My landline phone rings about 20 - 25 times a day and it’s driving me nuts. I messed with
these scammers a few times just for fun and to waste their time but then stopped
answering the phone several months ago. I thought if I didn’t answer my number
might go onto a list of non-functioning phones and the calls would stop. But it hasn’t
worked and I’m still getting calls with some coming as early as 6:00 am.
I’m registered with National Do Not Call Registry but of course the scammers
are going to ignore that. Any suggestions from the 'Dope would be appreciated.
I think the one-word answer is “no,” but you might be able to make them less annoying by subscribing to Nomorobo or some service like that.
turn down/off the ringer so it doesn’t wake you
It’s difficult to block the spammers since they are calling from foreign countries over VOIP and they set their caller ID to whatever random number they feel like. You may want to set your phone to direct all calls to the answering machine without ringing. Spammers typically don’t leave a message. To make it more difficult for them to leave a message, make it take a while before they can leave a message. One way to do this is to set the ringer volume to zero so that it rings for the full cycle but you don’t hear it. Make your voicemail greeting a little verbose to use up more time. You may even want to put something in your message to indicate that due to spam, callers must leave a message if they want you to return their call. Anyone important will leave a message.
Why would anyone own a landline in 2026? Or ever expect to answer it?
Lousy cell phone reception at your house (this was our issue for many years, until AT&T finally upgraded their local signal). Not owning a cell phone. Pure preference. Inertia.
Regardless, to the OP: you’re exactly right, the Do Not Call Registry does nothing to stop those calls. It stops calls from legitimate U.S. businesses; the scammers are neither. And, even if you were able to block a number, it doesn’t help at all, because the scammers are simply spoofing the Caller ID system; the calls are not actually coming from those numbers. Their next call will “come” from a completely different number.
Same with my house. My cell reception was 1 bar and I had to be in a certain spot to get it to be that good. Even wifi calling had its issues. The sound would get twangy and calls would drop out. I kept my VOIP landline for a long time because that was a lot more stable than trying to use a cell phone.