Quick tips to identify and block spam calls

You are having lunch or working busily. The phone rings, you pick up quickly without looking at the number, and hear a pre-recorded message on car loans. Even worse, your kid picks up the phone, subscribes to an alert for updates to a bogus higher study programme, and you keep getting these ‘updates’ 6 to 8 times every day.  

Types of unwelcome calls 
There are a few important distinctions between these calls, though they may all be equally annoying.   

Robocallers: Automated, pre-recorded phone messages playing as soon as you pick up 

Spammers: Unwanted human callers contacting a large number of recipients with or without their permission. Kids often agree to being contacted on phone, resulting in heavy spamming  

Fraud calls: Someone faking identity with malicious intent, or real companies with fake offers 

How to get rid of spam calls 
And here are some ways to block robotic callers and spammers. 

Block individual numbers: This is not protection against fake calls in general, but you can easily block numbers which you recognise form previous negative experience. On iOS, go to the Phone app, then Recent, tap the blue information icon to the right of the number, and select “Block this Caller.” For Android, the process is same, only easier. Just long press the number, and choose “Block.” 

Activate spam recognition on your Android smartphone: Most of the major mobile providers use behind-the-scenes network improvements to detect spam through tracing identity. So just activate either the Spam Recognition feature on your mobile or in the app of your service provider.  

Silence spammers on iOS 13 and above: The Silence Unknown Callers feature automatically silences all calls from unknown numbers, but they show up in your Recent list, so you can call back if needed. To enable this, go to Settings > Phone. Turn on the switch to Silence Unknown Callers. 

Use third party spam detection software: Several third-party apps, such as Nomorobo, Hiya Caller ID and Block, RoboKiller, Truecaller, and YouMail Voicemail and Spam Block, are useful to detect and block telemarketing calls.