From time to time I receive phone calls from a "Tech Department" that offers to help fix my computer by installing—I assume—their own malware. I'm tech-savvy enough not to fall for these criminal schemes, but no doubt they find many victims. This is daylight robbery—open crime that goes on continuously and obviously. By its very presence it undermines the trustworthiness and value of an essential utility. HN, please tell me: why are these schemes allowed to continue? Why doesn't <i>someone</i>—the phone companies, the FCC, the FTC, the FBI—crush these things? No individual has the power to attack them; caller ID spoofing ensures that you have no way of getting back to the caller. But if the government can listen in on all our conversations, why can't it stop people from using the phone for blatant fraud? How can we fix this?
It's the same trick as gaining entry to a house by pretending to be from the electric company, or by claiming the tile on the victims roof is looking 'a bit off'. It's just a different medium.<p>People need to learn that you absolutely must check their identification and credentials. People still get tricked by the old face to face method of pulling this stunt off, and that medium has been around since people have existed.<p>I don't think it's a problem you'll ever be able to fix, people will always be falling for these simple confidence tricks.
I'm glad you raised this. I share your sentiment, I've been getting a lot of nuisance calls that I reported to www.callercenter.com in the hopes of bringing the issue to the attention of the proper authorities. I'm afraid these laws are not as effective as we hoped.