Chinese (mandarin) scam calls

[imeem]

I keep getting those  pre-recorded calls in Mandarin calling my home phone and cell phone. One time, they even called my cell phone twice. If i don't pick up, it will go to my voicemail. I also can't block them because every time it is different.

how do i stop these calls?

I'm located in the GTA.

***Edited Labels***

[RogersZia]

Hey @imeem,

I know the pain ☹️, these guys aren't even above leaving voicemails and filling up the mailbox 😕. I get at least 4-5 calls on my cellphone alone everyday. I do make it a point to block the number however such calls can be difficult to trace especially when spoofing Apps are involved. 

I would just recommend you to be extra diligent about protecting your information like a phone number especially on the Internet.

RogersZia

[PizzaBear]

Most cases it is not the number that is published on the Internet but they use stupid dialing bots to find phone numbers.

Either Rogers has to implement a way to block spoofed calls or the entire VOIP needs a revamp on properly authenticating origin callers.

[Karen521]

I'm getting these calls everyday and one day I got about 10. Dive me crazy.

[RogersYasmine]

Hi @Karen521,

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums and thank you for your first post. 😀

I know it can be very frustrating to receive these types of calls and it's hard to block them when they continuously change their phone numbers. I get these same types of calls and have resorted to ignoring and blocking phone numbers that are not in my contacts list or that I don't recognize.

For now, I would recommend adding your telephone number to the National Do Not Call List to see if this helps weed out these unwanted calls.

The National Do Not Call List lets you reduce the number of unsolicited telemarketing calls you get from companies with whom you have no existing business relationship. After registration, telemarketers have 14 days to update their information. You could still receive communications within that time.

Another option is to request a telephone number change. This option isn't as popular with some customers (myself included) who have had the same phone number for a number of years and would prefer to keep it the same. If keeping your telephone number isn't a concern for you, then this may be a plausible solution.

RogersLaura

[grahamonthelam]

that is not much of an answer from rogers

they have no authority or ability to protect their product (system)

it is time they get one!

[RogersCorey]

Hello and welcome to our Community @grahamonthelam!

We are working closely with the authorities to clamp down on these calls.

I would highly encourage you to report all incidents to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre so that they can be properly investigated. 

Regards,

RogersCorey

[Nathan7]

It is happening to me that some how these scam calls merge the chinese messages with the local, regular, existing legitimate numbers of companies or an individuals so that it shows a regular number on your phone.  You have no choice but to answer your phone because it is a nature of your business is to have new clients, you cannot miss any calls.  When you call back the number which was showed on your phone, the owner of that number has no clue what you talk about.

All of the large communication companies and the government should look into this matter seriously. 

[RogersCorey]

Hello and welcome to our Community, @Nathan7!

The good news is that providers and the government are aware of the frustrations that arise from call ID spoofing and scam calls and we are working on it. Please understand that we're consumers of this service too so we are also impacted by these scams. I personally had no other choice than to cancel my longtime home number to get the calls to stop. 

If you want to find out more, feel free to visit this site: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/telemarketing/identit.htm 

Regards,

RogersCorey

[Pam6]

Hi, yes, this is happening to me as well.
What is the point of these calls, how does it affect the recipient (personally) and how can we make them stop? Thank you

[Jason30]

In the US, I understand that carriers such as Verizon, T-mobile, etc... have technology to block scam calls and/or identify scam calls with "likely scam" id.  Does Rogers have such technology or plan on implementing it soon?

[Pauly]

The technology to identify scam calls with "likely scam" is not just on T-Mobile in the US, its here in Canada too,  its not a feature of an actual carrier, its more of a feature of Android.  My Android A8 has this feature built in but its available as a add-on from the google play store for other compatible models too.

But just a FYI, please please please be aware, the technology only works GREAT when the number is a known number of a scammer,, which means if scammers constantly change numbers and use numbers of unsuspecting victims which they have been doing as of lately, the technology cant work too well.   but it does detect legit telemarketers such as collection agencies, charities, outbound sales, etc.  from legit companies whos number is fixed.  but for scammers who constantly spoof their number with recycled numbers every other minute this technology wont be able to stop that.  but your not alone, Rogers has a new technology coming out next month which should reduce some of those scam calls

[blah2016]

Thanks Corey, but telling us your tale of woe and saying your solution was to give up isn't a great answer.

We've heard many times that Rogers "is working on it" and that you "take these things seriously".

Let me make you an offer: I'm a software developer. I'll give Rogers as much of my time as is needed to help implement a fix. I'll start with a simple algorithm your guys can play around with.

