Just a sampling from last week. Every single one of these is the same scam. I had another seven yesterday.

I never answer and they always leave the same prerecorded voicemail message (although that message seems to change every few days) about me owing taxes, which I absolutely don’t.

I also get most of them within an hour, which makes it even more annoying.

And yes, I’m on the do not call list.

Someone please make it stop!

  • InEnduringGrowStrong
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    109 months ago

    It’s likely a robocaller, in which case, send them to a recording of the SIT intercept tone.
    This thing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IC_SIT.ogg

    It needs to be the first thing the machine hears, so might not work as a voicemail welcome message if your provider has their intro before your message.

    It might take a few calls/days before you’re purged from their multiple instances of robocallers.

    • Admiral Patrick
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      9 months ago

      A cropped version of this used to be the outgoing message on my voicemail for years. People hated it, but it did seem to trick robo calls with that tone. But yeah, it depends on the carrier not inserting their own message before the user-configured greeting.

  • Sylveon
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    79 months ago

    Settings -> Apps -> Phone -> Silence Unknown Callers

    Might make it more bearable if you’re not already using it. But it’s still annoying even then.

    • Flying SquidOP
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      19 months ago

      Thanks, that will help. Although I hope the legitimate unknown calls I get, and I do get them not infrequently due to things like medical issues, will know to leave a voicemail.

      • @667@lemmy.radio
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        49 months ago

        They will unfortunately also get filtered. What I do is to direct important callers to ensure they leave a VM, or send and email or text.

        • Flying SquidOP
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          29 months ago

          Well, at least I can turn it on when the block of calling starts. I can turn it back off later in the day.

    • Flying SquidOP
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      39 months ago

      I’m guessing if I ever answered, they’d call me even more.

      • @ballskicker@sh.itjust.works
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        29 months ago

        I answer unknown calls and then immediately mute my mic. Most of the time it’s a bot that might call back once more, occasionally it’s somebody that gets an explanation of why i just made things weird. been doung that for years and now I only get spam calls maybe once or twice a month tops, if even that much

      • ElderReflections
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        29 months ago

        Can confirm. I used to answer the calls to waste their time, ask them to hold while I go take a shit etc. I started to get more calls after doing this, until about a week in when the scammer told me to fuck off and stop wasting his time! After that, not so many calls.

        • Flying SquidOP
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          19 months ago

          The voicemails are prerecorded, so I wonder if you ever actually talk to a human or just enter your bank details via the number pad?

          • Nougat
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            29 months ago

            They’ll generally instruct you to press some number on the keypad to be “connected to an agent.” That’s the live person who will try to hustle you.

    • FiveMacs
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      29 months ago

      Yeah…don’t ever answer scam calls even if you wanna make some dumb tiktiok brainrot.

  • @jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works
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    29 months ago

    Does anyone answer if you call back?

    I love fucking with the actual scammers. Last time I actually paid for an eFax subscription and kept spamming them back with fax calls.

    It took a day or two but they stopped calling.

    • Flying SquidOP
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      29 months ago

      I’d be worried about trying because they’d think I was doing it because I missed their call and would be a good mark.