#Alex Quilici

[investmart007]

Robocall Volumes Shatter the National Record for Fourth Straight Month

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/bcGTLZ

Robocall Volumes Shatter the National Record for Fourth Straight Month

IRVINE, Calif./ July 12, 2018 (STL.News) — The American public was inundated by 4.12 billion robocalls in June, setting a new national record for the fourth consecutive month and spiking 63% over the monthly total from June of last year. That record pace equaled roughly 1,591 robocalls placed every second during June, or 137.5 million calls for every day of the month. The June total represents the highest per-second/per-day volume of robocalls ever recorded since YouMail launched the Robocall Index in 2015. Fully 40 of the 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America (80%) recorded month-on-month calling increases during June, bringing the national total to 20.3 billion robocalls in the first six months of 2018, a 39% increase from the first half of 2017. These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a free robocall blocking solution for mobile phones helps consumers stop robocalls from ever reaching their phones. YouMail blocks unwanted robocallers by making sure the user’s phone doesn’t ring, and then plays an out-of-service message that leads them to think that the number they dialed is invalid. The YouMail Robocall Index™ is a compilation of the scope and location of the worst robocalling hotspots across the country by area code, and these statistics are regularly cited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a definitive source for national data trends. The growth trend indicates that robocallers, especially those from business interests, are making even more calls to try to get through to consumers. “We continue to witness an accelerating pace of robocalls even as consumers are wisely picking up fewer of these calls from unknown numbers, while downloading more robocall blocking apps onto their phones,” said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. “The irony here is that this defensive behavior has only motivated the robocallers to step up their pace of dialing, rather than decreasing it.” How Robocalls Break Down June was very similar to May in terms of how robocalls broke down into different categories. As in May, there were well over 1 billion scam calls in June, which works out to over 37 million scam calls per day. Category

Who Gets the Most Robocalls Atlanta topped the YouMail 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America list for the 31st month in a row. Atlanta residents were bombed by 189.2 million robocalls in June, a 7% increase over the prior month. The Top 50 Cities that notched the biggest monthly increases for June included Miami (up 14% to 64.7 million); Phoenix (up 10% to 78.3 million); and Seattle (up 10% to 40.8 million). Atlanta’s 404 area code was by far the most robocalled area code in June, with 84.2 million calls received, followed by Atlanta’s 678 area code with 58.9 million calls received. Texas area codes claimed the third and fourth rankings for June, with Houston’s 832 area code getting 58.9 million calls and Dallas’ 214 area code getting 58.6 million calls. Fort Lauderdale’s 954 area code rounded out the top five area code list with 53.9 million calls received. California, the nation’s most populous state, retained its top ranking on the list of most-robocalled states for June, with 468.9 million robocalls received. Texas was close behind at 437.4 million calls received, followed by Florida (331.0 million), Georgia (273.9 million), and New York (260.2 million). South Dakota registered the biggest monthly percentage increase of any state, rising 19.3%, followed by Massachusetts (+17.5%), Kansas (+12.6%), Arizona (+9.9%), and Washington (+8.4%). Who Makes the Most Robocalls The top 20 phone numbers in June produced 197.9 million calls during the month. Robocalls involving debt collectors or payment reminders made up 17 of the 20 top robocalling numbers in June. One national credit card company retained the country’s most active robocalling phone number with 37.3 million calls placed in June alone. Over the past 33 months of the Robocall Index, this single robocalling number has placed 980.5 million calls. New York City placed 126.6 million robocalls in June, rising two spots in the rankings to unseat Chicago as the #1 robocalling city for the month. Anchorage, AK, notched a 198.1% increase in outbound calls in June, driven by 1.3 million calls placed by 907-275-8202, a car warranty robocalling line. In addition to receiving the most robocalls of any state, California also produced more robocalls than any other state for June, with 324.9 million outbound calls in the month. Alaska recorded the largest percentage increase of outbound calls, rising 198.1% in June, followed by Wyoming (+97.4%), Hawaii (61.4%), Maryland (+59.4%), and Delaware (28.3%). For more information about the YouMail Robocall Index or to view the latest report, please visit http://robocallindex.com. To join the YouMail Robocall Index mailing list, please write to RobocallIndex@YouMail.com. About YouMail, Inc.

YouMail, Inc. is the leading provider of intelligent, cloud-based telecommunication services. The company’s flagship service provides an automated virtual receptionist that replaces the subscriber’s voicemail on iPhone, Android, and Windows phones. This service stops robocalls, and delights other callers by instantly greeting, routing, and responding to them, personally and memorably, and even provides free conference calls YouMail also provides data on problematic phone number behavior, through a reverse phone lookup service that allows anyone to identify and comment on suspicious numbers, an application program interface (API) that any telecom service provider or third-party developer can use to determine whether a number is problematic, and the YouMail Robocall Index™, which since its launch in in September 2015 has emerged as the nation’s definitive source on robocalling data for telecom carriers, smartphone and app companies, and public policymakers. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., YouMail, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is privately funded.

_____ SOURCE: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/robocall-volumes-shatter-the-national-record-for-fourth-straight-month-300679966.html

[reveal-the-news]

What the Tech? Robocalls | What The Tech?

What the Tech? Robocalls | What The Tech?

Americans received nearly 4.2 billion robocalls last month, 140 million a day. That’s lower than in August, but the reasons aren’t what you’d expect. There are only 30 days left in September. “September has a holiday with Labor Day and no holiday in August. So that’s another 3% of robocalls because robocallers take those days off.” Alex Quilici, CEO of robocall blocking app YouMail, told me that…

[orbemnews]

