Submitted 5 weeks ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
Just a sampling from last week. Every single one of these is the same scam. I had another seven yesterday.
I never answer and they always leave the same prerecorded voicemail message (although that message seems to change every few days) about me owing taxes, which I absolutely don’t.
I also get most of them within an hour, which makes it even more annoying.
And yes, I’m on the do not call list.
Someone please make it stop!
Does anyone answer if you call back?
I love fucking with the actual scammers. Last time I actually paid for an eFax subscription and kept spamming them back with fax calls.
It took a day or two but they stopped calling.
I’d be worried about trying because they’d think I was doing it because I missed their call and would be a good mark.
That’s when you’ve got them on the hook. Then you string them along until they finally realize that you’ve been messing with them the entire time and start angrily cursing you over the phone.
I make it my personal mission to waste as much of those shitbags time as possible.
I had an older lady call me to ask why I had been calling her phone. Had to explain that scammers were faking caller ID numbers, it wasn’t me, and everyone was dealing with the same garbage phone calls. She was initially ready to chew me out, but deflated pretty quickly when she realized her vexation would have to be vented toward someone else.
Settings -> Apps -> Phone -> Silence Unknown Callers
Might make it more bearable if you’re not already using it. But it’s still annoying even then.
Thanks, that will help. Although I hope the legitimate unknown calls I get, and I do get them not infrequently due to things like medical issues, will know to leave a voicemail.
They will unfortunately also get filtered. What I do is to direct important callers to ensure they leave a VM, or send and email or text.
If you can, turn off unknown callers from being able to reach you.
I’ve done this and it’s been wonderful. The spams have actually decreased significantly since I don’t answer the phone for them at all anymore.
It’s under Settings > Phone (have to go into Apps in iOS 18) > Silence Unknown Callers
Anyone who is not in your contacts gets a ring but the ring doesn’t go to you so you don’t hear it and don’t answer. They can leave a voicemail but scammers never leave me voicemails.
Someone else showed me that earlier and I turned it on. So far, so good!
Yet Another Call Blocker has worked brilliantly for me, for years how. This stuff doesn’t even show up in my call log.
Any chance you have a frienemy that is doing shenanigans?
If so, it’s a long-term frienemy if they know my phone number.
Start reporting these numbers to the FBI as scam-related.
Once they realize any number that calls you gets burned, they’ll stop.
The can spoof any number. They usually go with something local (to you) to increase the odds of you picking up.
Calling back will get you Bob on the other side of town who has no idea what missed call you’re talking about.
Do you have a source on them being able to spoof any number? I find that hard to believe
InEnduringGrowStrong@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
It’s likely a robocaller, in which case, send them to a recording of the SIT intercept tone.
This thing: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IC_SIT.ogg
It needs to be the first thing the machine hears, so might not work as a voicemail welcome message if your provider has their intro before your message.
It might take a few calls/days before you’re purged from their multiple instances of robocallers.
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
That’s cool. Thanks!