>I really hope AT&T starts censoring these damn spam calls. I've had 5 today.

I got one (Verizon) just as I started reading the comments for this post. :(

There are solutions[1], but you'll need to wait until next July[0],at least in the US. It's not a complete solution, but it should take care of the vast majority of scam calls.

[0] https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication

[1] https://transnexus.com/whitepapers/stir-and-shaken-overview/

Truecaller works even though the app is hard to stomach privacy-wise.

Google recently unveiled plans for its "verified calls" feature, so that might help if you're on an Android 11 device.

I personally do not answer any calls from numbers not on my contact list. If a call was urgent, I'd normally recieve a text message (if informal) or an email (if formal, like the bank, for example) from the caller eventually.

Truecaller sucks hard. I'd get a call and they'd place a promotion in the way so I couldn't answer until I clicked it. Not good when driving.

That was 5 years ago. Maybe they've changed?

> personally do not answer any calls from numbers not on my contact list.

I do. Then take the time to get an actual human on the phone. Then I verbally abuse them until they hang up.

It's not effective in stopping them, but while I'm spewing vulgar stuff at them, they're not trying to rip anyone else off.

I just turned on Google Assistant screening about a week ago. The spam calls have gone to zero

They can’t. Because that actually is a technology not built to be moderated.

If they had to give me five dollars for every spam call that got through, I bet they'd find a way to stop it.

T-mobile already classifies these calls as 'Scam likely' and they've never seemed to misclassify any, so obviously it can be done.

Some government call centers got mistakenly labeled ‘Spam Likely’. People were denied food stamps and other benefits for missing phone interviews from these numbers.

Took a long time to clear up in California.

Yeah they would just block all of your calls. Probablem solved

| They do, my local politician robo-calls all his constituents with info, and T-Mobile always flags his calls as spam.

That’s a feature, not a bug.

> politician

> robo-calls

Yeah that sounds like spam. If info needs to get sent out, try email. Robo-calls are intrusive, and generally the wrong medium for transmitting information.

Edit: Obtrusive -> intrusive. Although I guess both are technically correct.

> But it's real info, and relevant to the local people he's calling

That's the way pretty much every spammer justifies their existence and somehow manages to sleep at night.

The only reason robocalling by politicians is not illegal is because it's them who get to make the laws. They should all get in the sea, alongside all the other spammers.

Unless it's something they specifically signed up for, robo-calling all your constituents absolutely is spam.

I have been getting unsolicited e-mail from my local state rep, and I actually appreciate it. It's not campaign-type stuff, it's actual info about what's happening in this district and resources that are being provided.

Granted that feels different than a phone call, but the intent may be the same.

Although with email, you have the spam filter. It's just that those emails are not being picked up by it.

Also, usually, you can unsubscribe to email lists/sender. While you can't do that for phone calls. You might block a specific number, but those robo-calls might use many different numbers

Keeping people informed about their product is a way to describe the job of every spammer.

Not yet, at least.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STIR/SHAKEN

Nope, it's because they added caller ID spoofing capabilities that nobody asked for, and regulators didn't stop them because Republicans installed telecom lobbyists to be the regulators.

Only because the FCC recently loosened caller ID spoofing restrictions. It used to be possible.