Under heavy attack from spam callers

[Jezza819]

It's not unusual for me to get a couple of spam calls per day. One of their tricks is to replicate my area code and the first three numbers of my phone number in hopes that I might think it's someone local trying to call me. I learned that one a long time ago.

But this past Thursday they have taken it to a new level. I got a couple relatively close together, maybe 15 minutes apart. Usually I swipe left to hang up on them then go into the phone calls received and block the number. But the second one came while I was on my work phone with a customer. That angered me so I went in and put the phone into Do Not Disturb mode. Well apparently that ticked them off. I had forgotten I had put the phone into DND and didn't look at it again for several hours later when I got home from work. There were about 15 spam calls that had come in with some having that same number trick but others from out of state area codes. But they were all relatively close together in time. Some less than 5 minutes apart, others about 20 minutes apart. Friday brought the same thing. About 15 or so spam calls. I even got a couple on Saturday and one Sunday morning.

Today it started at about 8am when I swiped left on the first one, put the phone in DND, now we're up to about 12 and they keep coming. So now I'm really mad about it. But what can be done? Can they see the phone is in DND mode and that's what's ticked them off so they're slamming me?

 

[Zolee10]

First I would report it to the provider and to the police. I dont knwo where are you from but I would gues there are some anti spam laws in place.

 

[me just saying]

go to your local sporting good store and get an air horn...seriously, it is to the point, I just don't answer the phone. I also have a google voice number which I give out instead of my real number and forward the calls. this way if I get too many spam calls, it is easy to change wihout losing the real number my family and friends have.

 

[Jezza819]

First I would report it to the provider and to the police. I dont knwo where are you from but I would gues there are some anti spam laws in place.

Verizon is my carrier. Should I take screen shots of all the calls lined up and how close together they are to show to Verizon?

 

[Jezza819]

go to your local sporting good store and get an air horn...seriously, it is to the point, I just don't answer the phone. I also have a google voice number which I give out instead of my real number and forward the calls. this way if I get too many spam calls, it is easy to change wihout losing the real number my family and friends have.

I don't answer the phone either unless it's someone I know. Just hanging up and blocking has been enough in the past but this DND seemed to have made them explode. Of course they've been doing the replicating my number thing for a few years now so they've got a lot of numbers to go through.

 

[Rose4uKY]

I keep getting him too but not that many but I had four today and a couple on my home phone it's all that dumb auto warranty thing and I just keep blocking different numbers. And then they try to replicate my first three digits too. It's crazy!

 

[Jezza819]

It's now 7:17AM and I just got my first one of the day. But unfortunately I'm expecting a call from my doctor today so I can't put it into DND mode. But as soon as I get that call, back into DND mode it goes.

 

[Mooncatt]

First I would report it to the provider and to the police. I dont knwo where are you from but I would gues there are some anti spam laws in place.

This is about half useless. The scammers will just spoof a new phone number and keep calling. The best thing you can do is not answer in the first place.

I would consider speaking to your carrier about changing your number to a different area code than to live in. If you can, then do so and add a block in your list for anything originating in that area code. This would be handy if you still need to accept calls from random people locally and DND isn't very productive. I use to live elsewhere, but needed changed my number when I moved. Because I no longer have contacts there and scammers spoof the area code of the number you have, I was able to block that area code, which cut my calls almost to nothing.

 

[werkx]

I'm on T-Mobile and they provide a service blocking and filtering spam calls. It's not perfect but seems to work well enough. Check with your carrier to see if they provide similar service.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Doesn't Google assistant "answer" the call to an extent while in DND? If so, that answer gives bots a green light to try to keep calling.

It is best to keep blocking the number.

 

[Jezza819]

I'm on T-Mobile and they provide a service blocking and filtering spam calls. It's not perfect but seems to work well enough. Check with your carrier to see if they provide similar service.

I've got that with Verizon and it will block known spam calls it's just that there's so many more from spoofed numbers than there are verified spammers.

Doesn't Google assistant "answer" the call to an extent while in DND? If so, that answer gives bots a green light to try to keep calling.

It is best to keep blocking the number.

And that was part of my original question. I was wondering if that DND was triggering something that was making them call more. Because once I put it into DND it was open season. So far today out of DND there has been 5 so maybe they will slow down and that DND caused this explosion.

 

[werkx]

I've got that with Verizon and it will block known spam calls it's just that there's so many more from spoofed numbers than there are verified spammers.



And that was part of my original question. I was wondering if that DND was triggering something that was making them call more. Because once I put it into DND it was open season. So far today out of DND there has been 5 so maybe they will slow down and that DND caused this explosion.

I'm no spam tech expert but I think it's a coincidence that the spam came hard after you turned on DND. I can't see how they can tell if it's on or not, unless your DND auto respond to a call or something.

 

[Jezza819]

Today there's only been about half as many as the previous two days and Thursday & Friday of last week. Maybe they're running out of steam. I'm going to give it the rest of this week and try to just wait it out because I really don't want to have to change my phone number.

 

[djm1947]

Today there's only been about half as many as the previous two days and Thursday & Friday of last week. Maybe they're running out of steam. I'm going to give it the rest of this week and try to just wait it out because I really don't want to have to change my phone number.

We have, on a few occasions, had calls spoofing our phone number. Obviously, we knew it was a spoof. We did not answer. Had about 7 calls for 2 days, then they started to decline and finally stopped after about 5 days. We also get many spoofed calls, most of which are automated. Just block them and move on.

 

[werkx]

I'm thinking that once they caught you answering, it confirms they called a real number so they ramp up the spam in hope to get you again. Hopefully it will stop soon for you.

 

[methodman89]

I spoke with a very nice man with a foreign accent who thankfully saved me from my irs tax oversight. Luckily for me, this 'tax agent' was able to stop the arrest by me buying him Google gift cards. I'm glad I answered the phone or I might be in jail. You never know!

 

[Jezza819]

We have, on a few occasions, had calls spoofing our phone number. Obviously, we knew it was a spoof. We did not answer. Had about 7 calls for 2 days, then they started to decline and finally stopped after about 5 days. We also get many spoofed calls, most of which are automated. Just block them and move on.

The ones spoofing my number are what I get the majority of the time. So far today there's only been 4 total so hopefully it's dying down. I haven't put the phone into DND anymore, I've just kept it on vibrate to avoid it bothering my co-workers or while I'm on my landline phone for work.

 

[Stanley Kubrick]

I live in Texas but still use my "old" Ohio number for the last 10 years. The spammers will use my Ohio area code all the time and that let's me know it's spam! I just decline the call and then block/report. I get maybe 2 or 3 spam calls a week, and probably 90% of those only register in my recent calls as blocked...I don't realize I even got them until I specifically look.

 

[me just saying]

I live in Texas but still use my "old" Ohio number for the last 10 years. The spammers will use my Ohio area code all the time and that let's me know it's spam! I just decline the call and then block/report. I get maybe 2 or 3 spam calls a week, and probably 90% of those only register in my recent calls as blocked...I don't realize I even got them until I specifically look.

I do the samething. I kept my old phone number from a town I used to live in. any calls from that town is spoof. I don't block nor report. waste of time since it is never the same number twice. I am finally down to a couple a week.

 

[tube517]

I went aggressive before and up to the election.

I use Youmail and blocked every call not in my contact list.

I got Zero Spam or Political calls. No voicemails either. Youmail plays "This number has been disconnected".

That ended that.