Telemarketers.

and have blocked only 5 calls in 8 years. Wonder what the difference is and how I get so lucky. ???

...and couldn't get my old number, so they gave me a new one.
I get calls and text messages asking for 'Lori', who I am not.

i did a swear storm on one and they havent been back. they were trying to sell me solar panels , but i live in a rental apartment and cant attach anything on the roof .

I never want to engage with them on the phone. Mainly because I don't want to be rude.

When my parents got divorced, and my dad left my mom with a huge mortgage payment, she had to run out and get the first job she could. She was a telemarketer for a few weeks for a carpet cleaning business. It was rough. I wouldn't wish those working conditions on anyone. I still remember with a sinking heart my mother bursting into tears over her dinner plate after another soul-crushing work-day.

She soon got a better job, and our lives improved. But I never forgave my father for leaving us, and especially my mother, in the lurch like that.

I know I am opening myself up to more calls when I do that, though.

and it was awful. I never think about the folks who have to do this for a living. Thanks for the reminder. (But I'm still not ever going to answer an "unknown caller."

Stop picking up and the calls will dry up.

polling might not be accurate these days.

Most people don't answer calls from unknown numbers. It is my tiny, pinprick of hope.

Three or four a day on weekdays. They all get blocked.

Telemarketers can’t figure out to cut their losses — the stupidity is a riot!

Most scammers 'spoof' their phone # to show up in caller id as something other than their real number. They can easily do this because they're using computers to make the call. They just tell the computer to display a 'from' number that is another number.

One of their favorite tricks is to use a number that looks like your own number... with the same area code and even the same exchange.

I don't answer any call from a number I don't recognize... if it's a legitimate call they'll leave me a message and I can call them back. I also have my phone's Do Not Disturb settings set to not ring if the number isn't in my contacts.

Also, any call you answer lets them know that your number is valid and you'll get more calls because scammers sell phone number lists to each other.

It's a dirty business!

Oh yeah I forgot, bought and paid for repubs.

by "legitimate"? If you don't know someone who's calling, the chances are excellent that you don't want to be subjected to a sales pitch for whatever crap they're selling.

It's being faked for that particular call. It may be a valid number for some innocent other person.

Real life example: I once got a text from a person asking me why I had called them. I had not called them, but a scammer had called him and used my phone number in the caller id.

I have also seen my own number used in the caller id of a couple of scam calls. This is obviously due to a flaw in the scammers phone calling program, which shouldn't allow the fake number to match the number being called. It's a dead giveaway of the fakery.

Legitimate number, illegitimate call. That should be treated like identity theft, but there is no way of following up on these situations.

My default ringtone is one second of silence, no vibration. All of my contacts (in other words, people I do want to hear from) are assigned an audible ring. Do I miss calls from doctor's offices, etc.? Sure, but they can leave a message.

Absolutely everything else is completely ignored, other than my seeing that someone tried to call. I used to block numbers, too, but why should I let them waste even five seconds of my time?

Favorites ring through. Everything else goes straight to voice mail where they usually hang up. Then I clear my voice mail for idiots that still try to leave a message. No problems.

Eventually they figure out there is nobody there and I don't hear from them again.

Seinfeld on telemarketers: