(Picture alt text: a screenshot of my phone’s call log, with numbers redacted (just in case). The phone numbers (except for one) are all spam calls)
I’m not sure if this is the correct place for this, but I am at my limit with these.
Constantly throughout the day I get spam call after spam call. I constantly report them to Google (I’ve got a Pixel 5, if it matters), yet nothing changes. This has been happening for months.
These calls will also leave the exact same, completely silent, 4-second voicemails. I will block and report spam, but you know how it is. There’s no way to turn voice mail notifications off, and I wouldn’t necessarily want to, because I know I’d miss something genuine or important.
What do I do? Is there anything I can do, beyond changing numbers? Even then, I’m sure a new number would exist in some database somewhere and be victim to more spam calls. This is heinous.
Thanks for reading. I’m just so frustrated.
Edit: this got a lot more attention than I anticipated. I appreciate the suggestions for different spam blockers and settings! It’s also nice knowing I’m not alone. Hopefully, at least in the US, we’ll get some real legislation eventually that will kill these spam calls once and for all.
I have a policy - only those who should know my phone number is family and they are very strict about asking me before giving to anyone who asks. So, it’s usually not given. Then for businesses and other places which require a phone number, I use a Google Voice number. From doctors, to banks, or other places. I rarely get the scam calls.
HOWEVER
I get around 6-15 SPAM text messages daily. All 100% Political for Trump, Biden, Harris, or whatever scammer tries to get me to support on my non-shared number. A lot try to guilt you into “donating” to them too! I feel bad because while I won’t fall for it, I know many people already do. I have to use Google Messages to effectively block those automatically.
I have AT & T and complained to them about it to be told that I could change my number, but it would be $40.00 to do so. That’s a big scam in itself and I refused.
The issue is lots of countries (including America) let scammers spoof a real life number.
So you get a spam call from a random local number block it because it was spam, but the scammers just use another number and all you’ve done is block a random number that’s owned by an actual individual or will be soon.
It’s all based on laws from decades ago and not accounting for modern tech
T Mobile has an app called Scam Shield that seems to do a better job than Google. If a call is identified as a scam, your phone won’t ring. You can report ones that get through. I installed this a few days ago, and it’s much more manageable now. I get something like 20 scam calls a day. This kept 15 or so from ringing.
I have started asking callers various disheartening questions, like “Is this what you planned for in life?”, “Does your family laugh at you?”, “Do your friends have better jobs than yours?”, “Are you an embarrassment to your parents?”. Most hang up, but a good number get upset - I imagine because their parents really are embarrassed by them. One person, whom I asked if he was happy with his choices in life, said “I am in hell”. My hope with these questions is for them to rethink a life of trying to cheat old people out of money.
If you have a pixel you can turn on call screening for unknown numbers. Ive been using it for a couple years now on my pixel and my phone hardly ever rings now, its fantastic
Sounds like an overcomplex and invasive solution for an easy problem. Just switch the number, obviously some strange people (and a lot) had access to it.
Then follow with best practices and never give out your phone number when possible. There are tons of free sms services you can use
You think switching your number is less complex than using call screen?
That would literally involve changing your number with most major web services you use including your bank BEFORE you get rid of your old number. Better hopr you don’t forget one because your not gonna get that sms verification code to log back in.
Thats a fair point. But the real and simple problem is “your phone number was breached somewhere, change it”. I never get spam calls or mails, people that are not careful do.
For what’s worth, I registered for the FCC’s do not call registry way back and it helped a bit - but once you’re registered, if you get spam calls, you can report the numbers to the FCC for having called you despite being on the registry. YMMV but it might be worth a shot!
There’s an app called tasker that let’s you set up some pretty deep automation on your phone. I’ve used this a set up a grey list on my phone.
If a call comes in from a saved contact, all is normal. If it’s an unsaved number though, it doesn’t ring and goes to voicemail as if I just didn’t answer at all. If, however, they call back within two minutes, it will ring as per normal and I then know it’s, likely, someone who actually needs me.
I set this up because my phone number gets passed around at work quite a bit. If someone really needs me, I always figure they’ll call more than once or text after a missed call.
