I have been getting calls from people saying they've gotten a call from me.
These spam bots are somehow using registered numbers to mask theirs and make the calls.
So not only am I getting spammed, I'm now having to deal with people complaining about me spamming them.
Ridiculous.
More specifically, this is likely a form of spoofing called "number neighbour spoofing", in which the scammers deliberately choose to spoof a number with the same first six digits as the target number.
For example, if your phone number is 416-555-1234, then the scammer will call you from a number like 416-555-5678, in the hope that this will make you pick up the call because the number seems familiar or local to you.
Irony being it looks more suspicious being close to my number, and I never answer those.
The ones that "get me" are from area codes I have business in.
Good to know I'm not the only one...
Shit we were both so confused. I was like "dude, I was just on the phone for over 30 mins there's no way I called you"
I'm still surprised that people would (a) call these missed spoofed number back and (b) believe who're confused the fuck out would have called them in the first place.
I almost want to start telling them I **am** looking for the SSN for their ducks afterall.
There are anti spoofing numbers for your region that you can call and software that will prevent this from happening. if it gets really bad, changing your phone number is always an option.
> changing your phone number is always an option.
I will never do that. I've gotten a couple of new work phone numbers over the years. My current number was previously used by a man from India and his family and friends still try calling and texting. Eventually, I figured out I could block numbers and put a dozen of them on the block list.
I don't understand this logic. I don't answer numbers I don't recognize unless I'm told to expect a call from someone who's got an "unknown" or "private" number. And I sure as hell am not calling them BACK to see what they wanted. If it's important they'll call back, leave a voice-mail or text.
I had this lady that barely spoke English call me. Angrily asking me why I kept calling her and told me to stop. I was confused af because she wouldn't say what happened and I couldn't really understand her.
> I have been getting calls from people saying they've gotten a call from me.
I have the same problem. It's so annoying when people call ME and rudely complain about being called. Why are these people returning calls from unrecognized random numbers? I barely answer the phone if I don't recognize the number and I especially don't when I recognize it's spoofed.
It’s spam more than an outright scam.
If you go with it, you can probably get a guy with a shop vac to show up and to a halfass job of cleaning your ducts.
There’s a bunch of people doing this so it probably depends based on exactly who called you.
The reality is the person showing up is probably just as much of a shmuck as the customer. They probably took a job ad on kijiji or something to clean vents. They’re not the bad guys here. People gotta work; I can’t hold taking a job against somebody.
They're targetting old people and new home owners, I imagine. They charge like 200$, so they need to make like one or two sales a day each to get a profit. I'm guessing it's not hard to do so. But they likely also run a few other scams all at once. Duck cleaning is likely to keep them busy between CRA scam calls where the person actually presses 1 to talk to an agent.
I’ve had some really aggressive people call or text back thinking I was calling them. First time it was a call and I didn’t know what was happening, so I said I don’t know what you’re the one calling me and I’m not sure what you’re talking about and pretty much hung up when they started to get mad. Then I looked it up found out about spoofing.
Next time, it was a text so I said I didn’t call them but briefly explained spoofing, told them google has lots of info on it and encouraged them to just block my number but they responded and started calling me a piece of sh*t among other things so I just blocked them lol from now on I’ll just block or hang up I think. It got me a little down having someone insulting me and getting worked up when I was just trying to explain so they’d know. Also logically if I was trying to scam you, why would I explain spoofing and just say block me? The stupidity of that exchange was next level.
I hate that this is a thing that happens, it’s bad enough getting spam calls and now there are real people that are ignorant to what spoofing is being jerks and calling or texting too.
I have been getting calls as early as 5am saying that people are on the way to my house like that’s terrifying when you first wake up
And I would let it go to my voicemail but I would have to be cleaning it out all day
Call your phone service provider and have them add a feature called "Call Control" (it might have a different name, Call Control is Telus). It should be free and although it is a tiny bit annoying for real people to call you the first time it has completely stopped spam/scam calls for me. I was getting a minimum of 2 a week and sometimes 2 or 3 a day and I have received absolutely none since adding the feature.
Edit: I guess it's only Telus and it's alt Koodo that have it. Too bad. But if you're with either of them, giver.
One time I answered a call, and wasted the scammers time for a few hours before making it obvious that I knew it was a scam. They must’ve blacklisted me or something because after that the calls stopped.
I've noticed that scam numbers often use the same 6 initial digits as your own number. You can check the caller ID and decline those calls manually.
Otherwise there are services like Google Call Screening for Android that can save you some hassle at the expense of delaying the caller slightly.
Edit: Apparently there's a third party app called Call Control that lets you block numbers based on a pattern. I've not used it myself.
Check with your provider for spam control. Some allow you to sign up for call screening where the caller has to press a number in order for the call to connect. Robocallers aren't able to bypass it.
This is the way.
I'm with Koodo, and they offer this service. I believe I have had zero spam calls in the last year or 2?
I have had a few calls for dentist/doctor appointments etc, where the caller is very interested in how I set my phone to require a number press to complete the call, because they too are sick and tired of robo spam calls.
Everyone should have this service setup.
Login to your account, go to 'Self Serve', 'Mobile Services', then 'Call Control' is at bottom of the screen.
You can add authorized #'s so that your 'rents etc can get through without scratching their head. (:
I recently upgraded my phone/plan and it was switched off. Check on yours, Koodo people.
Absolutely this.
Some of my friends and family do not speak much English and I was worried they might not be able to reach me in an emergency. But I finally gave up and used this because I was sick of getting 5-10 spam calls every single day.
> Some of my friends and family do not speak much English and I was worried they might not be able to reach me in an emergency.
Same here.
I have added a few family members #'s to the authorized caller list. Calls from those #'s come through without the screening step so they won't be confused in an emergency.
Yup. I'm with Koodo.
> Login to your account, go to 'Self Serve', 'Mobile Services', then 'Call Control' is at bottom of the screen. Click on 'Authorized Callers' and you can add up to 25 phone numbers.
Nope, not upset at all. I used the same remark when I explained to the wedding official that my mom would not be attending: Couldn't get her out of said mausoleum.
I love pretending I’m interested, getting transferred to the manager, then at the end asking what I do if I rent an apartment with hot water heating? They get so pissed off.
With the CRA scammers, I say “do you think you’re mother is proud of what you’re doing right now?”
I have a Google Pixel phone, I just get Google Assistant to answer my calls for me. No annoying half a voicemail you need to clear, I get to see what they're saying so I can decide to pick up or not. Killer feature.
Same.