What it's like to live in the robocall capital of America The constant chorus of robocalls — “your account has been compromised” and “your car warranty has expired” — became a backdrop to her life. It’s a game of “whack-a-mole,” she said. “I have 54 blocked numbers in my phone … and it’s programmed to silence calls that aren’t in my contacts or that I have not called.” Yet the calls keep coming. Walsh lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which receives the most robocalls per person in the United States, according to data from YouMail, a robocall-prevention service that tracks robocall traffic across the country. The city averaged 39 robocalls per resident in February, YouMail found. That’s more than two and a half times the national average, which is about 14 to 15 calls monthly for each person, according to YouMail. Baton Rouge consistently ranks in the top 5 US cities for this metric. “It’s definitely a topic with broad awareness here,” Walsh said. Zach Rau, who also lives in Baton Rouge and works in public finance, agrees. “When one comes through, I just reject the call and go about my day,” he said. “The absolute worst one leads off with a foghorn to say you won a cruise.” Robocalls have been called a “scourge” and a “national nightmare.” More than 4.6 billion robocalls were made in February alone, up 15% compared to January, and they’re now back up to pre-pandemic levels, according to YouMail. (Many international call centers where illegal robocalls originate were shut down last spring due to Covid-19.) But as bad as the robocall problem may feel for every household, YouMail’s data reveals it’s worse throughout the South. The state receiving the most in February was Texas (513 million). Tennessee and Alabama received the most per person, with 27 and 26 robocalls each month, respectively. The most targeted city? Atlanta (171 million); its 404 area code was the most popular area code for robocalls, too. Although it’s uncertain why Baton Rouge specifically and some Southern states get more robocalls than others, telecom experts believe there are a number of contributing factors, including a touch of Southern hospitality that may lead people to pick up the phone more often. “Scammers are measuring success metrics just like any good business,” Kush Parikh, president at Hiya, a service that provides profile information to some telecom companies to help consumers identify incoming calls and block unwanted ones. “The South tends to get hit more because the scammers have more success there. It’s generally rural, neighborly, and home to more vulnerable populations.” He said people in the South are more likely to answer a call from an unknown number, especially if it looks like a local number — something called “neighbor spoofing,” a common scam tactic. “Higher answer rates typically result in higher success rates for scammers,” said Parikh. Data from call marketing tool PhoneBurner indicates four out of the top five states with the highest answer rates are in the South. (The other is California.) Scammers are also more likely to target vulnerable populations. “Seniors and immigrants are typically targeted by scammers because they often have unique and unfamiliar situations when it comes to the areas that scammers exploit, including medical, financial, and legal standing,” Parikh said. “Non-native English speakers are also more susceptible to these scams as language can drive further confusion. This makes it simpler for scammers to confuse and convince them of a scam.” States including Texas and Florida are home to some of the largest populations of seniors and immigrants in the United States. Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, said scammers will also target areas in financial trouble because people will be more receptive to questionable robocalls promising savings. “Cities in the South with large pockets of poverty and unemployment are going to get a lot more calls than those who don’t answer the phone and/or are doing well,” he said. “These areas also tend to get hit with more Medicaid, Medicare, employment scams or telemarketing calls. Scammers will try to take what little money people have; they’re usually not targeting wealthy areas.” According to the US News & World Report, citing US Census data from 2018, most of the top 10 states with the highest poverty rates are in the South. Louisiana had the third highest poverty level in the nation, according to the report. A level of tech savviness from people who live in certain cities could also be at play; people who are more educated about robocalling may be more likely to run call-blocking technologies. But even those who are reasonably tech savvy can still find themselves receiving and answering robocalls. “I don’t answer calls from unrecognizable numbers, and my iPhone will now say ‘scam likely,’ which is helpful,” said Baton Rouge resident Jared Brown, a retail manager. “But I’ve also been applying to jobs out of state so sometimes I’m more hesitant about not answering in case I might miss an opportunity.” The Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission continue to roll out significant efforts to educate people about how to not fall for illegal robocalling scams. Some mobile carriers offer built-in or free apps that block calls from known fraudsters by showing warning banners for suspicious calls. An industry-wide effort called STIR/SHAKEN is also helping to verify that a call is in fact from the number displayed on the Caller ID and not spoofed, a form of robocalling that lets a perpetrator alter what number it appears they are calling from. Varian Johnson, a children’s book author who lives in Austin, Texas, the state with the most robocalls, will sometimes give in to an unknown number if it’s coming from — or pretending to come from — the South Carolina area code where his parents live, especially during the pandemic. “With everything going on with Covid, I’m always a little worried that something horrible has happened … so I take a chance and pick up when I see their area code,” Johnson said. Although he said he received fewer robocalls last spring and summer due to call center shut downs, they have since “returned with a real vengeance this year.” While significant work has already been done to combat unwanted calls, it remains a fixture of life in the country’s robocall capital. “We become numb to it after a while,” said Rau. “It just becomes part of daily life, so we might not realize how big of a deal it actually is.” Source link Orbem News #America #Capital #Live #robocall #Tech #Whatit'sliketoliveintherobocallcapitalofAmerica-CNN

[dipulb3]

What it's like to live in the robocall capital of America

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/what-its-like-to-live-in-the-robocall-capital-of-america/

What it's like to live in the robocall capital of America

The constant chorus of robocalls — “your account has been compromised” and “your car warranty has expired” — became a backdrop to her life. It’s a game of “whack-a-mole,” she said. “I have 54 blocked numbers in my phone … and it’s programmed to silence calls that aren’t in my contacts or that I have not called.” Yet the calls keep coming.

Walsh lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which receives the most robocalls per person in the United States, according to data from YouMail, a robocall-prevention service that tracks robocall traffic across the country. The city averaged 39 robocalls per resident in February, YouMail found. That’s more than two and a half times the national average, which is about 14 to 15 calls monthly for each person, according to YouMail. Baton Rouge consistently ranks in the top 5 US cities for this metric.

“It’s definitely a topic with broad awareness here,” Walsh said.

Zach Rau, who also lives in Baton Rouge and works in public finance, agrees. “When one comes through, I just reject the call and go about my day,” he said. “The absolute worst one leads off with a foghorn to say you won a cruise.”

Robocalls have been called a “scourge” and a “national nightmare.” More than 4.6 billion robocalls were made in February alone, up 15% compared to January, and they’re now back up to pre-pandemic levels, according to YouMail. (Many international call centers where illegal robocalls originate were shut down last spring due to Covid-19.)

But as bad as the robocall problem may feel for every household, YouMail’s data reveals it’s worse throughout the South. The state receiving the most in February was Texas (513 million). Tennessee and Alabama received the most per person, with 27 and 26 robocalls each month, respectively. The most targeted city? Atlanta (171 million); its 404 area code was the most popular area code for robocalls, too.

Although it’s uncertain why Baton Rouge specifically and some Southern states get more robocalls than others, telecom experts believe there are a number of contributing factors, including a touch of Southern hospitality that may lead people to pick up the phone more often.

“Scammers are measuring success metrics just like any good business,” Kush Parikh, president at Hiya, a service that provides profile information to some telecom companies to help consumers identify incoming calls and block unwanted ones. “The South tends to get hit more because the scammers have more success there. It’s generally rural, neighborly, and home to more vulnerable populations.”

He said people in the South are more likely to answer a call from an unknown number, especially if it looks like a local number — something called “neighbor spoofing,” a common scam tactic. “Higher answer rates typically result in higher success rates for scammers,” said Parikh.

Data from call marketing tool PhoneBurner indicates four out of the top five states with the highest answer rates are in the South. (The other is California.)

Scammers are also more likely to target vulnerable populations. “Seniors and immigrants are typically targeted by scammers because they often have unique and unfamiliar situations when it comes to the areas that scammers exploit, including medical, financial, and legal standing,” Parikh said. “Non-native English speakers are also more susceptible to these scams as language can drive further confusion. This makes it simpler for scammers to confuse and convince them of a scam.”

States including Texas and Florida are home to some of the largest populations of seniors and immigrants in the United States.

Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, said scammers will also target areas in financial trouble because people will be more receptive to questionable robocalls promising savings. “Cities in the South with large pockets of poverty and unemployment are going to get a lot more calls than those who don’t answer the phone and/or are doing well,” he said. “These areas also tend to get hit with more Medicaid, Medicare, employment scams or telemarketing calls. Scammers will try to take what little money people have; they’re usually not targeting wealthy areas.”

According to the US News & World Report, citing US Census data from 2018, most of the top 10 states with the highest poverty rates are in the South. Louisiana had the third highest poverty level in the nation, according to the report.

A level of tech savviness from people who live in certain cities could also be at play; people who are more educated about robocalling may be more likely to run call-blocking technologies. But even those who are reasonably tech savvy can still find themselves receiving and answering robocalls.

