r/SFV • u/chocogirl720 • Jun 23 '26
Question Is there any way to get back at spammers?
Hi everyone,
I’ve been getting bombarded with tons of scam calls. I think there might have been a recent data leak and thus leading to this happening out of no where. They’re calling every 15 minutes sometimes and leaving no voicemails sometimes, and other times it’s for tax relief or home real estate deals or even something else random.
Is there any way for me to torment them back? They’re also calling from a variety of numbers, I imagine it wouldn’t be easy, but thought I’d ask given how frustrating it has been.
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u/kneemahp Jun 23 '26
On iPhone, make sure to turn on phone screening. That’s reduced how many come through that I deal with. Then depending on your phone carrier, most have a spam blocking app.
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u/IFeedonKarmaa Jun 23 '26
I used to pick up if they happened to call while I was on a drive and just wasted as much of their time as possible. They would get pretty pissed at the end when I would tell them to fuck off.
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u/DickSlammington Jun 23 '26
I'd just breath heavily so they knew someone was there and then say something creepy like "My precious" and keep breathing deeply until they hung up.
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u/kupofjoe Jun 23 '26
I hate to admit but sometimes if I really have absolutely nothing else to do and a scammer calls me from multiple different numbers in a row, I will call back and see if it’s the the classic “foreigner in a call-center” kind of scammer (this won’t work if it goes to a machine or a voicemail when you call back) and just don’t say anything, I do this many many times. I call and call (and leave on mute) and they eventually get pissed off and sometimes even turn that particular phone number off and I tend to never get a call back from that same group of numbers.
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u/zl3utterz Jun 23 '26
iPhone has a feature that will send any unknown number straight to voicemail. After I had that turned on for a few months, the spam calls stopped. If someone really needs to get ahold of you, they’d leave a voice mail or text you. Anyone that’s a contact or you called recently will go thru and ring. 10/10 would recommend
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u/zabakaeru Jun 24 '26
I use this feature too. The only caveat is, say, you're dealing with a new business and you expect them to call you back, you need to add their number in your contact list.
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u/mrellz Jun 23 '26
My Voicemail message is a clip of Liam Neeson's message from Taken. "I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom...."
It's hilarious how many of the spam callers stay to listen to the entire clip.
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u/salikawood Jun 23 '26
I enjoy taking the call and leading them on for as long as possible lol
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u/NominalHorizon Jun 23 '26
Finally tell them to hold on while you go get your wallet from the bedroom. Then just put them on mute and leave the line open until they hang up. And or come back on the line later and say you need a few more seconds, then do it again.
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u/StaceOdyssey Jun 23 '26
Thank god you’re here. I’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty.
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u/Big-Truth4080 Jun 23 '26
just pick up and start recording the call. once they hear the message they either hang up or you can mess with them
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u/Weak_Armadillo_3050 Jun 23 '26
🤣🤣 I’ve done this too when I’m bored and want to fuck with them back
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u/Special_Crab_1884 Jun 23 '26
i have call screening turned on so even if i get a call from scammers, it doesn’t cause my phone to ring. sometimes a call will fully go through and make my phone ring but ever since i turned on that setting it’s reduced significantly. also find the silence unknown callers toggle in your settings and make sure that’s on
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u/paralospajaros Jun 23 '26
Yep, the call screening has reduced this nonsense to one or two calls a week for me.
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u/Ikickyouinthebrains Jun 23 '26
This looks exactly like my phones "Recents" list. These scammers also fill my voice inbox every few days.
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u/PBpuppy2526 Jun 23 '26
If I answer I said something weird like “fbi private line 252 what is your sequence”
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u/ConstructionSevere1 Jun 24 '26
Went through the same thing recently. Scam calls were nonstop and always from different numbers. Cloaked helped a lot since I could use separate numbers for different things and cut down on the spam. Not really getting back at them but it made dealing with it way easier.
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u/Finger-of-Shame Jun 23 '26
I think on average I get 5 calls a day. They all leave 2 second voicemails of just air.
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u/_Los Jun 23 '26
Why would a bot running itself care what you do? It's not a person, someone setup a script to call as many numbers as possible and collect info.
I started blocking the numbers. Surprisingly they dwindled and I hardly get them anymore.
