I’m getting between 10 and 20 spam call some days despite being on no call list.
I now rarely answer the call but dutifully, block and delete the listed number. I’ve been told by a state consumer protection guy that this may not work as:
“Even if you collected the phone numbers, it wouldn’t help since the numbers are false…it is called “spoofing”. You might even get a call from your own number-they mask the number they are calling from usually with a number which they think will entice you to pick up the phone.”
Being on the ‘Do Not Call List’ only helps when companys respect the list. Scammers don’t and many are calling from outside the U.S. and could care less about our rules and laws.
Some phones alow you to send calls to voicemail or block them if the caller is not in your list of contacts (KnownCalls)
NOMOROBO is a respected service (free for home service like VOIP but subscription for cells).
No service or app will completely stop the calls.
On VOIP, I set up conditions with time of day, white lists and/or black lists, block countries, etc. However most people don’t use VOIP.
Here’s what I do. Answer, but don’t say anything. The computer hears dead air and perhaps marks the number as not active. If it’s a person on the other end, they will start talking to see if someone is there. Then I can decide if it’s someone I want to talk to. My most frequent calls are purportedly from Washington state, and the callers always have an Indian accent. I don’t have any idea if my method does anything, but I only get a few total spam calls per month.
In the past, I’ve played SIT tones as soon as I answer and before I say anything, but it’s kind of a PITA to have that ready to go when the phone rings. I suspect that works pretty well though.
thx for comments Also, any guidance on downloading any of the free apps in Clark’s article? It would be appreciated. for me you might need crayons)
I googled SIT and i can see how it might work but as you said, it is a pain.
“In telephony, a special information tone (SIT) is an in-band international standard call progress tone consisting of three rising tones indicating a call has failed. It usually precedes a recorded announcement describing the problem. Wikipedia?”
My wife was getting tons of spam calls so she installed Robokiller: https://www.robokiller.com/ It’s worked for her. Zero spam. She has to pay for it but the cost is well worth the hassle of her phone ringing day and night.
On the other hand, my phone only gets a few spam calls a week. Not sure how I lucked out.
Unfortunately in this day and age the only safe approach is to never answer a call unless you recognize the name/number. You should have a contact list where your friends and family and businesses you deal with are listed correctly. As Clark would say, never, ever, not ever should you answer a call from a number you don’t recognize. If it’s important, they will leave a message or send you a text or email.
The younger generation has figured this out. They basically don’t make or receive phone calls. All communication is by text or various forms of instant messaging and social media. We older folks can learn from the young’uns. Phone calls are an outdated technology and so full of scams that it’s not worth it.
On VoIP, I have put a block “not in service” on all calls from local area code. That helps a lot. Of course if there were calls you wanted you could enable those.
On iPhone, setting “Silence unknown callers” also works. That away you only get calls from numbers in your phone book. Beats answering 20 or 30 junk calls a day.
Have your greeting say “This is (name,) please leave a message.”
Direct all calls you don’t recognize to your voicemail.
Check recent calls once a day to see if unrecognized numbers left a message, then if no message was left or it was a spam message, choose “erase & report spam.”