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Comment by exhilaration | Hacker News Reader

I always answer the call and then joyfully "block/report spam" the number in the Android dialer. Being able to do something to fight back is satisfying enough that I don't ignore the call.

I did just switch to T-Mobile and they pass "SCAM LIKELY" as the caller name so I may start declining those.

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the block button doesn’t do anything since most of the phone numbers are spoofed (someone pretending to be someone else).

Filtering out any number that shares my area code and first three digits and not in my phone book would go a long way to getting rid of spam.

I agree, this only blocks legit numbers since they're spoofed anyway and next spam call will be an auto-generated number anyway (form a similar area code). My solution is to simply not pick up calls that are not in my phone's address book. I still get a lot of annoying calls, from a few a day to dozens. It's frustrating but I refuse to get annoyed, to keep my sanity. Most of the calls that I get are making an announcement in Chinese. I am not Asian and I do not understand Chinese. I've read somewhere that it's scam meant to swindle Chinese citizens in the US for money.

My wife received a call from a person who was angry at some phone scammer and started cursing her and telling her not to call anymore. My wife tried to explain that she did not make the call, that the number was spoofed, but to no avail, the curses continued until they hung up. I find this kind of breach quite problematic and don't really understand how it can proliferate to this extent.

I get more calls these days that are callbacks because the spammers have spoofed my number than I get actual incoming robocalls these days.

I used a bulk number blocking app to do exactly that, and the amount of spam calls I receive has dropped dramatically. You can also have it make exceptions for numbers in your contacts list. The one I used on IOS is called Wideprotect, but I'm sure there are ways to do it on Android as well.

> Filtering out any number that shares my area code and first three digits and not in my phone book would go a long way to getting rid of spam.

Filtering by number is a lot easier when you have a number with a small state's area code when you have not lived there for some time. All unknown callers from that state are then easily identified as spam with 99% probability.

I’ve found that when I get a robot call, if I type randomly on the numpad it usually gets me on the line with a real person, who’s time I’m happy to waste. I figure this is the most expensive outcome for the caller

I've had decent luck with saying straight out at the start of the call "I know this is a scan. I am on the federal Do Not Call list and will be reporting you. I'm hanging up now" and then hanging up. My intention is to get my number marked as having a low probability of converting; if you lead them along they might think a few more calls will give them a decent chance at profiting. I also feel sympathy for people whose best option is telephone scams.

Note: I'm lying about Do Not Call. It's just another way for people to learn your number has a real person behind it. But the synchronization between the Federal list and internal systems of callers is a shitshow so actually reputable mass dialers will just assume they missed you and add you to their internal list. (Edit: So of course I don't report people. Even if I was really on the list, that takes time and has essentially no return)

Doesn't this signal to the malicious caller that your number is an active line with a human willing to pick up the call? I imagine that information is valuable to malicious callers who probably sell lists of active phone numbers of curious humans willing to pick up.

I heard that advice 10-20 years ago, and I think it made sense then: junk calls were accomplished with autodialers feeding into phone banks with real humans to finish the scam.

With modern VOIP I’d be surprised if anyone compiles lists of possible marks: your outbound traffic can be way more than before, so why not let the computer call everyone and see who bites every time?

Is there some way to implement this as a service with a chat bot or just prerecorded mumbling and confused statements? I guess it could happen by just transferring the call.

The true future of AI is robots sending eachother spam.

That would be Lenny: https://shaun.net/notes/introducing-lenny/

This can backfire. Robocallers used my local pharmacy's number so much that I had to tell the pharmacist to add it to my file that I shouldn't be contacted via phone.

That was my old practice, but spoofing means that not only is that ineffective, you're often blocking real numbers that you might want to be able to reach you.

I have had (in the uk) a few recently - they stopped after the last one after I answered in my best BT Phone Voice "Met Police Duty Officer"

When I used to get a lot of spam calls (because I had to answer my phone for everything), I used to answer numbers I didn't recognize as "Orleans County 911, what is your emergency?" Most spammers got the hint and either hung up immediately or stammered out an apology and hung up.

One person insisted on trying to sell a car warranty so I ramped it up a bit. I'm only a little sorry that the person was apologetically crying about "interfering with emergency services" by the end of the call.

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