junk callers have any legitimate business with me. I don't have that mortgage anymore.
My current dodge is to save the numbers to my iPhone under the name "Do Not Answer". I assign a special ringtone to that address - a long loop of silence. I composed it myself just for this - all those years of piano lessons were not wasted, Mom... Maybe I need to sell it on iTunes. $:^D
Below are all the useless robo-caller numbers that have harassed me. The (406) numbers seem to be extremely active nowadays. Checking my phone at the end of the day I've seem some that called up to 5 times a day, starting at 8AM and stopping at 9PM.
I would be interested in an app that could aggregate them from shared locations and add them to my contact list under the junk call label so that when they call I wouldn't hear the ring even the very first time. Only one of us should take the hit.
While I'm fantasizing, I would also like on the iPhone to be able to remove the vibrate-mode from specific individual contacts as well, so that when these bastards robo-call me while I'm in a meeting and have shut off the ringer, my phone doesn't still buzz. That's something that a silent ringtone can't address.
Here's my list of junk callers; I have sorted them to remove duplicates. I'd like to see a wikipedia page that folks can add to. Though I like the apps that perform blacklisting, they don't necessarily publish their blacklists openly.
Phone-spam filter list:
- 205 572-4899 (added 3/21/2011)
- 206 309-3538
- 206 397-1557
- 206 426-6486
- 207 493-2648 (added 6/8/2011)
- 216 282-0010 (added 7/14/2011)
- 253 382-9031 (added 12/26/2011)
- 253 561-7906
- 253 753-9030 (added 12/26/2011)
- 360 722-5901
- 402 587-2105
- 402 982-0779
- 405 236-4568 (added 3/15/2011)
- 406 351-4006
- 406 530-5360
- 406 623-3003
- 406 640-8788 (added 3/7/2011)
- 406 852-8353
- 406 852-8377 (added 5/2/2011)
- 408 392-0703
- 414 877-0060 (added 12/28/2011)
- 425 291-8405
- 425 320-5044 (Added 4/11/2012)
- 425 587-1004
- 443 769-1784
- 559 467-1015
- 603 214-3315
- 603 214-3583
- 603 214-3679
- 618 741-1356 (added 3/21/2011)
- 630 721-6290
- 701 625-5003
- 701 625-5007
- 701 920-9361 (added 10/4/2011)
- 702 520-1418
- 703 291-9031 (added 7/19/2011 - an actual conversation with an American-English speaking telemarketer taking a "survey" on cell phone usage! I told him that this is a cell phone, I am on the Do Not Call List, and to please remove my number.)
- 703 330-0318
- 800 266-2278
- 800 919-2233
- 804 932-1405
- 901 654-5689 (added 3/15/2011 - simultaneous to the other 3/15 addition, with the identical recording!)
- 904 562-6659
- 956 250-6161 - This was a TEXT MESSAGE spam. Really rude.
- 978 570-2241
- 978 570-2318 (added 7/12/2011
I don't want junk callers to stop using numbers I've banned, of course, but I also want people to be able to ban numbers as they appear. So it's a race I guess.
And if someone "accidently" makes my phone-spam filter, guess what. They are always free to leave a message. I delete their recordings all the time - and that's another feature I'd want to add - don't let them leave messages if they're on this list. If they want to reach me, they can pay for a stamp and write me a letter. The post office can use the business, and the paper usually gets recycled. A neighbor's bird always needs something to crap on.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Warning: Mac Laptop, Linux VM (Red Hat) offspring not viable
So last night while watching YouTube videos on my late 2008-early 2009 MacbookPro, I noticed that the battery status suddenly plunged from 100% to X. I keep my Mac jacked in via a Matrix-like encumberance of cables, so as a consequence, she stays home most of the time. In fact, she never moves from her throne alcove. This was not a problem for any previous laptop, including the one at work. Clearly, something was amiss.
Upon close inspection, I realized that my Mac was, in fact, PREGNANT!
Her battery section was swollen - so distended that she had popped out a bunch of hooks in the aluminum cover over the battery case. The battery itself swelled open, revealing an internal structure that could only be the growing fetus.
But - it was dead.
After a brief moment of panic I pulled myself together and immediately began emergency procedures to pull the dead battery before it could damage the Mom^H^H^HMac. Popping the cover using the built-in lever, I released the remaining hooks. I examined the cover; it appeared to have weathered the strain, so I was able to return it to its original position though it seemed to wobble a bit over the empty battery bay.
Restored to life-support 110 AC, she was again functional. By this time the nearest Apple store was closed, so I stayed with her to monitor her vitals.
Next morning I rushed her and her swollen dead battery fetus to the nearest Apple Mac store at Valley Fair Mall, conveniently located down the street from O'Conner Hospital just in case I too felt ill. Alas, to get the special emergency Mac Ambulance, one must reside in Cupertino, not San Jose.
Since I arrived early, I got lucky and parked in a primo parking space right across from Nordstroms – straight through that store out the other side into the mall on the immediate left is the Apple Store and its attendant Genius Bar; it's an even better parking spot than the Valet parking area. After making my Apple Genius appointment and checking in with the concierge, we were seen immediately. I quickly but carefully explained the situation, hoping to convey the grisly extent of my abject shock and horror.
Since I arrived early, I got lucky and parked in a primo parking space right across from Nordstroms – straight through that store out the other side into the mall on the immediate left is the Apple Store and its attendant Genius Bar; it's an even better parking spot than the Valet parking area. After making my Apple Genius appointment and checking in with the concierge, we were seen immediately. I quickly but carefully explained the situation, hoping to convey the grisly extent of my abject shock and horror.
