Eventually, there's a chance they will, however, it requires many times of getting only a ringing phone that has NO answer at all. Some are very difficult to outlast, but it can be done.
Yes, but it takes some time, but it is highly effective, and I speak from experience. Here's a few tips:
- If you can, don't the the call go to voice mail. This may or may not be possible from a practical point of view. I can let "missed calls" be my voice mail, if you see what I mean. My friends and family know to use my cell as a voicemail, or to text/email me.
- Sometimes there is a pattern to the days of the week and the time of day. I just would mute the ringer on Thursdays between 11AM and 3PM. Even better, I could disconnect my VOIP connection and callers would get an "Out of Service" recording. Again, this is not possible for everyone, but it can be a handy trick to train the scammers faster.
- I am very careful who I give my phone number out to. Keep the leaks down. Not every store or company that asks strictly needs my phone number.... or needs and plans to call me. They use the number for a ID, but I see it as a leak. Office Depot will never call me to tell me something I really give a hoot about, and that includes their "Partners".
I am a Luddite I suppose, but from 5 calls a day, I am down to 5 a month. The peace is Wonderful!
-- ps - It takes about 2 months to see results, but then the results happen faster. I forgot to say you might want to keep simple records of the calls. You can see what changes you make are paying off.