How do I block spam calls and texts?
Four layers that each cut the volume — the network filter, the phone's own settings, reporting, and never engaging.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 25 min
- Read
- 2 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Turn on your network's spam filter first, then silence unknown callers on the phone itself. Between them they remove most of it. Never press a key to opt out — it confirms your number is real.
Nuisance calls arrive through several routes, so no single measure stops them all. Layering four cheap measures gets the volume down to almost nothing, and one habit — never engaging — stops it building back up.
Safety
Step by step
- Turn on your network's spam filtering.All the major networks now offer call and text filtering, often free and often not enabled by default. Check the account settings or ask. This is the highest-value single step because it blocks before the phone rings.
- Register with the telephone preference service.Free, and it makes most legitimate cold calling to your number unlawful. It does nothing against criminals, but it removes a large volume of lawful marketing.
- Silence unknown callers on the phone.Both platforms have a setting that sends calls from numbers not in your contacts straight to voicemail. Genuine callers leave a message; nuisance callers do not. The most effective phone-level setting there is.
- Never press a key to opt out."Press 9 to be removed" confirms a real person answered. The number is then worth more and gets sold on. Hang up without pressing anything.
- Report spam texts.Most networks accept forwarded spam texts to a free short code. Forward and then delete. It genuinely feeds into network-level blocking.
- Block numbers individually as a supplement.Useful for a persistent caller, and near-useless against spoofed numbers that change constantly. Do it, but do not rely on it.
- Never give information to an unexpected caller.No bank, utility, police force or government body asks for passwords, codes or money over the phone. Hang up and call back on a number you look up yourself, ideally on a different phone.
- Be careful where you give your number out.Competitions, free trials, loyalty schemes and web forms. A secondary number for those keeps your main one quieter.
Tips
- Caller ID can be faked convincingly, including to show a real bank's number. The number displayed is not evidence of who is calling.
- If a call creates urgency about money, that urgency is the scam. Genuine organisations accept being called back.
- Set up voicemail properly if you silence unknown callers — legitimate callers need somewhere to leave a message.
Questions people ask
How do I stop spam calls completely?
No single measure stops all of them. Network filtering, silencing unknown callers, registering with the preference service and never engaging together reduce it to very little.
Does blocking a number work?
For a persistent individual caller, yes. Against automated spam it helps little, because the numbers are spoofed and change constantly.