[VoiceOps] some of my customers DID show as Possible Spam

[Mike Hammett]

I think you're conflating politician SPAM marketing and government body research. 




----- 
Mike Hammett 
Intelligent Computing Solutions 
http://www.ics-il.com 



Midwest Internet Exchange 
http://www.midwest-ix.com 



----- Original Message -----

From: "Jay Hennigan" <jay at west.net> 
To: voiceops at voiceops.org 
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2021 10:22:06 AM 
Subject: Re: [VoiceOps] some of my customers DID show as Possible Spam 

On 11/15/21 16:01, Carlos Alvarez wrote: 
> You cut out the part where it was their city government calling, wanting 
> to know what the citizens would like "fixed" and focused on in the 
> communities. You'd opt out of this? Do you also not vote? 

I vote with a ballot at a polling place or by mail, not by engaging with 
random unsolicited call center workers. I've found that political 
polling calls and survey calls are often "push" polls, often rather 
invasive in terms of personal questions, lengthier than needed, and 
interrupt me at inopportune times. Politicians and survey companies 
lobbied to get themselves excluded from the TCPA and the result is that 
the only mass unsolicited calls that those on the DNC list get are from 
spammers/scammers and politicians/pollsters. 

In my opinion the politicians made a mistake with their lobbying. They 
should honor Do Not Call listings. They're making unsolicited bulk calls 
to those who specifically went through a process to say that they don't 
want them. 

> Also not a collection agency, it's the primary biller, and the customer 
> has opted into the calls in writing. If they go to collections, my 
> customer actually sends them out. They only do the gentle calls, which 
> also includes appointments. So by marking them bad, they may also not 
> receive calls to set consultations with their doctor. 

I'm not disagreeing that it's a real problem for both your customer and 
in some cases those that they are trying to reach. Your problem is that 
your customer's operation passes the duck test. It looks like a duck, 
quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck. 

Multiple calls in succession and/or simultaneously from the same ANI, a 
high percentage of which disconnect within seconds with the BYE coming 
from the customer side (they are immediately getting hung-up on), some 
of which are to numbers on the Do Not Call list, as well as many 
customer flags as spam calls. 

Is your customer is using a predictive dialer? If so, the called parties 
have gotten very attuned to the dead silence for a second or two after 
answer and that at least in my case will pretty much assure an immediate 
disconnect from the called party side, a big red flag for the algorithm. 

It's a tough situation but from the carrier's perspective they are 
offering their paying subscribers a benefit that the subscribers want. 
Your customer needs to make their operation behave less like a duck. The 
video suggests several tweaks. Of course the spammers are also going to 
try to crack the algorithms, so it's a cat-and-mouse game. STIR-SHAKEN 
will help. An honest CNAM will help. 

-- 
Jay Hennigan - jay at west.net 
Network Engineering - CCIE #7880 
503 897-8550 - WB6RDV 
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