I almost always answer my cell phone even if I know it's probably going to be a spam call because it's sometimes fun to play with them. Two days ago I got a call to warn me that my social security number was going to be suspended because of fraudulent activity, and that I was likely going to be arrested. The recorded call said that I could "press 1 to speak to someone" so that's what I did. A woman with a very heavy Asian accent came on the line saying, "Social Security Administration. How can I help you?" I said, "I don't know - you called me." She then claimed that, no, she hadn't called me. So I said, "Well, just now I got a call saying that my social security number is being suspended for fraud and that I am going to be arrested! It said to press 1 to talk to someone, so that's what I did." The woman then started to go into her spiel about how I am in so much trouble, etc. I said, "Well, if I'm really in danger of being arrested, I need an attorney, right?" She said yes. So I said, "Well, my husband is an attorney licensed here in the State of California. Would you like to talk to him?" She hung up.

And, a few minutes ago while I was reading the responses on this thread, my cell phone rang. Caller ID showed it was allegedly a number within the 916 area code (which is my area code). When I answered, it was a guy with a very, very heavy accent, saying he was calling from Southwest Airlines to tell me that I had won a free trip. I told him that I don't fly commercial, that I always fly in my private jet. He hung up.

My husband *is* an attorney licensed in the State of California. I do *not* have a private jet.

I never answer unknown numbers either - even if they look familiar. Once you pick up, they know it's a legit number and they will continue to pester you, or worse. That bogus Chase scam happened to me maybe a month or so back, and I read a news item about it, so when they left a voicemail saying they were from Chase, I ignored it.

One of the things I have done in the past when I got robo or spam calls was to repeatedly ask the person where they got my phone number. I would answer every one of their questions with another question and put them on the spot, which is what they were trying to do to me. So, if I get a call and someone asks for me by name, instead of revealing who I am, I say, "Where did you get this number?" If they can identify themselves as calling from a place that I respect, I will talk to them, but in general, I do not give any information to anyone who calls me, unless I know for sure who they are.

Only a landline here; cellphones don't work, but recently I have been getting calls that say for the caller ID "Potential Spam" or "Potential Scam." Most helpful.

Yes some of mine come up as "Spam Risk" too.

Whatever you do, don't say "yes" as they can record that and use it against you to say you did order their service or whatever.

Forgot to add that if it's important they WILL leave a message. We screen our landline calls for that very reason.

The Fireman and Police Fund are still calling. Apparently they're not being paid enough? lol There should be a #ME ALSO movement for THAT!

I started answering my phone to unknown callers as "Bourbon County Sheriff's Office, how may I direct your call?" and in about a month later I get very few calls. I haven't had one in weeks. I guess because I answered it that way, it's put down on a huge central data base as a commercial number? I figured if it was a friend they'd just call right back thinking they misdialed and I could answer.

Since the cellphone service in our area has always been terrible, we have kept our landline in case of emergencies. Now we have the gadget to get better connection for the cellphones but it works off of the router which in an electrical down-out won't work. But these scam calls on the landline are one of my pet peeves and we get them all day every day. I NEVER answer the phone to them since I have caller ID and a message machine but it is still annoying. I don't understand why they don't come up with a phone that we can plug all our OK numbers into and then all others would have to go into a message box with no ringing of the phone. Back in the day when we didn't have caller ID yet, I got a call from someone wanting to talk to me, a telemarketer, it was probably the third one that day, so I said "hold on, let me find her". So I went to the kitchen and got a glass of water, came back, she was still there so I said "I'm still looking for her, hold on" so I went to the bathroom, etc., etc. Each time I put the phone down I took longer and longer, I think it wound up being almost an hour so finally I actually got tired of the game and told her I couldn't find me and she said OK and hung up. I at least hoped that it kept some other poor unfortunate from being hassled that day. LOL!

almost all scam cell phone calls come from your area code and the first 3 digits of your cell phone #. I figure that if they really want to talk to me they'll leave a voice mail and ignore and block those #s - Anyone I really want to talk to will have their name attached. We had a free service in our other house called "nomorobo" which screened our incoming calls for junk/scam calls. It was free and worked very well - if it was a junk the phone would ring one time and then get intercepted - while regular calls would come through. We still have a land line here but don't have nearly as many junk calls there.

chessy, my experience is different. Whether it's part of the call app or done by Verizon, I get a message saying "possible scam call" when it rings and it's infrequent that it has a caller ID from my area. It happens, but it's far from "almost all".