“I don’t answer calls from unrecognizable numbers, and my iPhone will now say ‘scam likely,’ which is helpful,” said Baton Rouge resident Jared Brown, a retail manager. “But I’ve also been applying to jobs out of state so sometimes I’m more hesitant about not answering in case I might miss an opportunity.”

The Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission continue to roll out significant efforts to educate people about how to not fall for illegal robocalling scams. Some mobile carriers offer built-in or free apps that block calls from known fraudsters by showing warning banners for suspicious calls. An industry-wide effort called STIR/SHAKEN is also helping to verify that a call is in fact from the number displayed on the Caller ID and not spoofed, a form of robocalling that lets a perpetrator alter what number it appears they are calling from.

Varian Johnson, a children’s book author who lives in Austin, Texas, the state with the most robocalls, will sometimes give in to an unknown number if it’s coming from — or pretending to come from — the South Carolina area code where his parents live, especially during the pandemic.

“With everything going on with Covid, I’m always a little worried that something horrible has happened … so I take a chance and pick up when I see their area code,” Johnson said. Although he said he received fewer robocalls last spring and summer due to call center shut downs, they have since “returned with a real vengeance this year.”

While significant work has already been done to combat unwanted calls, it remains a fixture of life in the country’s robocall capital.

“We become numb to it after a while,” said Rau. “It just becomes part of daily life, so we might not realize how big of a deal it actually is.”

[tworking711]

Yes, you are getting lots of robocalls again

After a year of relief, robocalls are back up to pre-pandemic levels.

Americans received more than 4.6 billion robocalls in February, up 15% compared to January, according to

new data

from YouMail, a robocall-prevention service that tracks robocall traffic across the United States. About 159.1 million robocalls were placed each day last month.This marked the highest monthly robocall volume since February 2020, notably right before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States hard. So far, 2021 is on pace to reach 51.5 billion robocalls, a big jump from 2020 (45.9 billion). Americans received 58.5 billion robocalls in 2019, up 22% from the year before.

"Because February was a short month, I think the first two months are lower than we'll see going forward and we're actually going to wind up much closer to 2019's pre-pandemic levels overall," YouMail CEO Alex Quilici told CNN Business, attributing the resurgence to economies' reopening worldwideเกมคาสิโน

[66butch]

“Stay Home” robocalls to voters prompt FBI, FCC investigations

Enlarge / Voters in Michigan, one of the states where residents received misleading robocalls about the election, casting their ballots on November 3, 2020. (credit: Elaine Cromie | Getty Images)

Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission are investigating a series of suspicious robocalls that warned recipients to "stay home" on Election Day in an apparent attempt at voter suppression.

Voters around the nation have received approximately 10 million of the automated "stay safe and stay home" calls, The Washington Post was first to report. YouMail, which offers smartphone apps for blocking spam calls, told the Post that the calls have been received in roughly 88 percent of all US area codes since the summer.

"If you wanted to cause havoc in America for the elections, one way to do it is clearly robocalling," YouMail CEO Alex Quilici told the Post. State and federal officials evidently agree.

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

via www.computechtechnologyservices.com

[benychamp]

The frightening future of robocalls: Numbers and voices you know

New York (CNN Business)It’s a scene from a modern-day horror movie: The call is coming from inside the house.

This played out one recent Wednesday evening when my iPhone’s caller ID flashed my own phone number, along with a picture of my face. It was a robocall using spoofing technology to pretend it was calling from my own number.

I picked up and tried to sound menacing: “Can I help you?”

It was an automated pre-recorded message from “Microsoft” claiming my computer license was expiring. Knowing the drill, I wasn’t surprised to hear I had 24 hours to respond before going to jail.

I get more scam calls than actual calls — after all, nearly 30% of all calls made each day are robocalls — but a call from my own number was a new one for me.

Yet some experts warn this is just a mild taste of bigger dangers to come: a world where you receive robocalls calls from numbers you recognize and the person on the other end sounds like someone you know.

Spoofing, a form of robo-calling, is increasingly common. It’s when someone makes a call from a voice-over-IP service, such as Skype, and are able to enter a host number. While a carrier must provide a number when a call is made from a cell phone or landline, any number sequence can be entered via a VoIP service, whether it’s a made up number, a number in your address book, or one from the White House. It’s so easy, anyone could do it.

Because a scammer knows you’re more likely to pick up if you recognize the caller, they might enter a number they think is in your address book. They could even one day use voice manipulation technology to impersonate that person. (Think deepfakes for robocalls).

Tarun Wadhwa, founder of tech advisory firm Day One Insights, argues that it’s easy for strangers to find out who is close to you and what their personal details are from social media or other websites. Years of large-scale data breaches have exposed millions of people’s phone numbers, addresses, passwords and credit card information online, making it easier for them to be pulled into a scheme.

“It’s going to be like Photoshop — something so easy, widespread, and well known that we stop tracking how it’s being used against people personally and don’t find it surprising,” said Wadhwa, who’s spent years studying issues related to identity, forgery technologies and cybersecurity.

Wadhwa worries this type of forgery technologies could also ruin relationships and reputations.

“I can easily imagine situations in which these sorts of voice-mimicry technologies are used to sow confusion, extort people and make fraud and scams far more precise,” he said.

Some startups are already working on voice manipulation technology. Others are using AI to generate voices that can banter just like real humans.

Last year, Google showed off its AI-powered Duplex assistant that showed how a person could make dinner reservations over the phone without knowing the receptionist wasn’t a person. The technology, which sounded alarmingly realistic and could keep the conversation going with the caller, caused a stir. Critics are concerned it’ll be hard for the average person to differentiate who’s real and not on the phone, blurring the line between automated and authentic conversations.

But Alex Quilici, CEO of robocall-prevention app YouMail, said it will take substantial work on the scammer’s end to make this happen.

“Building a fake computer voice right now is a decent amount of work,” Quilici said. “If I wanted to build one that sounded like you, for example, I’d need to get a ton of samples of you saying specific phonemes, and train a computer model on that.”

He argues easier, yet still sophisticated, spoofing might entail getting a call from a friend’s number saying they’re in jail and you need to bail them out. Or it could mean a call from your child’s number from someone pretending to be a doctor, asking you to come to the hospital — only to be burglarized when you’re out.

These concerns come at a time when robocalls are more rampant than ever and fewer people are picking up calls from unknown numbers. Americans received 26.3 billion robocalls last year — a 46% surge from 2017 — and this March alone set a new monthly record with 5.23 billion robocalls, according to data from YouMail. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission says unwanted calls are the biggest consumer complaint made to the agency each year. (It received 7.1 million complaints about robocalls in 2017).

I typically don’t answer calls from unknown numbers, but the one from myself was hard to resist. According to Quilici, even just picking up the phone may be a mistake. Answering a robocall lets scammers know my number is active and that I am willing to pick up.

“Spoofing is becoming more and more common as scammers try to call with numbers that are less likely to be blocked,” he said. “You’re not blocking your own number, and you are more likely to answer numbers that look local.”

The FCC’s efforts to crack down on robocalls have been slow moving. In November 2018, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sent letters to carriers, including Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, to encourage them to embrace a caller authentication framework.

“Combating illegal robocalls is our top consumer priority at the FCC,” Pai said in a statement. “That’s why we need call authentication to become a reality — it’s the best way to ensure that consumers can answer their phones with confidence. By this time next year, I expect that consumers will begin to see this on their phones.”

