‘I'm fighting a losing battle': woman gets hundreds of spam calls a day

Many of us get spam calls. But, we met a Montgomery County woman whose situation reached a whole new level.

“I’m getting another call now from Lord knows where,” Beth Sanborn said.

NBC10 Responds sat down with Sanborn after learning about her situation. She is getting hundreds of spam calls a day.

“I’m at the point where they are coming through every three minutes,” she said.

She doesn’t know for sure why they started, but traces them back to one event. “I can’t even begin to explain how my life has changed since the beginning of October,” she said.

Sanborn tells us that’s when she saw an ad on social media for an item she was interested in. She says she wasn’t familiar with the vendor, but still bought what they were selling.

“I really didn’t think anything of it. I completed the transaction.” That transaction included sharing her phone number.

She suspects that transaction could have exposed her contact information. “It seemed as if almost instantly my phone started to blow up with all these international calls.”

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Sanborn’s order did come in about three weeks, and the spam calls continued. “Now, I’m close to 150 to 200 phone calls a day.”

Teresa Murray is with Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). “I would say that’s on the outer edge of what a normal person would get.”

The Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) says the monthly average of spam robocalls is up 20% compared to last year. That’s a 6-year high.

Murray tells us it is possible Sanborn’s situation could have stemmed from that purchase she made on social media.

There are a variety of pop-ups online that could collect and expose someone’s phone number. Some examples Murray gave include contests, free products, exclusive or discounted offers.

“‘Oh, enter your phone number for 15% off today only,’ And you’re like, ‘well, yeah, I’d like 15% off.’ So you enter your phone number, you’ll get a text and you’ll have to confirm it,” she said.

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Murray stresses not to share your number. “They have got your phone number, and that is a bad thing.” If someone answers a spam call and falls for a scam, it just gets worse.

PIRG found the average person who is scammed from a spam call loses nearly $3,700. Researchers found fewer than half of phone companies have installed the FCC-required caller I.D. or filters to block the calls.

“Much of the larger companies that are household names, most of those are either completely in compliance with what they’re required to do or they’re partially in compliance,” Murray said.

Sanborn says she went to her phone provider to check if all available spam blocking settings were enabled. They were, but it wasn’t working.

The U.S. Telecom Industry tells NBC10 that it disagrees with PIRG’s findings. It says robocalls have actually been declining.

Sanborn says that’s far from her case. “I’m fighting a losing battle.”

For a consumer who gets the typical amount of spam calls, there are steps to block them.

• Make sure your phone software is up to date.
• Many of the updates include new spam protections.
• This might sound like a given, but don’t answer calls or texts from unfamiliar numbers.
• The less interaction spammers get, they are less likely to reach out again.