Robocalls

[MaryB]

*ring*

*Hello FBI field office*

*click*

[Reverend Al]

If you have a phone with an integral answering machine have a look at the user manual. I only recently found out that our phone system with 3 handsets and an answering machine has a built in call blocker on it! We use the call display and caller log to jot down the phone numbers of nuisance callers and then block them on the phone. Works well so far and it has helped to cut down on the "spam" and "scam" calls.

[tommag]

Is the head of the household there? I answer "No, hes dead. Do you know how to get blood out of the carpet?"

[lightman]

I answered a call a couple of years ago when they first started spoofing the numbers to look like cell numbers. I was informed that I had 4 warrants out for my arrest and that a swat team would be at my house in an hour if I didn't send several thousand dollars to some address. I politely told the guy that there probably would be another warrant out pretty soon after I reached through the phone and chocked him. They went from speaking broken english to doing a bunch of jabbering and hung up.

I hate those suckers! My Wife downloaded an app on my phone that screens most of them but a few still get through. If a name fails to show up on caller ID I let the call go to voice mail. I have to return a few calls like Dr offices and things but this works pretty well.

[trapper9260]

What I do is pick up the phone and do not say anything and then press 999999 and then 11111 to cover all the calls that is done by computers and then it cut down on alot of calls. Also see what the number is and if I do not know any after I let the phone pick it up it self and see if there is a message. But the 99999 helps to cut down on alot of calls after. I have only a land line no cell phone.

[jimlj]

I only have a cell phone. If I don't recognize the number calling, I don't answer it. When it goes to voice mail my message is "If your call is important to you, leave a message. If it's important to me, I'll call you back." The ones that matter leave a message, the others hang up.

[MrWolf]

I keep getting an 800 # that never responds when I answer. Think they want me to call back that number. Gonna try the answering machine block.

[Goatwhiskers]

Guess I'm missing out on a lot of fun. Those on the land line get an answering machine, they never leave a message, except the IRS one a couple of times. My cell if I don't know the area code I don't even bother. Those that have spoofed a land line--local--I do answer then hang up. All got to the call blocker, the number of calls is down to almost zero. Wouldn't mind taking a cruise, tho, but even they quit calling. GW

[Big Tom]

I am not friendly to these criminals anymore and educate them how bad of a head injury a .500 caliber 500 grain XTP bullet could cause and ask for the address to showcase it....

[bedbugbilly]

I've been getting calls with the same area code and first three numbers of my cell phone number - just the last four numbers are different. I got so irritated that I did a reverse search of the number on the internet and it went back to a Sprint account somewhere in Texas - Spring, TX IIRC -my area code is for Michigan. I don't know how they do it but I suspect that my reverse search may have been in error and somehow, whoever is calling has the ability to put in whatever number they want to?

The robot calls are driving us nuts - home phone and both my wife's cell and mine - and we have all of the numbers on the "do not call" list. When I get a call soliciting or selling something - and there is a "real person" on the other end of the line, I usually interrupt them and then ask "what are you wearing" or "are you naked". That stops them in their tracks and then I just hang up. Or, when I get a call from overseas that my computer is infected . . . I put on my best "Indian accent" and ask if they think their sister . . . mother . . . grandmother would go out with me. Lately, it has been "Hello, my name is Carl, I'm a highly trained technician . . . . ". When I ask where they are calling from, I get the reply "Texas". I then answer that I didn't know there was a "Texas" in India.

[Taylor]

I'm having the same issue. Wants to sell me windows.
1. Gave him the sheriffs address in Harlan Co,Ky.
2. Told him I only wanted 1 window. He asked if I was the homeowner,no..I'm just an inmate..click.
3. I got cussed on this one. He asked what I needed for home improvement. I said well, I have mexicans on one side and yankees on the other. What could he do about that. He got mad, starting yelling and hung up. I think I won that one.

[Geezer in NH]

UH why do you NEED to answer??

Don't

[Taylor]

Geezer, it has actually gotten to the point that I don't. If I don't recognize the name or number, I don't. Thing is, everyday, all day long. Sometimes I just don't even turn on my phone. The do not call is a joke.

[Geezer in NH]

That is what you should due in a week or three they will go away do not acknowledge any of them.

[Reverend Al]

Some days I actually pick up robo calls just to mess with them a bit. Since I'm retired if I keep some scamming idiot tied up on the phone for 5 or 10 minutes before he catches on and hangs up on me then he wasn't calling someone else who still works for a living and doesn't have time to waste with these numbskulls.

[mold maker]

The only way to totally avoid the annoying calls is to get rid of the phone. Remember when there were no bells ringing to disturb your dinner/peace. Who needs the aggravation?

[Marlin356]

caller ID and voice mail. if you don't recognize the #, don't pick up.

[Goatwhiskers]

Mold Maker, I ask myself daily what did we do for entertainment back in the day before some jackazz invented the cell phone? GW

[mold maker]

Mold Maker, I ask myself daily what did we do for entertainment back in the day before some jackazz invented the cell phone? GW

During simpler times we conversed with each other any time conditions allowed. Now it's hard to get the attention of others without electronic connections. We've lost our ability to spell out thoughts without a special code. In the evenings we used to gather round the radio and wait patiently for the clock to announce the time for a favorite program. Since it required batteries (way before transistors), we didn't dare waste minutes except to at the last minute, tune it in and adjust the antenna.
And they call what we have today "Progress"???????

[pressonregardless]

I just got me a whistle, they don't seem to like it much.