Silly people engaged in silly phone scams that are only successful if silly recipients answer and fall for their scams.
Quit answering freaking phone numbers that you don't recognize! If you don't recognize the CID or phone number, let your answering machine pick up the call.
There are a number of call blockers that will help you. Mine blocks 1200 numbers including entire area codes. Also helps you eliminate those scammers that call from a number that's similar to your own. If your number is 555-555-5555, you can program in to block all calls starting with 555-555-XXXX. Scammers have robo dialers, so only fair that we have robo blockers.