Spam Calls: Understanding the storm of spam this March and tips on how to stop spam calls

The number of spam calls are increasing day by day and many users have taken to social media to express their plight. Many people are asking “How to stop spam calls” everywhere. They say that they were expecting an important call and answered every call in anticipation of that ‘important call’ only to be left frustrated by answering innumerable spam calls. Sometimes the phone is lying in another room and when it rings, you have to leave everything and reach out to the phone only to realize it was spam. This has problem has increased tremendously as March month began. During the months end or towards the ending of a financial year, the spammers get so desperate to close deals that they adopt any and every measure to call as many phone users as possible. People have reported receiving as many as 10-12 spam calls daily in this ongoing month of March.

The spam calls are so intrusive and irritating that they completely wreck a subscriber’s peace of mind and act as a major distraction from whatever one is doing.

Before we look at some of the remedies to get rid of these pesky spam calls, lets try to find out how do they get your phone numbers.

How Spammers Get Your Phone Number

If we assume that telecom companies themselves are not selling subscribers’ data, there are many other ways through which phone number data can be collected. Some which are as follows:

1. Phone numbers shared at showrooms, restaurants, parks etc. Whenever you go to any showroom, visit a theme park, or a restaurant, someway or the other, they will capture your phone numbers and buildup a huge database of phone number with name and other details like age, gender, income, location etc.
2. Many times, you are asked to provide your phone number while registering on a new website, phone app, or an online service.
3. All of us are a part of many WhatsApp groups where your name, phone number details are easily available.
4. All the service providers like phone apps, banks, and almost every organization you interact with, will have the user data of phone numbers besides other details.

This data is gold mine! Data collectors scrap phone numbers and other user data from the sources listed above and then build them into a database which sells for a good price in the data market. Many telecalling companies are willing to pay a high price for this data.

How to Minimize Spam Calls

We can only minimize spam calls. Completely getting rid of them is not possible, unless the governments decide to have a strict crackdown on spamming. Here are some ways to reduce spam on your phone.

1. Use anti spam apps like Truecaller and set it as your default calling app. To a large extent, it will block spam before it even reaches your phone. In case it does not block spam, it shows the spammers’ caller id in red, indicating spam.
2. Spammers keep using newer phone numbers that have still not been captured in the database of anti spam apps. In such cases, the caller id will show a harmless and genuine blue color with the name of the caller. In these cases, it is not possible to identify spam. However, what one can do is to update the number as spam in the anti spam app so that from that moment on, that number will be displayed as spam for others to see. This is a movement, everyone should participate in it to discourage spam and keep it to a minimum.
3. Try not to answer calls from unknown numbers. If you don’t answer an unknown number, chances are, if it is a genuine caller, they will text you giving their details and asking to you to pick up the call.
4. Check with your operator if they have a DND registry. If yes, apply for your number to be included in the DND registry. That way the operator will filter out spam at source itself, without you getting bothered.
5. Log in to Sanchar Saathi portal of the Department of Telecommunications to report scam or unsolicited spam within 30 days of occurrence.
6. Use DND feature on phone. Most smartphones have a feature that can filter calls. The will allow calls only from contacts for as long as this feature is turned on. This will give you some peace while you are doing something important and at the same time, do not want to miss out on calls from important people in your contacts. If you are expecting an important call, add the caller’s number to your contacts and then activate the DND feature. This will allow that call to come through while filtering out calls from unknown numbers.

Conclusion | How to Stop Spam Calls

In conclusion, none of the measures listed above are foolproof. Spammers will find new ways to reach you and bother you. However, by being careful while sharing your phone numbers here and there, installing anti spam apps, avoiding calls from unfamiliar numbers, and contributing to the database of anti spam apps, you can reduce the incidence of spam on your phone to a large extent. This way, you can contribute towards reducing spam in our voice calls landscape.

These measures aim to reduce spam at their destination. The final answer to “How to stop spam calls” lies with the government. The law enforcement agencies have the capability to track down spammers and take action on them. The telecom companies should be more stringent in providing sim cards and the authorities should strictly implement anti spam laws and act tough on spamming companies to cut down on spam at its origin.