Saturday, September 8, 2018

Hitting Back At Scam Calls

I have enjoyed many hours of listening to recordings of scambaiters calling telephone scammers and harassing them. Their goal is typically explained that, by wasting the scammers' time, they prevent the scammers from harassing someone else.

Scammers, usually either based in India or staffed in other countries by Indian expatriates, have posed as Microsoft Tech Support, the Internal Revenue Service, Canada Revenue, the Social Security Administration, etc and have stolen millions of dollars from people since these scams were first created. Recent arrests in India and the United States of scamming operations appear to have done little to stop scams from continuing. It's easy to start a scam operation, once you know how it's done, especially if people who participated in one scam operation simply move on to start their own.

While wasting scammers' time with baiting is enjoyable to do and to watch others do, I think that it would be far more effective to identify the phone numbers used by scammers, discover the company under which their phone number is registered and then contact that company in order to have the number shutdown.

Twitter is my primary source for the initial discovery of phone numbers being used by scammers, but I will keep my eyes open for other sources,

My primary tool for discovering the company that owns the number is Phone Validator, which is usually reliable. Otherwise, you can use Free Carrier Lookup. If these two sources disagree, simply file reports with both of them. However, neither of them can trace toll-free numbers.

For toll-free numbers, I use either 800ForAllTollFreeNumbers.com or Toll-Free Number Search by ATL Communications.

In case none of those sources can provide me with the information I need, I have to do a little extra digging and make my best guess.

The following is the contact information for all companies whose numbers have been used by scammers. If the information is out-of-date, I would appreciate corrections posted in the Comments section of this post and I will update the information here.

In order to keep the list up-to-date, I will remove numbers after about two weeks unless reports continue to be posted about them. Do not scambait the numbers listed on this blog. If you received a call from one of the numbers listed here, simply use the provided contact information to file a report. When making your report, please remember to include the date and time when you received the call.

382 Communications
Contact information: email support@382com.com

Aerialink
Contact information: http://www.aerialink.com/about-us/contact-us

Alcazar Networks
Contact information: Phone 484-664-2800
Contact information: Toll Free 800-349-6192
Contact information: Fax 866-740-4548
Contact information: info@alcazarnetworks.com

ATT
Contact information: https://www.att.com/esupport/report-call-or-text.html

ATL Communications
Contact information: https://atlc.com/contact-us/

AVOXI
Contact information: https://www.avoxi.com/contact-us/

Bandwidth.com
Contact information: https://www.bandwidth.com/legal/report-a-phone-number/ 
Contact information: call (844) 567-5064

Blitz Telecom
Contact information: investigate@blitztelecomservices.com

Century Link
Contact information: https://www.centurylink.com/business/resources/customer-support.html
Contact Information: email fraudoperations@centurylink.com

Conexiant Telecom
Contact information: email info@conexiant.net

Dialpad
Contact information: email support@dialpad.com

DISTRIBUTEL
Contact information: https://www.distributel.ca/

Five 9
Contact information: email info@five9.com
Contact information: email privacy@Five9.com
Contact information: Twitter https://twitter.com/Five9

Enflick
Contact information: email abuse@enflick.com

Exiant Communications
Contact information: https://exiantcommunications.com/

Grasshopper LLC
Contact information: call (800) 279-1455
Contact information: https://twitter.com/Grasshopper

H2O Wireless
Contact information: https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/mainControl.php?page=ContactUs

IDT Corporation
Contact information: https://www.idt.net/contact-us.html

Immediate Services, LLC
Contact information: 303-222-1540
(Note: this number may not be current. I called it and there was neither an answer or a recorded message. I cannot find a website or email address)

Invoca
Contact information: https://www.invoca.com/company/contact/

Inteliquent (dba: Broadwing, Broadvox, Neutral Tandem, Onvoy)
Contact information: https://www.inteliquent.com/contact-us

IPTelX
Contact information: http://www.iptelx.net/contact.php

Iristel
Contact information: email feedback@iristel.com

JM Telecom
Contact information: https://www.j-m-telecom.com/contact-us/

Level 3 Communications
Contact Information: http://your.level3.com/AbuseIssues
Contact Information: email fraudoperations@centurylink.com

Local Access
Contact information: https://localaccessllc.com/

Mayfair Communications, Inc
Contact information: 800-629-3247
(Note: I called this number and heard a recorded message identifying themselves as Mayfair Communications, but I cannot find a website or email address)

OneVoice Communications
Contact Information: email info@onevoiceinc.com

Paetec
Contact information: https://www.windstream.com/contact-us/form

Peerless Network
Contact information: https://www.peerlessnetwork.com/contact-us/contact-hq/

Plivo, Inc
Contact information: https://support.plivo.com/support/tickets/new

Primus Canada
Contact information: https://primus.ca/index.php/ont_en/contact-us?unit=home

Real Time Cloud Services
Contact information: http://www.myrealdata.com/contact-us.html

Resporg Solutions Customer Service Number 800-804-3471 Customer Service Email info@resporgsolutions.com

Rogers Wireless
Contact information: https://www.rogers.com/consumer/support/contactus

Telengy
Contact information: email info@telengy.net

Telnyx
Contact information: https://telnyx.com/report-abuse
Contact information: email support@telnyx.com

TELUS
Contact information: Twitter https://twitter.com/TELUSsupport
Contact information: https://www.telus.com/en/bc/support/contact-us?linktype=footer

TextNow
Contact information: abuse@enflick.com

THINQ
Contact information: 1-877-506-0747
Contact information: info@thinq.com

Time Shift
Contact information: http://www.timeshift.net/contact.html

Twilio
Contact information: https://www.twilio.org/contact/
Contact Information: https://twitter.com/TwilioHelp

Vail Systems
Contact Information: https://www.vailsys.com/contact/

Verizon
Contact information: email ResearchandCompliance@verizon.com

Vitcom
Contact information: https://www.vitcom.net/contact-us/

XO Communications
Contact information: email abuse@xo.net

YMAX Communications
Contact information: email ReportAbuse@magicJack.com



Duane Browning