Your stories cracked me up Lindsey, Martha, and Rita. I loved them, thanks for the giggles.

I wish I was smart enough to think of stuff like that I'm the spot. I'm not. I always think of brilliant come-backs, but it's always at like 2 am later that night. LOL.

I never answer the phone. If it's important the caller will leave a message and I will return the call, if I wish, at my convenience. Easy peasy.

Hubby used to run to answer the phone, but he is now also in the camp of those who don't answer the phone.

Agree with Dawn. You can always return a call if it's legit. It also makes it easy that our landline displays most junk calls with a code. If the code's not there, I'll just wait to see if a message is left. Almost all junk calls on my cell phone seem to be from 800 numbers. Easy to ignore.

I never answer calls from numbers I don't recognize. If it's that important and legit, the caller will leave a message. If they don't, I just block them so I don't get another call from that number.

The FCC and numerous other sources talk about what happens when you answer these kinds of calls. When you answer, it's a confirmation to the caller that the number is a working number. You're opening yourself to more and more calls. Playing with the caller/spammer may be fun, and unless you have lots of time, know that you're letting spammers know the number they've called is an active, working number.

I rarely get those kinds of calls. On the rare occasion I do, I don't answer, and then I block the call. I don't have time to deal with lots of calls that are trying to scam me.

The local area code thing is often a spoof. There is software/apps that can do that. You can pretend to be any number you choose and mask your true number.

Also know that spam calls can be made in vast numbers, using the technology available today.

"The local area code thing is often a spoof. There is software/apps that can do that. You can pretend to be any number you choose and mask your true number."

yes, of course. And keep in mind that "true numbers" aren't necessarily masked, these are usually internet calls for which no originating number exists. The software can produce a caller ID of whatever is desired or none at all.

I got a text a bit ago - not a phone call - from our President urging my attendance at an upcoming rally in Des Moines. My disgust does not come from my personal political beliefs; it comes from the fact that the POTUS is texting ME. I don’t want politicians texting me.

I added the phone number that the text came from into my Contacts. Then I blocked that contact.

I had some friends in college at Rice who had a phone number that was one digit off from the gas company, and they would get a lot of calls from people who thought they were calling the gas company. My friends would answer their phone with, "Houston Natural Gas - we make, you smell it!" I don't know whether that cut down on the wrong number calls they received, however.

I've had to turn off the ringer to my home phone because the robocalls are incessant. I can block 30 #'s which, if I bother to do that, fills up in a couple of days. A couple times a day, I glance to see if there are any VM messages. Once in a while it's someone I want to talk with. I don't give my cell phone # to anyone but friends, so I seldom get any spam on it.

Forget blocking numbers, the spammers are spoofing numbers so you are not blocking the real number they use.

With a service that limits incoming calls to a user provided contact list, the number used for Caller ID doesn't matter. Whatever number is used or if no number is used (Shown as Restricted, Anonymous, or blank), an incoming call that's not on the list won't ring the phone.

"it comes from the fact that the POTUS is texting ME."

Um, no, Trump isn't texting you. It's made to look like that.

Yes, I realize it's not Mr. Trump personally. It's one of his minions/political party workers/volunteers. But I don't want political texts, no matter who they're from. 😣

"The FCC and numerous other sources talk about what happens when you answer these kinds of calls. When you answer, it's a confirmation to the caller that the number is a working number."

If you don't answer and the call goes to your voice mail, that confirms it's a working number.

I got a disturbing call today from (832) 637-3648 that I did not answer, but voice mail did answer, and they left two identical voice mails for me today. It was obvious that the message had been pre-recorded and was simply played twice. The message said that she was Susan Marcus from the Department of Social Security Administration. She said that there was a legal enforcement action filed on my social security number for fraudulent activities and that I should call her back as soon as possible. Of course I did not call her back, but I did a reverse look-up for the phone number and found that it has been flagged as "unsafe".

One thing that I noticed about this phone call is that they did not ask for me by name, and so I may have been randomly selected as a target. If there is any fraud, the caller is the one trying to commit it.

