First it was junk mail (the old school snail mail variety). Then our inboxes were overflowing with spam and phishing attacks. And now that everyone has a phone at their finger tips 24/7, we are being inundated by unsolicited phone calls, voicemail, and text messages. Some are simply unsolicited marketing or sales calls, while others have malicious intent akin to phishing. There are even names for the latter – vishing in the case of voicemail and smishing for SMS text messages.
Whatever we call them, we don’t want them. The convenience and peace of mind that come with having a phone in your pocket is rudely interrupted by unsolicited noise to the extent that many of us rarely pick up if we don’t know the incoming number. We let it go to voicemail. Yet the phone keeps buzzing, straining our nerves, and leaves us questioning our connected world. Is it a family member, friend or colleague trying urgently to reach me? Or a scammer that’s claiming I’m under investigation by the FBI and I’ll be arrested if I don’t call back? (yet again)
I receive at least 2-3 robocalls a day. If your phone number ends up in the wrong hands, you could receive a dozen or more calls a day, like I did, over the span of several days. Why can’t these unsolicited calls be stopped? It seems to be a much tougher nut to crack than spam. The Do Not Call list is a great idea, but only works for those that follow the rules. Carriers like AT&T and Verizon have had very limited success in blocking robocalls at the network level (before the call even reaches your phone). There are apps that promise to block robocalls but they often miss more than they block. Our phone settings offer some options, but not without drawbacks – if we block too much, we risk missing truly important calls. If we answer or respond, we risk exposing ourselves to the scammers on the other end of the line.
So, how can we stop unwanted, fraudulent or scam-infested calls and messages?
Before we get to the answer, I must apologize if my headline feels a bit misleading. The reality is that robocalls cannot be stopped, however, there are simple things we can do to mute them and restore a bit of calm to our pockets.
- Be mindful of where you are exposing your phone number. Keep it off social media profiles, websites, blogs and other public internet sites.
- Only submit your number in online forms of reputable companies who you trust to not share without your permission. If it’s not a required field and you don’t need a call back, don’t submit it.
- Consider using a secondary phone number from Google Voice (or similar service) for the purposes above. Save your real number for friends and family and share it cautiously.
- Avoid apps that claim to block these calls effectively. The intent may be good, but they don’t work very well. Furthermore, by using the app you are exposing your call history to a 3rd party that might wish to use that information for other purposes. If you do try an app, read their privacy policy.
The most effective way, in my opinion, is to block all calls and only allow calls from your trusted contacts to ring through. Calls that are blocked will be sent directly to voicemail. Apple offers this setting in their latest version of iPhone software to make this easy. Android may require a little more creativity with settings depending on what type of phone you have. If you choose to block all calls except contacts, make sure your contacts are up to date – mom, dad, boss, doctor’s office, kids’ school, your bestie, etc. You’ll tune out the noise, avoid the scams, and let what really matters ring true.