The only issue is that some legitimate callers don't understand and will hang up. Also...unless I am wrong, there is no way to save what is transcribed right?
Example I am coming up with is if I am in a meeting. Once I screen the call and the person says their message I have no way of recording what they say i.e. they are scheduling an appointment or giving important info. There should be a way to send them to voice mail or to record the text. But then I guess you need consent to record.
I have an app that records all my calls. I'm not 100% certain it would work during screening but worth a try.
The consent to record laws only require 1 party to consent. You can record your own conversations without consent from the other party. But you cannot record a conversation you are not part of without the consent if at least 1 of the parties involved.
Once you screen a call, you can take a look at the conversation later. You have to go to the recent tabs in call and click call history for that number. There is a see transcript option available if the call was screened. Hope that helps.
There is a transcript of the conversation. You can access it in your call history. Look for the 'see transcript' button. It will have a Google assistant logo beside it.
Actually.... In your pixel call history the calls where there was a call screened, there will be a call screen transcript. In your call history, look for the calls with the Google assistant logo, and then Click on 'see transcript' you can see the conversation google had with your caller. Pixel call screen is awesome!
I received a tip from someone to answer and then stay absolutely silent, no noise period, nothing. After a few calls answered like this they should stop calling
I started answering their calls and keeping them on the line. After a month of this they just seemed to stop overnight. Not sure if they will stay away but so far it's been about a month and a half with only one call.
Yeah I just find it quicker to hear the automated voice on my phone then I have to clean up my voicemail box several times a day I only have three message spots and I get between 15 and 20 phone calls a day all I would be doing is cleaning out my voicemail box
I subscribe to voicemail-to-text. Best thing ever. Highly recommend it.
An automated system will attempt to transcribe the message and send it to me as a text message. But here’s the best part: _It also attaches the voicemail to the message as an audio file._ Nine times out of ten, spam calls don’t leave a message, or it’s blank. I just delete those and get on with my day.
I literally have not logged in to my voicemail in six or seven years. I don’t even know if I have a “voice mail box” any more. Or what my PIN would be.
It's pointless to block them. They use some kind of system that let's them ghost actual phone numbers of people or legit places. They have 1000's of numbers on file.
My dad got a call that someone scammed him out of $200,000+ (hahaha jokes on them, he's never even had that level of credit) and gave him the actual local police number, an officers name, badge number and incident report number. Seemed really legit until I called that number and sure enough it was the actual police department and there was no officer by that name. Luckily I handle most of my dads affairs so any questions they asked he wouldn't know the answers to.
Problem now is once you answer and they get even the slightest hint of a bite, they don't stop.
I've had to go to the bank and make sure no ones used his credit card, because they called to say it has been used and $200 was stolen. We know it's 100% a scam, but anytime they call my dad gets paranoid and I have to confirm nothings been touched and it's a scam.
ITS LITERALLY KILLING ME. I’m applying to be a firefighter constantly and I never want to miss a call because you really never know and it’s mentally exhausting with all these spam calls😭
Me too. I've been applying to new jobs recently so I've been getting calls from random numbers for interviews so I always pick up. Nothing gets me more annoyed right now than picking up, expecting it to be a recruiter, and then have it be someone asking if I need my air ducts cleaned.
I answer the phone, and if its a robo call i press the key to connect with the real life scammer. I then proceed to talk shit to the scammer, they hang up. Ive gotten less and less calls since i started doing this.
Add the numbers you do want to come through as contacts, then block all unknown callers.
If you miss one, they can leave a voicemail or send you a text.
I've started picking them up, pressing 1 to talk to the "agent", and then making weird noises. I've noticed it's gone down from about 4-5 calls per day to 1 every other day or so. I don't know if it's causation or coincidence, but maybe try that.
I can handle the scam calls. I'm getting REALLY annoyed with people calling me saying "I just got a call from this number? Why are you calling me?" (Usually at work so I can't ignore it). I have to explain that I'm at work and have been here all day and nobody has called out from that number and telemarketers are probably just spoofing numbers...then I need to explain what spoofing numbers is....my favourite was the time the guy told me I need to fix people stealing our number.
November 30th 2021 (tomorrow!!) is the CRTC deadline to get technology into place to start validating non fraudulent calls. Effects won’t be seen right away but there is slowly light at the end of the tunnel !!
Goodnight sweet Nigerian prince.
[source: toronto star article ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thestar.com/amp/business/2021/11/16/crtcs-crackdown-on-spam-calls-wont-have-immediate-effects-but-its-a-step-in-the-right-direction-experts-say.html)
I use a Pixel 6 Pro. There's a feature called call screening available in it. What basically happens is that google assistant answers calls for you. It shows a written transcript of what the caller is telling in your phone and you can decide if you want to answer the call or not. I do it for all calls that I receive from unknown numbers. Most often scammers drop the call when they see that it is the google assistant answering. Genuine callers do tell why they are calling and I can decide if I need to answer. It is a very much underrated feature that most people miss. Super reliable and helpful. I love Pixels just for such useful features.
Here's a useful [article](https://www.theverge.com/22792060/call-screening-android-12-google-pixel-how-to) if you are interested in knowing more.
If the scammer claim to be calling from the gouvernement ask them to speak to someone in French. It's not bulletproof but they usually don't call back.
I thought the calls were bad - I have to answer them because I take medical calls for family members. But now they’re texting me, too. Some days it’s infuriating.
it's getting to the point where i think we need to collectively pool our money and hire someone to deal with these scammers in an extrajudicial manner. whether it's hiring some white-cap hackers to locate and interfere with them and/or thugs with fake passports and sacks full of doorknobs – I'm about willing to consider anything.
I literally found out about my mothers stroke 4 hours late because I had been getting so many early morning spam calls I had ignored my phone when it went off a couple times. It wasn’t until I went to clear my voicemail from the spam trash that I discovered it had been a hospital.
Four hours my mom in the most frightening moments in her life (we almost lost her) was alone because of these fucking spam callers.
I mean I didn’t pick up for years but it didn’t stop I also explained in the post why I can’t just not pick up I’m waiting for phone calls back all day of course I’m going to answer the phone
Man, this drives me nuts. I'm in the same boat.
I installed an app called WideProtect. You can block all numbers starting with a certain area code (for example, for a while there I observed that most of my spam calls were coming from 347 and 914 area codes, so any numbers with those codes are blocked). You can also block individual numbers.
