Scam calls - answer and hit 2. Learned this from a coworker.

[underpants]

I was letting it ring then adding the number to contacts and then blocking them. Come on Apple! Can't you give us a Block button?

A co-worker got one of those area code - your first three - then some random set of last four number phone calls. I asked what he was doing and he explained "if you were to actually listen to the whole thing, at the end selecting 2 is the take me off the list option".

I have to say it has greatly diminished the lack of calls I get. I told my mom about it (older people get these all day) and she has seen a huge reduction in scam calls.

[brokephibroke]

1. iPhones have a silent unknown callers feature

Blocks all the shit, send them straight to voice mail.

[MontanaMama]

2. Tell me more.

Does the call have to come across as “unknown” or can of be a spoofed phone #?

[brokephibroke]

3. All calls

That are not in your directory or who you haven’t called. It works great.

Settings. Phone. Block unknown callers

[MontanaMama]

5. Thx.

[patricia92243]

7. I had that on my phone and when my doctor called from home he was blocked. so,

that was the end of that. Still go to the block calls as they occur and don't get very many now.

[underpants]

10. You. Are a God.

[napi21]

27. Isn't that a problem if you want someone to do a ob for you? For instance,

our furnace just quit working and I went to "nextdoor" web site to ask neighbors for recs. I called a few of the ones they mentioned, but an HVAC guy read my post and called me. He was the one we chose to hire. wouldn't your suggestion to block all unknown calls have stopped his call? He was not already in my contacts list.

[brokephibroke]

32. He leaves a voice mail

You call him back. Then he is not blocked.

[chia]

34. I missed a call from the plumber because I'd turned on 'block unknown calls'

and then when I missed a second important call that wasn't from my contacts, I stopped using the feature

[Midnight Writer]

4. Hitting the two did not, for me, seem to reduce the number of scam calls.

It has got to the point I no longer answer my phone. I just check the Caller ID list every so often and if it's someone I know, I call back.

[mitch96]

6. "It has got to the point I no longer answer my phone"

Same here. If I don't know the number it just goes to voice mail. The message on my voice mail says " due to robo calls, leave a message and I'll call you right back"
m

[TheBlackAdder]

13. I answer the calls, press keys to get them on phone and then press Mute to tie them up.

.

They'll, say Hello, Hello? Hello??

Keeping them on hold pisses them off after the tenth time and they stop because you're a time-waster.


If you press those Do Not Call numbers, that confirms a live person and you get sold to other call firms.

While the one firm might not call you for a while, in a month you'll start getting pounded by a bunch of them.

.

[mitch96]

15. "that confirms a live person and you get sold to other call firms"

That's what I think.. After just letting all the calls go to voice mail the amount of bullshit calls went way down...
m

[TheBlackAdder]

17. Yep, they've got you either way. My way they stop calling. I treat it now as a game.

.

I used to be pissed, now I answer, say hello and quickly place on mute and let them talk. If there's a press 1 to speak to a representative, I press 1. They'll say hello for 20 seconds or more, which is 20 seconds less they can bother others. My kids will pretend to be interested and string them along, getting them to go into a long description of what they are selling, as they put the phone on mute again. They'll ask them to repeat themselves and go back on mute. Sooner or later the person on the other end gets pissed and hangs up.

.

[mitch96]

22. They waste your time, you waste theirs.. time is money to them...HA!..

I would answer the phone and when they started their speil I would say "can you hold a second" and walk away. In about a min or two I would hear the beep beep beep that they hung up.
Now it's just go to voice mail, do not pass go, do not collect $200......
m

[shanti]

8. Dunno about that

I was told that if you even pick up the phone, it sends the signal that the number works, so they will continue calling.

[frazzled]

9. You can easily block callers on an iPhone

Just press the info icon next to the caller/number, scroll down and press “Block this caller.”

I have a call bock button on our landline as well. Easy Pease, though these scammers have a thousand numbers to attack you with.

Like the poster above, I would not do a wholesale “block unknown callers.” You could miss a call from a new doctor or some other new contact that is not yet in your address book.

[TheBlackAdder]

18. They are spoofing my town's fire department, town hall numbers and local store caller ids.

[frazzled]

20. Report that to your state's Attorney General office

That is just awful. Unless you are on some kind of system you signed up for to receive notifications from those institutions, they are surely bogus. Those places do not call you. Never answer a call when you don’t recognize the caller or number. If it’s real, they’ll leave a message.

Do report these calls to your local and state officials., including the fire department and town hall. They’ll want to know.

