And then there are people who prank it to the limit and beyond. How to deal with a Telemarketer by Tom Mabe

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I had assumed these vermin were trying to get my bank details out of me, but perhaps they were only trying to sell me something.

Correct assumption.

"these vermin"

I pretty much don't answer the phone at all any more. Even if it's my mother. (Or maybe especially when it's her.)

I thank the heavens that " our government " has a " No Call Registry " and a policy of barring phone solicitation!! I also thank the heavens for " caller ID " on my home phone!! The New York Attorney General has also won cases in court against companies soliciting by telephone and gotten companies fined and banned!! Nowadays the crooks and criminals are everywhere and you just have to be wary of them!!

Be careful about even how you answer - even saying the word 'yes' to a innocent sounding question can now cause you problems

I think a lot of people here are getting confused. The original post was about SCAM calls. These are people getting numbers from lord knows where, and trying to trick you into providing personal information such as credit card numbers or bank information, etc. They do not pay attention to no call registries, and they don't care about government action, because their numbers are fake, their company is fake, and any attempt to prosecute them will hit a dead end.

This is VERY VERY DIFFERENT from legitimate companies cold-calling you. These are not scam artists, they are not trying to rob you. They might be a little pushy, but they're real companies that respect no call registries and the like.

Call registries are obviously ignored by those who have ulterior motives. I would also get calls from customers at my tech support job of complaints about getting random calls from bogus numbers - which even a big telco like Verizon or whoever cannot block everything - what I always try to tell them and educate them on is that it is a cat-and-mouse game of trying to block unwanted or bogus calls.

What most people perhaps the older folks when calling tech support do not realise, is that your number can be on a do not call registry - and yes your number is safe in a way, but remember also there are autodialers that have been around for years, and just call numbers sequentially (brute force so-to-speak) - so your number just happened to be called, even though again, your number is either registered to a do not call list , or even as a non-listed number, does not matter - an autodialer will always hit your unlisted number at some point.

Again, the video I posted previously I feel has important information - though any of our LQ users outside the US might be confused by the * codes, because it might be different in other countries.

"We respect no call registries" means something very different from, "We respect no-call registries."

My wife got one of these on her phone. Her Iphone 7 does not block calls as good as my Samsung S7 does it seems.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/cons...ocalls-n714331

We've had a no-call registry in the UK for years. It's called the Telephone Preference Service. But it's unenforceable and lots of companies ignore it.

The do not call sort of works. The problem is that you have to complain about every one.

Then I still can't get rid of auto extended warranty calls on trucks that I sold 10 years ago. Once you give out your phone to a dealer you will never be able to answer the phone again.

We have erected a simple but effective electronic moat around our home. It is called an answering system. Unless we recognize the name of the caller (in the Caller ID screen) and/or the caller's number we let the answering system answer the call. Nine times out of ten the annoying caller hangs up before the machine even answers. Those few telephone solicitors who leave a message usually don't say more than a sentence before they realize that no humans are listening. If the caller happens to be a friend calling from a new cell phone (the CallerID is usually "wireless caller" in this case) they identify themselves and start to leave a message; at this point I will pick up and chat with them. Occasionally I will answer a call (out of curiosity and/or boredom). If any information is asked for I usually reply with something like "Why do you think I would EVER do business with a [string of expletives deleted] scammer like you" followed immediately by a hangup.

I found out by accident years ago that the simplest and easiest way to get rid of unwanted callers, especiallh at the front door was just to say "I'm unemployed" they beat a hasty reteat when they know you aint got any cash!

I'll answer the phone if I recognized the Caller ID and it's someone I want to talk to. Anyone else can leave a message if he or she really wants to talk to me. I delete lots of empty messages.

We got one of these calls this morning. The caller ID said, "Amy." I wasn't quite up yet, so my girlfriend answered the phone because she thought it might be somebody and told her to call back at 11:00. And she did!

The caller ID said, "Amy," the number was an Ohio number (almost certainly spoofed), and "Amy" told me her name was "Cathy" and she wanted to talk to me about my "personal computer" because "someone told me you needed help." I said, "Which personal computer?" (There are five in the house.) She said, "Your personal computer at home."

I said, "My personal computers are all fine and don't call me again" and soem other things, all of them politely, if sternly, phrased--not that it will do any good.

Nevertheless, that she called back as scheduled is, I think, a bit out of the ordinary.