Scam calls.

Hi Robert.

Yes, this is a common occurrence for me. I leave my phone on silent as the ringing can be a trigger for sensory overload and it has an in-built feature that tells me if it's suspected spam. Only those who know me normally call me, except my GP surgery, so I normally know whether to answer or not.

Mac.

You sound very suspicious of numbers.

I am too.

Number

It is very annoying when those kinds of calls come through. I would always suggest never answering a call if you don't recognise the number, But also double check the number buy searching it and it would tell you if it's a scam, 

As a rule, I tend not to answer my phone to numbers I don't recognise.

Whilst it's not always the case, I have sometimes found that there can be clues, such as an unusually long phone number. Some of these professional scammers will be based abroad. Therefore, if I receive calls from numbers that appear to originate from outside the UK, I immediately tend to suspect it is likely to be a scammer.

However, sometimes, depending on my mood, I will answer the phone. When the caller asks if they can speak to me, and they are speaking with a strong foreign accent, I will say, "Hang on, I'll just get them for you." I will then place the handset down and leave the caller waiting until they lose patience and eventually hang up.

If anyone fancies a giggle, then I can recommend watching the following video. It features a man deliberately wasting a scam caller's time by pranking them, and never fails to make me laugh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCv_vTIS4ZU

My phone can tell when its a scam call and automatically blocks it for me

I usually have it on silent tho

It ringing makes me anxious 

I get a lot of spam/scam calls. It may not be anything to do with you - there was a scam bust in London last year on an automatic dialler scam base (someone had a machine which robotically called random combinations of numbers until one picked up - incidentally that's why sometimes you might find you get 'silent calls' (where you pick up and there's no answer) - the automatic dialler is checking if the number is live so later they'll get a real scammer on the other end of the line to try and scam you)

Also if you ever had a blog or a social media that got hacked (for me it's both - I had a blog where my email was public and couldn't be hidden, and Wattpad had a massive data breach a few years ago now) scammers share any numbers they get with their cronies. 

But pretty much everyone gets scam calls because of the automatic dialler thing so I wouldn't worry. Just block the numbers, never give any details if you're unsure who's on the end of the phone, and always feel free to hang up on a suspected scammer. If it's a real company they'll contact you another way is how I think about it

Unless it’s someone I know then I don’t answer my phone, most who know me, know to text first. I don’t have a land line.

Morning Robert,

Yes - I get this type of maddening nonsense nuisance.  Sometimes, I won't be bothered at all for 3-4 months, then suddenly, I will get a bundle of nuisance calls and text messages for the next month or two.  It seems to come and go with no reason.

I have two telephone numbers = one that I give out to delivery companies and to people whom I do not like, and I have another number that I use for real human contacts whom I wish to be able to communicate with.  It is only on the first number that I am ever bothered - so generally, I leave it on silent, and only check when I need to.