3 ms·

I no longer can answer my phone. I get at least 20-40 spam/scam calls per day, and many are legitimate companies calling for loans and refinancing offers, whic

I no longer can answer my phone. I get at least 20-40 spam/scam calls per day, and many are legitimate companies calling for loans and refinancing offers, which started after I got a home loan. I cannot seem to stop them from calling, and even though my phone number is listed in National Do Not Call Registry for many years, it hasn't worked at all. The only relief is that on my iPhone, I was able to block all calls not found in my contacts (ie whitelist phone numbers only). Now, my only worry is that I might get a call from someone who I need to talk to, but is blocked and I won't even know it. For example, what if I get an emergency call from police/fire/hospital and I won't even know it. I also tried using "Screen unknown caller" feature, but then, no one likes them and sometimes they think it is AI bot and they usually just hang up (which is great for spam caller but not for legitimate caller) My only solution that I could think of is to have a dedicated phone line just for friends/family/work, and a second line for banking/shopping/utilities/everything else.

mannanj 2mo ago
[dead]
Hikikomori 2mo ago
Live in Europe, last time I got a spam call 4-5 years ago it was my ISP asking of I wanted to add tv to my internet. Told them not to call me again and they didn't.
- victorbjorklund 2mo ago
  I live in Europe and I get scam calls and sales calls. Yes, legit companies spam call less in Europe due to regulation but scammers committing crimes don’t care about privacy laws etc it’s their least problems
  - Hikikomori 2mo ago
    Dont get those either, maybe just an outlier but GF don't get them either.
    - victorbjorklund 2mo ago
      You are lucky. I been on a financial scam list for the last 18 years. They call maybe twice per year. Almost interesting to see over time what scams are trendy.
    - hutattedonmyarm 2mo ago
      I get them maybe 3-4 times a year. So, not _never_ but not a big problem either
  - inigyou 2mo ago
    From European numbers? Someone had to scan their passport to get that number. The police can check.
- stavros 2mo ago
  I live in Europe and I get spam calls from the US :(
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
ozim 2mo ago
I get the comfort that "normal person" would send an SMS "it was me Greg, call me back" if you don't pick up and most of my family is on whatsapp anyway. Scammers or spammers will never send an SMS with clarification that they wanted to call you.
- SoftTalker 2mo ago
  Same as GP. I silence unknown callers, and unknown text messages. They can leave a voicemail, and I might check it at some point. I check unknown texts a little more often, but they don't interrupt me with an alert which is the important thing. No police/fire/hospital emergency outcome is going to hinge upon someone else answering a phone call or text messsage.
- pavel_lishin 2mo ago
  But a normal person could be calling from a doctor's office, a hospital, or your child's school - and not an actual cellphone, and they may not want to text you (or not be allowed to text you) from their personal cellphone, either. As a parent, the "block all numbers!" approach has always seemed incredibly naive to me.
  - swat535 2mo ago
    Those will usually leave a voice mail if it's important. Then you can call the place back and discuss it. If they don't bother to leave a voice mail, then it's not urgent / important.
  - dredmorbius 2mo ago
    Doctors' offices, hospitals, and schools are well aware of this problem because they're dealing with both the outgoing and incoming elements of it. Many hospitals no longer permit direct calls to inpatient rooms because of the spam and fraud rates. Outbound communications are similarly frustrated, and are driving use of online and app-based contact methods (with ... their own issues). Other organisations, institutions, and businesses too. HN discussion tends to focus on the consumer side of this, it's what most commenters have most familiarity with themselves, but you'd better believe that pretty much the entire phone customer base is fed up to there on this. Which puts the entire network at risk of defection, a risk that telcos have been talking publicly about for over a decade now: [S]ince mid-2015, a consortium of engineers from phone carriers and others in the telecom industry have worked on a way to [stop call-spoofing], worried that spam phone calls could eventually endanger the whole system. “We’re getting to the point where nobody trusts the phone network,” says Jim McEachern, principal technologist at the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS.) “When they stop trusting the phone network, they stop using it.” <https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/how-to-stop-spam-robocalls-with-stir-shaken.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/how-to-stop-spam-rob...> I've mentioned this on HN a few times: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21494300 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21494300> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21542926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21542926> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756827 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756827> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29003329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29003329> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31939562 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31939562>. Broadband Breakfast just addressed the issue as well in this Fediverse toot, calling out not just schools (subject of the legislation) but other affected entities: <https://mastodon.social/@BroadbandBreakfast/116999075581158440 https://mastodon.social/@BroadbandBreakfast/1169990755811584...>.
