5 Ways to Stop Spam Calls

[Omaha Steve]

Savvy solutions to turn that flood of unsolicited calls seeking to rip you off into a trickle
by Sid Kirchheimer, AARP Bulletin, October 2018

Unwanted phone calls and text messages continue to surge, no matter what efforts lawmakers and regulators take to curb them. In the first four months of this year, call-blocking service YouMail reports, more than 12 billion robocalls were made to American homes. That’s about 4 million every hour, and a steady increase from last year. Live calls from telemarketers have also continued to increase.

Why? Sadly, the answer is that they work. It costs scammers and spammers only a few dollars per day to simultaneously blast tens of millions of calls with autodialers. Senders — many of them con artists — spend about $438 million per year on robocalls. Those calls generate more than 20 times that amount in income, almost $10 billion a year.

The crooks generating the calls easily hide their tracks. Calls may travel through a maze of networks. They often display on caller ID screens with phony “spoofed” numbers that may appear to be local or from trusted businesses and government agencies. And they are changed frequently on purpose.

It’s nothing personal. Spammers often don’t know who owns targeted numbers, or even if the numbers are active. But no doubt you’ve been targeted, and you will continue to be. So how do you defend yourself?

FULL story: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2018/tips-to-stop-spam-calls.html?cmp=EMC-DSO-NLC-WBLTR--FRD-MCTRL-110218-F1-3334840&ET_CID=3334840&ET_RID=1210074&mi_u=1210074&mi_ecmp=20181102_Webletter_M_CTRL_Winner_339600_468014&encparam=Mj6tWRe5Fyl3wMrQ8jNJWQ%3d%3d

[MineralMan]

1. On my cell phone, I simply turn it off when I don't need it.

On my landline phone, I use caller ID and simply do not answer any calls that do not come from a recognized number or business. Not only that, if I am near a phone, I click the green button, followed by the red button to stop it from ringing any longer. If I answer and it is a solicitation with a human on the other end, I insist emphatically that my number no longer be called. If it's a robo call, I simply end the call.

[GoCubsGo]

7. If your landline is with AT&T, they now have have a spam blocker.

That's if you're now on their digital VOIP, rather than the old copper lines. You can activate it by going to your account online. It blocks a lot of them, and designates the rest as spam. One can also put numbers into one's "call block" here, for repeat offenders. But, I'm with you. If I don't recognize the number on my caller ID, I just let it ring.

[Awsi Dooger]

8. Very helpful as set up by AT&T

The phone rings once but if it is recognized as a spam number then the call is cut off.

Now I don't react to the phone at all until the second ring. It's absolutely amazing how many calls are cut off after that first ring. Easily a hefty majority.

[MineralMan]

10. It's just a POTS line.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. ...

https://digitone.com/

This device (I just got the updated last year) has saved my sanity the past 10 years. I put the device on my bedroom phone and hear no rings for blocked calls (the other phones in the house will only ring once). You can save 1000 numbers to block and can block whole area codes and/or block by caller name, along with many other features.

[renate]

3. Good advice!

Especially the one about answering with silence. I always let them go to voicemail in the vain hope that they will think there isn’t a human on the other end, but it also lets them know it’s a working number. Thanks for this!

[mitch96]

4. I usually dump #'s I don't recognize..... unless I'm feeling "frisky"

I first just ramble on like a crazy old person, or act confused and ask them to repeat them selfs ad nauseam.. I try to keep them on the line...They waste my time, so I waste theirs...
m

[sarcasmo]

5. Hiya is a great app and has worked wonders for my Android device.

[WillowTree]

6. I didn't know that the phones had built-in call blockers. I'm really happy about that!

[Awsi Dooger]

9. Unfortunately on Tracfone I am screwed

They don't have an app or any method to deal with spam, at least on the older non-smart model I am using. I pay less than $9 per month and have a good basic cell phone with internet capability if needed.

I read this article last night and might try the silent approach. Every day I receive calls from unknown numbers and invariably when I answer them it is a recorded push for health care coverage or auto insurance or something regarding my credit card account. I lose .3 of a minute every time I answer.