Junk calls

[Ray1936]

I get my share of junk calls, usually some guy from India or Pakistan or Hamtramck. [[Ooops.....scratch that last one...just havin' fun!)

Since I'm retired and have a lot of spare time on my hands, I usually try to have some fun with them, stringing them along as far as I can. There are clips on YouTube that are really funny thanks to the folks that recorded their calls and posted them.

So....question. What do you do with calls that are obviously junk? Play around with them at all, or just hang the phone up [[Uh.....I don't guess anyone really "hangs" their phone up any more.....force of verbal habit....)

Post away. I'd love to get some good tips!

[Maof]

I always get them from Warren, mostly political ones. I'm either Susan or Richard, neither of which is my name. Only once did I call back and called them out. They hung up. I block the numbers.

[Richard]

They can capture your number or your friends numbers and use them to call others,that’s the problem with blocking them.

I advertise a lot on marketplace that is like a hotbed of collecting names,addresses and numbers.

I guess the only comfort lays with as I get older and more forgetful,there will always be my friend in India calling me to remind me of extending my car warranty 6 times a day,it’s pretty thoughtful of them in that regards,I could have forgot I never even had a warranty in the first place.

I do notice an increase in calls every time I sign up to purchase something on the internet and think the least they can do is send me a cut of the monies they get for selling my information.

These make money while working from home scams are exactly what they are doing,sitting at home collecting everybody’s information and selling it.

Back in the 1990s I used to buy targeted mailing lists by zip code from the DMV,I dealt with Volvo service and they would sell me the name and address of everybody that owned a Volvo by zip code.

Embrace technology they told us,it will make your life easier,biggest lie of the century.

Oddly enough as of late most of the calls seem to be coming in between 4 n 6 pm,I used to like to mess with them but now I just do not answer the phone at that time,if it is important somebody can leave a voicemail.

Actually the solar panel install scam is the most prevalent for me as of late.

[jcole]

Apparently everyone in New Haven MI works for insurance companies, has my number on speed dial and is named Susan

[WKL]

Got an irate message from someone in Texas. Seems he didn't like me calling all the time. It was a message because we don't pick up if we don't know the caller. Figure if it's important they will leave a message. Guess he hasn't figured out that the robo-callers spoof phone numbers and you can block numbers.

Come to thing of it, my auto warranty expiring seems to important. They do leave a message. Including a press "9" if you don't want to receive the calls anymore. No way am I press "9".

[Maof]

apparently everyone in new haven mi works for insurance companies, has my number on speed dial and is named susan

lol

[Zacha341]

My favorites are the phone sales/ scam/ marketing ones I get with very strong accents claiming their name is 'kevin'.

As I am an independent I get calls from all perspectives politically. Good times indeed - especially during election time!

[Lowell]

The workaround I use is to keep a really tight Contacts list. Then, in my Phone* settings, I turn on "Silence Unknown Callers". When a call comes from a number that is not in my Contacts it is immediately sent to my Voice Mail.

I would say 19 out of 20 unknown numbers are spam calls as they rarely leave a message and I am not disturbed other than having a message flashed on my screen that I had a call and a silent haptic buzz as I have also turned off ring tones from sounding.

However, when ever I get an unknown number that is a bona fide call, I immediately add the number and person's name to my Contacts.

*I use iPhone but I'm sure Android and other phone OS's have the same. Apple now transcribes voice messages so it is easy to check the voice mail box and spot the occasional bona fide message. I've long ago dumped my land line.

[Zacha341]

^^^ Awesome tip, thanks.

[jcole]

I was doing that until my Dr's office got a couple new lines and then I had to set a bunch of medical appts where they call from 800/886 numbers and they screwed up my system.

The workaround I use is to keep a really tight Contacts list. Then, in my Phone* settings, I turn on "Silence Unknown Callers". When a call comes from a number that is not in my Contacts it is immediately sent to my Voice Mail.

I would say 19 out of 20 unknown numbers are spam calls as they rarely leave a message and I am not disturbed other than having a message flashed on my screen that I had a call and a silent haptic buzz as I have also turned off ring tones from sounding.

However, when ever I get an unknown number that is a bona fide call, I immediately add the number and person's name to my Contacts.

*I use iPhone but I'm sure Android and other phone OS's have the same. Apple now transcribes voice messages so it is easy to check the voice mail box and spot the occasional bona fide message. I've long ago dumped my land line.

[pjbear05]

My cordless/answering machine's handsets display "Unavailable" or "Wireless Caller", with the phone number for junkers, which trip the answering message on the 3rd ring. These fools hang up as or after the message plays; I hear them click off.

[Jimaz]

Robocalls to End - ALLEGEDLY

NOTE: I GOT ZERO ROBOCALLS YESTERDAY. UPDATE: HAVE RECEIVED SEVERAL ROBOCALLS TODAY. They were marked as "Spam?"

Once again, they claim they can make them stop.

[Richard]

I have a stand alone fax machine,mostly because it is internet based and I can do free international calling,but it never gets any spam or robo calls,I wonder why it is immune to that,maybe the internet and cell phone companies sell your number and figure a fax number would be of no value?

My robo and spam calls have doubled in the last week,I contributed it to filling out online insurance quotes,there always seems to be an uptick when I do something like that.

I do not think they can make them stop.

[jcole]

Because a fax doesn't come through the same as a phone call. The fax machine would have to be called by another fax machine and you would receive...a fax. If a regular phone dials a fax machine they can't negotiate and would error out. I have received "fax spam" where companies send out fliers advertising some trip or service, but it's not nearly as annoying as having to check your phone every time it rings. Fax machines are sort of autonomous and answer themselves.

I have a stand alone fax machine,mostly because it is internet based and I can do free international calling,but it never gets any spam or robo calls,I wonder why it is immune to that,maybe the internet and cell phone companies sell your number and figure a fax number would be of no value?

My robo and spam calls have doubled in the last week,I contributed it to filling out online insurance quotes,there always seems to be an uptick when I do something like that.

I do not think they can make them stop.