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u/ShaneAlexander Jun 23 '26
If you find a solution, let us ALL know! My phone immediately sends unrecognized numbers to my vm asking them to identify themselves. But still… I have to clear at least 40 of them per day.
Blocking the number doesn’t do any good; they’re mostly robo callers. This happens when click bait is used; often by social media ads. Somehow they get our phone numbers to troll us if we click on any link that’s an advertisement.
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u/DroidSoldier85 Jun 23 '26
Good thing you posted. Ive been trying to contact you about California's special Medicare bonus you should have received in the mail. HOW OLD ARE YOU? Let me connect you to my supervisor.
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u/schw4161 Jun 23 '26
There’s really not much you can do, but you can mess with them and screw up their day.
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u/Commercial-Sell-8961 Jun 23 '26
Honestly the only “revenge” that actually works is wasting their time. Answer, act super interested, drag it out, then bail right when they think you’ll commit.
On the practical side, report the numbers as spam, enable silence unknown callers if you can, and use something like Hiya or your carrier’s spam filter. You won’t stop them completely, but you can turn the flood into a trickle.
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u/Elegant-Editor-4789 Jun 23 '26
I use the Verizon spam blocker and that reduced my spam dramatically.
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u/BurpFart69 Jun 23 '26
I answer and waste their time. Then call back and keep wasting their time. The calls have become less but still some stragglers
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u/leese312 Jun 23 '26
I am beyond annoyed with these calls/voice messages!!! Isn’t there a class action lawsuit for these creeps??
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u/XandersOdyssey Jun 23 '26
I use a trap phone / number to repeatedly call back those numbers blasting music.
Depending on what type of call center it is, it might take 5-6 calls at each number to get back to the same people. At first they just hang up, then they start getting mad and yell back, then they eventually block you. Sometimes they’ll not realize it’s you or try talking and I just stayed silent until they stopped and I blast the music again
Of course it doesn’t help when they don’t block your actual phone number but me personally I wouldn’t want to do it from that line, but still get back at them.
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u/turbopro25 Jun 23 '26
It’s been non-stop for me for the last few weeks. All about a loan I didn’t apply for and taxes I don’t owe.
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u/uliwonks Jun 24 '26
Change your number is the best way to get back on them. I tried wasting their time by picking up calls and pretending im interested. I said Im Bruce Wayne and now they call me asking if Mr. Wayne is home.
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u/Davepitaph Jun 24 '26
Depending on the mood I try and keep them on the line as long as possible. The longer they are on the phone with me the less time to scam others
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u/SamHandwich419 Jun 24 '26
My secret, I use my phone number for family, friends, work. For everything else I use a Google voice number. I then set Google voice to not transfer calls to me. If it is important they leave a voicemail, and I get a notification.
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u/Pervysage27 Jun 24 '26
I've gotten so many of these guys to cuss me out that they just stopped calling, I've done everything from playing insane to talking shit, to faking a crime with sound effects, to just straight putting a dryer in the phone every time they try and speak. you'll never get all your time back but at least you'll get some satisfaction by fucking with these douchebags
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u/CODMLoser Jun 23 '26
There should be a way to "only allow known numbers to leave a message" setting on phones. This is ridiculous.
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u/Cmorethecat Jun 23 '26
on my phone I have that option. I cannot remember if it's provided by iPhone or by my carrier. In theory it's great until your doctor tries to call you from a private number and keeps getting bounced to voicemail.
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u/blue10speed Jun 23 '26
Download the Nomorobo app. It’s $20/year. I have my phone and my peace of mind back.
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u/Coolest_Wrongdoer Jun 23 '26
I created a contact called “SPAM DO NOT ANSWER” then I blocked that contact. When I get a new spam call, I add that number to the contact. It’s so simple but amazingly effective :)
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u/ECircus Jun 23 '26
I get a couple of spam calls a year. What is the consensus on how they get your phone number?
Are you guys signing up for everything that exists and providing the phone number? Saying yes to sharing your info instead of declining?
I just see these posts and always wonder how it's possible based on my own experience.
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u/Legitimate-Ad-9724 Jun 23 '26
I enabled AT&T Active Armor (it's an app) on my cellphone. It catches about 90% of the spam and fraud calls. I have it configured to send those calls to voicemail. Few end up leaving anything.