bckr 2mo ago
Right but what keeps the second line clean? You’re going to get spam there too.
xethos 2mo ago
> My only solution that I could think of is to have a dedicated phone line just for friends/family/work, and a second line for banking/shopping/utilities/everything else. This fails the moment one of your "clean line" contacts downloads a sketchy app that sells all their contacts, and sells an updated list as your appear in their recent calls list - meaning it's not a one-time thing, it's for a few weeks after every time you call them.
- Leif24 2mo ago
  It works if you only allow incoming calls from your contacts (e.g. whitelisted numbers) on friends/family/work line. If that number leaks, who cares? The random numbers will be blocked anyway. Probably would want to set it up so the 'public' line is silenced - just periodically check the VM box for anything important.
  - pixl97 2mo ago
    It seems possible, but maybe not affordable, for scammers to buy information about you and then spoof numbers of places that could/should theoretically call you. If you couple this with the potential victims on the other end being elderly you've greatly increased the risks of the attack being successful.
  - xethos 2mo ago
    But then you're right back where you started: When you need a clean number for a hospital or similarly important service to call (Wife's work, daycare, school office), it goes to the distrusted, silent-by-default line, or, just as bad, it doesn't ring the clean, only-whitelsisted-numbers-ring line
gbourne1 2mo ago
I too set it up so all unknown calls go to VM. I figure if legit they will leave a message. If two calls and no message I block the unknown number.
- Marsymars 2mo ago
  Roughly 100% of my spam calls come from spoofed numbers and don't repeat, so I never bother blocking anything.
  - dredmorbius 2mo ago
    There's a technical hack available here as well. Some carriers offer blocking all unknown calls from specified area codes. On Verizon that is "Neighborhood Filter", part of their "Call Filter" toolkit: <https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-238154/ https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-238154/> <https://www.pcmag.com/news/verizons-neighborhood-filter-blocks-spoofed-numbers-from-nearby-area-codes https://www.pcmag.com/news/verizons-neighborhood-filter-bloc...> The way it's meant to be used is that the subscriber would block their own area code, and perhaps co-located overlays or neighbouring area codes. The limit for now is ten area codes. Known or explicitly approved numbers are passed through. The additional hack is that it's possible to request a number in any arbitrary area code, and spam and robocall rates vary tremendously across area codes. They're generally worst across the Deep South / Southeast (TX, OK, AR, AL, MS, TN, GA, SC, NC), and lowest in Alaska, Utah, Massachussetts, Washington, and North Dakota. See: "The Robocall Epidemic: Which states are hit hardest by spam calls?" (10 March 2026) <https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/robocall-epidemic-state-statistics https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/robocall-epidem...> "The Robocall Geography Tax: Why Your ZIP Code Determines Your Spam Reality" (23 October 2025) <https://www.karmacall.com/blog/southeast-spam-call-geography-tax/ https://www.karmacall.com/blog/southeast-spam-call-geography...> I'd submitted the latter a few days ago: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49082473 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49082473>. Pick a low-spam, low-population state, request a number from one of its area codes (if not its one area code ;-), and then block all but known numbers from that area code.
- radicality 2mo ago
giancarlostoro 2mo ago
> I also tried using "Screen unknown caller" feature, but then, no one likes them and sometimes they think it is AI bot and they usually just hang up (which is great for spam caller but not for legitimate caller) When its someone legit I find that they actually go through the effort. I've had USPS explain who they were to my phone and I was able to answer them as a result.
kevin_thibedeau 2mo ago
The fix is a Google Voice number that you replace every few years. Keep your permanent number guarded for critical services only.
coldpie 2mo ago
> The only relief is that on my iPhone, I was able to block all calls not found in my contacts (ie whitelist phone numbers only). It is insane that Android still does not have this option. It has to be some kind of software patent horseshit preventing them from adding the feature.
Maskawanian 2mo ago
What I did was implement a SIP number that asks for a random digit to be pressed before allowing the call through. It also connects to my CardDAV server, and any numbers in my address book don't get the prompt. This works for 95% of bogus calls. The only thing this stops is people not on my address book calling from hands-free. But this has never come up in conversation so I think I'm OK!

