Some cellphones have a feature that can be turned on so only calls from numbers that are in your contacts list ring your phone, others go to voicemail and the caller can leave a message without disturbing you. Text messages can be set up to filter "unknown senders" that are not on your contacts list and those texts don't make a sound notification when they come in. You'll see those texts when you check your text app, but you won't be disturbed by a notification. I have both of these features set up on my Iphone.
jackfrank ... I was sitting here listening to this and thinking what you wrote ... glad you have those settings and time for me to see if Android 14 has any settings like what you have been able to set. If not, time to lobby for it. 👍 [Edit: Yay! Found it! Phone app - settings - blocked numbers - Unknown ... 🤗 I don't go into blocked numbers because for many years all it had was numbers I had blocked. Did not know about the Unknown setting until reading these comments. Thanks!]
One technique that sometimes work, answer the call but remain totally silent. Robo-callers tend to recognize that as a "dead line" and removes your phone number from their list.
This works for me: in contacts mark phone numbers you care to receive calls from i.e. family, doctors, friends, as favorites. Next turn on "Do Not Disturb" . All the unmarked numbers will not ring, but they can leave a message. The marked favorites will ring!
Hi Leo, I don't have or use a cell phone of any kind. However, I do get these spam calls on my home phone periodically. It's always the same spam (to do with a visa card). I don't have a visa card so I just laugh at it. I also report the call to visa (with a copy of the message recorded on a voice recorder so they can hear it) with all the info I can get. One day the governments in the countries where this crap comes from (mostly India and Pakistan) will stop taking kick backs from these scammer centers and a lot of this will stop. At least we can hope. Another very informative video. Thank you.
Thanks for the donotcall reminder. Upon checking at the site, it appears that a voip number I have was registered back in 2008, but for some reason, my actual cell phone was not registered. Well, it is now.
I would get spam call recordings showing up in my voice mail inbox. On my home answering machine, I can create different Inboxes for each member of the household. Then, the answering machine requests that you "Press 1 for...", "Press 2 for..." . The robo calls don't have the ability to "press" anything so nothing gets recorded.
Set your phone to ring on "contact list" or if you want it even more restrictive, set it to ring on "favorite list." I had mine set to ring on "favorite". My phone rings only if a family member is calling. The rest goes to voice mail.
You mention not responding to texts... Some of them have that "Text STOP to remove yourself from this list"... and some of those legitimately seem to actually do that - or at least auto respond saying you have been removed... but others never respond and I wonder if they just put that on there to see if someone responds so they know it is an active phone number?
Question about the Do not call list... Do or can scammers get a copy of the list and use it (even though they are not supposed to call) therefore the list that is supposed to prevent calls is actually enabling them? (not sure if this is a myth or not)... or can they only check a number against it and see if it is or is not on the do not call list?
Using preloaded answering machine message as it is short and a longer message will cause the automatic recording to start leaving a message to your answer machine.
Leo, my wife's phone is inundated with advertisements. Any ideas how to block these? I get them while playing games, and since the games are free, fair enough, but she gets them even when opening up her phone.
I blocked a number and it worked. HOWEVER, this same number is able to leave VOICE MAIL messages. Checked with my mobile carrier and did some light research on same and they are correct. IS ANYONE SHARP ENOUGH OUT THERE to know what several carriers are telling me/us on this specific issue?
Watch next ▶ I’m Drowning in Spam. What Can I Do? ▶ ruclips.net/video/iHaYI6iFFpE/видео.html
Some cellphones have a feature that can be turned on so only calls from numbers that are in your contacts list ring your phone, others go to voicemail and the caller can leave a message without disturbing you. Text messages can be set up to filter "unknown senders" that are not on your contacts list and those texts don't make a sound notification when they come in. You'll see those texts when you check your text app, but you won't be disturbed by a notification. I have both of these features set up on my Iphone.
jackfrank ... I was sitting here listening to this and thinking what you wrote ... glad you have those settings and time for me to see if Android 14 has any settings like what you have been able to set. If not, time to lobby for it. 👍
[Edit: Yay! Found it! Phone app - settings - blocked numbers - Unknown ... 🤗
I don't go into blocked numbers because for many years all it had was numbers I had blocked. Did not know about the Unknown setting until reading these comments. Thanks!]
