Spam Phonecalls out of Control

[galaxy]

I’m in the greater St Louis area and was affected by the tornado that hit here back in March. Right out of the gate, the ambulance chasin contractors and roofing companies rolled into town. Shortly after, the f$&@ing phone calls started pouring in. Trying to sell me a roof and all kinds of crap. Funny part is the majority of the incoming spam is from the local area code. It’s out of control. The attached screen shot is from today, as is actually somewhere between an average typical day and a slow day. And this isn’t all from today, it’s just what fit in the screen shot. It’s been non stop since the tornado.

I’m about to change my dang phone number, but what a pain in the a$$ that is.

Is there any way to combat this?

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[sk47]

Hello; Such is the norm for me. I get these calls every day except Sunday. Can be 15 to 20 or more some days. Many have local area ID's and numbers. I switched to a fiber optic phone service for my land line which now announces the calls as it rings. helps but the calls keep coming. I saw a suggestion that do not answer the phone. So I turned off the answering machine. Made little if any difference. it is a land line and not a cell.

 

[S550HPP]

I turned off my voice mail and block all unknown or private numbers works like a dream.

Any respectable caller will have proper caller ID

 

[Skye]

I've done a few things over the years.

- I've registered my number with the GOV do not call service. https://www.donotcall.gov/

- If the number calling is an unknown number, or a call I'm not anticipating, I do not answer it. I let it go go voicemail and then listen to the message. Answering the phone and then hanging up is the same as answering the phone and talking to the other end: the dialing systems know it's a number associated with a human presence

- E-mails: I unsubscribe to anything not worthwhile

- For any service I'm part of, I always study the preferences sections of those accounts. I remove myself from any marketing campaigns or offers. If the customer does not do their business electronically, they can call the providers and request to be removed from all marketing efforts. Phone, cable, credit card and insurance companies are big resellers of your information

- I maintain a low social media profile. Bots and other scavenging tools are constantly trolling media pages, pulling numbers, e-mails and addresses, all to be sold or used later

- If by chance you pick up the phone and take a call, tell that person you're requesting to be removed from their listings; FWIW, they're supposed to, by law

I average one, maybe two, spam calls a month. Of those two, I answer neither. One might leave a voicemail.

I average two to four spam e-mails a month. I immediately delete all of them. Like answering a phone, it's a path into your devices.

These practices were implemented over the years, with a steady drop of annoyances. Now, it's no effort at all.

Edit,

Given the scale of the problem you're dealing with, for the companies or people you want to connect to, ask them to send you a heads-up text first, so you know the inbound call is legit.

For any of the measures taken, it will take time to see results. Listings need to be updated and sent out. Over time though, you should see the spam/marketing e-mails drop.

Good Luck.

 

[raptor17GT]

defo a good idea to get onto a no call list and opt out of everything re marketing when buying stuff online etc. Most mobile phones nowadays come with a SPAM report feature for calls so that can at least slow the rate of junk calls down. Either that or answer the call with - So how did you know the victim? See if that drops the caller ha. But aye, spam / robot calls are a bane

 

[tj@steeda]

I get 5-10 loan calls a day ... good times!

 

[Snakebyte]

Definitely a problem. I used to have ATT's free version of ActiveArmor but they've transferred that function to set up in iOS settings, supposedly. I still get spam maybe 3x per week, but thankfully not at the rate I was getting it.

 

[lacanteen]

I installed the app called Hiya and it reduced the calls a lot. I use the free version.

 

[sirben711]

I also live in the St. Louis area - unaffected by the stroms. But ever since them big one - I too have been getting 15-30 calls everyday. But they are all robotic. I wish it was an actual person trying to scam me. Whenever I pick up - they don't make a noise and they hang up. I have well over 1000 spam numbers in my phone now

 

[S550HPP]

Zero social profile paid private / secure email on owned domain helps a lot.

