Robo Call Blocking?

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vaughnsimon
Posts:18
Joined:Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:15 pm
Robo Call Blocking?

Post by vaughnsimon » Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:39 pm

OOMA's call blocking feature (which I have always loved) has lately been greatly diminished in it's effectiveness by spoofing. Lately, most of the calls we get on our OOMA line are apparently spoofed calls. Since the spoofing makes the caller ID display a fake number, there is no reason to block it because the scammer/spanners can generate fake numbers faster than we can block them!

So just today the FCC has voted to let phone service providers proactively block robocalls from fraudulent numbers. Is it fair to hope that OOMA will be among the first to roll out that feature to its customers?

TonyW
Posts:305
Joined:Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:24 am

Re: Robo Call Blocking?

Post by TonyW » Thu Nov 16, 2017 3:23 pm

While it would be great if providers actively blocked this stuff, I'm not holding my breath. If used effectively, unwanted calls can be significantly reduced with the current system.

Ooma/NMR blacklists are only as good as input from the community. When I get a spam call, I:

a) Report the # to NoMoRobo (create an acc't, but specify a provider other than Ooma & change it once you are 'in. THIS PART MAY NOW BE UNNECESSARY'). Ooma will pick up database updates weekly ("early Monday AM"). Numbers reported between imports won't be blocked until the next import.

b) Temporarily add # to my personal blacklist. This will block subsequent calls until Ooma updates the NMR database & with sufficient community volume, gets the # on the community blacklist.

Create some generic filters in your personal blacklist. Except for the 'temporary' addition of recent calls, the only entries I have are these filters..

Block a name... 'Contains...' for each of the following... '800 SERVICE', 'NEW YORK NY', 'CUSTOMER SERVIC', 'CONSMR ADVOCATE', 'UNAVAILABL', 'VOLASSOC', 'COALITION', 'MEDICAL ALARM', 'ILLEGAL SCAM', 'UBCF', ' MRSC, 'PUBLIC UTILITY''.

Note: Beware of spaces in strings. The log may show what appears to be a single space, but copy the CID log entry & paste it in a text editor. You may see multiple spaces. I believe this can have affect this type of filter. UPDATE: My entries w/ spaces still seem to work, but Ooma now appears to ignore spaces in CIDs?

These will vary, particularly by region, but if you get a lot of these calls, patterns emerge. Add new entries as they arise.

Block a number... 'Numbers that start with...'. The only entries I have on this list are my area code/local exchanges.

Others have gone as far as to create entries for all invalid area code/exchange combos but this system evolves & so far, it's been relatively unnecessary.

I also have ALL blocked calls sent to voicemail so that if someone legit is being blocked, I have the option to add them to my contact list. I'll reconsider this approach when blocked calls start showing up in the logs. (hint: if you opt for email notification of new VMs, the originating # appears in the subject, even if it doesn't show up in the log).

IMO Continuous ring does nothing as they mostly hang up as VM picks up... 9sec/missed calls. These are just 'ping' calls looking for humans... which they will NEVER find. I rarely get recorded messages.

When I switched to Ooma, I was getting dozens of spam/scam calls per week. Now, I get ~ 3 calls each time the scammers roll out new #s... typically every other week. This will also vary by region (& apparently, season), I imagine.

Works for me, but YMMV



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