[SeattleVet]

28. That probably won't do any good at all...

since these scammers are mostly in another country (a lot are coming in from India and Pakistan...and the Indian callers REALLY hate it when you call them Pakistani!) and spoofing whatever numbers at random, but within your exchange so it looks like it might be a neighbor calling.

A few years ago someone doing phone banking for a local political campaign spoofed their number as (911)911-xxxx. Our local 911 was flooded with calls when people tried to call back the 'missed call', or called to complain about the robocall. Of course, nothing ever happened to the campaign that was doing this.

[Midnight Writer]

24. They spoofed my brother's number to call me. I answered and it was a hearing aid pitch.

[ProfessorGAC]

33. How About This One, BA.

I have VOIP landline through my TV & internet provider.
So, when we get a call, the ID shows up on my TV.
About 2 weeks ago, phone rings, and I look at TV for ID.
It's Me!!! They called me from my own number! I was pretty sure I wasn't calling myself.
Didn't take long to decide this was definitely a scam call.

[TheBlackAdder]

35. I get those too! 😂

[Faux pas]

11. Thank you

my block list gets full and I have to delete to make room, it's a beotch

[underpants]

12. Give it a shot

Some other good advice on this thread.

[abqtommy]

14. I do the easiest thing for me to do: let any call where I don't recognize the number go to

voice mail. If the caller doesn't leave a message then it's a wrong number/spam call.

[GETPLANING]

16. We could get Mitch McConnell to pass legislation banning telemarketers easily.

Just tell him how much GDP is lost every year, and how much money it is costing business when people stop what they are doing to answer these damned calls. It has to be in the billions.
Banning telemarketers would probably start another stock market bubble!

[TheBlackAdder]

19. The GOP are so corrupt they are probably in cahoots with them or receiving kickbacks.

[winstars]

21. Been using the "disconnected tones" (S.I.T.) at beginning of my voicemail for years.

Almost all of these robo-calls are made by machines. When they hear the Special Information Tones I recorded at the very beginning of my voicemail, supposedly they think its disconnected and don't call back. The tones play and then my real voicemail starts. Over the years just a few friends hung up thinking my phone was disconnected.

I think it works, I still get them but maybe not as many as my friends...


Almost no one actually calls me anymore anyway, everyone texts me!!!

I just play the recording of the tones on another device as I record my answer message...


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/cf/IC_SIT.ogg/IC_SIT.ogg.mp3

[mercuryblues]

23. A lot easier

let the phone rig 3 times before you answer it.

that is the magic number. Most people set their answering machine to 4 or five rings. Scam and robocalls know this and don't want to waste time by having an answering machine pickup so they disconnect after 3 rings. After enough times the scammers will automatically put you on a dead (do not waste our time) number list.

As far as telling the caller to put you on the do not call list. HaHaHaHa. That only lasts for so long, before they start up again.

[brooklynite]

25. Um, if you get a scam call, nothing you do is going to "take you off the list"...

...all you're doing is confirming that your phone number is viable.

[defacto7]

26. You can block on any android as well.

But never pick up. You'll be sold to other lists as a viable number. Just let'm ring then block if you don't know who it is.

[SeattleVet]

29. Different autodialers have different settings for what the keypad numbers do.

I've reduced my scam calls from 4 or 5 a day to maybe one every two weeks by using my Ooma (VOIP phone) blocklist features - they are tied into the NoMoRobo service), and when I get calls from numbers I don't recognize I turn on the police scanner next to my desk - loud - and answer, "North precinct, fraud division." They usually can't hang up fast enough, and I very rarely will ever get a call from that number again.

If I'm in the mood and have some spare time I sometimes chat with the caller. If it's "Jimmy from Windows" or similar with a heavy accent I ask why a Pakistani is calling all the way over here. If it is a caller in India they get VERY irate at being called Pakistani. I tell them I really thought that they were from Pakistan because most of the people I know from India are much more honest and honorable, and that I'm sorry they have been reduced to having to make their living like this instead of doing a useful job in one of the brothels in Kolkata.

I also have a bookmark link on my desktop that opens a site called "Swearing in Hindi" that has a plethora of nice little phrases and words you can drop into the conversation. (Hint: they *really* dislike any description of the sexual acts you are accusing them of with other family members.) http://www.youswear.com/index.asp?language=Hindi (Definitely NOT safe for work, but one hell of a lot of fun!)

[Historic NY]

30. Its sets you up for more calls.....

[link:https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/did-you-fall-for-this-simple-phone-scam-youll-be-a-target-forever.html|

[cwydro]

31. I don't think that works.

Sorry.

For some reason, I rarely get scam calls, but answering them simply lets them know they have an actual working number.

Bad idea.