automated voice calls from 847-227-2160 with a hash tag over the "7"? they ask if you want to speak to a represenative hit "1" and it disconnects?      is someone stealing our phone service?

I called this number and got Medical Recovery Specialists,LLC, a bill collector.  They also use 847-227-2171.

This number is calling me at least 3 times a day, I live in Central Illinois. It just started at the end of March.  The caller ID just says "."  

@ ANonieMouse     I know what you're saying, my mom had to rant at AT&T for months to get them to fix it so our caller ID had my dad's name on it, after my Grandmom died, and take her name off of it.  BUT....the whole "thing" of these spammer/phishers/a***s who call and do nefarious stuff on phones is that they DO fake caller IDs, they DO lie, they DO have all manner of ridiculous IDs.  I have an AT&T land line and the spoofed IDs, even seeing my OWN name calling me when I am right here, not calling me or my own number with a '1' instead of a '7' ..or MY name spelled L3SSA ADAMS.... I mean....they are doing this through nefarious means and to your point --- yes....if the phone company (especially AT&T, etc, fer chrissakes) really really wanted to crack down on these maggots I don't get why they can't. I see cards advertised on TV and they sell them in "spy shops" and I've even bought some online where you can fake your ID.  So someone calling from a local # and the ID says "."...they're doing it on purpose. Especially when you call back and all you get is dead air, or you pick it up and all you get is dead air.

>>> I doubt that any phone company would allow a user on their service with a name of ".". <<<

That's a problem between you and your own telephone service provider.  They only get a number from the calling party.  It's up to them to look up the number in a caller name database.  There are many commercial providers of such databases, and your own phone company may be so cheap as to want to avoid spending the two cents per call to dip into the right database to find your caller.

So don't blame the caller.  I've been trying for years to get my number to show up with the right name at some of my relatives' phones, but they use cheap VoIP/Internet/Cable TV phones, and these companies are notoriously poor about using commercial databases other than their own.

    I am always suspicious of  a company that sees fit to hide their identity when calling for supposedly legitimate reasons. I would be more forgiving of these people if the ID simply came up as blocked. Theirs comes up as a period instead. This is not accessible to a mere phone user. I know I am sounding like a conspiracy theorist here, but, this looks more like it is a professional computer programmer who developed this and is not a function of anything the phone company allows its users. I doubt that any phone company would allow a user on their service with a name of ".".

Got a call from them and the caller ID said  "  .   "

This  is a pretty neat trick.  I'm wondering how and why it's so hard for the phone company to just disallow funky and obviously NOT proper ID. A period isn't what someone is getting a number billed to, so how is it on a caller ID? I didn't answer.
These calls from strange IDs, out of state robo calls, one-ring calls or strange misspelled names are hitting me just as hard lately as before they instated the DNS list, which I am on. Lot of good it did. WHEN oh WHEN is someone in "power" going to do what it takes to end this crap once and for all?  

847-227-2160 ... nothing shows up on caller ID ...
I do not answer calls if I do not know the caller ... a***ipes ! ! !