Agreed!  Now emails are coming from New Zealand asking for private info.  Yikes!

And Ghana as well as Nigeria ...   I was on Match.com and met someone from CA.  The person had a real phone number.  After talking for quite some months, he said because I was nice (ha, ha) he wanted to be honest with me.  He was in his 20's and in Ghana.  Then he sent me pictures.  Oh my!  There is a entire group all working together most of each day running scams.  I'm far from in my 20's.  I want to warn people of these dating sites.  They are full of scammers too.

So, was he cute, ha ha?

I just got a call from the 214 414 2855 number and tried to call back with no answer.   So I used the reverse phone number on the internet and found this page and lo and behold its a scam.... I keep getting calls for student loans and I am in my sixties.. Your entry was both informing and hilarious.. It made this old gals day!!!  As for the  Wounded Warrior Scam artists, they should be shot since our government allows this kind of disgraceful garbage continue...

Just saw that 214-414-2855 called my VoIP line. This number is unlisted anywhere and never given out. Heck, I'd have to look it up myself. Don't use it for outbound calling.  Since it rang, it was a scammer using a random/sequential dialer. These are illegal in the USA, except for political calls - leave it to the politicians to exclude their desires from laws.

a) the government can't do anything (FCC/FTC). Most of these calls don't really originate inside the USA. Contrary to the FBI's belief, US laws do not apply in other countries. Definitely not in India.
b) Caller ID is easy to spoof - fake - any number you like.  Many scammers have taken to putting random numbers into their CID packets.  Anyone with a VoIP PBX (about $40) can do it for hundreds, no, thousands, of calls daily.

I've gone to a white-list for calls I'll answer. Everyone else must leave a message.  If they don't, my VoIP line and cell phone block them going forward.  I've never given out the cell or voip numbers to anyone - only provide the 1-number which rings both places concurrently. If I'm at home and the cell AND house phones don't ring, they are a scammer.  If I have time, I'll pick up and screw with them for as long as possible.

Look on the web for "hi its lenny" for examples. funny. youtube has lots of recordings. Listening to 1 is enough.

I do the same for political calls - which will go crazy this year.  My last statement before they are about to hang up is "why are all politicians liars?" These real people tend to be from the core volunteer group and that drives them crazy.

So - forget about the government doing anything. They are powerless. If you want to stop it completely, disconnect the phone.