The telecom industry is working on a tool called Stir/Shaken to identify and trace spoofing efforts could have the biggest potential to curb robocalls. AT&T, Comcast and Verizon have already completed tests, and other providers have pledged to embrace Stir/Shaken by the end of 2019. (AT&T owns CNN’s parent company, WarnerMedia.)

But because it involves massive crossover — a person using an AT&T wireless phone will need to be verified when they call a Comcast landline — it’s a challenging technical undertaking. Some experts like Wadhwa worry the solutions could be somewhat obsolete by the time they hit the market.

In the meantime, robo-blocking apps like YouMail can play an out-of-service message when a known robo-number comes in. The message makes it seem like your number is disconnected, so scammers won’t call you back. Meanwhile, carriers like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile offer free-to-download apps that auto-block these types of calls. For a monthly charge of several dollars, the apps can reverse lookup the caller.

Robocalling scammers rely on cheap technology that works on a large scale, but new schemes could get smarter and pose an even bigger threat in the future.

“If we don’t get a hold on this, I believe we’ll look back on robocalls as a much easier problem to deal with than what’s coming down the pipeline,” Wadhwa said.

Original Article : HERE ; This post was curated & posted using : RealSpecific

The frightening future of robocalls: Numbers and voices you know was originally posted by NewsToday

[hollywoodjuliorivas]

SMARTER LIVING Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone? Here’s How to Stop Them By CHRISTOPHER MELEMAY 11, 2017 Continue reading the main storyShare This Page Share Tweet Email More Save Photo The Federal Communications Commission said consumers received an estimated 2.4 billion robocalls per month last year. Credit Getty Images An unfamiliar number appears on your cellphone. It’s from your area code, so you answer it, thinking it might be important. There is an unnatural pause after you say hello, and what follows is a recording telling you how you can reduce your credit card interest rates or electric bill or prescription drug costs or any of a number of other sales pitches. Another day, another irritating robocall. If it feels as if your cellphone has increasingly been flooded with them, you’re right. Ryan Kalember, senior vice president of cybersecurity strategy at Proofpoint, a cybersecurity company in Sunnyvale, Calif., said the volume of robocalls has seen a “particularly big uptick” since the fall. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story In a Robocall Strike Force Report in October, the Federal Communications Commission said telemarketing calls were the No. 1 consumer complaint. Citing statistics from YouMail, a developer of robocall-blocking software, the commission said consumers received an estimated 2.4 billion robocalls per month last year, driven in part by internet-powered phone systems that have made it cheap and easy to make them from anywhere in the world. Alex Quilici, chief executive of YouMail, said his company estimated that 2.3 billion calls were made in December 2016, up from 1.5 billion in December 2015. The company said it extrapolates data from the calls made each month to its users. More than annoying, the calls can cross over into the outright fraudulent. In one scheme, callers pretending to represent the Internal Revenue Service claim the person answering the phone owes back taxes and threatens them with legal action. The scheme has reaped more than $54 million, the F.C.C. said. “If the robocalls were not valuable to the scammers, they wouldn’t be doing them,” Mr. Kalember said. Here’s how you can fight them: Rule No. 1 The most simple and effective remedy is to not answer numbers you don’t know, Mr. Quilici said. “Just interacting with these calls is just generally a mistake,” he said. If you do answer, don’t respond to the invitation to press a number to opt out. That will merely verify that yours is a working number and make you a target for more calls, experts said. Turn to the government List your phones on the National Do Not Call Registry. If your number is on the registry and you do get unwanted calls, report them. Mr. Quilici said the registry is helpful but should not be seen as a panacea. “If I’m sitting in India dialing a million numbers, what are the odds I’m even going to be fined for violating the Do Not Call Registry?” he asked. “It’s probably near zero.” ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story Turn to technology Download apps such as Truecaller, RoboKiller, Mr. Number, Nomorobo and Hiya, which will block the calls. YouMail will stop your phone from ringing with calls from suspected robocallers and deliver a message that your number is out of service. Mr. Quilici said phone companies, such as T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T, also have tools to combat robocalls. They work by blocking calls from numbers known to be problematic. Turn the tables And then there is the Jolly Roger Telephone Company, which turns the tables on telemarketers. This program allows a customer to put the phone on mute and patch telemarketing calls to a robot, which understands speech patterns and inflections and works to keep the caller engaged. Subscribers can choose robot personalities, such as Whiskey Jack, who is frequently distracted by a game he is watching on television, or Salty Sally, a frazzled mother. The robots string the callers along with vocal fillers like “Uh-huh” and “O.K., O.K.” After several minutes, some will ask the callers to repeat their sales pitch from the beginning, prompting the telemarketers to have angry meltdowns, according to sample recordings posted on the company’s website. Watch what you say One recent scheme involves getting consumers to say “yes” and later using a recording of the response to allow unauthorized charges on the person’s credit card account, the F.C.C. warned in March. When the caller asks, “Can you hear me?” and the consumer answers “yes,” the caller can gain a voice signature that can later be used to authorize fraudulent charges by telephone. Best to answer with “I can hear you,” Mr. Kalember said. What’s ahead The callers are evolving, Mr. Kalember said. Some have numbers that appear to be from your area code (they result in higher response rates); others employ “imitation of life” software in which the robocall sounds like a live person, complete with coughing, laughing and background noise. This artificial intelligence can be programmed to interact in real time with a consumer. ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story A recording on the Consumers Union website features an exchange in which a man tries to confirm he is talking to a live person. As the call progresses, the consumer presses for confirmation. “Will you tell me you’re not a robot? Just say, ‘I’m not a robot’ please,” he says, which is met with various programmed replies of “I am a real person” and “There is a live person here.” Why do robocalls proliferate? Mr. Quilici compared robocalling to spam emails: It is all about volume. Companies can use software to make millions of calls at very little expense. They need only a few victims to fall prey to their schemes to more than cover their costs. “When you hear these guys do these scam pitches, they’re pretty amazing,” he said. The next development will be integrated efforts combining email, phone calls and social media to scheme money from consumers, Mr. Kalember said, adding that the level of innovation “is really quite astounding.” “Technology is enabling at a scale we haven’t seen before,” he said. Continue reading the main story

[mentalideas]

**Award-Winning** Short Film | Echoes of You | Omeleto

**Award-Winning** Short Film | Echoes of You | Omeleto

After a brilliant run at some of the top film festivals in California, Echoes of You is now available for streaming and the support has been overwhelming! Posted by journalists, politicians and celebrities, this sublime short was made with a lot of heart and a beautiful message about the power of art and the echoes we leave on others.

Laurence Fuller (Road To The Well, Paint It Red) stars in Ech…

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Coronavirus pandemic claims another victim: Robocalls (AP) Industry experts say robocalls are way down—scam calls as well as nagging from your credit-card company to pay your bill. The coronavirus pandemic has inflicted millions of job losses, and scammers have not been immune. YouMail, which offers a robocall-blocking service, says 2.9 billion robocalls were placed in April in the U.S., down from 4.1 billion in March and 4.8 billion in February. That’s a daily average of 97 million calls in April, down from 132 million in March and 166 million in April. The main reason: many global call centers have closed or are operating with fewer workers, said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. While it may be odd to think of scams being run out of call centers rather than a dark, creepy basement or a garage, that’s often the case, particularly in countries such as India and the Philippines, experts said. After a lockdown order went into effect in India in late March, “we saw the volume of calls basically half the next day,” Quilici said. That means scammers will probably be back in force once the call centers come back online.

