How are people getting so many spam calls? I’ve gotten maybe 2 in the last 5 years. Not that I want spam calls but people consistently reporting getting several a week, or even day, makes me concerned I’ve done something wrong. Like some government system I’m supposed to be signed up to but I’ve somehow missed
Missed call
Submitted 2 days ago by restingOface@quokk.au to [deleted]
https://quokk.au/static/media/posts/Ej/8G/Ej8Gbq2cSp9lHP5.jpg
Comments
ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
dan@upvote.au 2 days ago
Some mobile networks have spam protection that’s enabled automatically.
You could also have a “clean” number, especially if you don’t use your phone number anywhere haven’t answered a spam call before, and nobody used it before you (or the previous user was a long time ago).
Spam callers can’t robodial literally every number, so they rely on lists of phone numbers that are known to be good/active, for example if they’ve answered a spam call before, if the number has been in a data leak, etc.
toynbee@piefed.social 1 day ago
I don’t know if this is still accurate, but I have a friend who used to answer calls from unknown numbers with “hello, this is First name Lastname.”
I don’t even answer calls from unknown numbers. His approach boggled my mind, in part because of what you just said.
blargh513@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
I get them because I was jobless for six months. Now that a lot of job sites sell your data and some jobs are straight up fake to collect data, it is so hard to stay off a list.
spicehoarder@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I was talking about this with my partner. The meta now is to use a dedicated email and phone number when applying for jobs.
FooBarrington@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I used to not get any as well. Then for a new job I had to sign up with an American company, and since I didn’t have a company phone yet, I used my private number.
Since then it’s been multiple calls/messages per day, but over the years it’s died down. I fucking hate it so much.
Kuma@lemmy.world 1 day ago
If you start at a new job and get a phone number that happens to have been owned by someone that signed up to a lot of stuff then you will get them… I sometimes also get random phonecall from old ppl that goes “oh shit wrong person” or text messages wishing me a happy birthday, I feel bad for those ppl. In the beginning did I answer them but it was annoying after x amount.
Apparently did I get a old mans phone number who was very loved but very bad at communicating that he changed his phone number and also signed up for many things. So I only answer if it is with in my work hours otherwise do I just ignore the phone call completely.
youcantreadthis@quokk.au 1 day ago
You and I do not sign up to shit that requires our phone numbers. Presumably because we do not enjoy getting fucking owned.
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
I got a lot of spam calls when I started signing up for “rewards programs” and eventually stopped signing up for them. I get 1-2 a week now.
JonTheKnight@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I don’t know how or why, but it’s 5-6 a day some days. Most get autofiltered so it doesn’t even ring but they still get to leave voicemails for some dumb reason. So I end up with an inbox full of clearly AI voice generated messages. Many of them are the exact same handful of recordings. It’s honestly frustrating as hell.
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe 1 day ago
I can’t use voicemail anymore. My message says “You can leave a message if you want, but I’ll never listen to it. If you want to reach me, send a text at this number, or email me at XXX.” That gets rid of most of the bullshit, and I only have to deal with people who were motivated to go the extra step to reach me.
Tiral@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
She doesn’t get it, she owes the IRS money! All they need are Apple gift cards to clear it up /s
Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
I don’t answer anything that isn’t identified and that I recognize. If they leave a message I will check it. It’s a pain that so many in the medical and service industries use unidentified numbers forcing telephone tag and they don’t use email or text only phone calls.
itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
95% sounds a little low.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 2 days ago
I’ve been pretty successful at reducing spam calls by simply reporting the calls to the USA’s donotcall registry LINK HERE and also pretending to be a robot trying to take up as much of the scammer’s time as possible.
adarza@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
since STIR/SHAKEN rolled out, the scam and robocalls here have really dropped off. only a few per week now… even to the phone numbers that are published (intentionally) online.
of the ones that get through, nearly all of them are coming through new voip points-of-presence popping-up in small towns all over our very rural part of the country.
PineRune@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I’m still getting about 5-10 per day. They’re all spoofed numbers with different area codes and the same or similar AI recorded voice lines.
Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
I’ll answer almost every call I can, but not say anything. I’ve learned that they wait for an answer before starting their shpeel, so if I answer and remain quiet, they hang up thinking I’m another bot. Then I block the number to be safe.
adarza@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
i do that too. if it’s from a number i’m gonna answer, i do. and then watch the call timer on the phone and don’t say anything until after three seconds. legit callers are always still there, the computers–never are.
if a call rings through that the phone company has tagged in caller id as probably bogus. i just answer and hang-up right away. they don’t call back.
FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 2 days ago
You gotta at least start with your most white-person “hello” possible. If its a human they might just assume silence means the call was dropped.
scytale@piefed.zip 2 days ago
Call screening features are great. iPhones recently added a call screener that pre-answers the call to ask who is calling. I know at least Pixels have had it for a while.
EchoCranium@lemmy.zip 15 hours ago
The main reason I ended up with another Pixel phone was for the spam filtering. A couple calls a day go straight to the automated answering service (where I can see the speach-to-text response of the caller on the screen) or get blocked completely. Text messages typically come through, but they’re less annoying, and I can add them to a spam list.
Pascaloi@piefed.social 1 day ago
Funny thing about that though is that it asks the caller to say their name but many of the spam caller just say my name, so now my iPhone says maybe: my name as the caller.
scytale@piefed.zip 1 day ago
To me, that’s a flag that the caller isn’t worth my time. More often than not if they refuse to identify themselves, they’re not actually legit, so the mechanism still works.
rumba@lemmy.zip 18 hours ago
God that’s how i feel about email at work. 99% of the inbound shit is trash, that 1% is my ultimate duty though.
thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
fuck the mobile system
sms, phone calls, sim cards, mobile data system
sms is way less feature complete and structurally good than options like Signal, Fluxer, and Matrix
same with phone calls
sim cards and esims are crap and could be replaced with accounts or Privacy Pass style anonymous keys
mobile data system is overcomplicated and has no reason not to just be an isp that offers mobile dataFlower@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Don’t participate in contests where you get a code, and you have to go to a site to verify that code and give your data. They’ll sell that phone number immediately to telemarketers.
Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
My phone is on silent and mostly ignored now. I hate it
Asafum@lemmy.world 2 days ago
This is the way.
From what I understand there seem to be some sort of lists that mention activity of any given number based on whether you answered a call so I literally never answer if I don’t know the number and now I rarely get a spam call. Like maybe 4-5 times in a year. My number is probably flagged as inactive or something on these lists.
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 1 day ago
theyre even doing it through sms more
snowdriftissue@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Anecdotal, but several people I know who used to get loads of spam calls noticed a very significant and lasting decline in frequency after signing up for www.easyoptouts.com. Seems like a good thing to do anyway, might be worth trying if you struggle with this.
takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
There’s also donotcall.gov that is for free.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
There’s also donotcall.gov that is for free.
LOL. This has literally never worked.
Gates9@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Ordered some stuff online from Merrell, two days later, order cancelled because I didn’t pick up the phone to verify an order which I had already gone through two different sets of two-factor identification to complete. No worries, upon considering redoing the order, it was too much money anyway. Thanks for saving me a buck, Merrell!
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
What’s Merrell?
minkymunkey_7_7@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Shoes. I like their shoes.