What to do if you get too many robocalls and robotexts

People in the United States collectively get about 2 billion unwanted or illegal robocalls every month. Estimates put unwanted or scam robotexts at about 19 billion a month. Yes, that’s a lot. Whether you get one a week or one a day or 10 a day, you’d likely prefer the number to be zero.

Here are some steps you can take to reduce them:

1. Register all of your phone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry. This won’t stop most scam calls. But legitimate, law-abiding businesses comply with the DNC registry. So if you’re registered and you do get a call, you have more assurance that it’s unwanted and shouldn’t be answered. Violators can be fined up to $50,120, so report them.
2. Find out what your phone company does to protect you. Phone companies for years have been allowed to offer certain services, such as sending suspected spam calls to voicemail or allowing customers to block calls with no Caller ID.
   Here’s the full list of services the Federal Communications Commission has authorized phone companies to provide.
   Log into your account to opt into free services that should reduce your unwanted calls.
3. If options from your provider aren’t clear or there aren’t services beyond what you’ve already opted into, contact your phone company and tell them the volume of robocalls isn’t acceptable and you want solutions. If you aren’t satisfied with their response, you can tell them you may start shopping for another provider. And do it.
   
4. Don’t answer unexpected calls. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message or call someone else in your family. Answering robocalls confirms they’ve reached a live person.
5. If someone does leave a message you’re not expecting and says they’re from a certain company or government office, don’t call the number that was left. Call a number you look up independently.
6. If you pick up a robocall, don’t press 2 or 3 or whatever to get your name taken off of their call list. It’s a trick they use to know they’ve reached a live person.
7. When you get an unwanted text, delete it and choose the option to report it as junk. Or forward it to 7726 (SPAM.)
8. Block numbers. If you have a smartphone, there are ways to customize which calls you get, and which ones go to voicemail or get blocked. Here’s how to filter and block messages on an iPhone and how to block phone numbers on an Android.
9. Consider getting an additional robocall filter. Many good ones are free, such as Nomorobo for home phones. Each filter offers an opportunity to catch a call that slips through the previous filter. Here are call filters for iPhones and for Androids. You can route flagged calls to your voicemail. For more information on call blockers, the FTC recommends checking with the CTIA, the wireless industry’s trade association.