Virus ‘does not spread easily’ from contaminated surfaces or animals, revised CDC website states (Washington Post) The CDC made a change to its website, clarifying what sources are not major risks. Under the new heading “The virus does not spread easily in other ways,” the agency explains that touching contaminated objects or surfaces does not appear to be a significant mode of transmission. The same is true for exposure to infected animals. The virus travels through the droplets a person produces when talking or coughing, the CDC website says. An individual does not need to feel sick or show symptoms to spread the submicroscopic virus. Close contact means within about six feet, the distance at which a sneeze flings heavy droplets.

In Mexican border cities, many fear virus is coming from US (AP) Citing a threat of the coronavirus from Mexico, the Trump administration has banned hundreds of thousands of people from crossing the southern border with emergency measures that prohibit nonessential traffic and reject asylum seekers without a hearing. But in Tijuana and other Mexican border cities, many doctors, health officials and ordinary citizens worry about the disease coming in the other direction. San Diego—with roughly the same population as Tijuana—has triple the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, at more than 6,000. The state of California has about 10 times as many people as the Mexican state of Baja California to the south—but reported more than 20 times the number of cases.

In Mexico City, experts find bones of dozens of mammoths (AP) Archaeologists have found the bones of about 60 mammoths at an airport under construction just north of Mexico City, near human-built ‘traps’ where more than a dozen mammoths were found last year. Both discoveries reveal how appealing the area—once a shallow lake—was for the mammoths, and how erroneous was the classic vision of groups of fur-clad hunters with spears chasing mammoths across a plain. Humans may have been smarter—and mammoths clumsier—than people had previously thought.

Venezuela desperate for gasoline (Foreign Policy) Five Iranian tankers carrying an estimated $45.5 million worth of gasoline and other oil products are sailing to Venezuela, where years of underinvestment and a lack of resources have left refineries struggling to convert the country’s plentiful oil supplies into gasoline. At 0.00000002 cents per gallon, subsidized gasoline in Venezuela is officially the cheapest in the world—but shortages exacerbated by U.S. sanctions that restrict imports have left drivers lining up at the pump for days. The shortages have even forced the bodyguards of government ministers to appeal for gasoline on social media. The Venezuelan military has said that it will provide an escort once the Iranian ships reach its exclusive economic zone in the coming days. The U.S. government is weighing its options to deter Iran’s export of oil products to Venezuela.

Argentina defaults on bond payments as debt talks heat up (Reuters) Argentina missed payments on around $500 million in already delayed bond coupons on Friday, creditors and a ratings agency said, marking the country’s ninth sovereign default amid ongoing restructuring talks with creditors. Argentina and its creditors, which have traded proposals over the last month, have indicated they are eager to avoid a messy default that could spark years of litigation and lock the major grains-producing country out of global capital markets.

Cyclone Amphan loss estimated at $13 billion in India, may rise in Bangladesh (Reuters) A powerful cyclone that tore through India’s eastern state of West Bengal this week has caused a damage of 1 trillion rupees ($13 billion) to infrastructure and crops, state officials said. Neighbouring Bangladesh, which also fell in Cyclone Amphan’s path on Wednesday, initially said it had suffered a loss of 11 billion taka ($130 million). But this could rise, government officials said. The two countries have lost at least 102 people in the cyclone, the most powerful in over a decade, mostly because of house collapses and electrocution.

Clashes in South Sudan (Foreign Policy) Hundreds of people have been killed in a flare-up of intercommunal violence in South Sudan’s eastern state of Jonglei last weekend. A government spokesperson told Al Jazeera that 287 people had been killed and at least 300 wounded after clashes broke out between the Murle and Lou Nuer communities on Saturday, the latest in a deadly cycle of revenge attacks over cattle raids and child abductions.

Virus spread feared where water is scarce around the world (AP) Violet Manuel hastily abandoned her uncle’s funeral and grabbed two empty containers when she heard a boy running down the dirt road shouting, “Water, water, water!” The 72-year-old joined dozens of people seeking their daily ration in Zimbabwe’s densely populated town of Chitungwiza. “Social distancing here?” Manuel asked tartly. She sighed with relief after getting her allotment of 40 liters (10.5 gallons) but worried about the coronavirus. “I got the water, but chances are that I also got the disease,” she told The Associated Press. And yet her plans for the water did not include hand-washing but “more important” tasks such as cleaning dishes and flushing the toilet. Such choices underscore the challenges of preventing the spread of the coronavirus in slums, camps and other crowded settlements around the world where clean water is scarce and survival is a daily struggle. Some 3 billion people, from indigenous communities in Brazil to war-shattered villages in northern Yemen, have nowhere to wash their hands with soap and clean water at home, according to the charity group WaterAid.

[thebookwormsnest]

Libri in tv

La tua settimana letteraria a portata di telecomando.

Lunedì 17 settembre 2018

 Diario di una schiappa (ore 20:25 – Boing)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 2010 | REGIA: Thor Freudenthal

Tratto dal romanzo illustrato omonimo di Jeff Kinney.

 Dal tramonto all'alba (ore 21:10 - Paramount Channel)

GENERE: Horror | ANNO: 1996 | REGIA: Robert Rodriguez

Tratto da un racconto di Robert Kuzman.

 Insider - Dietro la verità (ore 23:28 – Iris)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1999 | REGIA: Michael Mann

Ispirato all'articolo "The Man who Knew Too Much" di Marie Brenner, pubblicato su Vanity Fair. 

Martedì 18 settembre 2018

  Venere in visone (ore 7:50 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1960 | REGIA: Daniel Mann

Tratto dal romanzo 'Butterfield 8' di John O' Hara.

 La bisbetica domata (ore 9:55 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1967 | REGIA: Franco Zeffirelli

Tratto dall'omonima commedia di William Shakespeare.

 Sandokan alla riscossa (ore 11:20 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Avventura | ANNO: 1964 | REGIA: Luigi Capuano

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Emilio Salgari.

 Tre colonne in cronaca (ore 12:53 – Iris)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1989 | REGIA: Carlo Vanzina

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Corrado Augias.

 Torna El Grinta (ore 16:34 - Rete 4)

GENERE: Western | ANNO: 1975 | REGIA: Stuart Millar

Tratto dal romanzo "Il Grinta" di Charles Portis.

 I giorni dell'ira (ore 21:00 – Iris)

GENERE: Western | ANNO: 1967 | REGIA: Tonino Valerii

Tratto dal romanzo "Der Tod ritt Dienstags" di Ron Barker.

 La ciociara (ore 21:05 - Tv 2000)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1960 | REGIA: Vittorio De Sica

Tratto dal romanzo omonimo di Alberto Moravia.

 I Love Shopping (ore 21:10 - Paramount Channel)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 2008 | REGIA: P.J. Hogan

Tratto dal romanzo "I love shopping", con elementi di “I love shopping a New York”, rispettivamente primo e secondo romanzo della serie “I love shopping” di Sophie Kinsella.