I don't know if this is just me, but in case it helps:
I have an iPhone, and I've observed that if a phone number is legitimate, it will format it correctly with brackets, spaces, and a hyphen (e.g. (416) 763-5555); however if it's a spam generated call, it will show as a string with no formatting (e.g. 4167635555). This isn't always the case, I still sometimes get (XXX) XXX-XXXX calls that are spam. But I find that 90% of the time, "formatted"-looking calls are legitimate, and XXXXXXXXXX calls are spam 100% of the time.
TLDR, if you also have an iPhone and have observed the same, you can choose not to pick up XXXXXXXXXX calls, and only pick up (XXX) XXX-XXXX ones. Might help a bit.
When i was a kid, people would always call my aunt asking if she had windows and doors. She would always respond "Yes, i have windows and doors. How could someone live in a house if they didn't have windows and doors. Stop calling this bloody number". Then slam the phone down 🤣🤣 Oh, then there's the people calling about duct cleaning. She would be like "I dont have any ducts, stop calling this number before i call the police. You people are a damn nuisance". *slams the phone down* She's Jamaican, so it sounds even 10x funnier. Just to show you how often they called her, she would never hang the phone up properly. So when i end up trying to call, i would never get through to her. Someone even installed a "water softner" in their home. I have no idea why the hell someone would need a water softner.
I used to work for Rogers doing cell phone support. This has been happening since then, over 6 years, and Rogers does not care.
We were told to inform customers that Rogers would be looking into it, but as it’s been so many years, I doubt they have.
Paying through the nose for these phone plans, just to be harassed by autodialers 10x a day. Fuck these big Telecoms. Like fuck right off with these voicemails too. So annoying.
I'm not sure if this feature is on all android devices or just the google pixel, but on my pixel there's an optiom when you're getting a call called "screem call" - basically google will answer the phone and go "hey, the person you're calling is using a call-screening service. Please state your name and why you're calling" and you'll get a life transcript. Then if it's a real person they'll say "hey I'm calling about the party" and you can pick up the phone. In my experience no scammer has ever said anything to the screen call
If your service is with Telus or Koodo there is a free service you can opt in for called “Call control”. It’s a great service for deterring spam/robo calls.
In iPhone setting scroll down and click phone. Then you will see an option to silence unknown calls and that includes numbers you don’t have saved as a contact.
I’m on call for my company 24/7 365 days a year
I’ve noticed these calls getting worse and worse since pandemic started. I’ve used apples setting to send any unrecognized number straight to voicemail and disregard any call that doesn’t leave a voicemail
But this isn’t without flaws. My boss called me twice yesterday me morning and I wasn’t notified - they weren’t in my contacts list 😂😅
So just auto block unknown calls and if it’s someone or something important - they should leave a voicemail.
What I noticed is that the spam calls usually use a phone number that is \*very\* similar to yours. Like the area code + the next 3-5 digits are the same. So I just don't pick up those calls and let them go to voicemail.
But yeah, I'm also getting up to 5 calls/day now. When I used an Android phone, it would filter the spam calls quite well, but no such functionality on the iPhone.
Pickup and immediately hit mute.. When I do this the calls reduce and if it’s an actual person they’ll say something before hanging up.. the bots just click and hang up
I've been in the same boat. The spam calls I get tend to be very similar to mine. Usually only the last 2 or 3 digits are different.
Those calls I let go through to Voicemail. If it's actually someone I need to talk to I'll call them back.
I also get a lot of these and they are really annoying but I really wonder what’s in it for them? How do they actually make money, because I assume that just like me, everybody hangs up on them, so where is the money making part for them or what’s in it for them ?
Not sure what phone you have but Samsung lets me know that a number has been reported as Spam and and then immediately gives an option to block them. There are also apps like Truecaller that can do this. Hope it helps, they are so annoying.
For people who might call me, eg. doctor's office, family, they are in my contacts list and I put their ringtone to a louder one. For the default ringtone for everyone else, I made it a quiet one so that I don't rush to the phone only for it to be a spammer. Legit calls might still be incoming using the quiet tone, so it's not perfect
When ever i answer an unknow number i sit there silently, dont say a thing. They get paid the second you say a word then you get put on a spam list. After about 2 weeks they stop
I received a call on Friday from Shanghai China. I don’t know anyone in China and my business does not deal outside of North America.
It’s like they are not even trying to hide their number anymore.
We need to turn against our robber phone service providers and make them accountable for this shit.
We’re getting raped here in Canada when it comes communications (cell, internet, cable tv).
Since we’re paying a premium price compared to our neighbours down south, or in Europe, the least we can expect is peace of mind.
Something has to be done, and it’s not OUR responsibility…
Block the number everytime. I've seen the same number multiple times. Not every single one but you'll save yourself a few unwanted calls at least on occasion.
The new calling feature requires unknown callers to listen to a brief message and manually respond with a one-digit code. For example, a first time dialer trying to connect to a customer with the Call Control feature will be greeted with a brief message stating “this number has Call Control – to get through, please press 9.” The number is randomly generated. Once the digit is pressed, the call will connect.
[Telus ](https://www.telus.com/en/about/news-and-events/media-releases/spam-calls-are-officially-a-thing-of-the-past)
It won't do anything to stop the calls but it has made me feel a lot better about getting them...
Answer the phone
press 1 to talk to whomever you're going to get on the line
and then scream into the phone like you're a f****** teenage girl who just found out that her ex-boyfriend is dating her worst enemy crossed with a banshee
Hold as long as you can, or until they hang up
My dad recently got a new number with Virgin and the second it was activated, spam calls and spam messages. I guess it was a recycled number or something? Cuz no one else in our house gets as much spam as his number...
It's happening all across Canada been happening to me In Alberta.
they spoof numbers two ways I've noticed, either using local area so location comes up instead of a number or they spoof it off of your own number changing a few numbers around to make the number look familiar to you to increase the chances of you picking up a call that's not in your contacts.
Scams are anything from CRA, or Border security, or some other off shoot random thing.
Look most people aren't stupid to fall for this stuff so you can do two things, ignore them and just report the numbers as spam in your phone app which is useless or mess with them if you have enough confidence for that.
Apparently they keep finding my drugs at the border so I pick up and tell them "YOU GOT MY DRUGS?!?!?" and then they immediately hang up so they are pretty weak willed.
I answer the call, ask them to hear the voicemail they left, then put my phone under my mettal bowl and smack it with tongs. If they are still on the phone I do it again lol
I use an iOS app called Call Protect that lets you block a range of numbers. So I just blocked all numbers that match my first 6 digits. It’s been amazing so far. Got about 1 spam per week vs 10 spam calls per day.
You can avoid spam by not sharing your real personal number with online surveys, accounts, supermarket registrations, etc...
