I DO NOT answer phone unless I recognize number. My ans. machine is NEVER on. Friends/relatives know my cell. If I answer then YES, they will sell the number. I keep a LIST beside my phone with these numbers and when a new number comes in, I find it n call notes. This has cut down on many, many calls because I DO NOT ANSWER.
Lately, I've been researching the numbers of the UNKNOWN & UNWANTED calls I've been getting - and finding I'm the first one 'here.' Why am *I* so 'privileged?' For the most part we DO NOT answer these calls, DO NOT engage with the callers/SCAMMERS, DO NOT give out personal information and HAVE NOT been 'scammed' out of any money. We BLOCK each & every scam number and REPORT to the government. You'd think they'd be avoiding us by now!
I picked up/hung up at the third ring (fastest I could get there.) Anyone know WHAT scam this one is???
Happens to me too. I have a blocker currently blacklisting 225 numbers.
I see a lot of them first now because they sell my number on their underground, the old ones get blocked and eventually they stop calling me.
I can't stop the cycle of new numbers.
The problem, If I call back they know my number is a good one and they sell it on their underground.
If I let the answering machine take it, they know it's a good number and they sell it on their underground
If I don't use the answering machine I can't screen the calls.
So I add them to the block list and I will eventually have to start deleting old ones that I don't see calling us anymore.
That will take some time, because my blocker can blacklist 1000 numbers.
"I have a blocker currently blacklisting 225 numbers."
I used to do the same thing, block calls from unwanted numbers. Funny thing is, the more numbers I blocked and reported, the more calls I got. I was up to 10 per day at one point. I also reported every number to the Do Not Call list. So, I stopped blocking and reporting. I just don't answer any call from a number I didn't know, figuring that if the call is important, a message will be left.
Guess what happened? The call volume dropped to almost nothing.
I think that somehow the robo caller software understands when the calling number is being actively blocked, the software concludes that the number is active, continues to call and adds it the number list that is shared by the scammer underground. I also think that the Do Not Call list is hacked and used as a data base of active numbers to pursue scams with.
The bottom line is do not answer calls from numbers that you are not familiar with, do not block them and do not report them. I go so far as to turn off the ringer on my phone so that I'm not disturbed by a ringing phone. I check CID a couple of time per day to see what calls came in, if any, or if there are any messages.
"I also think that the Do Not Call list is hacked and used ..."
Legitimate businesses pay for, and download, copies of the Do Not Call list. But an unscrupulous employee or contractor could easily copy the file to a USB drive and walk out with the data and pass it on to scammers.
Here's the flaw in your logic : people register for the DNC because they do not want calls. That means they are likely to be hostile towards anyone who calls them. and thus not prime targets for scammers. I have a backup cell phone that I never put on the DNC. I occassionally get unwanted calls on it, and as only three people have been given the number, I conclude scammers are simply autodialing every number in an area code + exchange, and my telelphone number was in their set of numbers they were calling.