Ask HN: Any way to stop spam phone calls?

[Chronosment]

Yesterday I received a spam phone call from a different number every 10-20 minutes over a 4 hour period. The calls are now starting again today over the same period. I have a pixel phone and it starts to automatically screen the call. During the screening it is a recorded messages saying there is issues with my icloud account. Is there any way to stop these calls? The numbers are all different but do have the same area code and first 3 digits of my phone number so there is a pattern.

[pwg]

> Is there any way to stop these calls?

No, because that requires the initiator to stop, and as the initiator is in the business of scamming, they are unlikely to stop until law enforcement catches up to them.

What I did on my phone is to set the default ring tone to silence (I left vibrate on, but you could turn that off also if you wanted).

Then for entries in my phone book, I set a custom ringtone for each entry to the normal ring tone I use.

So unless the scammer happens to randomly feed a fake caller ID that matches a phone book entry, I get no ring and just vibrate, and I either let those vibrate out or simply swipe them to voicemail and move on.

But if the phone "rings" (audibly) then I know the incoming caller ID is someone in my phone book, and can decide to answer it.

[easytiger]

I basically don't answer the phone unless I recognise the number at this point.

I am reminded of the 3+ week period i was harassed with up to 10 calls a day from The Economist (https://www.economist.com/) trying to get me to renew my subscription.

Repeatedly told them to stop phoning me to no avail. I had to set up a rule on my phone to reject calls from them (though I could still se notifications that a call was attempted). It was only resolved by tweeting evidence of the harassment to the editor.

Needless to say I did not renew

[pwg]

> The numbers are all different but do have the same area code and first 3 digits of my phone number so there is a pattern.

I should have also replied to this as well. This is a common pattern among some of the scammers (remember, at the present time the initiator of the call can send along any caller ID value they like, and your phone simply displays it). What I've seen postulated as a plausible reason why is that the scammers have done A/B testing and determined they get a slightly higher human answer rate when the incoming number is the same area code and exchange as your own number.

[codingdave]

Personally, I turn my ring tone off and never answer phone calls. I set up a VOIP number that I give to friends and family, so it rings through on my PC, not my phone.

Almost nobody calls me directly on my cell these days. I just assume anyone calling my phone is spam. The few who aren't spam can leave a message.

[bradknowles]

My phone is set to ring only if the caller is already in my phone book. Everyone else will automatically go to voicemail. This is an easy setting to change, if I’m expecting an incoming call from a number I don’t already know.

I also use Truecaller and RoboKiller.

[melenaos]

Have you tried Truecaller? It will show you if it's a spammer or not and if you setup the app as the default phone application, it can automatically block the calls, you will just get a notification that xxx [spammer: XYZ] phone number was blocked.

In Greece there is a law '13th article' that every telephone company must have a list with the numbers that doens't want to be called by spammers. If you are listed in this list and a spammer calls you then you can press charges. Isn't such law in your country?