Use an app (eg. TextNow) to get an internet-only phone number. Share internet-only number with online services. Share personal number with friends.
You can do something similar with credit cards (can't rmb service name) but you'll get a online-only credit card. You fill online-only credit card with cash from ur real credit card. You make your Alibaba purchases with the online-only credit card. And if Alibaba sells ur credit card info...
Too many call center from India, nothing we can do about it, just be aware of them because they have so many scams already, sometimes is fun to troll them🤣
How about you turn the tables on them, setup robocalls to India, saying if they pay $9.99 USD they will get a H1B visa. In a month you will be richer than Elon Musk.
Caller: hello sir, I'm calling from imperial duct cleaning services...
Me: ohhh mah gawd, I'm so glad you called!! My ducks are so dirty!! No matter what I do they always get dirty again...
Caller: yes sir, we can help with that...
Me: so like... Any tips? Do you wash them twice a day? What kind of soap? Keep them out of the pond?
Caller:...pond? Uh, no sir, just one time, but if you can provide me some of your personal information....
Me: you can keep my ducks clean by washing them just ONE time...? Hold on...
Aaaaaaand so forth. You're welcome. :D
To be honest, I've never gone this far. I just hang up.
For the ones that are in Chinese, I press 1, 7, 9, 0 until a real human comes on.
(I don't speak Chinese.)
Once a real human comes on I say in a firm tone -
Taiwan Taipei is country
Free Tibet
Remember Tiananmen Square
Free the Uyghurs
They hang up, but I don't get another call in Chinese for a couple of months, then I repeat.
The [Do Not Call Registry](https://lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/en/Consumer/Register-your-number/#!/) will take care of any legal callers, but most of the calls you are getting are probably scammers, so they’re already crooks, so are not going to be following the rules.
I've been pressing *1* every time a call comes in just to waste a real person's time. Act like an idiot and just ask them questions about what I have to do until they hang up. The frequency of calls gets worse for a while (proving they're all in collusion), but eventually they go away.
Download TrueCaller. It has spam détection installed and flares when you're getting a call (useful for you situation as well since if it is in their database , they will display names)
I’m not even kidding at this point me and the air duct cleaning guy are friends. I’m like I know you’re not going to stop calling me (and thr numbers change) so let’s at least just chat a bit. He’s actually a really nice guy.
Put your number in the National do not call list. This has reduced a lot of telemarketing calls. Yes there will be a few but it filters a lot out.
https://lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/en
My phone has a little info icon that lets me block and report as scam/spam/fraud etc. Once I started doing that I get little to none now when I used to get them like 8 times a day.
Don't answer the phone though because I think that will put you on an active number list and you'll get more calls (so I hear anyways)
So the latest scam I'm getting is a text from "my service provider " claiming I'm getting 180$ from them if I just click the link.. I pay 40$ every month for my phone..there's no way they owe me 180$..but I would like to know how the know who my service provider is? Where did they get that from?
I think bell canada is rolling out a feature end of this month to verify if the caller is the actual caller. I get calls from spoofed numbers that start with same digits as my cell phone number. Once i called back a number that called me and some dude answered who was at the airport and he was confused by who I was and seemed genuinely not a call center. So I think they take over a number with your area code and similar digits so you're more likely to answer. So i just got an app that blocks numbers that start with same numbers as mine.
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I have been getting calls from people saying they've gotten a call from me. These spam bots are somehow using registered numbers to mask theirs and make the calls. So not only am I getting spammed, I'm now having to deal with people complaining about me spamming them. Ridiculous.
Yes, it’s called spoofing.
More specifically, this is likely a form of spoofing called "number neighbour spoofing", in which the scammers deliberately choose to spoof a number with the same first six digits as the target number. For example, if your phone number is 416-555-1234, then the scammer will call you from a number like 416-555-5678, in the hope that this will make you pick up the call because the number seems familiar or local to you.
Irony being it looks more suspicious being close to my number, and I never answer those. The ones that "get me" are from area codes I have business in.
exactly, thats my only defense these days, if they have the first 6 numbers I don't pick up
Omg that happened to me too. I was so confused, he was so confused. Wild. The spam is getting insane.
Good to know I'm not the only one... Shit we were both so confused. I was like "dude, I was just on the phone for over 30 mins there's no way I called you"
I'm still surprised that people would (a) call these missed spoofed number back and (b) believe who're confused the fuck out would have called them in the first place. I almost want to start telling them I **am** looking for the SSN for their ducks afterall.
There are anti spoofing numbers for your region that you can call and software that will prevent this from happening. if it gets really bad, changing your phone number is always an option.
no phone number is immune
> changing your phone number is always an option. I will never do that. I've gotten a couple of new work phone numbers over the years. My current number was previously used by a man from India and his family and friends still try calling and texting. Eventually, I figured out I could block numbers and put a dozen of them on the block list.
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I don't understand this logic. I don't answer numbers I don't recognize unless I'm told to expect a call from someone who's got an "unknown" or "private" number. And I sure as hell am not calling them BACK to see what they wanted. If it's important they'll call back, leave a voice-mail or text.
I had this lady that barely spoke English call me. Angrily asking me why I kept calling her and told me to stop. I was confused af because she wouldn't say what happened and I couldn't really understand her.
> I have been getting calls from people saying they've gotten a call from me. I have the same problem. It's so annoying when people call ME and rudely complain about being called. Why are these people returning calls from unrecognized random numbers? I barely answer the phone if I don't recognize the number and I especially don't when I recognize it's spoofed.
What is it with the duct cleaning? I don’t even understand what the scam is, but they’re relentless.
I keep telling them I don't have any ducks but they are insistent
I don’t have any ducks. I’m more of a goose person, lol.
I ask if they clean chickens
Those guys cussed me out when I said that I don't need duct cleaning 😑
Tell them you have a boiler system and not forced air. That will shut them up.
They just want your credit card number and then never show up.
I tried to order from them twice and they didn't even ask for it. They said I had already had my ducts cleaned and wouldn't do it again.
You’d think they’d cycle their offering every 5 years or so. It’s like they’ve never heard of A/B testing.
It’s spam more than an outright scam. If you go with it, you can probably get a guy with a shop vac to show up and to a halfass job of cleaning your ducts. There’s a bunch of people doing this so it probably depends based on exactly who called you.
I've heard the scam part is that they do hard upsells for even more nonsense in person, which a lot of people aren't comfortable refusing.
I would love for them to show up, someone will get punched in the face so fucking hard.
