I have had a few since the election on my cell phone, but those that I answer (of the unknown callers) claim to be “telephone survey” groups.
Then again, that label does allow them to ask for age and ethnicity and morality and economic attitudes, doesn’t it?
This is a normal illegal activity by telemarketing firms mainly. I get them all the time. I recommend to those I talk with to always have CALLER ID on your phones and never answer any call that you do not recognize. An important caller will leave a message or begin to. You can always catch a legitimate caller.
I have the same problem. Tried to block them, but they just change the number. I don’t answer them, but just delete them. It’s frustrating for sure.
Over 50% of the calls coming into my phone are like that.
It has been that way for me for....3 years..?
The latest one I’m getting (about 5 times in the last month):
My phone rings, it has some out-of-state number id (not an 800 number), I go ahead and answer it and there is a fumbling on the other end, like someone dropped their phone or their head set, and then a young girl laughs and says “sorry about that”, like she’s, you know, real human and right there with me in terms of shared experience. Before she can say more I say “yeah, right” and hang up.
Each time it is from a completely different number and region. I think it’s part of some upgraded telemarketing script.
preferences .... calls from those in your contacts list only .
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there.
He wasn’t there again today,
I wish, I wish he’d go away...
Same thing here. . . .
Had several last fall. I did not answer, blocked the caller, and over time they went away. The calls came from all over the country, but call programs can mask the ID to show random locations.
Answer it, then blow a whistle into the phone. Hurts like hell.
answer phone.
brief pause.
“Hello, your business has been selected for” and I hang up.
Of course I’ve done the “do not call” bit and it hasn’t helped at all. Seems to have made things worse.
Antisocial as hell but I’ve quit answering. If they don’t leave a message I don’t need to talk to ‘em. Family, friends, anyone.
“Rachel from credit card services” is pretty common.
Even if you’re on the “do not call” list, they still nail you.
Often, they spoof a number with the same area code as you have, so you’ll answer it, thinking it’s someone in your community.
I don’t answer them. I figure if someone really wants to talk to me, they’ll leave a message.
Not answering the calls is indeed the best way — hopefully eventually they figure out that they will never get through and take your number out of their call list.
Some sort of phishing scam, perhaps trawling for active numbers that might afterward be followed up.
There's an ancient axiom that says technological and legal loophole plugging inevitably leads to "smarter" criminals.
I say it's spinach, and I say to hell with it.
Get these, too. Drives me crazy.
Also, we have family overseas and the call will come thru as “out of area” on the land line. I have to answer. :/
I have been using a mobile phone exclusively for about 10 years now.
I am getting more of those hang up calls and spam calls. I recently installed an app called Truecaller. It intercepts some of the major spammers and flashes a red screen. Other times I get calls from numbers not in the Truecaller list. For those, I just do not answer if I do no recognize the number. I do check them in Google.
My former health insurance company called occasionally. Sometimes it was from an unrecognized number. They would leave a voice mail if I did not answer.
With that being said, you can block the ones you've received on your smart phone but that doesn't guarantee the future new ones........
Here is a tactic. Record a new voice mail using SIT (special information tones) from this web page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_information_tones
You want to use the Intercept or IC tones
While you are recording your voice mail message, start recording, play the tones twice and then give your normal greeting. Text your contacts and let them know that you are having some problems with the phone company but if they get your voice mailbox, go ahead and leave a message anyway. Answer only those calls that you know and let all others go to voice mail.
The tones tell the auto dialer at the telemarketer, that your line is no longer in service. Normally, after 1 to 3 attempts at calling your number, they will remove your number from their database. If you are being hounded by several telemarketing firms, it can take a couple of months but you should see a rapid drop off after a week or two.