Tips on how to avoid a different kind of spam calls

We all know that feeling when you see an unrecognized call on your phone screen and freeze with one mind in your head - whose number is this. The worst part is, about 30 % of those calls are scammer or telemarketer calls. If your ears are ringing from pesky automated calls, here are a few tips on how to get some peace and quiet from different kinds of calls.

How to stop No Caller ID calls?

No Caller ID calls are no doubt the worst.

With a regular phone number, you can use some free phone number lookup programs to find out who’s calling you and block these numbers on your phone.

This trick doesn’t work with no ID calls. A No Caller ID call is a regular phone call that has purposefully stripped information from it. They are also called blocked, hidden, masked, or unknown calls.

If you get this call, it’s not necessary means you get a fraud call. Telemarketers use No Caller ID when they do not want to get reported for their illegal marketing actions. Each call is a frustrating experience of wondering who’s calling me and if they’re calling to harass me. If you’ve ever felt that frustration, you’re not alone and we are here to help you.

• Use do not disturb mode on your phone and only allow calls from your contact list. If you receive a lot of No Caller ID and other scammer calls, this is a pretty drastic option, but it’s the fastest way to get calm. On both Android and iOS, you can set a Do Not Disturb mode. A negative part is you’re almost certain to miss calls that you would’ve liked to have answered. But those calls will go through to voicemail, and then you can add that number to your contacts for the future.
• Use a third-party app. iPhones and Android phones come with built-in features for blocking specific phone numbers, while mobile carriers offer their own blocking tools. Several third-party apps - Nomorobo, Hiya, RoboKiller, Truecaller can help you to never again see a No ID sign on your phone screen.

How to stop robocalls?

A lot of the unsolicited robocalls are complete scams. Nowadays fraudsters have tricky ways to get you to pick up the phone: they can fake their caller IDs, so the caller ID may look like a local cell-phone number. Robocalls from sales companies are illegal but they still find a way to do this. Here are some tips to make it harder for them.

• Always check who called you with reverse phone number lookup sites like this and block this number on your phone.

• If you happen to answer a robocall, hang up immediately. If you say anything or even press a button, you’re signaling that you’re a human, which may result in more robocalls.
• Use GoogleVoice's free Internet-based phone service. This is a great service that has a screening feature that asks callers to say their names before you pick up. This service works on all numbers that are not on your contact list.
• If you’re looking for a free phone number tracker program, you can try a Call Control app, which maintains a blacklist of spam numbers reported by its users. This way you can significantly decrease spam calls to your phone. Also, you can contribute to blocking spam calls.

How to stop telemarketer’s calls?

Companies are legally allowed to call you with calls that are strictly informational. In most cases, telemarketers are not allowed to call or text your cell phone without your permission, unless you have given it. What you can do if you received a telemarketer call:

• Use a reverse phone number lookup website to track these numbers. In most cases, you can find who's number it was and block it on your phone.

• If you received a telemarketer call, ask to add you to a do-not-call list. This should be effective immediately.
• If a company makes a sales pitch when you ask them to stop, report it at donotcall.gov. This is America’s nation's consumer protection agency. Once you’ve signed up, your presence on the Do Not Call Registry never expires. The Do Not Call Registry only covers sales calls, so you still receive charity or survey calls. Unfortunately, the most annoying scammers don’t pay any mind to DNC and just ignore the thing entirely.
• Complain scammers to the FTC. When all described things fail, you can always report callers to the FTC - Federal Trade Commission. Although they’re probably not going to pursue every complaint, sometimes the FTC does actually take down some of these scammers.

All of these tips should help to ease the avalanche you’re probably experiencing right now. Hopefully, we could help you to be able to start trusting your callers again and answer unrecognized calls more often.