Stir/Shaken

[the old grind]

I wonder since when cel phone companies make $$ per call.

 

[bmg88201]

Actually I have seen a reduction in spam calls in the last few weeks. Oh, I still get them, but not as many. Blocking the call just identifies your number as being a working number to the robo caller. A buddy of mine likes to answer them and when they ask about car warranty he says “hang on, I need to ask your momma after she puts her clothes back on” . Lol

 

[orezok]

I wonder since when cel phone companies make $$ per call.

With CALLER ID, a name is displayed after the first telephone ring. Every call to a U.S. telephone number that has Caller ID enabled requires that the terminating phone company perform a lookup in one of several national databases. These are known as "line information databases" or LIDB. These databases contain all the U.S. subscriber names and numbers. This database lookup is called a "CNAM dip". When this database is being "dipped", the originating local phone company gets compensated by the terminating phone company – this is commonly referred to as a "CNAM dip fee". This compensation happens for every call where the calling party name is displayed to the called party – even if the call is not answered.

The CNAM dip is very small – less than a penny per call. AT&T starts their negotiations for CNAM dip fees at about $.004 per lookup. Open CNam fees are a bit more expensive: $.0048 per lookup. [Editor's note: Wikipedia has plagiarized our research on CNAM dip fee charges and used the exact words of the prior 3 sentences in their article. Our article was written in 2014.]
But, the dip fees add up after a few million calls. In 2010, the Federal Trade Commission shut down a massive robo-calling operation A+ Financial Center that was responsible 2.6 billion calls in a year and a half period. It was run by Christopher L. Miano and Dana M. Miano. The CNAM revenue sharing that this operation would have generated could have been over $5 MILLION dollars if they were able to obtain $.002 per CNAM dip. This is money paid by the telephone companies from fees assessed to small businesses for CALLER ID services (translation: YOU and small businesses like you).

If you think those tiny amounts don't add up, you would be wrong. In the Carribean Cruise Line Case (US District Court - Southern Florida 0:15-cv-60423), over $135,000 CNAM DIP fees were generated by telemarketers who bombarded American consumers with an average of 12-15 million calls per day for months during 2011 and 2012. A diagram of the scheme is shown below.

 

[PILOON]

I must have rec'd 30 calls saying my bank card was scammed by a minor charge followed by (usually) a $900 or so charge.
The farce is they never identify what bank card (I have a few) so I simply disregard.
Were they to say XYZ bank on what card I might take the call seriously.

One thing is I never bank over the internet nor do I have any bank passwords stored.
I still demand paper statements.
Also I only use CC's and not debit cards. (C's are protected debits not, in Canada)