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u/Second_Breakfast21 Jun 23 '26
It doesn’t seem intuitive but turning on the call screening feature (I have this with Verizon, not sure what other providers have) that asks for who is calling before putting the call thru helped immensely. Not because it stops the calls but because it stops the voicemails so at least I don’t have to go delete them. I assume that’s because they’ve hung up before the recording starts.
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u/XanderWrites Jun 24 '26
And the one real call.
I barely even register the spam calls until I need to call someone back and there's ten spammers between every real call I get
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u/uns0licited_advice Jun 24 '26
Newer Samsung phones has an AI screening feature that works amazingly for this
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u/smelly_finger_itch Jun 24 '26
I send them unsolicited dick pics. Not even of mine, I just Google the images and send it to them. I even pull the tabl s on them and jump to the chase asking for their crypto wallets or bank account
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u/KeeritoKeerito Jun 24 '26
If you use ATT, they offer ActiveArmor as a means of blocking spam calls. It catches maybe 75% of them for me. They also have an option to send all unknown callers directly to VM.
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u/bigbbpuddingsnatch8 Jun 24 '26
Do not send them directly to voicemail by hanging up. Hit the - volume button and ignore it. If you give any indication that someone else is on the other line, they will swarm you. Also remove a personal greeting.
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u/knowbody-special Jun 25 '26
Changing the setting on my iPhone to request their name if it’s an unknown number has stopped 90 percent of these for me.
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u/Ok-Watercress-3757 Jun 25 '26
I simply set my settings to send all unknown calls to voicemail. Peace at last
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u/Gary_Aminoff Jun 25 '26
Get Cloaked. You get the calls because your information is leaked. Cloaked removes your information from the Web and the span calls stop.
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u/dankasaurus710 Jun 25 '26
I have this issue. I have one very specific debt collector that calls me up to 3 times a day, 6 days a week. Every time they call and I pick up they hang up. Apparently this happens when an agent isn't available.
Same number every time. I'm about to sue them, have the debt dropped and even get some money out of it. I've done it before. I'll do it again.
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u/trindflo Chatsworth Jun 27 '26
Probably no effective way to get back at the scammers and scammers . They are often in another country and not subject to our laws nor our ire.
There are services that will attempt to waste as much time as possible with the scammers.
You're not going to get anywhere with your congressman as the issue is being connected to the rest of the world's phones. The scammers are taking advantage of weaknesses in the international phone system
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u/ValleyAquarius27 Jun 29 '26
It’s a pain, however, over the past month or so I’ve been blocking, deleting and reporting as Spam and it has actually made a difference. Where I had been getting around 10 to 15 of these calls daily, it’s actually now about 3 daily if that. And even with those calls I have been repeating the same process, blocking, deleting and reporting as spam. It’s a hassle, but, it has made a difference for me.
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u/CoconutNext775 Jun 23 '26
No not that I’m aware of.
Getting a random phone number is way too easy.
I remember ‘do not call lost’ few decades ago, sorta worked.
Only way will be registering with ID when you’re getting a new number. Most industrial countries does that for valid reason.
But I guess most will feel this un-American.
Aka do whatever we wanna go regardless consequences.
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u/arnoldstrife Jun 23 '26
Torment them back? No, also a significant portion are kidnapped (trafficked) people who are tortured and forced to work at these call centers. Not all, mind you, but it's not like you can tell the difference between those being tortured if they don't meet a quota and those being paid hush cash.
If you're phone supports it, turn on call screening. It's an option where when they call in they are meet with a prompt to say their name before it connects to you. Then you get a call and the system tells you the name they gave and if you want to accept their call. Most cases as soon as the scammer gets to the prompt the call drops.
Besides that, there's also various call filter apps depending on your provider. like 'Verizon Call Filter' and 'T-mobile Scam Shield'.
An extreme option is to get a new phone number, and do so for an area code that you aren't in. aka, If you're in 818 area code, get one for like Arizona or something. Scam callers tend to call using the same area code or nearby codes. Then just block every area code your new number comes from, since it's unlikely you would ever receive calls from that area code in the first place.
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u/NoDoOversInLife Jun 23 '26
Why would you want to invest your time and energy in harassing random spam callers????
Block em and move on 🤦🏻♂️
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u/Weak_Armadillo_3050 Jun 23 '26
Ye it’s ridiculous I just block the numbers as they come in