WSVN — Her cellphone rings and rings, different numbers all the time, but each call has one thing in common: Nobody talks. No one can do anything to stop the irritating calls, which is why she called Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
Like many people, Amy loves animals. Sometimes even more that humans.
Amy: "The more I see what humans do to each other and animals, the more times I love my dogs even more."
Her three dogs, all rescues, relax her, which she needs after her recent surgery.
Amy: "The discs were compressed, and I had spine surgery on my neck three weeks ago."
Her doctor has told her she needs to take things easy, but her phone is making that difficult.
Amy: "How can you rest if your cellphone keeps ringing and ringing and ringing? I need rest. I need not to be stressed out."
The calls come several times a day, from strange numbers.
Amy: Well, I noticed it’s 954, and then the next three digits are the same as my cellphone number, but the last four digits are always different. So it would seem it was coming from my phone number, except the last four digits are different."
If Amy answers, no one is there.
Amy: "No one is making a sales pitch, just a call and hang-up, a call and a hang-up, a call and a hang-up."
So she started calling the numbers back.
Amy: "I’d say to them, ‘Why do you keep calling? Stop calling me. What do you want?’ And they act surprised and say, ‘I didn’t call you.’ I do believe them, I do believe them, unless it’s the world’s biggest scam."
Amy is on the "do not call" list, but it’s not stopping anything. She then called her phone company, who told her to block the numbers. But that won’t work since the last four digits of each call is different, so the phone company had another solution.
Amy: "’The only thing we can do is recommend that you change your phone number.’ Well, I’ve had that cellphone number for over 20 years. That is unacceptable. I’m not gonna change my phone number."
It was irritating. After her surgery, it’s infuriating.
Amy: "It’s aggravating, and sometimes it’s scary, because I feel I’m being targeted by someone."
Well, Howard, these irritating calls make no sense to Amy. Legally, what can she do to stop them?
Howard Finkelstein: "You could do something, if you could figure out where the calls were coming from. But these are robocalls, with different numbers, making it almost impossible to track down. If you have a smartphone, there are apps that will block most of the calls. If you don’t have a smartphone, or it’s your home phone, the only option is to change your number."
We contacted Amy’s phone company, and they labeled these "spam calls," that groups with sophisticated technology were doing this, but they couldn’t determine why. It had to be some sort of scam, but in this case it’s just not clear what the scam is.
Amy: "So I don’t know what to do anymore."
Technology is great, and Amy will add, sometime technology can grate on your nerves.
Amy: "I’m tired, I’m disgusted. It’s annoying. Someone is harassing me, and I want it to end."
Amy did file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the phone industry, but that didn’t do any good. Why would scammers be doing robocalls to Amy’s phone? We can only guess. If you know, let us and the phone company know.
Spammed and scammed and they stay on the lam? Ready to dial up some help? Call us. You won’t get a busy signal, just a couple of people who want to help you ring in the holidays.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
E-mail: helpmeHoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN
On Twitter: @helpmehoward7