Silencing unknown callers really works well. If it’s legit they will leave a message.
One technique that sometimes work, answer the call but remain totally silent. Robo-callers tend to recognize that as a "dead line" and removes your phone number from their list.
This works for me: in contacts mark phone numbers you care to receive calls from i.e. family, doctors, friends, as favorites. Next turn on "Do Not Disturb" . All the unmarked numbers will not ring, but they can leave a message. The marked favorites will ring!
Hi Leo, I don't have or use a cell phone of any kind. However, I do get these spam calls on my home phone periodically. It's always the same spam (to do with a visa card). I don't have a visa card so I just laugh at it. I also report the call to visa (with a copy of the message recorded on a voice recorder so they can hear it) with all the info I can get. One day the governments in the countries where this crap comes from (mostly India and Pakistan) will stop taking kick backs from these scammer centers and a lot of this will stop. At least we can hope.
Another very informative video. Thank you.
Thanks for the donotcall reminder. Upon checking at the site, it appears that a voip number I have was registered back in 2008, but for some reason, my actual cell phone was not registered. Well, it is now.
The iPhone has a feature to silence calls from numbers that are not in your contacts. Settings/Phone/Silence Unknown Callers
I would get spam call recordings showing up in my voice mail inbox. On my home answering machine, I can create different Inboxes for each member of the household. Then, the answering machine requests that you "Press 1 for...", "Press 2 for..." . The robo calls don't have the ability to "press" anything so nothing gets recorded.
Set your phone to ring on "contact list" or if you want it even more restrictive, set it to ring on "favorite list." I had mine set to ring on "favorite". My phone rings only if a family member is calling. The rest goes to voice mail.
You mention not responding to texts... Some of them have that "Text STOP to remove yourself from this list"... and some of those legitimately seem to actually do that - or at least auto respond saying you have been removed... but others never respond and I wonder if they just put that on there to see if someone responds so they know it is an active phone number?
I'm sure that's true. I NEVER reply STOP. If it's scammy/spammy, I mark as such and move on.
Question about the Do not call list...
Do or can scammers get a copy of the list and use it (even though they are not supposed to call) therefore the list that is supposed to prevent calls is actually enabling them? (not sure if this is a myth or not)... or can they only check a number against it and see if it is or is not on the do not call list?
I always refuse to help with phone banking when I do volunteer work. I don’t answer the phone and don’t want to be the one bothering others.
Using preloaded answering machine message as it is short and a longer message will cause the automatic recording to start leaving a message to your answer machine.
Question: When it comes to reporting the numbers, what if I already have a full time job?
Get a secretary!
Pretty much my whole routine 😊
Years ago I paid to changed my number to a premium phone number, sure it hampered friends and family but it really messed with scammers.
I get this a lot, I wonder why they do it as it seems to serve no purpose? Its just very annoying🤬
Yup. Step 1 and 1a! JimE
I'm getting a large amount of Text spams that are coming from email addresses that are crazy names.. Any recommendations?
Not really, other than what I cover in the video.
Set your phone to only accept calls from people in your contacts list, if you fall out with someone block them.
And then people still answer 'unknown' callers. Like you would allow someone into your house who knocks whilst hiding their faces/identity
Leo, my wife's phone is inundated with advertisements. Any ideas how to block these? I get them while playing games, and since the games are free, fair enough, but she gets them even when opening up her phone.
I blocked a number and it worked. HOWEVER, this same number is able to leave VOICE MAIL messages. Checked with my mobile carrier and did some light research on same and they are correct. IS ANYONE SHARP ENOUGH OUT THERE to know what several carriers are telling me/us on this specific issue?
I get lots and lots of political texts. Is there a texting app out there that will only allow texts from numbers in your address book to come through?
I use Hiya. It’s a great app and costs about $16 a year. You can add spam numbers to Hiya and they will block it for you and keep a list. I love it.