Sick of stupid spam calls

[Rudy Vey]

I am so sick of getting these stupid spam calls and messages. Most calls show a number in my area code, or one next to it, and often a town I have friends (or from a business, or doctors etc) in. You never know who calls you. Today it was Sara Larson from Master/Visa card (!!) company. The fact is that I was expecting a call from this town, but was not aware of the number that it would come from, so I picked up.
In most cases it is an automated message. My wife and I both get them, and i don't know how many times we have signed up on do-not-call lists.
Anybody else having this happening???

 

[luvmysuper]

Yes, and it's very frustrating.
And texts too. I have been getting 4 or 5 texts every day from Politicians, and no amount of reporting them as SPAM helps because Politicians can do it legally, which is a crime in and of itself.

Politicians won't make a law to stop campaigning because it would hurt their fundraising.
Politicians won't make a law to stop other SPAMmers because they don't care. Someone else answers their phone for them.

 

[SharpieB]

In Canada it is insane. Federal Government Tax Dept, Fedex, Amex and Duct cleaning. I get at least 2 duct cleaning calls a day. Unreal. Almost always from India but showing as a private or local number.

I get between 3-5 assorted scam calls every day.

 

[Ad Astra]

How about the fake emails? We used to get poor fakes, but they've gotten better - always from Azon, PayPal or a bank we actually use ... today it was a fake invoice from Geek Squad ($631) etc. Concerned my wife will be fooled one day.

Block them, and you might not get real email from your accounts. Very frustrating.


AA

 

[rbscebu]

For calls, just wait 16 seconds before you answer. Spam calls are automated and most will drop the call if not answered within 15 seconds.

 

[cleanshaved]

Yeah, on my work cell phone it would rings one person at a time around the office. I assume they are getting the phone number from the company web site as my number was taken off and I no longer get those calls, but the others still listed on the web site still do.
The do not call list only works for good honest telemarketers not fraudulent spam calls IMO. It also would not work if they are pulling your number from a list that does not have a do not call list, eg your website.

At home my wife insists on keeping the land line and we get a good amount on that.
I found asking them to not ring back had the opposite effect. I got better results from telling them to call me back, explaining to them my intent was to keep them on the line and waste their time with no intent to do business with them. That way they can't spam anyone else as while talking with me. That was followed with a click and that company has never called back after what was near 20 calls from them prior.

 

[cleanshaved]

For calls, just wait 16 seconds before you answer. Spam calls are automated and most will drop the call if not answered within 15 seconds.

I would expect most legit callers would hang up before 15 seconds as well. Who lets it ring that long when trying to call someone?

 

[rbscebu]

I would expect most legit callers would hang up before 15 seconds as well. Who lets it ring that long when trying to call someone?

If the call is important, they will let it ring longer. For over a year now, I have been doing this and not once have I had a person complain or received a spam call.

 

[ackvil]

Even with Spam apps I get quite a few Spam calls. However, for me it is spam emails. I get at least 100 a day.

 

[MaineYooper]

Almost daily I get a call, left on voice mail, from a law office wanting me to "be advised" that the client is expediting something and that I need to call back. I reported the number and now a different number calls. Exactly the same tone (aggressive) and same background noise. Lots of legal sounding words but nothing specific.

 

[Attog]

Yep, I hate spam calls, luckily on iOS 16+ you can set Focus to be reachable only by your contacts from your contact list. Which I set when I'm too annoyed by these calls.

 

[ctr]

The Do Not Call list is a joke. Probably have hundreds of numbers blocked now. They just keep coming. I have never purchased or made a donation from a cold call. Never will.

I agree that it is frustrating. Would like to jail the board members of companies that do this. One day for every cold call made by your company.

 

[njpaddy]

My wife uses her cell for all family communications. Mine stays on airplane mode 24/7. so I don't answer or respond to anyone. We still have a 20+ year old landline number (FIOS), used mostly for outgoing or important calls (medical, IRA, etc). Almost all incoming calls on the landline are ignored or blocked. Unless they leave a voice mail or we recognize the caller, we never answer. Our Panasonic landline phone has a very handy Call Block button.

 

[Hms123]

Very frustrating.

In addition to phony PayPal invoices, texts asking to buy my house, and lots of other junk, I sometimes get a spam call on my landline (with CallerID), which I ignore, followed immediately by a call to my cell phone from the same number. I then block that number from both phones. I rarely block numbers unless they tick me off…too much trouble.

The whole thing is ridiculous. At least the political calls stop when the election is over.

 

[Lightcs1776]

Yep, too many. I don't typically answer if I don't know the number. If it important enough, they will leave a message.

 

[Eric_75]

And texts too. I have been getting 4 or 5 texts every day from Politicians

Same here, Phil.

 

[The Knize]

I get lots and I do think it is a scandal. I really hate to think that some day I may be old and senile and fall for one of this scams. And think of all the wasted otherwise productive time. I think there is little more useful and happiness producing our government could do than to actually do something effective to eliminate these calls, but I agree with Phil for the reasons why it does not happen. However, I do not understand law enforcement not going after the scammers. Putting a bunch of these people in jail might discourage such scams. Fine some folks and it would pay the enforcement costs. It really is a miserable part of modern life that does not have to be there.

Our home landline went kaput for some reason quite a while ago and we have not bothered to get it fixed because the only calls we got on it were spam calls.

 

[ctr]

I get lots and I do think it is a scandal. I really hate to think that some day I may be old and senile and fall for one of this scams. And think of all the wasted otherwise productive time. I think there is little more useful and happiness producing our government could do than to actually do something effective to eliminate these calls, but I agree with Phil for the reasons why it does not happen. However, I do not understand law enforcement not going after the scammers. Putting a bunch of these people in jail might discourage such scams. Fine some folks and it would pay the enforcement costs. It really is a miserable part of modern life that does not have to be there.

Our home landline went kaput for some reason quite a while ago and we have not bothered to get it fixed because the only calls we got on it were spam calls.

We dropped the landline a long time ago for the same reasons. The line went out of service frequently. A few months of circus show from the local telco and they finally sent a lineman to our house. Usual stern warnings about inside wiring faults etc.

Guy checks the house, nothing. Climbs the pole, same problem. Goes to end of neighborhood, still no service. Checks main switch in town and finds a stripped piece of wire shorting our service. Resolved finally, but...

Phone company refused to give service credit for the outages. So we canceled and never looked back. Was all junk calls on the answering machine anyway. This was around 1998 or 99. Landline free ever since.

 

[captp]

I get an average of 10-20 spam calls a week. If your number isn't in my contacts, I don't answer. If it's a friend who's not in contacts, they should know to text or leave a message. Rarely check my voice mail.

 

[musicman1951]

We get at least 5 a day on the land line. That phone announces the caller and goes to the answering machine after 4 rings. If I don't recognize the caller I listen to the message and pick up if it's a call I want.

On my cell I don't answer any number that's not on my contact list. If they don't leave a message I then block that number.