Are We Winning the Robocall Wars? - Comments Page 2

I wonder if there is some way to jail anyone who buys something from a robocaller. No money to be made, the problem goes away.

I've had T-Mobile for many years, I use NameID from them and I get zero robocalls on my iPhone. Zero spam texts. Just none. It can't get better than that for me.

Comcast and other VoIP services include NOMOROBO which blocks all #s it has determined to be "illegal" after one ring tone on the VoIP line.
We have become used to not reacting to any call unless it rings more than once. They also display the incoming phone # on the TV screen which helps if we happen to be watching TV. A 3rd option also provided by Comcast is a setup called "Anonymous Call Rejection" which blocks all calls that have blocked caller ID display.

Further to Edward C above:
This is also what I do, following your "old fart" method and also find it works well.
I only say hello, ONCE and as Edward suggests, hang up in three seconds. Some people say hello again and again. This gives the switching software time to switch call to an operator.

My Verizon phone announces the caller. If I hear a name, I know it is in my contacts. If I hear a number it isn't and I don't even move to pick up the phone. If it is an emergency from a friend and it is important, they will leave a message and I will get it.

iPhones already offer the Call Screen feature.

If a caller's number is not in my contacts list (or a recently called number), the call goes straight to voicemail without ringing. If the caller leaves a message, the phone beeps.

This is the best new feature on a phone in years. And a great example of solving a problem locally that the industry seems unable to fix globally.

I have a few methods that work.
None of them are that urgent in that I get only 1 or 2 robocalls a month. My landline is nonpublished; that cuts things down a lot.
For the cell, the first mode of attack is to follow a method mentioned above: if you pick up and nobody answers in 2 seconds, hang up right away.
Once I got a call from "Joan" from the "extended warranty department." I used to hang up right away but I let it play out, seeking a live person to annoy. At the end of the recording it said press 2 if you want no further calls from us, I did that and that was the end of it.
If I got a live person I might start by asking them which car did this apply to. After they sputtered a bit I might lure them into an answer, asking is it the Cadillac or the Rolls? Then I'd ask "which year"? If they gave me a figure I'd say, "Oh No, you're too late, I wrapped the Caddy around a tree! You must be thinking of the Rolls. Would you like to know what kind of tree it was? And its year of birth?" As for the Rolls, there is always the Silver Phaeton model and the Silver Mist. And Oh, sorry, I gave you the wrong model (or year, or body style, or drive on the left or right). Anyway, that's the general idea. Lure them in with questions of increasing specificity and them drop them abruptly, saying sorry, I forgot this or that.
Time may be important to them, but if it's no more than a game for you, the trick is to enjoy yourself while irritating the crap out of them. Enough of this and the poor jerk will be so frustrated all he'll be able to do is go home.
You can have more fun with the grandchild arrested, needs bail money scam.
You can ask which grandchild, I don't recognize the voice. (Offer 2 names.) And then, Oh, no, you're the wrong grandchild. It's about time you faced the music and stopped doing things that get you arrested. T consider your being locked up the punishment I couldn't give you and you richly deserved. But for now, I hope your cellmates enjoy that cute little tushy of yours. Assuming it's still as cute as it was last time I spanked you. You can go on and on.... Don't let them interrupt.

For home phone use, I finally found the AT&T CL84107. A call which is not on one of my whitelists goes immediately to the answering system, the phones do not ring at all. Calls from numbers / names on a whitelist behave as expected (phones ring, caller ID is announced, then goes to recorder if we do not pick up). Not having junk call ring has had an actual life changing effect.

Well, I often receive scam calls.( Australia has not wakened up yet)
However when I realise what it is I tell the caller his/her mother is a prostitute. It throws them completely off track and confused. I love some of the reactions I get. Try it!

I use an app called Hiya which alerts most but not all.

For 6 years, I've been using an app. called: "Should I Answer?" and I haven't had problems with robocalls. There are two versions of it. One is a paid version and the other is called: 'The obsolete Version'.

Don't be discouraged by the name 'Obsolete'. It's free and it works like the paid version, without it's bells and whistles. "Should I Answer?" screens all phone calls and only lets the call go into your phone if you have it in your contacts list. Otherwise, it goes to voicemail and you can screen it later, if you want to. You can find "Should I Answer?" in Google Play and Apple apps.

After you download it, make a few clicks for settings and your off to tranquil days without robocalls. Some times it can ring once, but it notifies you with a rating if it is a potential scam. Other times, it doesn't even ring at all. So your good to go. Just remember to keep up to date the phone numbers in your contacts list.

When I worked, the #1 rule about making calls was "identify yourself first." That was in the days before caller ID; now, that rule caller ID should identify you.

Too often, it doesn't. I get phone numbers, city names, "out of area," "unknown caller," the letter V followed by 14 digits, and even "potential spam." I answer none of them.

Like a few others above in this list of comments, we use nomorobo.com for our landline at home. Our phone service is with Cox and nomorobo works with them just fine. When you set up this service they tell you who they work with. If they see a robocall, we just get one ring then nothing. So we don't even get up until a second ring of the phone. This free service has worked very well for us.

If you think getting RoboCalls is bad, try being the phone number they're using as a spoof (it has to be someone's!) They were using my number as caller ID. I got tons of very angry people who *69'd (call back) and let their vocabulary get extremely colorful. After a few weeks they moved on to a different caller ID. Until they did, I was getting dozens of calls a day.

Like several others I use Google Voice for calls to my old (previously-landline) number. I get an average of two telemarketing calls per day, but I have Google Voice set to voicemail only. Transcripts of all phone calls are emailed to me, so I can instantly see if it is anything important that I need to respond to. In most cases there isn't even a message -- the telemarketer has hung up -- so I just ignore it. This has worked great for the past several years.

I must be one of the fringe groups: We 'only' get about one robocall every few weeks. Number spoofing is no big deal for us since our VoIP number is intentionally from a different state/area code. I think we still have nomorobo on the line but I don't even know if it works anymore and don't really care!

Thanks for this interesting expose' of the robo-callers. Also, the comments you allowed to be posted are helpful.
Later, John.

I agree, with one of the previous commenters, that fines are just a joke (especially since they will never be collected), and honestly think that life imprisonment would be the perfect solution for convicted offenders...

I keep a boat horn nearby for when they call. It's fairly effective and the number of calls that I get has dropped quite a bit. I guess they don't like getting their eardrums blown out. LOL

I have developed a habit of just letting my phone go into voice mail if I don't recognize the phone number. It seems to be helping because I can go days without getting a spam call. I have come to the conclusion, if they want to talk to me...they can leave a message and maybe I will call them back if it is any interest to me or my family.