Lars, we got the exact same two voice mails this morning. The number they left on our machine for the first call was 878-212-5986. I didn't bother writing down the second number but it was different. Like those IRS calls, I knew it was bogus and just rolled my eyes. It's really unfortunate some people still fall for it. Any legit contact from the SSA or IRS will be by mail.

Lars, if "Susan Marcus" calls you again, tell her that your Internet friend's husband is an attorney who will represent you. :-)

Meant to mention the two calls we got didn't give a name.

I work in an after hours/holiday triage line. Too many times we get annoyed people who just got a call from their doctor's office and demand to be put through to them. Which isn't possible. Why don't they just answer their phone? We also get calls from people who "never hear from their doctors" about questions they have. Well, come to find out you don't answer your phone when they try to call you, because there are a bunch of notes stating they have tried to call you multiple times.

Lars, don't think you are being singled out for the fraud call. With the help of computers and cheap access, the bad guys just call every single number. It only takes a flash to do this. Really, as much as we love you here, you are not special to the spammers.

Also, some of these systems are set up to not even respond if you answer your phone, so there will rarely be a live person, but they want a machine on which to leave a message.

And yes, some systems (usually the heavy-accented Microsoft calls) are a live person. Hey, it's cheap.

"Why don't they just answer their phone? We also get calls from people who "never hear from their doctors" about questions they have. Well, come to find out you don't answer your phone when they try to call you,"

And so why don't they leave a message stating who is calling and requesting to give them a call back?? The times I would need to actually answer the phone for a legit call versus spam or robo callers is an extremely small percentage!! And that is what voicemail is for - if it is important enough to call then it is important enough to leave me a message!!

btw, I am signed up to receive email notifications from SSA instead of regular printed mailed announcements or updates. And just this week I received an email notification warning about SSA email or phone scams and how to detect and protect yourself against them. Although not common, you can receive a legit telephone call from the SSA.....and also from the IRS. But if there are concerns about legitimacy of these, there are numbers you can call to clarify or to report suspected scamming/fraud.

gardengal, many MD offices will not leave messages unless one has expressly given permission for them to do so, in a (mistaken over-interpretation, IMO) fear of violating the HIPAA rules. There is the concern that a family member might hear the message, when the patient wouldn't want them to - even if no actual medical information is mentioned.

Many if not most hospitals and MD office numbers will show as private. We always have to let people know about that when they have family in the ICU.

We get the irate family messages also, when we have tried multiple times to call without answer.

I didn't mean that they should spell out precisely the reason why they were calling.........only to identify themselves and request a call back from the correct party. That's not violating anything!! And if the recipient finds this too intrusive (how could that possibly be//) then maybe they do need to sit there and personally monitor every call that comes in.

Not gonna happen in my life!! I have other things to do besides being tethered to a telephone....even a cell phone!! There is nothing that important that I couldn't miss a call.

I would never not answer a call from my doctor. However, I usually don't know when that call is coming and might not be available. It's understandable the doctor likely won't be available when you call back. What's the best way to avoid telephone tag with a doctor's office? Could the office staff at least give you a time block for a call? I know my sister's doctor's office uses email for some things.

ETA - I can see my doctor's name when he (or one of his staff) is calling, and they do leave brief messages. Not sure...I might have given approval for that at some time.

"I have other things to do besides being tethered to a telephone....even a cell phone!!"

Yes...especially if you have no clue when a call is coming. Again, time frames for calls would be helpful.

When my doctors' offices call, the caller ID will say "California" and give the number but not otherwise identify the caller. As I said earlier, if I am expecting a call from a doctor's office and I see an incoming call with area code 310, I will answer it, as all my doctors have that area code. My own area code is 424, which is an overlay for 310, and if I get an unknown call with area code 424, it is usually a spoof. My doctors' offices do leave messages that they have called, but it is difficult to get some of them back on the phone, especially the dermatologist and the sleep doctor.

I get about 3 calls a week from some credit card company stating they can lower my interest rate in my xxxx card, and they do have the right name for my credit card company. I merely hang up. Most of the time, they are not from your credit company and are trying to get you to switch to their company. They assume that you might be carrying an unpaid balance, and if you have such, they offer a come-on of lower interest rate. That isn't hard to do since the rate on my card is 18%. I pay off my account each month and do not borrow at this rate. Hidden among such calls may be a scammer.

