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I am not sure if this is possible, but what I would like is for the phone providers -- whether landline, mobile, or VoIP -- to provide us an option to automatically block all VoIP numbers that originate outside the country. For instance, if I am in the United States and a VoIP call is made whose source IP is from India, block the call.

Or, better yet, always block foreign VoIP calls except from countries a person has whitelisted or from numbers a person has whitelisted.

A possible benefit to doing this might be to force tech support people to be local, instead of outsourced to India.

VOIP comes over the internet, and can be rerouted to look like the origin is in the US, which is indeed what it looks like. ATT offers call blocking - but not to monthly subscribers, only to business or home package (+ internet) customers.

This isn't feasible and doesn't solve the problem. It's kind of like the people who block IP blocks from cloud providers or various countries--if you can do it, it only blocks them for a few days before they move but it does negatively impact others. In this case, the scammers already appear to be coming from the U.S. because they use companies which are based in the country who in turn don't tell you where they got the line from. If this was prevented, the scammers would find new ways to route onto the U.S. network and lie about it with the assistance of the same kind of companies. Meanwhile, if you ever did get contacted by a call center, likely a callback you requested from some company which outsourced it, the call would be dropped.

One thing that would make a much larger dent in their operations is a caller ID system which does not allow forged numbers. If they couldn't keep changing their number, they would be easier to block, since phone numbers aren't completely free, but they would also be easier to track. A complaint against a fake number gets automatically discarded today. A complaint against a real trackable number can identify a caller or at the very least the unethical company willing to front for them. That can lead to much faster action.

In this case, the scammers already appear to be coming from the U.S

Yep. In the last 24 hours alone, I've had robocalls that caller ID announced as "Oregon Golf Club", and "AT&T" and therefore waved through.

In the former case it was actually a robocall promoting Ziply Fiber (unsolicited, and I have no previous relationship with them) - utterly disgusting behavior and they're now off my list-of-people-I'll-do-business-with forever.

The icon is what I would like to deliver to these asshats. Grrr.

"One thing that would make a much larger dent in their operations is a caller ID system which does not allow forged numbers."

There are arguments against that approach (including the "but battered women's shelters need to have anonymous phone numbers" claim). My answer to the arguments is *I* don't need to know the legit number that called me, but if some scummy spammer or scammer calls me, I want a method to report it that results in the originating number getting passed along to a regulatory organization with some teeth.

VOIP provides some challenges, but at some point VOIP connects to the PSTN. If the party connecting to the PSTN allows scammers on their connection, take action (fines or, eventually, boot them off!).

I'm sure there are legit technical and legal hurdles that haven't occurred to me as an outsider. I'm even more sure that inertia by the incumbent telcos is also a big contributing factor.

Every day a new beginning.

Remember the days when you could answer the tellie and have a nice conversation? Those days are gone. I have not answered my phone in years unless the number is in my contacts list. I really only use my phone for internet access and as a mini PC. I use it with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse write documents/spreadsheets and take all my notes on it. I monitor my health stats and activities. I also listen to podcasts and music. Phone calls not so much. In fact, hardly ever. My phone notifications are set to silent at all times. Discord for conversations with friends and family, not my phone.

The scam calls coming to my phones now outnumber legitimate calls.

The phone companies probably consider them a separate profit center, and have little incentive to cut them off. The tools they offer are useless in that they still deliver the call, thus still requiring you to check the phone each time.

I agree, but I’m discombobulated by your use of the term “tellie”. That’s tele vision , surely?

The phone is the blower, dog-and-bone, rap-rod (h/t Zaphod Beeblebrox for that one), but never “tellie”.

Or maybe I’m just an old fart and I’m not hip to how the kids talk now?

...and 14 days to fix the problem or face being cut off from the larger phone network.

R squared: sorry, FCC! Our fault! We shall repent and cease our operations immediately before you cut us off, close our business and do something else!

(one week later): S squared is born.

Telemarketer calls & tries to sell me something, I intentionally talk very slowly, drag the conversation out as long as possible, & generally try to come across as interested but full of questions. The telemarketer will happily explain it all to me in the hopes of setting the hook & making the sale. Once they start to get annoyed at all the time I'm taking, that's when I tell them I've been doing it intentionally "So the inbound Tomahawk missiles have time to finish zeroing in on your *exact* IP coordinates. Just keep talking, they'll get there soon en- *CLICK* -oh darn, they hung up! MUH Hahahahahahaha"

I usually don't get called again by that specific telemarketer for a few days while the call staff spends all their time nervously looking out the windows & jumping at anything flying too close.

They want to call me, I want to fuck with their heads. *Cackle*