How annoying is it when you get a spam text messages, spam phone calls, or robocalls and it is a telemarketer or scammer? For me, it is pretty annoying. Sure, I try to not do business with any organization that practices these methods but that still doesn’t address the flood of companies that still continue to do it. And it isn’t little shady companies either, I had a manager from a large authorized Verizon reseller tell me it was standard business practice for them to spam my phone with text messages.
So how do we stop this assault? The first thing we have to do is define what is and is not acceptable.
If you initiate contact with a company and they reply using the same form of communications, that is perfectly acceptable. If you voluntarily sign up for text alerts etc, that too is perfectly fine. The problem happens when either you have never contacted the company in question, or the company you did contact for something, adds you to a list without your permission, or that permission was hidden in such a way that most normal people would never have noticed.
Another problem is that when you sign up for text alerts with a company, and they not only start sending you text alerts, but spam you with something else too. A good example is the Ring app for the Ring doorbell and the Ring cameras. They have a feature called Neighborhood Alerts which allows you to see doorbell video from people who report suspicious activities, crimes, etc and also gives you crime reports in your area to help keep you safe. You can manage what you see by reporting things you don’t want or are inappropriate, and block certain types of alerts.
All of that is great! But then they added amber alerts and it all went to heck in a handbasket. Why is that? Because the amber alerts are always at the top of the page, can not be turned off, can not be blocked, can not be reported, and take up a huge portion of the top of the screen.
Look, I get missing kids are important, and that is why they come across every single smartphone I know of by default, all automatically. Spamming me with the information over and over again is NOT going to make me magically see the kid, sorry. All it is going to do is make me mad. Having the information is great! But make it so I can turn it off if I get the information somewhere else. As it is, I turned off the entire neighborhood alerts feature.
So now you know what I mean by spam text messages, robocalls, and spam phone calls, how do we get them to stop?
1: Sign up for the FTC’s Do Not Call list
The FTC maintains a list of numbers that most telemarketers are supposed to use to remove numbers from their call lists. While the list is far from perfect, it allows political calls, for example, it is a great place to start.
No, not all telemarketers and robocallers follow the list even when they are legally obligated to do so. And if they are based outside the US, the list is completely useless. But even if the list only applies to 25% of the people spamming you, and even if only half of those follow the list, at zero cost to you and five minutes of your time you can eliminate over 12% of the junk you are getting. Even if it only stops 1%, its a deal.
The list is permanent, you do not have to update your registration.
No other method on this list will offer you that much of a reduction in spam text messages, robocalls, and spam phone calls with that little time, effort, and money.
2: Simply don’t give out your number
I know this seems a little too simple, but you would not believe how effective it can be. A lot of companies out there say they “need” your cellphone number when they really don’t. Do you really need to have Walmart text you when your prescription is ready or can you just go by on your way home because they always have it ready by then?
Think before you give out your number. If there is a legitimate reason they really need your number, or if giving them the number saves you a significant about of time or effort, then go for it. If not, then just tell them you do not give out your personal number to anyone, period.
Back in the old days, if you gave out your home phone number to someone (who has those anymore, heh), they could only bother you when you were at home. Out shopping, having dinner with friends, driving down the road, on vacation, these were all safe times when you could relax. No more. Take that into consideration when thinking about giving out your number.
3: Use an app
There are a lot of apps out there that can help stem the tide of robocalls, spam text messages, and spam phone calls. The top three in my mind are Hiya for a free app and both NoMoRobo and RoboKiller for paid apps.
These apps work in a variety of ways which includes matching incoming numbers with lists of known spam numbers, matching the message contents with known spam text message profiles, and much more. They do a relatively good job.
My personal favorite free app is Hiya. It is fairly simple to install and use and shows you on your lock screen if it thinks the call is spam or not. They offer a paid version as well which seems to be pretty much the same thing but with a few added features such as automatically blocking known or suspected spammers and scammers. The premium version is about $3 a month or $15 per year.
If you are going to pay, Hiya is not a bad choice, but NoMoRobo is probably a better option as it seems a little more effective and also filters SMS spam text messages as well, which Hiya does not. It is also the app that won the FTC’s Robocall Challenge to find the best solution to the robocall and telemarketing problems.
The cost is a tad odd when compared to Hiya because it is cheaper per month at $2 compared to $3, but more expensive per year costing $20 as compared to $15. Strange, but still so very much worth the $20 per year.
I should also point out that NoMoRobo also claims to allow in legitimate robocalls such as school closings and prescription reminders which I think is not only a cool feature but also a possible way for scammers to get through so it may be a wash.
The last app, and most expensive, is RoboKiller. It is probably just as effective as the previously discussed apps and includes text message filtering, but where it shines is that it doesn’t just block the telemarketers, it sends them to bots that actively engage them in a conversation!
So why would you want the bot to talk to the telemarketer? Because many of these telemarketers get paid by the number of calls they make, even if the person doesn’t answer, so getting them into a conversation with a computer lowers their income, wastes their time, and annoys the heck out of them whether they figure out they have been played or not.
The revenge factor here alone is worth the money. To make it even better, you can select from a series of bots to pick which one handles telemarketers on your end. It then can record these conversations so you can play them back later to get a great laugh. Many people have even posted these conversations online allowing everyone to get a chuckle at the telemarketer’s expense.
So in conclusion, I recommend Hiya for people who want something free, NoMoRobo for anyone who just wants a serious app that does an excellent job, and RoboKiller for those who want spend an additional $5 a year for a little revenge and humor.
4: Use your phone’s built-in protections
In most modern phones today you can block numbers with ease. The problem is that the people making spam phone calls, sending spam text messages, and robocalls often change numbers so fast that you would be blocking numbers forever. There is another option.
On both iOS and Android, there is a way to tell the phone to only accept calls from people who are in your contacts list.
For iOS turn on Do Not Disturb, then scroll down to Allow Calls, and select All Contacts. This absolutely allows people to call you and to leave voicemails, and all the calls, even from spammers and telemarketers, will show up in your call logs and voicemails (if they leave one), it will not, however, ring the phone or notify you that the call has occurred.
Personally, I like this option as the only people I am really concerned about answering the phone as they are calling are in my contact list. Anyone who is not can leave a voicemail if it is important and I will get back to them.
On Android simply swipe down from the top of your home screen and select Do Not Disturb, then you can select Priority Only and click the customize link. Now you can set the options for text messages and phone calls both to From Contacts Only.
This may not work for everyone and has no protection against spam texts but it is free, easy, and very effective at keeping you from being disturbed by spam phone calls, robocalls, and spam text messages.
I should also mention that Andriod also has some rudimentary spam protection built right into the phone. You can enable this by opening the phone app, tapping on the three dots at the top right, tap Settings, tap Caller ID & Spam, flip the switch for Filter Spam Calls. This will cause the phone to show you when a text or call might be spam.
5: Use the options provided by your carrier
Most cellphone carriers these days have their own spam blocking capabilities and provide these services to their customers. Many like Verizon offer a two-tier approach which includes a free tier for basic spam filtering and a paid tier which provides additional options. These vary so widely and change so often that it is pointless to discuss much in this article.
What is important is that like most apps from your mobile carrier these seem, at least for now, more a way to generate additional income without a lot of substance.
By that, I mean that from all of the information I have seen, and all of the apps I have tried, the third-party apps offer substantially more bang for your buck. It would seem that the telephone companies would have better technology to be able to identify and stop spam phone calls, spam text messages, and robocalls but that does not seem to show up in their apps.
In fact, I find it interesting that their products require apps at all. Since they are the ones providing the caller ID to your phone, can they not just replace the caller ID with a caller ID that has a tag added to the end? For example, the caller ID might originally read “Acme Loans” and they could change it to say “Acme loans – SUSPECTED SPAM” or something similar.
If they knew the call had a spoofed caller ID, or that the call was an illegal robocaller, etc, then they should be able to outright block the call. Again, no app needed.