 Beyond (ore 21:15 - Rai 5)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 2011 | REGIA: Pernilla August

Tratto dall'omonimo romanzo dell'autrice svedese-finlandese Susanna Alakoski.

 Jumanji (ore 21:25 – Nove)

GENERE: Fantasy | ANNO: 1995 | REGIA: Joe Johnston

Liberamente ispirato al romanzo "Jumanji" di Chris Van Allsburg.

 Qualcuno come te (ore 23:00 - Paramount Channel)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 2001 | REGIA: Tony Goldwyn

Tratto dal romanzo "Animal Husbandry", opera prima di Laura Zigman.

 L'ultimo dei mohicani (ore 23:30 – Spike)

GENERE: Avventura | ANNO: 1992 | REGIA: Michael Mann

Liberamente tratto dal romanzo omonimo di James Fenimore.

Mercoledì 19 settembre 2018

Cartagine in fiamme (ore 8:45 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Avventura | ANNO: 1959 | REGIA: Carmine Gallone

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Emilio Salgari.

 California (ore 15:35 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Western | ANNO: 1977 | REGIA: Michele Lupo

Tratto dall’omonimo racconto di Roberto Leoni e Franco Bucceri.

 Harry Potter e la Pietra Filosofale (ore 21:20 - Italia 1)

GENERE: Fantasy | ANNO: 2001 | REGIA: Chris Columbus

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di J. K. Rowling.  

 I miserabili (ore 23:25 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1998 | REGIA: Bille August

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Victor Hugo.

Giovedì 20 settembre 2018

Il cappotto di Astrakan (ore 6:25 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1979 | REGIA: Marco Vicario

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo Pietro Chiara.

  La bisbetica domata (ore 7:35 - Cine Sony))

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1967 | REGIA: Franco Zeffirelli

Tratto dall'omonima commedia di William Shakespeare.

  Sole rosso (ore 12:00 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Western | ANNO: 1971 | REGIA: Terence Young

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Laird Koenig.

  Uragano (ore 16:37 - Rete 4)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1979 | REGIA: Jan Troell

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di James Norman Hall e Charles Nordhoff.

  Ispettore Callaghan: il caso Scorpio è tuo! (ore 21:00 - Iris)

GENERE: Poliziesco | ANNO: 1971 | REGIA: Don Siegel

Tratto dall’omonimo racconto di Harry Julian Fink e Rita M. Fink.

  Twilight (ore 21:10 - La5)

GENERE: Fantasy | ANNO: 2008 | REGIA: Catherine Hardwicke

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Stephenie Meyer.

  Io, Robot (ore 21:15 - Focus)

GENERE: Fantascienza | ANNO: 2004 | REGIA: Alex Proyas

Ispirato ai racconti di Isaac Asimov.

  Il bambino con il pigiama a righe (ore 21:25 - Nove)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 2008 | REGIA: Mark Herman

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di John Boyne.

  Sex and the City (ore 23:00 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 2008 | REGIA: Michael Patrick King

Liberamente ispirato al romanzo omonimo di Candace Bushnell.

  L'Attenzione (ore 23:30 - Cielo)

GENERE: Erotico | ANNO: 1985 | REGIA: Giovanni Soldati

Liberamente ispirato al romanzo omonimo di Alberto Moravia.

  Creation (ore 0:50 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Biografico | ANNO: 2009 | REGIA: Jon Amiel

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Randal Keynes.

Venerdì 21 settembre 2018

Perdutamente tua (ore 8:15 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1942 | REGIA: Irving Rapper

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Olive Higgins Prouty.

  Quel maledetto ponte sull’Elba (ore 10:20 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Guerra | ANNO: 1968 | REGIA: León Klimovsky

Tratto dall’omonimo racconto di Lou Carrigan.

  Dagli Appennini alle Ande (ore 11:13 - Iris)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1959 | REGIA: Folco Quilici

Tratto dall’omonimo racconto di Edmondo De Amicis, in Cuore.

  Gli uomini dal passo pesante (ore 15:45 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Western | ANNO: 1965 | REGIA: Mario Sequi, Alfredo Antonini

Tratto dal racconto "Guns of North Texas" di Will Cook.

  Delitto sotto il sole (ore 16:19 - Rete 4)

GENERE: Giallo | ANNO: 1982 | REGIA: Guy Hamilton

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Agatha Christie.

  Il dottor Dolittle (ore 21:10 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1997 | REGIA: Betty Thomas

Tratto dal racconto "Doctor dolittle stories" di Hugh Lofting.

  Ancora vivo (ore 21:25 - Nove)

GENERE: Azione | ANNO: 1996 | REGIA: Walter Hill

Tratto dall’omonimo racconto di Ryuzo Kikushima e Akira Kurosawa.

  Camere da letto (ore 0:40 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1997 | REGIA: Simona Izzo

Tratto dall’omonimo racconto di Graziano Diana e Simona Izzo.

Sabato 22 settembre 2018

Il sorpasso (ore 7:00 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1962 | REGIA: Dino Risi

Tratto dall’omonimo racconto di Rodolfo Sonego.

  Tempo d'estate (ore 9:55 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Sentimentale | ANNO: 1955 | REGIA: David Lean

Tratto dal romanzo "The time of the cuckoo" di Arthur Laurents.

  Quell'ultimo ponte (ore 11:35 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Guerra | ANNO: 1977 | REGIA: Richard Attenborough

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Cornelius Ryan.

  Sognando l'Africa (ore 13:20 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 2000 | REGIA: Hugh Hudson

Tratto dal romanzo "Sognavo l'Africa" di Kuki Gallmann.

  Twilight (ore 13:50 - La5)

GENERE: Fantasy | ANNO: 2008 | REGIA: Catherine Hardwicke

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Stephenie Meyer.

  Io, Robot (ore 15:10 - Focus)

GENERE: Fantascienza | ANNO: 2004 | REGIA: Alex Proyas

Ispirato ai racconti di Isaac Asimov.

  Il club di Jane Austen (ore 15:30 - Cine Sony)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 2007 | REGIA: Robin Swicord

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Karen Joy Fowler.

  Il dottor Dolittle (ore 15:45 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1997 | REGIA: Betty Thomas

Tratto dal racconto "Doctor dolittle stories" di Hugh Lofting.

  Jumanji (ore 17:00 - Nove)

GENERE: Fantasy | ANNO: 1995 | REGIA: Joe Johnston

Liberamente ispirato al romanzo "Jumanji" di Chris Van Allsburg.

  K-PAX - Da un altro mondo (ore 17:15 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 2001 | REGIA: Iain Softley

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Gene Brewer.

                              I Love Shopping (ore 19:10 - Paramount Channel)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 2008 | REGIA: P.J. Hogan

Tratto dal romanzo "I love shopping", con elementi di “I love shopping a New York”, rispettivamente primo e secondo romanzo della serie “I love shopping” di Sophie Kinsella.

                      La sindrome di Stendhal (ore 21:10 - Italia 2)

GENERE: Horror | ANNO: 1996 | REGIA: Dario Argento

Ispirato dal libro omonimo di Graziella Magherini.

  Detective coi tacchi a spillo (ore 21:30 - LA7D)

GENERE: Poliziesco | ANNO: 1991 | REGIA: Jeff Kanew

Basato sui romanzi di Sara Paretsky su V. I. Warshawski.

  In the Electric Mist - L'occhio del ciclone (ore 22:55 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Thriller | ANNO: 2009 | REGIA: Bertrand Tavernier

Tratto dal romanzo "In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead" di James Lee Burke.

  Tre scapoli e un bebè (ore 23:15 - LA7D)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1987 | REGIA: Leonard Nimoy

Tratto dal racconto "Tre uomini e una culla" di Coline Serreau.

  Jackie Brown (ore 23:30 - Nove)

GENERE: Noir | ANNO: 1997 | REGIA: Quentin Tarantino

Tratto dal romanzo "Rum Punch" di Elmore Leonard.

  The Divergent Series: Insurgent (ore 0:35 - 20)

GENERE: Fantascienza | ANNO: 2015 | REGIA: Robert Schwentke

Tratto dal romanzo omonimo di Veronica Roth, secondo della trilogia (anche filmica) “Divergent”.

  Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (ore 0:55 - Rai Movie)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 2009 | REGIA: Jan Kounen

Tratto dal romanzo omonimo di Chris Greenhalgh.

Domenica 23 settembre 2018

Don Camillo (ore 11:20 - Tv 2000)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 1952 | REGIA: Julien Duvivier

Tratto dai racconti del volume "Mondo piccolo" (1948) di Giovanni Guareschi.

 Io ti salverò (ore 14:40 - La7)

GENERE: Giallo | ANNO: 1945 | REGIA: Alfred Hitchcock

Tratto dal romanzo "The house of Dr. Edwardes", scritto da John Palmer e Hilary A. Saunders, sotto lo pseudonimo di "Francis Beeding”.

 Il dottor Dolittle 2 (ore 15:10 – Paramount Channel)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 2001 | REGIA: Steve Carr

Tratto dal racconto "Doctor Dolittle stories" di Hugh Lofting.

 Jumanji (ore 16:30 - Nove)

GENERE: Fantasy | ANNO: 1995 | REGIA: Joe Johnston

Liberamente ispirato al romanzo "Jumanji" di Chris Van Allsburg.

 I Love Shopping (ore 17:10 - Paramount Channel)

GENERE: Commedia | ANNO: 2008 | REGIA: P.J. Hogan

Tratto dal romanzo "I love shopping", con elementi di “I love shopping a New York”, rispettivamente primo e secondo romanzo della serie “I love shopping” di Sophie Kinsella.

 Io prima di te (ore 19:10 - Paramount Channel)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 2016 | REGIA: Thea Sharrock

Tratto dall'omonimo romanzo di Jojo Moyes.

 Le amiche (ore 21:15 - Rai Storia)

GENERE: Drammatico | ANNO: 1955 | REGIA: Michelangelo Antonioni

Tratto dal racconto "Tra donne sole" (contenuto in "La bella estate") di Cesare Pavese.

 Edge of Tomorrow - Senza domani (ore 21:20 - Italia 1)

GENERE: Fantascienza | ANNO: 2014 | REGIA: Doug Liman

Tratto dall’omonimo romanzo di Hiroshi Sakurazaka.

 La sindrome di Stendhal (ore 22:45 - Italia 2)

GENERE: Horror | ANNO: 1996 | REGIA: Dario Argento

Ispirato dal libro omonimo di Graziella Magherini.

 The Watcher (ore 23:01 – Iris)

GENERE: Thriller | ANNO: 2000 | REGIA: Joe Charbanic

Tratto dall’omonimo racconto di Darcy Meyers e David Elliot.

[proviralmedia-blog]

Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone? Here’s How to Stop Them

Robocalls Flooding Your Cellphone? Here’s How to Stop Them

On some days, it can feel as if robocallers are outnumbering calls from your own friends and family members.

If your phone is being inundated with such calls, there are steps you can take to try to block them out.

Here’s how you can fight them:

Rule No. 1

The most simple and effective remedy is to not answer numbers you don’t know, Alex Quilici, chief executive of YouMail, a robocall-blocking…

[pkmember]

https://soundcloud.com/paul-kemp-1/tagp521-alex-quilici-how-i-sold-my-startup-for-200-million-just-18-months-after-it-was-founded

[investmart007]

Robocall Volumes Shatter the National Record for Fourth Straight Month

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/bcGTLZ

Robocall Volumes Shatter the National Record for Fourth Straight Month

IRVINE, Calif./ July 12, 2018 (STL.News) — The American public was inundated by 4.12 billion robocalls in June, setting a new national record for the fourth consecutive month and spiking 63% over the monthly total from June of last year. That record pace equaled roughly 1,591 robocalls placed every second during June, or 137.5 million calls for every day of the month. The June total represents the highest per-second/per-day volume of robocalls ever recorded since YouMail launched the Robocall Index in 2015. Fully 40 of the 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America (80%) recorded month-on-month calling increases during June, bringing the national total to 20.3 billion robocalls in the first six months of 2018, a 39% increase from the first half of 2017. These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a free robocall blocking solution for mobile phones helps consumers stop robocalls from ever reaching their phones. YouMail blocks unwanted robocallers by making sure the user’s phone doesn’t ring, and then plays an out-of-service message that leads them to think that the number they dialed is invalid. The YouMail Robocall Index™ is a compilation of the scope and location of the worst robocalling hotspots across the country by area code, and these statistics are regularly cited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a definitive source for national data trends. The growth trend indicates that robocallers, especially those from business interests, are making even more calls to try to get through to consumers. “We continue to witness an accelerating pace of robocalls even as consumers are wisely picking up fewer of these calls from unknown numbers, while downloading more robocall blocking apps onto their phones,” said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. “The irony here is that this defensive behavior has only motivated the robocallers to step up their pace of dialing, rather than decreasing it.” How Robocalls Break Down June was very similar to May in terms of how robocalls broke down into different categories. As in May, there were well over 1 billion scam calls in June, which works out to over 37 million scam calls per day. Category

