We know that the calls «SCAM LIKELY» are often endless and many others can be scams, the United States Government has a page to help this nightmare is over
It is important to understand that this program works only with telemarketing calls, when you keep receiving calls from unknown numbers, it could be a SCAM!
FCC Recommendations
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a few basic easy steps for anyone to reduce robocalls:
• No call contests from unknown or blocked numbers.
• Do not answer calls from numbers you do not recognize.
• Don’t assume an incoming call is really from a local number just because it looks like it is.
• You do not answer any questions that you can answer with a “Yes”.
• If someone calls you and claims to be from a company, hang up and call the company directly. Use the company’s website to find an official number.
• If you answer a call and hear a recording like, “Hello, can you hear me?” just hang up.
• The same goes for a call where you are asked to press a number before connecting to a representative.
According to the government agency, when you answer a call and interact with the voice message or by pressing a number, you let criminals know that your number is real so they can later sell it to another company or dial it to call you more often.
Applications that protect you from possible scams
Applications to block calls from possible phone scams are also very useful. Among the best in 2023 are:
- Hiya (free for iOS and Android): alerts you to possible fraudulent calls, and shows you more information about the origin of unknown numbers. It also allows you to report fraudulent numbers in your app.
- Truecaller (free for iOS and Android): alerts you to possible fraudulent calls before you answer.
How to block calls on Android
It’s time to take action on our own. For Android, Google implemented from version 6 a system to facilitate the task through a couple of clicks, pressing the block function to a certain number in the contacts. A simple, straightforward and effective method that works with ‘pure’ Android versions.
As mobile manufacturers use layers on top of the operating system as a user interface, there is no single method to block calls on Android, but it is quite accessible in all of them from the general definitions section, contacts or calls. As an example of use, we will do it on a Samsung terminal with Android 12, but it is quite similar to how it can be done with Huawei, Xiaomi and others.
What to do if I receive many calls from unknown numbers?
If this is your case, the National Anti-Kidnapping Coordination (CONASE) recommends that you cut off communication immediately and dial the Single Emergency Number 9-1-1; there you can receive guidance to know how to act in this situation or how to file your complaint.
Any manufactured phone is associated with an IMEI (unique identification number), this number shows us information about the phone. In the case of fake phones, they usually do not have IMEI, they use a fake number since they do not go through the legal procedures to launch that product on the market.
