(Picture alt text: a screenshot of my phone's call log, with numbers redacted (just in case). The phone numbers (except for one) are all spam calls)
I'm not sure if this is the correct place for this, but I am at my limit with these.
Constantly throughout the day I get spam call after spam call. I constantly report them to Google (I've got a Pixel 5, if it matters), yet nothing changes. This has been happening for months.
These calls will also leave the exact same, completely silent, 4-second voicemails. I will block and report spam, but you know how it is. There's no way to turn voice mail notifications off, and I wouldn't necessarily want to, because I know I'd miss something genuine or important.
What do I do? Is there anything I can do, beyond changing numbers? Even then, I'm sure a new number would exist in some database somewhere and be victim to more spam calls. This is heinous.
Thanks for reading. I'm just so frustrated.
Edit: this got a lot more attention than I anticipated. I appreciate the suggestions for different spam blockers and settings! It's also nice knowing I'm not alone. Hopefully, at least in the US, we'll get some real legislation eventually that will kill these spam calls once and for all.
Check your app store, there are a lot of spam blocker apps that can help with this. Some of them may be included with your phone plan depending on the carrier!
I use Google Fi, so I'll take a deep dive for anything there. Any app recommendations? I'm nervous to search through the store since there can be many not-so-good apps that would probably need some hefty permissions (access to calls, call logs, etc). Thank you, though!
I'm also on fi and have the exact same issue as you. Same 4 second silent message, all of it. Drives me crazy. The worst part is Google is filtering out the calls so my phone doesn't actually ring but I get the notification for the message. Probably 5-6 per day and I have no idea how to stop it. In fact I had one come through as I was typing this.
Do you have call screening turned on? I find that results in me getting much fewer spam calls than normal as the robots usually mark other machines as not-valid for scamming.
I love call screening and I'll never turn it off.
You could try Carrion from F-Droid. Theres also the national do not call registry to try out. I'm not sure if it worked but I no longer recieve 4-5 spam calls a day.
The UI on this one leaves a little to be desired, but it works great. I've been using it for quite a while now.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/me.lucky.silence/
I use the one from my cell provider so sadly I can't give any great recommendations. I would look for ones with a lot of downloads and a high rating maybe? Just do a search for "call filter" and it should pull up some good results
OP has pixel and is in the +1 area code from the picture meaning they are in America. So I don't get why he/she is not using Google Call screen.
I still get spam calls, but my phone never rings or alerts me. The only way I find out is by occasionally opening call history. The assistant can recognize most spam automated messages and it automatically hangs up. For real spam callers; they mostly hang up when they realize they have to talk to a robot first.