Check your app store, there are a lot of spam blocker apps that can help with this. Some of them may be included with your phone plan depending on the carrier!
I use Google Fi, so I’ll take a deep dive for anything there. Any app recommendations? I’m nervous to search through the store since there can be many not-so-good apps that would probably need some hefty permissions (access to calls, call logs, etc). Thank you, though!
I’m also on fi and have the exact same issue as you. Same 4 second silent message, all of it. Drives me crazy. The worst part is Google is filtering out the calls so my phone doesn’t actually ring but I get the notification for the message. Probably 5-6 per day and I have no idea how to stop it. In fact I had one come through as I was typing this.
I use the one from my cell provider so sadly I can’t give any great recommendations. I would look for ones with a lot of downloads and a high rating maybe? Just do a search for “call filter” and it should pull up some good results
You could try Carrion from F-Droid. Theres also the national do not call registry to try out. I’m not sure if it worked but I no longer recieve 4-5 spam calls a day.
Do you have call screening turned on? I find that results in me getting much fewer spam calls than normal as the robots usually mark other machines as not-valid for scamming.
OP has pixel and is in the +1 area code from the picture meaning they are in America. So I don’t get why he/she is not using Google Call screen.
I still get spam calls, but my phone never rings or alerts me. The only way I find out is by occasionally opening call history.
The assistant can recognize most spam automated messages and it automatically hangs up. For real spam callers; they mostly hang up when they realize they have to talk to a robot first.
I usually get around 1 spam call per day, but sometimes I can get as much as 12 per day. I legitimately wonder why I even have a phone plan at this point and I know I’m not the only one who has considered that.
This is a nice app but it has the same pitfalls as most other apps: it filters by phone number, which is absolutely pointless in the age of number spoofing.
There was one time I got spam calls just one after another for a good 15 minutes in a row. Like as soon as I’d reject the call, another one would come in. I ended up just turning off my phone for an hour or so. We’re really in a bad state with spam
That still counts as an active number. Most providers these days have a spam blocking option, have you tried turning that on? I’m with tmo and get very few spam calls. I get the odd text offering to buy my house but I have my ways of dealing with them.
Where did I say anything about vm? I get very very few spam calls and androids dialer does a really good job of identifying the few calls that get through tmo as spam.
Here is my vm log, notice how few are actually there? I honestly don’t remember if/when I ever cleared any out from this phone number. My old ass direct line is on GV and it’s set to never ring.
The discussion was about letting it go to voicemail, I responded saying I pick it up, you said that counts as an active number. You didn’t mention vm, but that’s what the discussion started with.
I believe iOS has a built in feature to block spam calls, but I don’t use it. It already labels them as “Scam Likely”. If there’s anyone in the world named Scan Likely, I feel very bad for them.
I used to pick up spam calls and go along for as long as I could. For at least 5 years now my number has been blacklisted in India, I’ve never gotten a single Indian spam call since. I used to get a car warranty call every few months but I’m pretty sure they black listed me as well. I got pretty deep into the hierarchy getting names, payment details, anything. But the car they called me about doesn’t exist.
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I have a policy - only those who should know my phone number is family and they are very strict about asking me before giving to anyone who asks. So, it’s usually not given. Then for businesses and other places which require a phone number, I use a Google Voice number. From doctors, to banks, or other places. I rarely get the scam calls.
HOWEVER
I get around 6-15 SPAM text messages daily. All 100% Political for Trump, Biden, Harris, or whatever scammer tries to get me to support on my non-shared number. A lot try to guilt you into “donating” to them too! I feel bad because while I won’t fall for it, I know many people already do. I have to use Google Messages to effectively block those automatically.
I have AT & T and complained to them about it to be told that I could change my number, but it would be $40.00 to do so. That’s a big scam in itself and I refused.
https://www.fcc.gov/rules-political-campaign-calls-and-texts#:~:text=Political Robocall Restrictions,called party’s prior express consent.
Those calls and texts are illegal and should be reported.
I don’t even get political texts anymore
All my spam texts are from “people” asking if I want to go golfing, or sending me a picture of a wine bottle. It’s absurd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg
Thanks, I never knew that’s what it was called.
I was also the “victim”(?) of a brushing incident before. It was a strange experience.
The issue is lots of countries (including America) let scammers spoof a real life number.
So you get a spam call from a random local number block it because it was spam, but the scammers just use another number and all you’ve done is block a random number that’s owned by an actual individual or will be soon.
It’s all based on laws from decades ago and not accounting for modern tech
The phone companies could stop number spoofing if they wanted to, they just don’t see the benefit in doing so.
Someone should set up a robocalling system with number spoofing to call phone company execs and law makers to annoy them into stopping it.
They make a lot of money doing it…
And I think Colbert or Stewart did it
I got so tired of them that I actually answered one a few weeks ago. I was shocked that an actual person answered.
I asked to be taken off and she was very nice and they actually did it.
Haven’t received one since.
T Mobile has an app called Scam Shield that seems to do a better job than Google. If a call is identified as a scam, your phone won’t ring. You can report ones that get through. I installed this a few days ago, and it’s much more manageable now. I get something like 20 scam calls a day. This kept 15 or so from ringing.
I have started asking callers various disheartening questions, like “Is this what you planned for in life?”, “Does your family laugh at you?”, “Do your friends have better jobs than yours?”, “Are you an embarrassment to your parents?”. Most hang up, but a good number get upset - I imagine because their parents really are embarrassed by them. One person, whom I asked if he was happy with his choices in life, said “I am in hell”. My hope with these questions is for them to rethink a life of trying to cheat old people out of money.
If you have a pixel you can turn on call screening for unknown numbers. Ive been using it for a couple years now on my pixel and my phone hardly ever rings now, its fantastic
Phone > settings > call screen > automatically screen calls + maximum protection.
Sounds like an overcomplex and invasive solution for an easy problem. Just switch the number, obviously some strange people (and a lot) had access to it.
Then follow with best practices and never give out your phone number when possible. There are tons of free sms services you can use
You think switching your number is less complex than using call screen?
That would literally involve changing your number with most major web services you use including your bank BEFORE you get rid of your old number. Better hopr you don’t forget one because your not gonna get that sms verification code to log back in.
Thats a fair point. But the real and simple problem is “your phone number was breached somewhere, change it”. I never get spam calls or mails, people that are not careful do.
There’s a setting to screen call as many people mention.
But there’s another setting tucked away somewhere else to block unknown numbers and that’s helped me a lot as well.
Yeah, just block any unknown numbers. Who do you actually have calling you that you don’t know?
If they are blocked they’ll leave a message: “Call me”. It’s like no one has ever heard of screening calls with an answering machine.
For what’s worth, I registered for the FCC’s do not call registry way back and it helped a bit - but once you’re registered, if you get spam calls, you can report the numbers to the FCC for having called you despite being on the registry. YMMV but it might be worth a shot!
There’s an app called tasker that let’s you set up some pretty deep automation on your phone. I’ve used this a set up a grey list on my phone.
If a call comes in from a saved contact, all is normal. If it’s an unsaved number though, it doesn’t ring and goes to voicemail as if I just didn’t answer at all. If, however, they call back within two minutes, it will ring as per normal and I then know it’s, likely, someone who actually needs me.
I set this up because my phone number gets passed around at work quite a bit. If someone really needs me, I always figure they’ll call more than once or text after a missed call.
This seems a right strategy, I usually block all unknown number but I fear to lost some calls that are important.
same, i have google screen most of them and it still sucks
You have the Pixel, use your assistant on the calls. It’s good at screening them and they give up when they hit a robot talking to them.
As soon as i finish buying my house im very seriously considering whitelisting my calls.
How to do this? Serious question hoping for a think tank.
Here’s the voicemail log that I mentioned. It’s just insane.
I fixed that issue long ago by filling up my voicemail so no one can leave a voice message. Then have your voice mail tell people to send you a text.
I don’t even bother with voicemail anymore. They’ve completely taken it over.
What’s real funny though is I got a new number and it hasn’t gotten any spam calls at all, while my old one is still getting them.
Check your app store, there are a lot of spam blocker apps that can help with this. Some of them may be included with your phone plan depending on the carrier!
I use Google Fi, so I’ll take a deep dive for anything there. Any app recommendations? I’m nervous to search through the store since there can be many not-so-good apps that would probably need some hefty permissions (access to calls, call logs, etc). Thank you, though!
I’m also on fi and have the exact same issue as you. Same 4 second silent message, all of it. Drives me crazy. The worst part is Google is filtering out the calls so my phone doesn’t actually ring but I get the notification for the message. Probably 5-6 per day and I have no idea how to stop it. In fact I had one come through as I was typing this.
I use the one from my cell provider so sadly I can’t give any great recommendations. I would look for ones with a lot of downloads and a high rating maybe? Just do a search for “call filter” and it should pull up some good results
The UI on this one leaves a little to be desired, but it works great. I’ve been using it for quite a while now.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/me.lucky.silence/
You could try Carrion from F-Droid. Theres also the national do not call registry to try out. I’m not sure if it worked but I no longer recieve 4-5 spam calls a day.
Do you have call screening turned on? I find that results in me getting much fewer spam calls than normal as the robots usually mark other machines as not-valid for scamming.
I love call screening and I’ll never turn it off.
OP has pixel and is in the +1 area code from the picture meaning they are in America. So I don’t get why he/she is not using Google Call screen.
I still get spam calls, but my phone never rings or alerts me. The only way I find out is by occasionally opening call history. The assistant can recognize most spam automated messages and it automatically hangs up. For real spam callers; they mostly hang up when they realize they have to talk to a robot first.
I usually get around 1 spam call per day, but sometimes I can get as much as 12 per day. I legitimately wonder why I even have a phone plan at this point and I know I’m not the only one who has considered that.
For numbers that make it through Yet Another Call Blocker, they get sent to my Google voice mail (phone doesn’t even ring).
So then at most I have a notification of a call, and I can see it’s 2 or 3 seconds, so I know it’s BS.
I don’t think you can get an exclusive data plan. Or disable phone calls. But I would if I could.
You can effectively block all calls using Yet Another Call Blocker.
Optionally send all calls to voicemail.
I don’t see an option to block all calls.
This is a nice app but it has the same pitfalls as most other apps: it filters by phone number, which is absolutely pointless in the age of number spoofing.
Turn off notifications, turn on the service and advanced mode.
My phone never even rings. Ever. All calls are sent to google voice mail.
There was one time I got spam calls just one after another for a good 15 minutes in a row. Like as soon as I’d reject the call, another one would come in. I ended up just turning off my phone for an hour or so. We’re really in a bad state with spam
I’ve had maybe 1 scam call in 5 year after turning on tmobiles blocking feature. Check with your carrier if they offer such a thing.
I’ll just pick up the call and immediately mute my microphone. That way at least I don’t get the voicemail.
That still counts as an active number. Most providers these days have a spam blocking option, have you tried turning that on? I’m with tmo and get very few spam calls. I get the odd text offering to buy my house but I have my ways of dealing with them.
Your voicemail picking up the call still counts as an active number.
Where did I say anything about vm? I get very very few spam calls and androids dialer does a really good job of identifying the few calls that get through tmo as spam.
Here is my vm log, notice how few are actually there? I honestly don’t remember if/when I ever cleared any out from this phone number. My old ass direct line is on GV and it’s set to never ring.
The discussion was about letting it go to voicemail, I responded saying I pick it up, you said that counts as an active number. You didn’t mention vm, but that’s what the discussion started with.
I believe iOS has a built in feature to block spam calls, but I don’t use it. It already labels them as “Scam Likely”. If there’s anyone in the world named Scan Likely, I feel very bad for them.
I used to pick up spam calls and go along for as long as I could. For at least 5 years now my number has been blacklisted in India, I’ve never gotten a single Indian spam call since. I used to get a car warranty call every few months but I’m pretty sure they black listed me as well. I got pretty deep into the hierarchy getting names, payment details, anything. But the car they called me about doesn’t exist.
This worked for me. Over time I got less and less calls and now I get none at all. I’m guessing I got marked as inactive eventually.