Re: Voicemail without a call

VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> wrote:

Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:
 

Google Pixel 8a, Android 15
 
A few minutes go I noticed a notification dot on the Google phone app
icon on my home screen. Recents didn't show a call, but there was a
new voicemail. It was definitely a spam message: some guy who sounded
like poor-quality speech generation said he was Attorney something
"with the consumer protection agency" (which is not the name of a
Federal or California state bureau) and wanted me to call him at some
800 number. Needless to say, I didn't.
 
Is it possible to send a voicemail to an Android phone without
actually calling the phone?

 
Do you have spam filtering enabled with whomever is your cellular
provider?  If so, they may send spam straight to voicemail rather than
issue a call.

One of the hits when I searched on "ringless voicemail":

https://www.itelecenter.com/blog/how-to-leave-a-voicemail-without-calling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringless_voicemail

I also saw mention that some countries allow modifying a phone number to
directly connect to voicemail, like Germany allows enter a 2-digit
number between the area code and phone number.  Some carriers actually
offer ringless voicemail as a "feature" (that you can't turn off).

Might want to check if your carrier has an anti-spam feature not just on
calls, but also on voicemails (and texts).  You could try blocking those
calls, but Slydial, and other pro-spam services, probably have a large
pool of phone numbers from which to originate their turds.  Plus, such
unscrupulous senders are not above spoofing, either.  Also, call
blocking might only work on calls, not on direct-to-voicemail messages.

Some courts have sided against the spammers saying "call" also includes
any method to communicate with a recipient.  The FCC has their own
ruling which would assist plantiffs in class action lawsuits against the
spammers; see:

https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-finds-ringless-voicemails-are-subject-robocalling-rules
(click on one of the doc file links to read the ruling)

https://www.foxla.com/news/fcc-spam-callers-ringless-voicemails-phones

With a filing of AATM trying to get exempted from TCPA, they actually
drew attention to the scheme, and the FCC ruled against them, a
situation "it doesn't hurt to ask" actually did hurt. 

https://www.olshanlaw.com/Advertising-Law-Blog/court-rules-direct-drop-or-ringless-voicemails

While the FCC's ruling assists court rulings in the USA, that won't help
in other countries, and apparently has yet to get the phone carriers to
desist in providing the "feature".

Ringless voicemail is not a new problem.  The FCC ruling was dated back
in 1991.  The pro-spam providers of ringless voicemail are several, and
they make money to subscribe to their service.  Slydial is HQ'ed in
Boston, MA, so you'd think they would be subject to the FCC ruling, but
they're still in business.

Under the FCC's ruling, ringless voicemail are robocalls, and are still
"calls".  You can register with the FCC for Do Not Block registry, but
that isn't very effective.  They have to accrue thousands of complaints
against the same source before they will even consider any action, and
spammers frequently move.

Contact your carrier to see if they offer tools or options to block
ringless voicemails, or to disable their own feature that is getting
abused.  Blocking numbers won't work. 

https://robotalker.com/blogs/how-to-block-ringless-voicemail-calls-on-your-phone

Shows a list of options for some carriers.  You need to be a subscriber
to those carriers.  I use a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator), so the
carrier to which I get assigned through the MVNO does not see me as
their customer.  If I call the carrier, they dump me back to asking my
MVNO for help, and MVNOs have little or no support, and little or no
[anti-]features to combat ringless voicemail since such level of support
would cut into their cost savings they pass onto their customers.