OT discouraging junk phone calls

Depends on whether the spammer's fancy dialer records and uses the result they get when calling that number.

When you want to allow callers you care about to leave a message if you choose not to answer the call or arent there to answer it.

You can with some smartphones.

Caller ID helps. Some days the portable is next to me so I just push the receive button followed by the End button to shut up the ring. Occasionally, I just unplug the phone line.

I get a lot of junk calls. I have time and sometimes play with them to waste time. I've been cursed out a few times.

I worked as a network engineer for a major US telco for about a decade and on a few occasions we sat around and spitballed ideas for putting a complete stop to telemarketing calls, spam calls, scam calls, etc. Some of it can be legitimate, but a lot is not. Our conclusion was that we couldn't do it alone, within a single telco, but we certainly had the capability to see all calls that originated within our company, so if we worked with counterparts from the other telcos we'd be able to identify all calls, without using the problematic CallerID. We also thought there should be a customer-facing component, as well, where the callee can, for example, enter a #xx code during a spam call to ask the telco to add the current caller to a database. There should be an appeal process, in case a caller is unfairly flagged. Bottom line, our consensus was that we could fully solve the problem, even if we couldn't do it alone. There was no management buy-in at the time, but I think that might be changing. I've been gone from there for over a dozen years.

I put them into call block. They like to change phone numbers, but only have about four, so it takes about four shots, then blessed silence.

Not convinced given that the flagrantly illegal fraudulent calls are in fact from out of the country. You are never going to get the worst of those operations shut down by their own country and it is so easy for them to change where they are calling from now.

Don't believe that it was possible then with calls from outside the country particularly.

Well I'm willing to wait, another dozen if need be. If I write them, should I mention your name.

I could do that but how does that help? You've still answered the phone and I've been told that encourages them, and other spammers they sell your number to, to keep calling you.

LOL

Most (not all) "junk calls" today are Robo-calls.

That is, the call is being dialed by a machine/computer, and NOT by a person.

The robot caller is waiting for the receiver to be lifted off the hook, and then will connect to a live scammer/salesman.

So... If you pick up the receiver (or otherwise answer the call) you are doing what the robot WANTS you to do.

However... if you let it "go to the answering machine", the answerer will play the greeting. The robot will then disconnect, as it has no purpose or response to an answering machine (it wants a live person with whom to connect to the live scammer).

No "answer" can be left by the robocaller, it just disconnects and calls "the next number".

IF you have VOIP (for the home phone), see if you can get "NoMoRobo". It's free for non-commerical home use on VOIP-based phones.

NoMoRobo will "cut" the call between the first and second ring if it's a "known spammer". Works very well, unless the robocaller is using/spoofing a "known good" number (i.e., the number of a real person or business).

At my place (with NoMoRobo), these are the possible scenarios:

Phone rings. If I can see the caller ID on the phone, and IF it's a known good number/person, I'll answer. Otherwise...

Phone rings. Unknown number. If it's a "known spammer" number, NoMoRobo cuts it after first ring (caller ID is sent between first and second ring).

Phone rings. Unknown number to me. I let it go to the answering machine.

- If it's a robocall, the greeting plays, the robot disconnects, the call ends.

- If it's a live person (that I don't know), they get to talk to the answering machine.

- If it's a pre-recorded message from the city, etc., it goes on the answering machine.

In other words, if you try calling me, I won't be talking to you. Unless I already know you and can identify you via caller ID.

NONE OF THE ABOVE applies to cell phones. There IS a version of NoMoRobo for cell phones, but it's a "pay-for" subscription.

I have a cell phone but you can't call me on that, either, because it's ALWAYS turned off.

(I don't particularly care for telephones of any type, and rarely use them...)

Setup for the original question.

Part 1 of the original question.

Original question.

Yes, but the question was about the idea, very often told, that answering the phone encourages spammers to call again**.

WRT this, how is answering the phone myself different from letting the machine answer the phone?

I have that. It seems to work well, but there are others that sneak through.

Yes, and thank you, but you are not the only one who didn't address the original question.

Yes. If I used my cell phone much, I might consider it. I did get one junk call on Tuesday as I walked into Lowes, and I answered it and told the caller he shouldn't have even called me.

Mine is off 95+% of the time. If I go out, I take it with me and I often turn it on then, but I'm not allowed out very much.

Can't see it myself given that lots of spam calls must see the phone owner at work or out with or without an answering machine.

I use mine for all incoming and outgoing calls, mainly because all outgoings are free to any landline or cell phone number in the country and that approach sees all the contacts and call history in the same place and the call quality is considerably better too.

I have been considering leaving no handset on the landline, but once every couple years, I do get a call that I care about on the landline, couple of days ago from Apple when seeing if they could help with a quirk on my iphone.

Interestingly, there are still a lot of people there who know me, so if your letter ended up in the right area it would get a serious look. Let's not do that, though.

Yesterday I had 14 calls on my home phone 18 on my cell. Though I did instigate three of them.

Got a call on my cell, probably for windows or solar panels. They had my address from four years ago. I gave a fake name and thought that was the end of it. Fast forward some months, I get a call for "Vladimir" so I took it. This was for solar panels, so, I made an appointment. I guess the guy showed up and they called me three times but I did not answer.

At home I get calls for Dan, the guy that had my number five years ago. Lately, I tell them I'm Dan's brother. I'm just here cleaning up the mess, he was shot and killed a couple of weeks ago and the police just let up in the house. Yeah, lots of blood splatter.

I get calls from Amazon and WalMart about a suspicious order for an Apple iPod. I tell them I want to be sure it is delivered as it is a gift for you mother. She comes over all the time and gives me (fill in sex act) all the time so I want to get her a nice gift.

I no longer " have some fun " with the phone solicitors - just in case one of them is having a bad day and decides to visit and throw a brick through my front window. We generally look at the call display and let 'er ring when it's an odd looking number .. a legit caller will leave a message and get a return call promptly. I wonder if your 14 + 18 calls in a day are the result of your phone solicitors adding your number to every scam caller in the world ... ? their revenge .. I get ~ 1 per day. sometimes 2 sometimes zero. John T.

On our land line, we use NOMOROBO, which is free. Normally, we'd be bothered by a single ring followed by silence from a call that NOMOROBO intercepts. However, all our phones at home are part of a Panasonic cordless set which can easily be programmed to mute the first ring of every incoming call. We have our voice mail set up to answer the call after the 5th ring (the 4th ring that we hear). Calls that we prefer not to answer are generally from caller ID information of either "caller unknown", "possible spam" or a name we don't care about or don't recognize. We only get 0-3 calls/wk that are undesired. Rarely do they leave a message and it's usually a recording.

Our cell phone numbers have been provided to fewer than 10 people and all of them are either relatives or close friends. We use the phones only when we're out of the the house. At all other times, they're turned off. We've never had either of our phones ring through with a spam call in more than 15 years using the same 2 cell phone numbers. Also, never received a spam text msg. Our T-Mobile Scam Shield app records that it blocks generally 0-4 spam calls/wk.

In short, we don't feel bothered by the spam call or text problem. I suspect that we've fallen off some of the black web spam calling lists because no spammer ever gets a live voice on the line.

One issue is I live in Florida, many older residents ripe for scams and Medicare plans. Need final expense insurance? I can find a guy to hook you up.

You're far more popular than I am, but that wasn't unexpected. On a busy day, I might get 2-3 spam calls. Most days I don't get any.