Senior citizens are primary targets of these pests. Please, educate your senior kinfolk and friends to take a second to look at the caller ID. (Let us hope they have Caller ID.) If they see a name and/or number they do not recognize, they should not pick up the call. Thanks.
...and you REALLY think "hit 2" will do it? I have ocean front property in Utah for you. Seriously, these people will NEVER take you off their list - if there is a list. Most of the callers just call numbers randomly and in sequence.
Call blocker might be of some assistance. Also don't pick up on numbers you do not recognize. There's no way to stop the calls from being initiated. We usually turn the ringer down to mute and let the call go to VM. Then simply delete if we don't recognize the number.
Looks like the only people who call us these days are telemarketers and scammers. Oh, and don't forget the surveyors.