Assumption: Rogers has 10.8M Canadian customers. I'm guessing over 20% (easy) get a call a day. Assume the spammers are using a pool of 1000 numbers. That's over 2MM calls over 1000 numbers = 2,000 calls from each number. 

   Create a lookup map/dictionary, keyed by caller ID, that stores { DateFirstSeen [datetime), Occurences (number) }

   For each phone call that lasts less than 5 seconds:
     If we have an entry for that caller ID
         if DateFirstSeen > 1 day ago

             set DateFirstSeen = Now, Occurences  = 1  // reset the counter for this caller ID
         else
             set Occurences = Occurences + 1
             if Occurences > 1000

                  SendCallerToTheDepthsOfHades(callerID)
     else
          create a new entry, setting DateFirstSeen = Now, Occurences  = 1
   End For

Basically: count the number of times each caller ID is hung up after 5 seconds. Any number that's been hung up 1000 times is probably a scammer. Given each number probably hits 2000 people a day it means that this will solve the problem for half the Rogers customer base. Toggle it down to 500 hangups from a single number and it solves the issue for 75% of Rogers customers.

Next time one of the tech guys says "it's too hard" send them this.

Next time a corporate type says "it's too expensive" then I'd argue that if every Rogers subscriber makes 3 calls a day that's 33M records to store, or 381/s.  A cellphone has enough power and storage to handle this load, and something like Redis, which is free, can store this info at this speed without even getting out of bed in the morning.

Don't complain to us, Corey. Be an advocate for us and push the message higher up the chain that more needs to be done. The first company that gets this done gets the bragging rights, the media coverage AND the mass defections from other carriers for which this is just too hard.

[Datalink]

@blah2016 you're forgetting the fact that every carrier in the chain gets paid, one way or the other.  So, is it in their economic interests to block spam calls?  I doubt it, hence the slow to non-existent progress on blocking spam calls. 

[blah2016]

Possibly, but with my marketing hat on it's a precarious position to rely on. As soon as one carrier implements even *something* it'll be media grabbing and that's what will then be expected of the rest. I honestly don't think the economics of robocall revenue is long term viable

[DMUL]

It is my understanding that the CRTC has mandated that the telcos put in place technology to block calls where the originating number is clearly different than the caller ID provided. 

I would call your telco and ask why you are getting these calls and what they have done to comply with "Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2018-484" (https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2018/2018-484.htm)

[57]

2018-484 is actually pretty weak.  The latest is discussed in the following thread and should be active by the end of this year, if not earlier:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Scam-Phishing-Fraud-Discussions/CRTC-steps-up-efforts-to-comba...

484 was discussed in the following thread:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Scam-Phishing-Fraud-Discussions/CRTC-calls-for-universal-netwo...

What 484 does:

https://www.rogers.com/customer/support/article/universal-call-blocking

Universal Call Blocking is a CRTC mandate (CRTC decision 2018-484) to block all incoming voice calls that have malformed calling line ID information. 

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[Pilaar39]

I have been getting a lot of unsolicited calls recently... the caller says in English that they are calling from Rogers with a message for their Chinese subscribers, then the message changes to Chinese.   No idea what the message is since I do not speak the language.   Contacted Rogers and they said it is not from them.

anyone else getting such calls, and any idea what they are about?  Would like to report this.

[RogersRob]

Hello @Pilaar39,

Thank you for your post.  

I know how annoying receiving fraudulent calls can be. We appreciate you taking the time to bring this up to our attention. As you were told, Rogers is not responsible for the call you have been receiving.
We recommend blocking the number when you receive the call, alternatively, you can change your telephone number if you receive too many of them.  

You can also report all incidents to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre so that they can be investigated. 
For more information, you can check out https://www.rogers.com/customer/support/article/phishing 
 
Hope this helps!
RogersRob

[blah2016]

>As you were told, Rogers is not responsible for the call you have been receiving.

Wow.

We get that you didn't actually initiate the calls. Not "being responsible" is not the same as "not taking responsibility".

You have the means to make your paying clients lives significantly better.

You choose not to.

[Pauly]

Hey blah2016, guess what? even mobile customers from other mobile carriers like telus, bell, etc, get those fake rogers Chinese calls.

Does Rogers have the means to make their NON Clients lives significantly better too?

How in the world can they stop me from getting those calls when i'm not even a customer of their mobile cellular service?

I am a customer of another one of their service so that is why i'm on here but still, you get my point?

Everyone gets those calls. they originate from out side of Canada, Contrary to what you may believe or think, they're very tricky to block and stop these people.