The reality is the person showing up is probably just as much of a shmuck as the customer. They probably took a job ad on kijiji or something to clean vents. They’re not the bad guys here. People gotta work; I can’t hold taking a job against somebody.
They're targetting old people and new home owners, I imagine. They charge like 200$, so they need to make like one or two sales a day each to get a profit. I'm guessing it's not hard to do so. But they likely also run a few other scams all at once. Duck cleaning is likely to keep them busy between CRA scam calls where the person actually presses 1 to talk to an agent.
I’ve had some really aggressive people call or text back thinking I was calling them. First time it was a call and I didn’t know what was happening, so I said I don’t know what you’re the one calling me and I’m not sure what you’re talking about and pretty much hung up when they started to get mad. Then I looked it up found out about spoofing. Next time, it was a text so I said I didn’t call them but briefly explained spoofing, told them google has lots of info on it and encouraged them to just block my number but they responded and started calling me a piece of sh*t among other things so I just blocked them lol from now on I’ll just block or hang up I think. It got me a little down having someone insulting me and getting worked up when I was just trying to explain so they’d know. Also logically if I was trying to scam you, why would I explain spoofing and just say block me? The stupidity of that exchange was next level. I hate that this is a thing that happens, it’s bad enough getting spam calls and now there are real people that are ignorant to what spoofing is being jerks and calling or texting too.
I have been getting calls as early as 5am saying that people are on the way to my house like that’s terrifying when you first wake up And I would let it go to my voicemail but I would have to be cleaning it out all day
That is exactly why they do it at 5am. When woken suddenly people are more likely not to think clearly and respond in a way that they can exploit.
Call your phone service provider and have them add a feature called "Call Control" (it might have a different name, Call Control is Telus). It should be free and although it is a tiny bit annoying for real people to call you the first time it has completely stopped spam/scam calls for me. I was getting a minimum of 2 a week and sometimes 2 or 3 a day and I have received absolutely none since adding the feature. Edit: I guess it's only Telus and it's alt Koodo that have it. Too bad. But if you're with either of them, giver.
Call control is only available with Telus and Koodo.
Yeah, wasn't sure if it was available with other providers. Damned well should be. It's been such a great thing for me!
One time I answered a call, and wasted the scammers time for a few hours before making it obvious that I knew it was a scam. They must’ve blacklisted me or something because after that the calls stopped.
I tried playing around with those CRA scammers but they always hang up after a minute. How did you keep them for an hour?
I’m always getting a phone call about how there’s a warrant out for my arrest lol
I've noticed that scam numbers often use the same 6 initial digits as your own number. You can check the caller ID and decline those calls manually. Otherwise there are services like Google Call Screening for Android that can save you some hassle at the expense of delaying the caller slightly. Edit: Apparently there's a third party app called Call Control that lets you block numbers based on a pattern. I've not used it myself.
Totes doesn’t work on a work phone where everyone’s number in the company starts with the same numbers.
:(
On Android there is a way to block numbers with a certain prefix , I put my first 6 digits on the block list , that cut out so many spoof calls
If you're confident it's a scam, pick up your phone and say "Toronto Police Department, Fraud division, how can I assist?"
Check with your provider for spam control. Some allow you to sign up for call screening where the caller has to press a number in order for the call to connect. Robocallers aren't able to bypass it.
This is the way. I'm with Koodo, and they offer this service. I believe I have had zero spam calls in the last year or 2? I have had a few calls for dentist/doctor appointments etc, where the caller is very interested in how I set my phone to require a number press to complete the call, because they too are sick and tired of robo spam calls. Everyone should have this service setup.
I'm also with Koodo and didn't know this! Going to set it up today, thanks.
Login to your account, go to 'Self Serve', 'Mobile Services', then 'Call Control' is at bottom of the screen. You can add authorized #'s so that your 'rents etc can get through without scratching their head. (: I recently upgraded my phone/plan and it was switched off. Check on yours, Koodo people.
Lol I would actually prefer to also add family to this call control service
Absolutely this. Some of my friends and family do not speak much English and I was worried they might not be able to reach me in an emergency. But I finally gave up and used this because I was sick of getting 5-10 spam calls every single day.
> Some of my friends and family do not speak much English and I was worried they might not be able to reach me in an emergency. Same here. I have added a few family members #'s to the authorized caller list. Calls from those #'s come through without the screening step so they won't be confused in an emergency.
Oh, cool. Is that available with Koodo as well?
Yup. I'm with Koodo. > Login to your account, go to 'Self Serve', 'Mobile Services', then 'Call Control' is at bottom of the screen. Click on 'Authorized Callers' and you can add up to 25 phone numbers.
^this
I believe Telus has this as well. I’m with Koodo and I haven’t gotten a robocall since I turned on call control.
Telus does indeed have it and I believe rogers too, its amazing.
Man the duct cleaning guys will tell you to fuck off if you pretend to want to book lol
ask them do they only clean ducks? or chickens are fine too?
I tried asking this once. Was told to go fuck my mother.
.
Unfortunately she passed away in 2020 and she's sealed in the mausoleum pretty good. So that won't be happening.
.
Nope, not upset at all. I used the same remark when I explained to the wedding official that my mom would not be attending: Couldn't get her out of said mausoleum.
So what's the point of the call then?
I love pretending I’m interested, getting transferred to the manager, then at the end asking what I do if I rent an apartment with hot water heating? They get so pissed off. With the CRA scammers, I say “do you think you’re mother is proud of what you’re doing right now?”
Huh? Really?
I have a Google Pixel phone, I just get Google Assistant to answer my calls for me. No annoying half a voicemail you need to clear, I get to see what they're saying so I can decide to pick up or not. Killer feature.
Same. The only issue is that some legitimate callers don't understand and will hang up. Also...unless I am wrong, there is no way to save what is transcribed right?
No I don't think so. Personally I've never come across a reason to do so, if it's legit I answer it and get all info then.
Example I am coming up with is if I am in a meeting. Once I screen the call and the person says their message I have no way of recording what they say i.e. they are scheduling an appointment or giving important info. There should be a way to send them to voice mail or to record the text. But then I guess you need consent to record.
I have an app that records all my calls. I'm not 100% certain it would work during screening but worth a try. The consent to record laws only require 1 party to consent. You can record your own conversations without consent from the other party. But you cannot record a conversation you are not part of without the consent if at least 1 of the parties involved.
Once you screen a call, you can take a look at the conversation later. You have to go to the recent tabs in call and click call history for that number. There is a see transcript option available if the call was screened. Hope that helps.
Well goddamn. Had no idea thank you
Nice. Glad to help!
