What can Americans do to stop the spam texts/calls, that will inevitably be coming back in full force preceding the upcoming elections?

39 comments
  1. Just never answer your phone… that seems to be what half my clients go with.

    Usually once I get them on the phone the first time they recognize the number the next time. It is nice that our outbound calls are all routed through one number.

    I have had some block us and it’s like “dude, I’m trying to get you paid several thousand dollars return this voicemail.”

  2. My phone does a damn good job of screening “POTENTIAL SPAM!” calls… and if it doesn’t I can either just not answer or hang up without too much hassle.

    The annoying thing now is the spam texts: “Blah, blah blah, blah… just click this link.”

    I get 5 – 10 of those goddamn texts daily.

  3. I only ever get the texts on my work phone. I don’t answer my personal phone unless I know the number or am expecting a call.

  4. I set it so it auto blocks “Scam Likely” calls, otherwise I would get at least 3 per day.

    I probably get 1 or 2 spam texts a day. Not sure what to do about that. A year or two ago I would get shit loads per day. I figured out in my phone setting you can block texts with certain words in them. The texts often used the same intentional misspellings (to bypass filters I guess) like using a zero instead of an “o” so blocking those specific words helped a bunch.

  5. Never acknowledge them in any way. Including clicking on anything, replying, or even reading them if you can help it.

    Some of those folks only want to know if your number is active or not. Don’t give them any more information than they already have.

  6. Not much you can do with the political spam calls because the “No Call List” apparently doesn’t apply to politicians.

    However any time I get a call, voice-mail, or text from a politician I’ll block the number. It usually takes a few days before they try and contact me again from a different one.

    As an aside, I really fucking hate Rep. Lucy MacBeth. I’M NOT EVEN IN YOUR FUCKING DISTRICT I COULDN’T VOTE FOR YOU IF I WANTED TO! Stop spamming me!

  7. Had one spam call today, just answer and block when I hear a robot voice on the other end like I always do. One thing to do is not give your phone number online and to stores for rewards shit, you’ll wind up on less call lists.

  8. When you say spam do you mean sales calls or campaign calls?

    I don’t mind campaign calls. Sometimes they’re actually informative, if I don’t know who I’m voting for.

    People who don’t like campaign calls usually make the mistake of not wanting to “give away” any information to the caller. But if you understand WHY they’re calling, you see that’s the worst strategy.

    Campaigns (broadly speaking) want to put every voter into one of three categories: plus, minus, or zero. If you tell them you’re 100% going to vote for their candidate, you’re a plus, and they will leave you alone until election day, when they might call to remind you to vote. If you tell them you’re 100% going to vote for their opponent, you’re a minus, and they will leave you alone. Maybe you’ll forget to vote? They won’t want to call you again to remind you.

    The zeroes are the undecided voters or the unknown voters. These are the people who don’t know who they’re voting for or won’t say. They’re called “persuadables” and once you’re recorded as a zero, the campaign will set to work persuading you. They’ll send you more mail, and make more phone calls. They’ll keep doing it until you say you’re for or against their candidate, so if you don’t want to be bothered, you don’t want to be a zero.

    People think the best strategy is not giving any information about yourself or your voting plans, but in reality, it’s the worst strategy if you want to be left alone.

  9. Many of the automated texting systems have the ability to interpret and comply with many of the following SMS responses:

    * UNSUBSCRIBE

    * CANCEL

    * STOP

    * REMOVE

    * OPT OUT

    even if they don’t explicitly tell you so outright.

    source: my employer does some consulting with one of the software companies that handles the back end of political text campaigns.

  10. I only answer the phone if it’s someone I know with the right Caller ID or have as a contact. If it’s really that important, they’ll leave a voicemail. Answering the phone to scammers just lets them know it’s a real number they’ll try and call again at some point.

  11. Get an out of state phone number, then block the out of state area code. Near 100% accuracy

  12. My phone number is from a place I haven’t lived in over a decade. Anyone calling me from there who isn’t already on my contacts list is a spammer.

  13. I answer them and fuck with them. Yesterday I was told my Amazon account had a charge of 700 dollars. I knew it didn’t, so I lead the person on a bit and then randomly told him “I have a desire to face fuck you like a cheap hooker with that sexy voice” He called me a sick fuck and hung up. I laughed, and they haven’t called again.

  14. I’ve delisted my number from so many companies over the last ten years that I don’t get more than 2-3 a week anymore. I’m actually surprised how many of those cold call services actually honor the request. Still don’t answer without knowing the number, though.

  15. Use the spam filter built into my phone in conjunction with T Mobile’s spam filter.

    If you have a land line, just cut it. Get a flip phone and an add-on line for a business cell if you’re on that much of a budget.

  16. I yell at them like a conspiracy theorist of whatever the opposite party is. If the dems call me I start shouting MAGA, Shillery for prison 2024, Sleepy Joe has died and been replaced, etc. Usually stops them from calling back.

  17. Honestly not a lot. For just about anything you think of to stop them the spammers are already 3 steps ahead of you.

    They don’t get paid because they suck at their jobs. It’s a part of life we’ll have to accept for a while.

    VOIP services have made it even harder. If you block their number, it takes them about 30 seconds to pick a new number.

  18. Last time I started slowly enunciating increasingly worse expletives and slurs until the caller hung up. That ended them real quick. No idea if it was a coincidence though

  19. I got my first phone in a different area code and have kept the number since. Any call from that area code is spam except for family, and I know their numbers.

  20. You’d be amazed at what some good old fashioned verbal abuse can accomplish.

    I haven’t gotten one of those in so long that I’m pretty sure I’ve been scrubbed from the call lists.

  21. Blocking numbers doesn’t work because the same place calls from all kinds of different numbers. If I’m not doing anything I talk to them. Waste as much of their time as possible. Lead them along forever. They will either give up or when you get bored, tell them to eat a bag of dicks and hang up. They won’t call back.

    I was getting calls from the “IRS” wanting to settle a tax debt. I had the guy on the phone for half an hour. Had him convinced that my social security number was 00000001. I told him I was the first person to ever get a social security number. Also had someone calling me raising money for Joe Biden. I went in a rant about the Dewey decimal system and the guy assured me Joe Biden would work on it if I made a campaign contribution. Y’all are missing out on great opportunities to mess with people.

  22. I had my phone set up to block all calls that weren’t in my contacts and turned off my voicemail at one point. Peaceful. I had problems with doctors offices calling from weird numbers not being able to leave voicemail and canceling appointments on me though.

  23. I report unsolicited texts to the FTC. They have a place for reporting texts even though they aren’t regulated yet. I figure a “do not text list” is coming and the more people who report the faster it will get here. I also block them. This does not apply to campaign texts. I’m just talking about the people trying to buy my house or my mom’s house.

  24. I’ve never had any political spam calls, but my 10 year old vehicle’s warranty has somehow been about to expire for a couple years now.

  25. Refuse to vote Democrat or Republican, and vote a minor party instead.

    When the margin of victory in a local race is 5%, you bet your ass both parties would respond if 3% of the people said ‘fuck you and your wasting my time’ and voted Green, Libertarian, or Socialist, instead of Democrat or Republican.

    Both major parties agree that they have the right to robocall you for political purposes. When they wrote the bills that established the Do Not Call List, and other similar laws and regulations, they exempt themselves. If you don’t like robocalls from political marketing companies, stop voting for the candidates that authorize them.

    When it’s your phone, it’s not free speech.

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