Gardengal, they do most of the time, only problem is the patients call back after hours so they get us. Then they get mad because they can't talk to their clinic. About half the time they don't have voice mail set up on their phone or it is full. I know because we do follow up calls to check on them if we triage them and advise them to go to the ER. I don't know how many times they call us, the admin person can't triage so when they get calls they have to get the info from the patient and we call them back within 30 minutes, which is usually minutes from the time they called us. Well, it's frustrating because even when they know we are calling them right back they won't answer their phone!

You can leave a HIPPA compliant message, no need to leave details.

Chloebud, that is a good point, I'm pretty sure most of our clinic nurses don't tell them they will have to call back the next day. They do stay over their work hours a lot to make those phone calls but don't tell the patient they can't call right back to them. It's very annoying because the patient says "they just called me" at 6 pm. The clinic phones are turned off and routed to us at 4:30. It's annoying to the patient and us. But if they had answered in the first place...

Kathsgrdn, no, not call back the next day but maybe a time frame for a call that same day. It seems both sides have good points. I can see how annoying it must be with patients who never answer their phone. I'm not one of them, but it's not uncommon I'm just not able to answer the call in the first place. In that case, I truly am curious how to avoid missing another call.

Not answering a call in an attempt to avoid scam calls is not going to lessen the number of scam calls that you get. The scammers and robo callers do not pay any attention to "do not call" lists. Many of them use auto-dialers, which simply dial numbers in sequence. You should just answer the call, and if it's a scam call - which you will be able to tell in the first few seconds - just hang up. By answering all calls, you won't miss important calls that you need to take.

@Lindsey_CA This from How to Geek.

”According to the FTC, answering a robocall or interacting with a robocaller by answering questions only leads to more robocalls. Why? Because people who actually answer their phones are more likely to fall for phone scams.”

Also, by answering the phone, you've confirmed that you are a live person, and the number is not one that is never answered, like a dedicated line (remember fax machines?) or part of a multiline system. And yes, such a positive line does get more calls. There are lists that sell these "live" numbers.

@maddielee I think the key words in your quote are: "interacting with a robocaller by answering questions only leads to more robocalls."

Simply answering "Hello" and then hanging up as soon as you recognize it's a spam/scam call -- which is immediate because it's usually recorded, or, if live, they say something that gives it away -- does NOT generate more calls than allowing the call to go to your voice mail to be answered by your greeting.

Interacting with the robocaller the way I said I do, above, can work to END these types of calls because your number will be noted as NOT being receptive to scams.

Read the first part of the statement again....the part that says ‘answering a robocall OR’

”According to the FTC, answering a robocall or interacting with a robocaller

Susan Marcus called me again today, this time from (832) 653-9484. She (the recording of her) said I should call back before they begin legal proceedings, which sounds rather intimidating, but of course I'm not falling for it. I do wish she would stop calling. This time my phone was turned off. I guess I forgot to turn it on this morning before I went to our lawyer's office.

Lars, you're in hot water. You and others are in someone's bulls-eye and you'd better call Perry Mason pronto!

I just watched CBS This Morning, which I record to watch later, and they had a segment on Social Security scam calls, which is exactly what I received. They said that the calls originate from India and that the Department of Justice is filing for temporary restraining orders against U.S. telecom carriers allegedly facilitating hundreds of millions of scam robocalls, including this one. It's too late for some people, including a woman in Utah who gave $150,000.00 to the scammers before admitting this to her husband. She should have consulted with him before she gave away all of their cash. I can understand how people may fall for this scam, as the callers are extremely intimidating and ruthless. However, I am not easily intimidated by legal threats, as I tend to do very well in court, and so those kind of threats do not bother me - I do not even need to call Perry Mason.

I pretty much never got scam calls until my elderly mother went into a nursing home, and she became linked to my phone number. Then they started and most were clearly targeting the elderly. So I think that somehow the scammers knew that a potential elderly target was at that number (in addition to the auto-dialed and random calls.)

She has been gone nearly 8 years, but now I get multiple scam calls daily - usually several from the "(fill in the blank) administrator/associate/ assistant calling on a recorded line". Once I stayed on the line long enough to hear the next sentence, which was "Can you hear me all right?" So I guess it is one of those trying to get a recorded "yes" for their scam.