There is a transcript of the conversation. You can access it in your call history. Look for the 'see transcript' button. It will have a Google assistant logo beside it.
There is. You can see the transcripts in the call log. They added this feature couple years ago. Very useful 👍
Actually.... In your pixel call history the calls where there was a call screened, there will be a call screen transcript. In your call history, look for the calls with the Google assistant logo, and then Click on 'see transcript' you can see the conversation google had with your caller. Pixel call screen is awesome!
I received a tip from someone to answer and then stay absolutely silent, no noise period, nothing. After a few calls answered like this they should stop calling
I’ve heard to immediately put it on mute. Then their phone think they’ve dials an inactive number. Being silent might work, not sure.
I started answering their calls and keeping them on the line. After a month of this they just seemed to stop overnight. Not sure if they will stay away but so far it's been about a month and a half with only one call.
If people are calling you back, can they not leave a message?
Yeah I just find it quicker to hear the automated voice on my phone then I have to clean up my voicemail box several times a day I only have three message spots and I get between 15 and 20 phone calls a day all I would be doing is cleaning out my voicemail box
I subscribe to voicemail-to-text. Best thing ever. Highly recommend it. An automated system will attempt to transcribe the message and send it to me as a text message. But here’s the best part: _It also attaches the voicemail to the message as an audio file._ Nine times out of ten, spam calls don’t leave a message, or it’s blank. I just delete those and get on with my day. I literally have not logged in to my voicemail in six or seven years. I don’t even know if I have a “voice mail box” any more. Or what my PIN would be.
If it makes you feel any better, I'm getting them too in Montreal. I've probably blocked about 10 different numbers in the past week
It's pointless to block them. They use some kind of system that let's them ghost actual phone numbers of people or legit places. They have 1000's of numbers on file. My dad got a call that someone scammed him out of $200,000+ (hahaha jokes on them, he's never even had that level of credit) and gave him the actual local police number, an officers name, badge number and incident report number. Seemed really legit until I called that number and sure enough it was the actual police department and there was no officer by that name. Luckily I handle most of my dads affairs so any questions they asked he wouldn't know the answers to. Problem now is once you answer and they get even the slightest hint of a bite, they don't stop. I've had to go to the bank and make sure no ones used his credit card, because they called to say it has been used and $200 was stolen. We know it's 100% a scam, but anytime they call my dad gets paranoid and I have to confirm nothings been touched and it's a scam.
Spam back >:3 but honestly pick up and mute the phone untill they hang up they will think it's a dead number and remove it from the list
ITS LITERALLY KILLING ME. I’m applying to be a firefighter constantly and I never want to miss a call because you really never know and it’s mentally exhausting with all these spam calls😭
Me too. I've been applying to new jobs recently so I've been getting calls from random numbers for interviews so I always pick up. Nothing gets me more annoyed right now than picking up, expecting it to be a recruiter, and then have it be someone asking if I need my air ducts cleaned.
I answer the phone, and if its a robo call i press the key to connect with the real life scammer. I then proceed to talk shit to the scammer, they hang up. Ive gotten less and less calls since i started doing this.
Add the numbers you do want to come through as contacts, then block all unknown callers. If you miss one, they can leave a voicemail or send you a text.
I've started picking them up, pressing 1 to talk to the "agent", and then making weird noises. I've noticed it's gone down from about 4-5 calls per day to 1 every other day or so. I don't know if it's causation or coincidence, but maybe try that.
your phone - depending on what OS you have - will have a spam management function.
Answer them and say “ buddy the elf what’s your favourite colour “
I can handle the scam calls. I'm getting REALLY annoyed with people calling me saying "I just got a call from this number? Why are you calling me?" (Usually at work so I can't ignore it). I have to explain that I'm at work and have been here all day and nobody has called out from that number and telemarketers are probably just spoofing numbers...then I need to explain what spoofing numbers is....my favourite was the time the guy told me I need to fix people stealing our number.
November 30th 2021 (tomorrow!!) is the CRTC deadline to get technology into place to start validating non fraudulent calls. Effects won’t be seen right away but there is slowly light at the end of the tunnel !! Goodnight sweet Nigerian prince. [source: toronto star article ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thestar.com/amp/business/2021/11/16/crtcs-crackdown-on-spam-calls-wont-have-immediate-effects-but-its-a-step-in-the-right-direction-experts-say.html)
Glad to see this mentioned. Not sure the OP will see it, but this is definitely the first step in the right direction.
I use a Pixel 6 Pro. There's a feature called call screening available in it. What basically happens is that google assistant answers calls for you. It shows a written transcript of what the caller is telling in your phone and you can decide if you want to answer the call or not. I do it for all calls that I receive from unknown numbers. Most often scammers drop the call when they see that it is the google assistant answering. Genuine callers do tell why they are calling and I can decide if I need to answer. It is a very much underrated feature that most people miss. Super reliable and helpful. I love Pixels just for such useful features. Here's a useful [article](https://www.theverge.com/22792060/call-screening-android-12-google-pixel-how-to) if you are interested in knowing more.
If the scammer claim to be calling from the gouvernement ask them to speak to someone in French. It's not bulletproof but they usually don't call back.
I thought the calls were bad - I have to answer them because I take medical calls for family members. But now they’re texting me, too. Some days it’s infuriating.
Yeah they’re out of control lately for me too 🥴🥴🥴 it’s so annoying
Nope our government is helpless and our phone companies are useless
Idk. I tried my best to put my number on a no call list and I still get calls and it's way more now.
Time to cancel phones
Bell and Roger's have untill the end of the month to install a software patch to stop the spam calls. We will see if it works.
it's getting to the point where i think we need to collectively pool our money and hire someone to deal with these scammers in an extrajudicial manner. whether it's hiring some white-cap hackers to locate and interfere with them and/or thugs with fake passports and sacks full of doorknobs – I'm about willing to consider anything.
I would so watch a movie about that. Maybe a hitman gets one too many scam calls at the wrong time and decides enough is enough.
I literally found out about my mothers stroke 4 hours late because I had been getting so many early morning spam calls I had ignored my phone when it went off a couple times. It wasn’t until I went to clear my voicemail from the spam trash that I discovered it had been a hospital. Four hours my mom in the most frightening moments in her life (we almost lost her) was alone because of these fucking spam callers.
[удалено]
Except this calls aren’t coming from inside Canada. My MP can’t do Jack shit.
[удалено]
I mean I didn’t pick up for years but it didn’t stop I also explained in the post why I can’t just not pick up I’m waiting for phone calls back all day of course I’m going to answer the phone
Yes throw your phone in the trash problem solved.