mannanj 2mo ago

[dead]

Hikikomori 2mo ago

Live in Europe, last time I got a spam call 4-5 years ago it was my ISP asking of I wanted to add tv to my internet. Told them not to call me again and they didn't.

victorbjorklund 2mo ago
I live in Europe and I get scam calls and sales calls. Yes, legit companies spam call less in Europe due to regulation but scammers committing crimes don’t care about privacy laws etc it’s their least problems
- Hikikomori 2mo ago
  Dont get those either, maybe just an outlier but GF don't get them either.
  - victorbjorklund 2mo ago
    You are lucky. I been on a financial scam list for the last 18 years. They call maybe twice per year. Almost interesting to see over time what scams are trendy.
  - hutattedonmyarm 2mo ago
    I get them maybe 3-4 times a year. So, not _never_ but not a big problem either
- inigyou 2mo ago
  From European numbers? Someone had to scan their passport to get that number. The police can check.
stavros 2mo ago
I live in Europe and I get spam calls from the US :(
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]

ozim 2mo ago

I get the comfort that "normal person" would send an SMS "it was me Greg, call me back" if you don't pick up and most of my family is on whatsapp anyway. Scammers or spammers will never send an SMS with clarification that they wanted to call you.

SoftTalker 2mo ago
Same as GP. I silence unknown callers, and unknown text messages. They can leave a voicemail, and I might check it at some point. I check unknown texts a little more often, but they don't interrupt me with an alert which is the important thing. No police/fire/hospital emergency outcome is going to hinge upon someone else answering a phone call or text messsage.
pavel_lishin 2mo ago
But a normal person could be calling from a doctor's office, a hospital, or your child's school - and not an actual cellphone, and they may not want to text you (or not be allowed to text you) from their personal cellphone, either. As a parent, the "block all numbers!" approach has always seemed incredibly naive to me.
- swat535 2mo ago
  Those will usually leave a voice mail if it's important. Then you can call the place back and discuss it. If they don't bother to leave a voice mail, then it's not urgent / important.
- dredmorbius 2mo ago
  Doctors' offices, hospitals, and schools are well aware of this problem because they're dealing with both the outgoing and incoming elements of it. Many hospitals no longer permit direct calls to inpatient rooms because of the spam and fraud rates. Outbound communications are similarly frustrated, and are driving use of online and app-based contact methods (with ... their own issues). Other organisations, institutions, and businesses too. HN discussion tends to focus on the consumer side of this, it's what most commenters have most familiarity with themselves, but you'd better believe that pretty much the entire phone customer base is fed up to there on this. Which puts the entire network at risk of defection, a risk that telcos have been talking publicly about for over a decade now: [S]ince mid-2015, a consortium of engineers from phone carriers and others in the telecom industry have worked on a way to [stop call-spoofing], worried that spam phone calls could eventually endanger the whole system. “We’re getting to the point where nobody trusts the phone network,” says Jim McEachern, principal technologist at the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS.) “When they stop trusting the phone network, they stop using it.” <https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/how-to-stop-spam-robocalls-with-stir-shaken.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/05/how-to-stop-spam-rob...> I've mentioned this on HN a few times: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21494300 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21494300> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21542926 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21542926> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756827 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28756827> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29003329 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29003329> <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31939562 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31939562>. Broadband Breakfast just addressed the issue as well in this Fediverse toot, calling out not just schools (subject of the legislation) but other affected entities: <https://mastodon.social/@BroadbandBreakfast/116999075581158440 https://mastodon.social/@BroadbandBreakfast/1169990755811584...>.

bckr 2mo ago

Right but what keeps the second line clean? You’re going to get spam there too.

xethos 2mo ago

> My only solution that I could think of is to have a dedicated phone line just for friends/family/work, and a second line for banking/shopping/utilities/everything else. This fails the moment one of your "clean line" contacts downloads a sketchy app that sells all their contacts, and sells an updated list as your appear in their recent calls list - meaning it's not a one-time thing, it's for a few weeks after every time you call them.

