Tel Tech, a tech startup has unleashed recorded conversations to stall robocallers for minutes, even hours at a time, with the help of what it calls “Answer Bots”-- the secret weapon for the company’s new “Robokiller” APP.
Ethan Garr, marketing chief for New Jersey-based Tel Tech, said the Answer Bots “waste spammers' time” as the company’s team analyzes and learns their call patterns.
“The great thing about Answer Bots is you can make your own as well," Garr said. "We have what we call custom Answer Bots. So right on the app, you can record your own.”
Tel Tech estimates robocalls have increased by 55 percent in the past year from 2.5 to 4.5 billion per month, or 18 spam calls for every person.
“This is an epidemic that isn’t going away,” Garr said, adding that Orlando ranks 13 in the top 20 targets for robocalls.
To counter the unwanted calls Tel Tech has developed several anti-robocall products including trapcall, SpoofCard, Tape A Call and Robokillers.
“Our robots right now are talking to thousands of telemarketers," Garr said. “They’re very capable of keeping these people engaged for over an hour.”
Capable, because the recordings are done by people from voice actors to Tel Tech staffers.
“I’ve made some of them,” Garr said. “I have one where I just have a coughing fit … it can keep them on for minutes, 10 minutes or more.”
The company’s 60 employees work in a spacious industrial style headquarters in South Amboy or as administrators like to call it, “Silicon Amboy.”
“We’re really focused on helping people get control of their phone again," Garr said. "We really do think this is a solution to the problem.”
Garr said you can replay the recordings to laugh, “get even and get revenge.” Some of the more entertaining call recordings have been a hit on social media, revealing how relentless telemarketers can be.
The Robokiller App is available on both platforms IOS and Android.
It comes with a seven-day free trial; after that, it is $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year. For more information, visit robokiller.com.