Why is a number I *69 ed not available as dialed?

I get a call at night on my home phone {edited for privacy}. I do not answer but I *69 and it tells me the call came from {edited for privacy}. I call that number from my mobile phone and my home phone and it tells me the number can not be completed as dialed? Why is this possible? There does not seem to be any such number as {edited for privacy}. How is it possibel that they can pester me at night but I can not call them?

This happens all the time. You get calls at night and you try to call the number back and the number can not be completed as dialed????

Crank calls. They never end. You can put your number on the DO NOT CALL registry and the calls still keep coming. Only to the land line (home phone) it seems. That is where most of my crank calls come to. It seems you automatically have caller ID on your cell and they know you won't answer.

It seems like Verizon is part of the problem. It tells me the call came from {edited for privacy} and I imediately try to call that number and it can not be completed??? This should not happen. There at least should be a place where you can easily report these numbers.

Accepted answers

_dot

it is called "spoofing". unscrupulous callers can use software to change the info u see on your caller i.d. or obtain from *69.

All comments

bell239

If you scare the incoming call that you don't know the number and do not answer, why not call it back from the cell????. For me I will answer all the calls right away no matter who is calling, I do not want to be sorry to miss the imporant things. without answer !

_dot

it is called "spoofing". unscrupulous callers can use software to change the info u see on your caller i.d. or obtain from *69.

TomSp

manhattanNYC ,

I do answer the call on my land line because every night about supper time I get telemarketers that call, the same as everyone else in this country. I star 69 the call to find out who is calling so I can report it to the DO NOT CALL registry. Star 69 will only give you the number but not the name of who is calling. The only way to get the name of who is calling is to call the number back that you just got from *69 and hopefully get a name to report. However when you try and call the number that just called you a message says that the number can not be dialed. That should not happen. The telephone companies encourage the crank calls.

TomSp

the_madscanner ,

Is there anyway to stop this?

_dot

a way to stop spoofing? make the "spoofers" go broke? i wish! but how? more will replace them. i got a call recently and the callerID showed my own number as the caller. today i got a call from {edited for privacy}. neither is possible as a valid phone number. phone company knows that. still they do nothing. maybe they are required by some ftc or fcc rule to allow spoofing. Can't report those numbers to the DONOTCALL site, can you? the donotcall list stops most legitimate "cold" calls, as companies on the up-and-up don't usually break federal laws.....can u imagine how many calls you'd get if it weren't for that DONOTCALL list

Kestrel3

Spoofing caller ID is illegal, and so is soliciting sales via phone to people on the Do Not Call list. These are mostly scammers, not legitimate businesses anyway, so it is best to avoid them and don't try to call them back. Telling them to remove you from the list is useless and can cause even more abuse.

When a call comes in from a number you don't recognize, let it go to voicemail or screen it using an answering machine. You can then do an internet search on the number. If illegal phone spammers are spoofing the number as their fake caller ID, it will show up in the search results as such with others reporting it. You can block up to 100 numbers if you have Verizon Digital Voice using the Verizon website. You can also use a service such as nomorobo or block the calls using a device designed to reject robocalls, although some robocalls (automatically dialed calls) could be legitimate and some calls you actually want to come through may get blocked, such as recorded informational calls from utilities, government agencies, schools, etc.

The way I understand it is that Verizon (and every phone service provider) is required to put all calls through to you, so they are not going to block any calls unless you specifically request certain numbers be blocked.

TomSp

And I guess by what I am reading from others that there is nothing Verizon can do about this. How about offering everyone FREE caller ID like you have on a cell phone so that you will jot answer these calls. I bet they would stop making the calls then. Isn't that the reason that you do not get these calls on your mobile phone?

They maybe required by law to put all calls through but I do not have to answer if I know who is calling or the number is not on my contact list.

I am pretty sure the phone companies could do a better job of stopping this. It gets so you can not even answer YOUR OWN PHONE, that you are PAYING FOR!

Free caller ID and a contact list for everyone. Stop this nonsence.

I actually found a way to not answer a call from someone on my contact list. Istead of listing the name for a certain number on your contact list you put DO NOT ANSWER for that number and then when you get a call from that number DO NOT ANSWER will pop up on your cell phone screen instead of a name. It helps me because i wear reading glasses and when my cell rings and i don't have my glasses on I can not make out the name on the screen sometimes but i can just makeout DO NOT ANSWER.

Thanks for the help,

TomS