Do you have a standard MO when it comes to receiving scam calls?
If so, what does it entail?
Keep 'em on the phone and string them along.
Any incoming call form a number not in my contacts goes directly to voicemail, my phone doesn’t ring. My voicemail is set up for voice to text, so every day or two I skim through messages and erase them all.
Depends on the nature of the call. I like to joke around with them.
If it’s one of those where there’s silence on the other end, not even a computer voice, I’ll say “speak now or forever hold your peace.”
If they ask me how many miles my car has, I’ll say something ridiculous like 200 million.
If it’s a life insurance or funeral insurance (I’ve been getting a lot of those lately) and they ask me how old I am, I’ll tell them that I’m 300. One time when they didn’t hang up on me immediately I even started talking about the time I served under George Washington during the Revolutionary War. They hung up pretty quickly then 
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Usually they just get a hang-up. If I’m not busy with anything I will sometimes argue with them until they hang up. Especially the “police benevolent fund” assholes. They get the full-on “Fuck the po-lice!” treatment.
I’m easy to amuse.
During work hours, I answer and then hang up if it’s a scam, since it could be a work call. Otherwise, I don’t answer. I don’t really get the point of stringing them along.
I once told them Black Lives Matter and then hung up on them 
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Thanks for letting me just quote your work instead of typing out the exact same thing. 
Easy. I keep my ringer on “Do Not Disturb.” I don’t answer any calls not in my contacts list, and I block and mark all such numbers as spam.
If you have the time, it means while they’re busy with you, they aren’t on the phone with a real victim. Small victory but still. Plus, there’s a possibility that if you can get them mad, they’ll be on a shorter fuse with the next potential victim.
Mostly this, although if I’m feeling adventurous, or if it’s a number that’s local to me (which does not match my own area code, so less likely to be spoofed), I’ll hit the answer button to see who it is, but I’ll hang up as soon as I confirm that it’s a robo-call or other spam.
Back in the days when I had a landline, I would say “I’m sorry, I don’t accept phone solicitations” and immediately hang up.
I don’t answer numbers I don’t recognize. Voicemails go to text, so I glance at them, and 99% of them are asking me to renew my car’s warranty. Although lately I’ve gotten a couple that tell me I’m being sued. Whatever. Then I block the number, which is a fruitless gesture but I do it anyway.
I don’t think it’s a good policy to NEVER read/listen to a message from an unfamiliar number or one that’s not in your contacts list. It could be a legitimate or even an emergency call being made from a borrowed cell phone. What if someone is in the hospital and a staff member is calling you from their phone? Yeah, that’s unlikely, but the one time it’s true-- not good.
Back in the early days of internet/email, I’d get calls asking me to change my internet provider. I’d sometimes talk to those people. I had a standard story that always left the salesperson with nothing to say. I’d tell them I was becoming a nun the next day-- entering a solemn, cloistered religious order, where we weren’t allowed to have phones, computers, internet, or even to speak to each other. But that I would pray for them. I always enjoyed that one… 
Lately all the scam calls I’ve gotten have been automated. I wanted to waste a real person’s time, not a computer’s, so I tried to get through the automated pitch and talking to a real human, but somehow the computer can always tell I’m not a good prospect and hangs up on me.
So I’ve just given up on answering calls from unknown numbers. Off to voicemail it goes, and thanks to this post by @moes_lotion my outgoing message now says “If your call is important to you, leave a message. If your message is important to me, I’ll call you back.”
I’m with the “don’t answer numbers I don’t recognize” crowd. Occasionally I’ve answered and strung them along, but it’s rarely worth the bother. The last time was years ago. It was some kind of ongoing service plan for something, because I remember that after I expressed great slack-jawed interest, the first thing they wanted was my birth date so they could run a credit check. I said I didn’t know. But I said I could probably ask someone or look it up. After some disconcerting moments of insisting that surely I knew my own birth date, they asked if they could speak to my wife. I said no, she walked out of the house yesterday carrying a suitcase, and I doubted I would ever see the bitch again. They politely offered to call back later, but never did.
Agree on this. I never answer an unknown number and just let it go to voice mail (which the scammers sometimes just skip). But I will check a voice mail if one is left, just for such an occasion.
Back when we had a land line and would make the mistake of picking-up a call like this, and they would ask to speak with Mr. or Mrs. snowthx, I would say “just a minute, please…” and then just put the phone down and carry-on with whatever I was doing. Eventually, they hang-up but not after wasting some of their time (and none of mine).
If I’m bored or in a bad mood, I’ll answer just to fuck with them. I particularly enjoy the domestic ones from fake charities. I love asking them just how the money will be spent and they have to admit that very little goes to anything useful. A couple were completely unprepared to address that question, which seemed weird to me.
I do this too. It’s fun to see how long they try to engage me.
I also have another strategy to get them to not call back, but I’m not posting it here. Rules and all…
One time, I pecked the plastic phone with a pen and made chicken noises. That was hilarious! The caller called me “A Fuckin’ Idiot!” 
The only ones I really get are IRS or Social Security robo calls. I press one to get connected to a living person. I usually say something to the effect of “No women want to marry poor criminals”. I don’t know anything about India but this seems like the fastest, least emotional, little jab I can come up with.
You can also shame them with “Do your parents know what you are doing here?!?!”
I have sometimes asked if they thought that their mother would be proud of what a criminal scumbag their child had become.
As I said in the other thread, I’ve taken to refusing to speak English. I’m hoping that takes me off their list better than cursing them out.
And if they call with someone who speaks one language, I’ll just shift to another.