,...from some refinance scam. nI've been getting 10-12 calls a day. Every time they call it's from a different number. It's also a different person.

I've spent the day going "John Bean" on them.

They start their talk and I say:

"Now,..I done asked y'all polite to quit calling' me. I've fount out where y'all's at,...and if I hafta come down there I'm goan brang my boys with me,...and if my boys come with me somebody's ace will get whupped!"

It's interesting to listen to the silence that occurs afterwards.

By answering the phone and talking, you just confirmed that your number is valid, and your number was shared.

Expect more calls now.

Especially seeing as most of these scam calls are coming from overseas, they know someone in the States won't be coming after them.
If I don't know who is calling me I don't pick up.
About a year ago I was getting bombarded with spam calls, I ignored them and it did stop.
Worst thing anyone can do is answer those calls.

Yep, once you answer your number becomes a commodity. My dad thinks that he’ll answer then waste their time so they get frustrated and will never call back.

Can’t teach an old dog....

I can relate. I used to like to mess with them also.I'd answer in Spanish, German, Amish...........sometimes I'd answer and pretend I was an old lady who was deaf. Used to tell the credit card callers all kind of chit..........like I was glad they called, because I had just got out of jail after being locked up for 20 years and needed a credit card so I could go to a massage parlor.

However, these days we just look at the caller ID and let it ring..........that's the land line. Only reason we've kept it is because of the alarm system, and we could switch that over to cell, and because we're old fashioned and still don't trust cell phone reliability.

Seems like practically every one of the spam calls we get are recordings and each time from different phone numbers so any negative verbal response or blocking phone numbers is a total pointless waste of breath and time as well as a waste of our phone service minutes (Tracfone).

BING BING !!

Precisely. Being cute by answering and harassing the caller makes you the fool.

I like to answer and engage in conversation and then put them on hold. Come back in a minute or two and repeat.

yep, do not ack any of these calls

Unfortunately a surprising number of legitimate businesses with good reason to call don't show up on caller ID as such and different departments are often located in other areas and/or states so important and necessary calls can be missed if ignored assuming they are spam calls.

Had that very thing happen a few years back on a call from the accounting department of our home owners and vehicle insurance company. Their accounting department was in a different part of the state so the call was from a area code I didn't recognize and business name didn't show on caller ID. They were calling to let us know that they hadn't received our scheduled premium payment yet and our insurance coverage would lapse if not received before midnight. Only time that had happened in the decades we've been with that company. Our check which had been mailed in plenty of time ahead of due date to get to them apparently had been delayed or lost in the USPS mail. We were able to immediately take care of it and canceled the check we sent prior.

Thankfully I didn't simply ignore their call assuming it was just another spam call because no caller ID and from a area code I wasn't familiar with.

We don't have a land line. I don't answer any cell all that I don't recognize. If it's legitimate, they'll leave a message. After a while, the number of spam calls dwindled to maybe a couple a week. A few will leave a message and they're invariably for extended warranty coverage on our car.

Never answer your phone or open your door.

Nothing good can come from it. 🤣

If I do answer the phone I don’ say anything.The recordings seem to be voice activated, if you stay silent they seem to time out In a few seconds and end the call. If an "out of town" accent says hello several time I just stay silent until they hang up. My thought is maybe my number will be flagged as a non Responsive listing and be removed from their list.

And it really is this simple

Wait until you get located by the mortgage refinance phone banks. They're relentless. 10 calls a day that begin about 9:30 AM and go on until 7:00 PM.

They're not robots calls. There's a person on the other end. They're Americans.

I mess with them if I'm in the mood. I keep my phone turned off when I'm not.

If they don't get tired of it after a while I'll get another phone number.

You sir, are now what they call:
A hot lead.
(Meaning a real number with someone who answers and probably owns some property)

Just start answering:
"Good afternoon, Bureau of Fraud Investigation, telemarketing division"

That should get them to stop calling.

I don’t have a personal phone listing under my name. The only numbers I have are connected to my business. That makes completely ignoring unknown numbers or switching numbers periodically an issue. This time of year property buyers are the main PITA.

Unfortunately I own my own business (self employed)
I have to answer the calls and some weeks I get zero calls other times I get 15 a day.
I have even threatened them with legal action.
It does not help.
I was trying to get business credit and purchased an piece of equipment on a Lease. I wanted a Loan not the Lease.
in the 1st month I paid several month worth of payments putting me ahead.
The Leasing company that got me into the mess sold my lease to Pawnee a big Corporate Lending firm.
They proceeded to list my account as delinquent even thou I was months ahead.
This action from them started the Harassment from every single banking and loan company in the world on my company.
I paid the 5 year lease off in the first year thinking that it wold put an end to the Harassment.
It has been about 5 years now and I still get the calls.
I am not very nice to them anymore.
Harassment is Harassment.

Im roy d damn mercer!

But if you're enjoying yourself, go right ahead. You've got a hobby.

Yep.

I let calls from numbers I don’t recognize go to VM & if they leave a message I might call back. If they don’t I block the number.

Never answer.

if my #'s a commodity might as well list it on ebay

Correct. Just answering means your number has value, so they sell it to other telemarketers. You become a "verified lead" on a list of verified leads sold to telemarketers. Verified means that you answer your phone, even if you don't recognize the caller via caller ID.

Have I got a deal for you.....lol

Yes. We no longer answer if number is unrecognized and no message is left. We also block the numbers.

somehow these fuggers have figured out how to call my work instant messenger - you can make outgoing calls but to my knowledge there isn't an incoming dedicated number - but they've figured out a way to call me on it. I was getting calls from Peru and Hungary, and they'd repeat non stop for about 10 minutes. Its hasn't happened in a few days so maybe our IT guys figured out a way to shut it down.

The refinance crew hasn't called yet today. I think they may have gotten tired of talking to Owey Mullins and Leroy Mercer.

Real simple Boomer, if you don't recognize the number, don't answer. If you answer a number you don't recognize you deserve what you get and quit griping about it.

Not real tough.

I got a couple this week that went to voicemail. It was a machine recording that said "your social has been compromised. Press one to speak with the officer to fix things..." LOL.

Blocking the number doesn’t help. The numbers are spoofed. I’ve gotten three calls now from my own phone number. First time I looked at the phone and it showed me calling I was WTF ?

Okay, incel.

Exactly.

I don't answer unknown calls on my mobile (cell phone) but let home calls go to the answering machine - they never leave a message. I once got a voicemail on the mobile from an Indian guy claiming to be from the tax office saying that I was about to face jail time for non-payment of a tax bill, or something like that.

Classic 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

As more telco's switch over from switch based phone systems (like the NorTel DMS) to IP based systems like Meta, it will get a (liitle) better, since their are tools to filter spam calls in the IP world, but I still wouldn't expect them to go away- ever. Think of them like spam e-mails.... ISP's try to filter them, but most still get through.

Ya'll need to go easy on Bristoe for answering his phone to scammers...........

After all, this is the same guy who replaced a bad water line 3 feet at a time.