Who Gets the Most Robocalls Atlanta topped the YouMail 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America list for the 31st month in a row. Atlanta residents were bombed by 189.2 million robocalls in June, a 7% increase over the prior month. The Top 50 Cities that notched the biggest monthly increases for June included Miami (up 14% to 64.7 million); Phoenix (up 10% to 78.3 million); and Seattle (up 10% to 40.8 million). Atlanta’s 404 area code was by far the most robocalled area code in June, with 84.2 million calls received, followed by Atlanta’s 678 area code with 58.9 million calls received. Texas area codes claimed the third and fourth rankings for June, with Houston’s 832 area code getting 58.9 million calls and Dallas’ 214 area code getting 58.6 million calls. Fort Lauderdale’s 954 area code rounded out the top five area code list with 53.9 million calls received. California, the nation’s most populous state, retained its top ranking on the list of most-robocalled states for June, with 468.9 million robocalls received. Texas was close behind at 437.4 million calls received, followed by Florida (331.0 million), Georgia (273.9 million), and New York (260.2 million). South Dakota registered the biggest monthly percentage increase of any state, rising 19.3%, followed by Massachusetts (+17.5%), Kansas (+12.6%), Arizona (+9.9%), and Washington (+8.4%). Who Makes the Most Robocalls The top 20 phone numbers in June produced 197.9 million calls during the month. Robocalls involving debt collectors or payment reminders made up 17 of the 20 top robocalling numbers in June. One national credit card company retained the country’s most active robocalling phone number with 37.3 million calls placed in June alone. Over the past 33 months of the Robocall Index, this single robocalling number has placed 980.5 million calls. New York City placed 126.6 million robocalls in June, rising two spots in the rankings to unseat Chicago as the #1 robocalling city for the month. Anchorage, AK, notched a 198.1% increase in outbound calls in June, driven by 1.3 million calls placed by 907-275-8202, a car warranty robocalling line. In addition to receiving the most robocalls of any state, California also produced more robocalls than any other state for June, with 324.9 million outbound calls in the month. Alaska recorded the largest percentage increase of outbound calls, rising 198.1% in June, followed by Wyoming (+97.4%), Hawaii (61.4%), Maryland (+59.4%), and Delaware (28.3%). For more information about the YouMail Robocall Index or to view the latest report, please visit http://robocallindex.com. To join the YouMail Robocall Index mailing list, please write to RobocallIndex@YouMail.com. About YouMail, Inc.

YouMail, Inc. is the leading provider of intelligent, cloud-based telecommunication services. The company’s flagship service provides an automated virtual receptionist that replaces the subscriber’s voicemail on iPhone, Android, and Windows phones. This service stops robocalls, and delights other callers by instantly greeting, routing, and responding to them, personally and memorably, and even provides free conference calls YouMail also provides data on problematic phone number behavior, through a reverse phone lookup service that allows anyone to identify and comment on suspicious numbers, an application program interface (API) that any telecom service provider or third-party developer can use to determine whether a number is problematic, and the YouMail Robocall Index™, which since its launch in in September 2015 has emerged as the nation’s definitive source on robocalling data for telecom carriers, smartphone and app companies, and public policymakers. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., YouMail, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is privately funded.

_____ SOURCE: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/robocall-volumes-shatter-the-national-record-for-fourth-straight-month-300679966.html

[investmart007]

Robocall Volumes Shatter the National Record for Fourth Straight Month

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/bcGTLZ

Robocall Volumes Shatter the National Record for Fourth Straight Month

IRVINE, Calif./ July 12, 2018 (STL.News) — The American public was inundated by 4.12 billion robocalls in June, setting a new national record for the fourth consecutive month and spiking 63% over the monthly total from June of last year. That record pace equaled roughly 1,591 robocalls placed every second during June, or 137.5 million calls for every day of the month. The June total represents the highest per-second/per-day volume of robocalls ever recorded since YouMail launched the Robocall Index in 2015. Fully 40 of the 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America (80%) recorded month-on-month calling increases during June, bringing the national total to 20.3 billion robocalls in the first six months of 2018, a 39% increase from the first half of 2017. These latest monthly figures come from YouMail, a free robocall blocking solution for mobile phones helps consumers stop robocalls from ever reaching their phones. YouMail blocks unwanted robocallers by making sure the user’s phone doesn’t ring, and then plays an out-of-service message that leads them to think that the number they dialed is invalid. The YouMail Robocall Index™ is a compilation of the scope and location of the worst robocalling hotspots across the country by area code, and these statistics are regularly cited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a definitive source for national data trends. The growth trend indicates that robocallers, especially those from business interests, are making even more calls to try to get through to consumers. “We continue to witness an accelerating pace of robocalls even as consumers are wisely picking up fewer of these calls from unknown numbers, while downloading more robocall blocking apps onto their phones,” said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. “The irony here is that this defensive behavior has only motivated the robocallers to step up their pace of dialing, rather than decreasing it.” How Robocalls Break Down June was very similar to May in terms of how robocalls broke down into different categories. As in May, there were well over 1 billion scam calls in June, which works out to over 37 million scam calls per day. Category

Who Gets the Most Robocalls Atlanta topped the YouMail 50 Most Robocalled Cities in America list for the 31st month in a row. Atlanta residents were bombed by 189.2 million robocalls in June, a 7% increase over the prior month. The Top 50 Cities that notched the biggest monthly increases for June included Miami (up 14% to 64.7 million); Phoenix (up 10% to 78.3 million); and Seattle (up 10% to 40.8 million). Atlanta’s 404 area code was by far the most robocalled area code in June, with 84.2 million calls received, followed by Atlanta’s 678 area code with 58.9 million calls received. Texas area codes claimed the third and fourth rankings for June, with Houston’s 832 area code getting 58.9 million calls and Dallas’ 214 area code getting 58.6 million calls. Fort Lauderdale’s 954 area code rounded out the top five area code list with 53.9 million calls received. California, the nation’s most populous state, retained its top ranking on the list of most-robocalled states for June, with 468.9 million robocalls received. Texas was close behind at 437.4 million calls received, followed by Florida (331.0 million), Georgia (273.9 million), and New York (260.2 million). South Dakota registered the biggest monthly percentage increase of any state, rising 19.3%, followed by Massachusetts (+17.5%), Kansas (+12.6%), Arizona (+9.9%), and Washington (+8.4%). Who Makes the Most Robocalls The top 20 phone numbers in June produced 197.9 million calls during the month. Robocalls involving debt collectors or payment reminders made up 17 of the 20 top robocalling numbers in June. One national credit card company retained the country’s most active robocalling phone number with 37.3 million calls placed in June alone. Over the past 33 months of the Robocall Index, this single robocalling number has placed 980.5 million calls. New York City placed 126.6 million robocalls in June, rising two spots in the rankings to unseat Chicago as the #1 robocalling city for the month. Anchorage, AK, notched a 198.1% increase in outbound calls in June, driven by 1.3 million calls placed by 907-275-8202, a car warranty robocalling line. In addition to receiving the most robocalls of any state, California also produced more robocalls than any other state for June, with 324.9 million outbound calls in the month. Alaska recorded the largest percentage increase of outbound calls, rising 198.1% in June, followed by Wyoming (+97.4%), Hawaii (61.4%), Maryland (+59.4%), and Delaware (28.3%). For more information about the YouMail Robocall Index or to view the latest report, please visit http://robocallindex.com. To join the YouMail Robocall Index mailing list, please write to RobocallIndex@YouMail.com. About YouMail, Inc.

YouMail, Inc. is the leading provider of intelligent, cloud-based telecommunication services. The company’s flagship service provides an automated virtual receptionist that replaces the subscriber’s voicemail on iPhone, Android, and Windows phones. This service stops robocalls, and delights other callers by instantly greeting, routing, and responding to them, personally and memorably, and even provides free conference calls YouMail also provides data on problematic phone number behavior, through a reverse phone lookup service that allows anyone to identify and comment on suspicious numbers, an application program interface (API) that any telecom service provider or third-party developer can use to determine whether a number is problematic, and the YouMail Robocall Index™, which since its launch in in September 2015 has emerged as the nation’s definitive source on robocalling data for telecom carriers, smartphone and app companies, and public policymakers. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., YouMail, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is privately funded.

_____ SOURCE: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/robocall-volumes-shatter-the-national-record-for-fourth-straight-month-300679966.html