I really hope AT&T starts censoring these damn spam calls. I've had 5 today.
I got one (Verizon) just as I started reading the comments for this post. :(
There are solutions[1], but you'll need to wait until next July[0],at least in the US. It's not a complete solution, but it should take care of the vast majority of scam calls.
[0] https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication
[1] https://transnexus.com/whitepapers/stir-and-shaken-overview/
Google recently unveiled plans for its "verified calls" feature, so that might help if you're on an Android 11 device.
I personally do not answer any calls from numbers not on my contact list. If a call was urgent, I'd normally recieve a text message (if informal) or an email (if formal, like the bank, for example) from the caller eventually.
That was 5 years ago. Maybe they've changed?
I do. Then take the time to get an actual human on the phone. Then I verbally abuse them until they hang up.
It's not effective in stopping them, but while I'm spewing vulgar stuff at them, they're not trying to rip anyone else off.
T-mobile already classifies these calls as 'Scam likely' and they've never seemed to misclassify any, so obviously it can be done.
Took a long time to clear up in California.
They do, my local politician robo-calls all his constituents with info, and T-Mobile always flags his calls as spam.
I guess in a way it's spam since it's unsolicited? But it's real info, and relevant to the local people he's calling, and keeping people informed is part of his job.
That’s a feature, not a bug.
> robo-calls
Yeah that sounds like spam. If info needs to get sent out, try email. Robo-calls are intrusive, and generally the wrong medium for transmitting information.
Edit: Obtrusive -> intrusive. Although I guess both are technically correct.
That's the way pretty much every spammer justifies their existence and somehow manages to sleep at night.
The only reason robocalling by politicians is not illegal is because it's them who get to make the laws. They should all get in the sea, alongside all the other spammers.
Granted that feels different than a phone call, but the intent may be the same.
Also, usually, you can unsubscribe to email lists/sender. While you can't do that for phone calls. You might block a specific number, but those robo-calls might use many different numbers