How do I stop spam and scam phone calls?

You cannot stop unwanted calls entirely, but you can substantially reduce them and remove the risk from those that get through. The most important habit is never acting on an incoming call's instructions, whatever it claims to be about.

What you'll need

• Your phone
• Call blocking app or network service (optional)

Step by step

1. Register with your national call preference or do-not-call service.It is free and legally obliges legitimate marketers to stop. It does nothing about criminals, but it removes a large slice of legitimate nuisance.
2. Turn on the phone's built-in filtering.iPhone: Silence Unknown Callers. Android: caller ID and spam protection. Both send unknown numbers to voicemail rather than ringing.
3. Check what your network offers.Most providers now offer free network-level scam call blocking. It is often not enabled by default.
4. Do not answer numbers you do not recognise.Anyone genuine leaves a message. Answering confirms the number is live and increases the volume of calls.
5. If you do answer, do not press keys or say yes.Pressing a key to 'be removed' confirms a live number. Recordings of you saying yes can be misused.
6. Never act on instructions from an incoming call.No bank, tax office or police force asks you to move money, install software or read out codes. Hang up and call back on a number you already have.
7. Wait or use a different phone before calling back.Scammers can hold the line open so your 'callback' reaches them. Use a mobile if the call came to a landline, or wait several minutes.
8. Block and report persistent numbers.Blocking helps with repeat callers, though spoofed numbers change constantly. Reporting feeds network-level filtering.

Tips

• Be especially careful of calls creating urgency about money or security. That urgency is the entire technique.
• Older relatives are targeted disproportionately. Setting up call filtering on their phones and agreeing a rule — always hang up and call back — is genuinely protective.
• Caller ID can be faked completely. A call showing your bank's real number proves nothing at all.

Common mistakes

• Pressing a key to be removed from a list — It confirms a live, responsive number, and the volume of calls typically increases.
• Calling back on the number that called you — It may be spoofed or the line held open. Use a number from your card, statement or the organisation's website.
• Trusting the number displayed — Caller ID is trivially spoofed. A call appearing to come from your bank tells you nothing.

Questions people ask