I buy Huawei phones from Europe or Asia because they have superior security /privacy device controls simply unavailable on Android or Apple plus dual SIM for travelling and Satellite comms good for both air and sea.

Current device offerings in USA / Canada are quite primitive aimed solely at collecting user data.

 

[pinksurfer]

keep in mind that spammers can project any phone number they want to for you to see. they project local numbers hoping you will pick up.

in a lot of cases it doesn't matter what you do as they go from number xx to the next one in line hoping for an answer and once they have one, they pass on to other scammers. keeping a low profile doesn't necessarily help. I have almost zero social media, never give out my number to businesses or websites and live in vegas with a green bay area code and I still get them even though i left the frozen tundra in 2017.

you can register for the gov't website and it'll help the legit cold calls but scammers are like a big game of "whac a mole". with gov't getting cut left and right, you should not expect help or resources there.

 

[The Demon]

I've done a few things over the years.

- I've registered my number with the GOV do not call service. https://www.donotcall.gov/

- If the number calling is an unknown number, or a call I'm not anticipating, I do not answer it. I let it go go voicemail and then listen to the message. Answering the phone and then hanging up is the same as answering the phone and talking to the other end: the dialing systems know it's a number associated with a human presence

- E-mails: I unsubscribe to anything not worthwhile

- For any service I'm part of, I always study the preferences sections of those accounts. I remove myself from any marketing campaigns or offers. If the customer does not do their business electronically, they can call the providers and request to be removed from all marketing efforts. Phone, cable, credit card and insurance companies are big resellers of your information

- I maintain a low social media profile. Bots and other scavenging tools are constantly trolling media pages, pulling numbers, e-mails and addresses, all to be sold or used later

- If by chance you pick up the phone and take a call, tell that person you're requesting to be removed from their listings; FWIW, they're supposed to, by law

I average one, maybe two, spam calls a month. Of those two, I answer neither. One might leave a voicemail.

I average two to four spam e-mails a month. I immediately delete all of them. Like answering a phone, it's a path into your devices.

These practices were implemented over the years, with a steady drop of annoyances. Now, it's no effort at all.

Edit,

Given the scale of the problem you're dealing with, for the companies or people you want to connect to, ask them to send you a heads-up text first, so you know the inbound call is legit.

For any of the measures taken, it will take time to see results. Listings need to be updated and sent out. Over time though, you should see the spam/marketing e-mails drop.

Good Luck.

just for fun I just checked and my phone number has been registered with the government since 2005 so 20 years and I still get 3 to 4 and sometimes 10 a day.

 

[Balr14]

I only answer our land line and that seems to no longer be popular with the scammers and spammers. It gets about 3 spam calls per day. On the other hand, I get over 100 scam emails per day.

 

[_zOmbIE_]

My pixel 9 filters out most spam calls for me, and the ones it doesn't, I just use the call screening feature.

 

[sk47]

Hello; This thread has been quiet for months. This time last year i was getting some 20 to 30 or more spam calls each day except on Sundays.
Something has happened so that lately i get far fewer. Some days only 3 or 4. I still have the same setup with my phone service. A couple years ago I switched to fiber optic cable from a local collaboration of Powell valley electrical utilities and Scott County VA electrical utilities. In addition to internet they offered a phone service.
The new phone service came with a new to me feature. That being my phone announces who the caller is as it rings. (Note- my phone is an older cordless land line type) I can avoid having to answer most of the calls now. I also can program legit names so I know to answer those. Nice upgrade.
I have an old fashioned answering machine which allows a legit called to leave a message. I screen the calls that way also. Well over 90% of the calls do not leave a message.
There is a trick or two in play. The incoming calls phone numbers & location names change all the time. Can appear to be local numbers and/or individual names, but if I answer it will be the woman with a British accent "Do you remember" or the "are you there" or just silence.

I probably miss some legit calls who do not leave a message.

Anyway I do not know why the volume is down. I hear some scammers have been shut down. Could the fiber optic provider be blocking the scams???

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