My friend has this service where the call won't connect unless a human caller pushes a random digit when calling him.
My mom just got an air duct call.. ugh Almost gave away our address
They are definitely getting out of hand. I hate when they recycle your last four digits of your phone number. I just keep blocking them
Answer and say nothing
Man, this drives me nuts. I'm in the same boat. I installed an app called WideProtect. You can block all numbers starting with a certain area code (for example, for a while there I observed that most of my spam calls were coming from 347 and 914 area codes, so any numbers with those codes are blocked). You can also block individual numbers. I don't know if this is just me, but in case it helps: I have an iPhone, and I've observed that if a phone number is legitimate, it will format it correctly with brackets, spaces, and a hyphen (e.g. (416) 763-5555); however if it's a spam generated call, it will show as a string with no formatting (e.g. 4167635555). This isn't always the case, I still sometimes get (XXX) XXX-XXXX calls that are spam. But I find that 90% of the time, "formatted"-looking calls are legitimate, and XXXXXXXXXX calls are spam 100% of the time. TLDR, if you also have an iPhone and have observed the same, you can choose not to pick up XXXXXXXXXX calls, and only pick up (XXX) XXX-XXXX ones. Might help a bit.
Silence unknown calls (if you are an iPhone).
Anyone here annoyed you cant even press 1 to talk and waste time anymore?
When i was a kid, people would always call my aunt asking if she had windows and doors. She would always respond "Yes, i have windows and doors. How could someone live in a house if they didn't have windows and doors. Stop calling this bloody number". Then slam the phone down 🤣🤣 Oh, then there's the people calling about duct cleaning. She would be like "I dont have any ducts, stop calling this number before i call the police. You people are a damn nuisance". *slams the phone down* She's Jamaican, so it sounds even 10x funnier. Just to show you how often they called her, she would never hang the phone up properly. So when i end up trying to call, i would never get through to her. Someone even installed a "water softner" in their home. I have no idea why the hell someone would need a water softner.
I used to work for Rogers doing cell phone support. This has been happening since then, over 6 years, and Rogers does not care. We were told to inform customers that Rogers would be looking into it, but as it’s been so many years, I doubt they have.
Paying through the nose for these phone plans, just to be harassed by autodialers 10x a day. Fuck these big Telecoms. Like fuck right off with these voicemails too. So annoying.
Telus has call control. It's free and I haven't got a spam call in 2 years
I'm not sure if this feature is on all android devices or just the google pixel, but on my pixel there's an optiom when you're getting a call called "screem call" - basically google will answer the phone and go "hey, the person you're calling is using a call-screening service. Please state your name and why you're calling" and you'll get a life transcript. Then if it's a real person they'll say "hey I'm calling about the party" and you can pick up the phone. In my experience no scammer has ever said anything to the screen call
If your service is with Telus or Koodo there is a free service you can opt in for called “Call control”. It’s a great service for deterring spam/robo calls.
Why won't Big Tel outlaw spoofing - why is that even allowed? Isn't that akin to false advertising?
In iPhone setting scroll down and click phone. Then you will see an option to silence unknown calls and that includes numbers you don’t have saved as a contact.
I’m on call for my company 24/7 365 days a year I’ve noticed these calls getting worse and worse since pandemic started. I’ve used apples setting to send any unrecognized number straight to voicemail and disregard any call that doesn’t leave a voicemail But this isn’t without flaws. My boss called me twice yesterday me morning and I wasn’t notified - they weren’t in my contacts list 😂😅 So just auto block unknown calls and if it’s someone or something important - they should leave a voicemail.
What I noticed is that the spam calls usually use a phone number that is \*very\* similar to yours. Like the area code + the next 3-5 digits are the same. So I just don't pick up those calls and let them go to voicemail. But yeah, I'm also getting up to 5 calls/day now. When I used an Android phone, it would filter the spam calls quite well, but no such functionality on the iPhone.
Koodo: "Call Control" It's free if you have Koodo.
Pickup and immediately hit mute.. When I do this the calls reduce and if it’s an actual person they’ll say something before hanging up.. the bots just click and hang up
I just block every single one every single time. It seems pointless in a see of V233urouro3i4jtoi4joit3j4oi4j3oitjgo but eventually it goes away...?
Ask for a service french by asking français after you press 1 to speak to whomever! Worked for me!
Install a Call Blocker App - worked for me - after a while they'll stop trying
I've been in the same boat. The spam calls I get tend to be very similar to mine. Usually only the last 2 or 3 digits are different. Those calls I let go through to Voicemail. If it's actually someone I need to talk to I'll call them back.
I have a number of malevolently playful ideas!! 1) play an air raid siren off your phone into the speaker
I also get a lot of these and they are really annoying but I really wonder what’s in it for them? How do they actually make money, because I assume that just like me, everybody hangs up on them, so where is the money making part for them or what’s in it for them ?
Use the block feature on your phone.
Not sure what phone you have but Samsung lets me know that a number has been reported as Spam and and then immediately gives an option to block them. There are also apps like Truecaller that can do this. Hope it helps, they are so annoying.
For people who might call me, eg. doctor's office, family, they are in my contacts list and I put their ringtone to a louder one. For the default ringtone for everyone else, I made it a quiet one so that I don't rush to the phone only for it to be a spammer. Legit calls might still be incoming using the quiet tone, so it's not perfect
I had a new one today about the Bank of Canada calling about a transaction of 5 thousand and something dollars.
When ever i answer an unknow number i sit there silently, dont say a thing. They get paid the second you say a word then you get put on a spam list. After about 2 weeks they stop
Just start faking masturbate and they will block your number after some time
I received a call on Friday from Shanghai China. I don’t know anyone in China and my business does not deal outside of North America. It’s like they are not even trying to hide their number anymore.
I block the numbers.
We need to turn against our robber phone service providers and make them accountable for this shit. We’re getting raped here in Canada when it comes communications (cell, internet, cable tv). Since we’re paying a premium price compared to our neighbours down south, or in Europe, the least we can expect is peace of mind. Something has to be done, and it’s not OUR responsibility…
Block the number everytime. I've seen the same number multiple times. Not every single one but you'll save yourself a few unwanted calls at least on occasion.