Leif24 2mo ago
It works if you only allow incoming calls from your contacts (e.g. whitelisted numbers) on friends/family/work line. If that number leaks, who cares? The random numbers will be blocked anyway. Probably would want to set it up so the 'public' line is silenced - just periodically check the VM box for anything important.
- pixl97 2mo ago
  It seems possible, but maybe not affordable, for scammers to buy information about you and then spoof numbers of places that could/should theoretically call you. If you couple this with the potential victims on the other end being elderly you've greatly increased the risks of the attack being successful.
- xethos 2mo ago
  But then you're right back where you started: When you need a clean number for a hospital or similarly important service to call (Wife's work, daycare, school office), it goes to the distrusted, silent-by-default line, or, just as bad, it doesn't ring the clean, only-whitelsisted-numbers-ring line

gbourne1 2mo ago

I too set it up so all unknown calls go to VM. I figure if legit they will leave a message. If two calls and no message I block the unknown number.

Marsymars 2mo ago
Roughly 100% of my spam calls come from spoofed numbers and don't repeat, so I never bother blocking anything.
- dredmorbius 2mo ago
  There's a technical hack available here as well. Some carriers offer blocking all unknown calls from specified area codes. On Verizon that is "Neighborhood Filter", part of their "Call Filter" toolkit: <https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-238154/ https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-238154/> <https://www.pcmag.com/news/verizons-neighborhood-filter-blocks-spoofed-numbers-from-nearby-area-codes https://www.pcmag.com/news/verizons-neighborhood-filter-bloc...> The way it's meant to be used is that the subscriber would block their own area code, and perhaps co-located overlays or neighbouring area codes. The limit for now is ten area codes. Known or explicitly approved numbers are passed through. The additional hack is that it's possible to request a number in any arbitrary area code, and spam and robocall rates vary tremendously across area codes. They're generally worst across the Deep South / Southeast (TX, OK, AR, AL, MS, TN, GA, SC, NC), and lowest in Alaska, Utah, Massachussetts, Washington, and North Dakota. See: "The Robocall Epidemic: Which states are hit hardest by spam calls?" (10 March 2026) <https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/robocall-epidemic-state-statistics https://www.whistleout.com/CellPhones/Guides/robocall-epidem...> "The Robocall Geography Tax: Why Your ZIP Code Determines Your Spam Reality" (23 October 2025) <https://www.karmacall.com/blog/southeast-spam-call-geography-tax/ https://www.karmacall.com/blog/southeast-spam-call-geography...> I'd submitted the latter a few days ago: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49082473 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49082473>. Pick a low-spam, low-population state, request a number from one of its area codes (if not its one area code ;-), and then block all but known numbers from that area code.
radicality 2mo ago

giancarlostoro 2mo ago

> I also tried using "Screen unknown caller" feature, but then, no one likes them and sometimes they think it is AI bot and they usually just hang up (which is great for spam caller but not for legitimate caller) When its someone legit I find that they actually go through the effort. I've had USPS explain who they were to my phone and I was able to answer them as a result.

kevin_thibedeau 2mo ago

The fix is a Google Voice number that you replace every few years. Keep your permanent number guarded for critical services only.

coldpie 2mo ago

> The only relief is that on my iPhone, I was able to block all calls not found in my contacts (ie whitelist phone numbers only). It is insane that Android still does not have this option. It has to be some kind of software patent horseshit preventing them from adding the feature.

Maskawanian 2mo ago

What I did was implement a SIP number that asks for a random digit to be pressed before allowing the call through. It also connects to my CardDAV server, and any numbers in my address book don't get the prompt. This works for 95% of bogus calls. The only thing this stops is people not on my address book calling from hands-free. But this has never come up in conversation so I think I'm OK!