Answering machine goes off and a male voice in a Virginia accent asks, "Is Steven there?" then hangs up without leaving any message. This caller/scammer has called several times over the past year with different phone numbers but I recognized the voice.
We all know that the Do Not Call list is useless. :-( But, here is a solution which I have used with some success:
1) Tell ALL your friends and relatives about this plan.
2) Make sure you have a “robot” answering machine set up to say something like, “Hello! Please leave a message after the tone . . .” , etc. Do NOT reveal your real name or number in this message.
3) Set the ringer on your phone to OFF. This way you will NOT be disturbed every single time the phone rings.
4 )When someone calls, they will either leave a message or not. If NOT . . . then you won’t hear anything at all :-)
If they DO leave a message, then they are either someone you KNOW ( from step# 1) or a legitimate call (which you can either pick up right away, or call back later), OR they will leave an obvious “scam” message which you can delete.
This solution may not work for everyone (if you have a business, for example), but it has served me very well for the past 4 years, and I sincerely hope it can help someone else out there! :-) All best and HTH, Joe D.
Called at 8:07 Sunday night. CID said 'Charity.' A man asked for me by my first name. After I identified myself he went into a quick spiel about the Fraternal Order of Police. Helping the police. Blah-blah-blah. Doing good. Blah-blah-blah. I told him where to go and hung up. If this had been a legit call from the FOoP the CID would have given their name. And even if it had been the real FOoP there's no way I'd give them money. That would open the floodgates to every other charity that they sell their sucker list to.