---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <36607a26-1bf5-4025-9d55-0c8df264834b@googlegroups.com> Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2016 09:19:54 -0800 (PST) From: jhhaynes@earthlink.net Subject: Phony IRS lawsuit scam seems to be heating up. I've had two calls in less than two days where they say you are being sued by the IRS and to call them back at 202-390-0497 Since they give a call back number I would think it would be easy for the authorities to put them out of business. Tho I guess they could keep changing the number and it would [be] like whack-a-mole. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <zLidnagdS7k8Dj3LnZ2dnUU7-QudnZ2d@posted.internetamerica> Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2016 02:15:29 -0600 From: gordonb.u7zkf@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: Class-action lawsuit against Publix seeks $5M for robocalls > I have been told by my local CVS pharmacy that they cannot stop calling me > because they can't look up my phone number in their database. Clearly > someone has my number attached to their account, but they don't know who, > they can't find out, and in fact because of their system they can't tell > which CVS store is calling me. So I'll just have to put up with the constant > calls. How easy would it be, in the face of repeated violations after notifying CVS corporate and individual CVS stores in your area, to get a court order to end the repeated harassment by forcing CVS to cease *ALL* outgoing calls other than emergency calls from CVS stores? Nationwide? Or at least in your state? Human callers would have to be trained to check the phone number against yours before dialing. Robodialers would have to be shut down until they could be emptied of numbers and only checked ones were re-added. Perhaps the robocaller needs to be programmed to reject your number, permanently. It is often much easier than it is claimed to shut off a malfunctioning piece of equipment. Putting an axe through the power cord, the telephone connection, and the ethernet cable usually works. Example: a certain city website in Dallas County, Texas was leaking personal information (of taxpayers, I think). My reaction: shut it off, NOW! Use explosives on the main building circuit-breaker box if necessary (and if city officials can't come up with a faster, less destructive way to shut it down, they need to be replaced. Now.) I really don't care that it will take 6 months to fix and during the downtime the city payroll will not be processed. (I do, however, care if that shuts off all the traffic lights or city water.) I have a hard time believing that the call does not give some clue as to which store is doing the calling, and which account it is. The employees just don't want to deal with it. Each store has their own system with their own dialout, right? Does the phone message give a prescription number? (Kroger's system does that in text messages) That could be tied to the account with the wrong phone number attached to it. Does the phone number give a number to call for more information? (Kroger's system does that in text and voice messages). Call it and find out if it's associated with a specific store. That, at least, isolates it to a specific store. The timing of the calls also gives a clue. Perhaps the account with your phone number has 2 prescriptions that renew every 30 days from January 8, 2016 and January 15, 2016, which narrows it down to a small percentage of the accounts. If there's one system that makes the calls for all the stores in multiple states, you've got a big problem. There should be no reason for stores to mess with the caller-ID, unless it's to make it equal to the store voice number. It may have a separate number from the regular store number, but it's likely to have the same area code and possibly an exchange as the regular store. ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Fri, 22 Jan 2016