I got a new cell phone number about a year ago, and at first I got numerous spam/scam calls a day. I sleep days, so it was VERY annoying to be repeatedly woken up by the phone ringing, but I didn't want to turn the phone off because I use it as an alarm clock, plus I need to be able to answer any emergency calls from my family.
I stopped the calls by doing these three things:
1. I put my number on the Do-Not-Call list.
2. I downloaded a free app called Mr. Number that blocks unwanted calls. You can block them yourself, plus it also has a list of known telemarketers and scammers whose numbers are automatically blocked. You can choose to either hang up on them, or you can send the caller straight to your voice mail. On your end, the phone never rings.
3. I went to YouTube and found a recording of the "number disconnected" message. You know the one that has the high pitched "Doo Doo DOOOO" tones, then says "The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service ..." I recorded that message as my voice mail greeting, then used Mr. Number to route the unwanted calls straight to my voice mail. (Obviously, you have to explain to your friends and family that your number is valid, and to wait until the "number disconnected" message finishes, and then they can leave a message if you happen not to answer.) I think I heard somewhere that computer-generated calls are programmed to listen for the "Doo Doo DOOOO" tones, and that the computer will flag your number as being invalid and will remove you from the list.
Between these three things, my spam/scam calls dropped from 10+ a day to zero VERY FAST.
My husband got a new number at the same time I did, and he did the first two things above, but he recorded a regular voice mail message rather than the "number disconnected" message. He still gets occasional unwanted calls.
As far as giving out my number, I very rarely do. I either tell them the number is private, or I make up a phony number. With my e-mail address, I give them an address that I purposely set up as a throw-away address, and they can spam it all they want because I rarely even check it.
(No affiliation with the Mr. Number app.)
Last edited by moonrise; 01-27-2015 at 09:10 PM.