"How could this have happened?" I wailed. " She never leaves my private subnet. I programmed her better than that! Mac Genius stared blankly. I babbled on, "Oh no... To run VMs, the nic has to function in promiscuous mode... I don't think it could have been the Windows VM. Everyone knows those are impotent, only spreading viruses. Oooooooooh, maybe a Linux Red Hat Virtual Machine? You know what? Those get around. A lot. They both speak unix dialects, and she is kinda lonely... He could have NFS mounted so easily..."
Mac Genius finally broke in, "I have to talk to my manager. Your laptop is not in warranty." Apparently emergency fetal extraction is not covered under the new Obama plan, a concession to the religious nutjobs hijacking the Republican agenda nowadays.
A few minutes later, the manager appeared. He seemed sympathetic to my plight. Clearly Apple is a company that believes in personal choice. Neither the Mac Genius nor his manager had ever witnessed this issue on newer Mac Laptops. (Mine is still quite young and attractive; she's only been with me since January of 2009.) I don't have AppleCare and she’s out of warranty, but after hearing my woeful tale and bearing sad witness to the pregnant, bloated dead carcass of a once charged, vibrant and functional battery wrested from a virtually untouched, pristine Mac, he relented and granted me a replacement battery free of charge! He said it was a one-time exception, at manager's discretion.
I wept for joy, though the loss of the offspring was quite sobering. I would have loved the pitter patter of a Mac mini around the network. He would return the carcass to Apple for autopsy, and ensure it received a proper disposal – dead lithium-ion polymer batteries do not go in the trash. Hooray for Apple Customer Service!
Upon replacing the battery, I noted that the battery cover seems to have bowed out a smidge, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 mm – obviously residual stretch marks - likely not reparable but hardly disfiguring. I spotted a screw half-out while still she was still open on the table. Since such traumatic events can loosen the screws of even the most upgraded and well-maintained Macs, I had the trained tech tighten her up as best he could.
Upon replacing the battery, I noted that the battery cover seems to have bowed out a smidge, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 mm – obviously residual stretch marks - likely not reparable but hardly disfiguring. I spotted a screw half-out while still she was still open on the table. Since such traumatic events can loosen the screws of even the most upgraded and well-maintained Macs, I had the trained tech tighten her up as best he could.
She’d never really be the same, but she still looked beautiful to me. After all she endured, we were still together, which is what matters most. Tucking her gently, carefully into her rugged but softly lined and scratch-resistant Waterfield sleeve, we were ready to roll.
Arriving at my primo parking area, I paused and observed silently as minivans and SUVs circled endlessly, tirelessly, voraciously hunting for any open parking place in the primo area. Competition here is fierce and merciless. Traffic to this mall can back up for almost a mile on the 880 freeway; finding parking after noon on a weekend before a major holiday season is a blood sport, so it pays to drive in early. Yet about 70 yards away, the non-primo area has plenty of available spaces. But these drivers are hardened shopping predators who don’t want to haul their sale spoils any further than necessary; only the best will do.
Now, had I been spotted I would have been invisibly marked, claimed, stalked to my spot, then rushed out via impatient signals, possibly with flashing lights, honking or rude hand gestures. And even without the more extreme tactics, I would still be assailed by the rancid, stomach-turning stench outgassing from a triumphant stink of entitlement: "Ha! I saw her first!"
Why should random luck favor the aggressive and rude? Thus moved, I determined to postpone such a fate, if only briefly.
Reversing direction, I strolled back into Nordstroms and wandered the aisles a bit, tried on some perfume, messed with some shoes. Returning outside I scanned again, finally spotting a blue Porsche Carrera with a Mac-related custom license plate. It was hopelessly trapped, helpless among much more massive SUVs and minivans, still fervently searching though clearly outweighed and outgunned.
The Carrera’s superior acceleration and nimble handling are not advantages when trapped between larger predators at 0-5MPH. In this world, size intimidation is what matters, and the largest bullies had staked out the whole aisle. The driver, a friendly looking patient fella with a pleading desperate smile, slouched despondent, defeated, glassy-eyed next to an oversized box dominating the passenger seat. I had found a worthy parking spot successor! I signaled to him and he rolled down his window.
The Carrera’s superior acceleration and nimble handling are not advantages when trapped between larger predators at 0-5MPH. In this world, size intimidation is what matters, and the largest bullies had staked out the whole aisle. The driver, a friendly looking patient fella with a pleading desperate smile, slouched despondent, defeated, glassy-eyed next to an oversized box dominating the passenger seat. I had found a worthy parking spot successor! I signaled to him and he rolled down his window.
I explained to him that he had been Chosen above all others, "fairness" be damned. I would grant my highly desirable primo parking place to him alone, solely because it is my will. He thanked me profusely, gesturing gratefully to the large unwieldy box he needed to haul inside, which upon closer glance appeared to contain a Cuisinart product destined for return. I replied that there was no need to thank or reward me, the pleasure was all mine. I allowed him to follow me to my spot. Backing out slowly, I deliberately cut a sharp angle to block an oversized Hummer which had suddenly shot out opportunistically to pounce and aggressively seize the spot before my Chosen Porsche could complete his turn. I idled protectively as he parked. He was so happy.
I drove my Mac home.
Now she's convalescing, logged into the Sisters of Lithium and resting comfortably after her terrifying ordeal. Maybe I'll upgrade her internal hard drive to distract her from what must have been a very painful episode. She probably won't remember a thing, since my time machine backup drive failed a month previous.
And that Linux VM will have to run isolated to its own virtual subnet from now on.
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