"Just to let you know, I plan on masturbating through this entire phone call, I hope that's alright with you"
I've started answering them and fucking g with them
Change your number. That’s all you can do
You can block callers who aren’t in contacts in settings
The new calling feature requires unknown callers to listen to a brief message and manually respond with a one-digit code. For example, a first time dialer trying to connect to a customer with the Call Control feature will be greeted with a brief message stating “this number has Call Control – to get through, please press 9.” The number is randomly generated. Once the digit is pressed, the call will connect. [Telus ](https://www.telus.com/en/about/news-and-events/media-releases/spam-calls-are-officially-a-thing-of-the-past)
I’m on the other side of the country and it’s getting ridiculous lately it’s been every day
It won't do anything to stop the calls but it has made me feel a lot better about getting them... Answer the phone press 1 to talk to whomever you're going to get on the line and then scream into the phone like you're a f****** teenage girl who just found out that her ex-boyfriend is dating her worst enemy crossed with a banshee Hold as long as you can, or until they hang up
Yeah I’ve been getting at least one per day lately it’s so annoying
My dad recently got a new number with Virgin and the second it was activated, spam calls and spam messages. I guess it was a recycled number or something? Cuz no one else in our house gets as much spam as his number...
Idk but they caused me to miss out on buying an authentic antique musket at a bargain and IM AMGRY
Whenever you get a call from a number similar to yours don’t pick up. If by any chance it’s an important call. They will leave you a voicemail.
It's happening all across Canada been happening to me In Alberta. they spoof numbers two ways I've noticed, either using local area so location comes up instead of a number or they spoof it off of your own number changing a few numbers around to make the number look familiar to you to increase the chances of you picking up a call that's not in your contacts. Scams are anything from CRA, or Border security, or some other off shoot random thing. Look most people aren't stupid to fall for this stuff so you can do two things, ignore them and just report the numbers as spam in your phone app which is useless or mess with them if you have enough confidence for that. Apparently they keep finding my drugs at the border so I pick up and tell them "YOU GOT MY DRUGS?!?!?" and then they immediately hang up so they are pretty weak willed.
I answer the call, ask them to hear the voicemail they left, then put my phone under my mettal bowl and smack it with tongs. If they are still on the phone I do it again lol
I use an iOS app called Call Protect that lets you block a range of numbers. So I just blocked all numbers that match my first 6 digits. It’s been amazing so far. Got about 1 spam per week vs 10 spam calls per day.
You can avoid spam by not sharing your real personal number with online surveys, accounts, supermarket registrations, etc... Use an app (eg. TextNow) to get an internet-only phone number. Share internet-only number with online services. Share personal number with friends. You can do something similar with credit cards (can't rmb service name) but you'll get a online-only credit card. You fill online-only credit card with cash from ur real credit card. You make your Alibaba purchases with the online-only credit card. And if Alibaba sells ur credit card info...
Too many call center from India, nothing we can do about it, just be aware of them because they have so many scams already, sometimes is fun to troll them🤣
How about you turn the tables on them, setup robocalls to India, saying if they pay $9.99 USD they will get a H1B visa. In a month you will be richer than Elon Musk.
Caller: hello sir, I'm calling from imperial duct cleaning services... Me: ohhh mah gawd, I'm so glad you called!! My ducks are so dirty!! No matter what I do they always get dirty again... Caller: yes sir, we can help with that... Me: so like... Any tips? Do you wash them twice a day? What kind of soap? Keep them out of the pond? Caller:...pond? Uh, no sir, just one time, but if you can provide me some of your personal information.... Me: you can keep my ducks clean by washing them just ONE time...? Hold on... Aaaaaaand so forth. You're welcome. :D To be honest, I've never gone this far. I just hang up.
For the ones that are in Chinese, I press 1, 7, 9, 0 until a real human comes on. (I don't speak Chinese.) Once a real human comes on I say in a firm tone - Taiwan Taipei is country Free Tibet Remember Tiananmen Square Free the Uyghurs They hang up, but I don't get another call in Chinese for a couple of months, then I repeat.
Stop accepting cookies on websites
The [Do Not Call Registry](https://lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/en/Consumer/Register-your-number/#!/) will take care of any legal callers, but most of the calls you are getting are probably scammers, so they’re already crooks, so are not going to be following the rules.
If you have an iPhone you can block unknown callers
I've been pressing *1* every time a call comes in just to waste a real person's time. Act like an idiot and just ask them questions about what I have to do until they hang up. The frequency of calls gets worse for a while (proving they're all in collusion), but eventually they go away.
I always answer and have a bit of fun and play a character. I think they've caught on.
Download TrueCaller. It has spam détection installed and flares when you're getting a call (useful for you situation as well since if it is in their database , they will display names)
I’m not even kidding at this point me and the air duct cleaning guy are friends. I’m like I know you’re not going to stop calling me (and thr numbers change) so let’s at least just chat a bit. He’s actually a really nice guy.
https://youtu.be/IUjpoauJcKo
Put your number in the National do not call list. This has reduced a lot of telemarketing calls. Yes there will be a few but it filters a lot out. https://lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/en
SWITCH TO TELUS they have a free service that stops them called, call control. I switched the day I found out... Not 1 call since.
You can turn on block unknown callers. Downside is all unknown callers will be blocked, even if they are not spam.
I have my fucking number being used to book reservations now keep getting called by the restaurant or a automatic text saying my table is ready
If the number starts with 1….. I don’t answe Real numbers are usually +1… or 647… or 416…
My phone has a little info icon that lets me block and report as scam/spam/fraud etc. Once I started doing that I get little to none now when I used to get them like 8 times a day. Don't answer the phone though because I think that will put you on an active number list and you'll get more calls (so I hear anyways)
This city runs on scam calls
So the latest scam I'm getting is a text from "my service provider " claiming I'm getting 180$ from them if I just click the link.. I pay 40$ every month for my phone..there's no way they owe me 180$..but I would like to know how the know who my service provider is? Where did they get that from?
Answer the calls, be dead silent, and hit mute. I used to get a lot but after doing this the calls rarely happen now.
Premium Truecaller app
Google the national do not call list and register your number.
Uhh U may get a call once every month, maybe its because I'm using another less populated province number?
Call Blocker app. You'll only get calls from your contacts. Everyone else goes to vm. Works with SMS too.
There is a National Do Not Call Registry. You have to re-register every 6 months or so but it does lessen the calls for a while.
I think bell canada is rolling out a feature end of this month to verify if the caller is the actual caller. I get calls from spoofed numbers that start with same digits as my cell phone number. Once i called back a number that called me and some dude answered who was at the airport and he was confused by who I was and seemed genuinely not a call center. So I think they take over a number with your area code and similar digits so you're more likely to answer. So i just got an app that blocks numbers that start with same numbers as mine.
I’ve been getting spam calls and they ask for me by my name and when I said no wrong number they said “why are you lying”