How to avoid robocalls and spam calls

It’s the weekend and you’re enjoying time with friends and family only to notice that your phone’s ringing. You got Unlimited Talk and Text with Circles.Life so you think, why not?

You pick it up thinking that it’s an urgent call buuuuut…and it turns out that it’s one of those spam calls again.

Unfortunately, telemarketing calls, robocalls and spam calls have become more pervasive than ever. Not only are these calls exceptionally annoying, but, they’re also potentially dangerous.

So, how do you go about avoiding these annoying calls? We’ve got everything you need to make sure that you’ll never have to deal with those calls again.

Do Not Call Register
One of the first things that you can do is to put your number on the Australia Government’s Do Not Call Register. By doing so, you’ll be able to reduce the number of telemarketing calls that you receive to your number.
If you’ve already registered your number on this website, but you’re still receiving unwanted calls, you can consider lodging a complaint with the ACMA.

Download a call blocking application
Call blocking applications are a great way to deter spam calls. Each app can also come with its own add-ons and features to cater to your needs. While you will need to pay a subscription fee for these apps, they’re a great way to get rid of those annoying spam calls, robo calls and even spam texts.

Check your phone features
Did you know that you could change the settings of your Apple or Android phone to block calls from callers that are unknown?

For the iPhone, all you’ve got to do is head to Settings > Phone > Make sure that the ‘Silence Unknown Callers’ is toggled on. With that, unknown numbers will be silenced and sent directly to voicemail.

For Android phones, head to the Settings menu and you should be able to find the option to block numbers.
For both the Android and the iPhone, if need be you can also block individual numbers.

Never let the robots know that you’re a human
Scammers use robocalls as a way to figure out if there’s a human on the other line that they can target. With that, they’ll mark numbers that are valid and continue to contact and call you.

Make sure that when individuals call you that you’re not saying your name, or even using the word “yes” as these robocalls could be recording you.

Be wary of who you give out your number to
Be careful of who you’re giving out your number to. In this digital age, it’s easy for your number to be exposed online - whether that be on a website, or even through your social media accounts.
If you’re not sure of how much of your private information is available online, do a quick search of yourself and your phone number. If you find it listed on a website, you could send the admin of the website a message to remove it.

Block calls on a landline
If you’re getting unwanted calls on your landline instead of your personal phone, you can contact your carrier to help you block these numbers. If it doesn’t work, you can consider getting a hardware call blocker.

This nifty device usually already comes pre-programmed with a plethora of spam numbers so it’ll help to significantly reduce the amount of spam calls to your landline.

What are the different types of spam calls?

Here’s an overview of the different types of spam calls:

1. Telemarketing
These are when businesses call to try and sell a particular product or service. These are usually not scammers and are individuals that work for a company and are given a target of a number of calls to make each day.

2. Legal robocalls
For these calls, businesses might have robocalls to remind someone of an upcoming booking or appointment.

3. Illegal robocalls
These are calls that are unsolicited and it’s likely that your number was obtained through illegal means, whether it be from a data breach or somewhere else online.

Getting rid of robocalls and spam calls

You might be wondering why you’re even getting so many robocalls and spam calls to begin with. Unfortunately, there’s no good reason for this, it could be because your personal information has been leaked, or they’ve obtained your personal information somewhere online.

Regardless of why you’ve been getting robocalls and spam calls, the most important thing is to minimise and prevent these calls from constantly occurring. By following the tips above, you’ll be well on your way to getting rid of these annoying calls once and for all.

Finally, you’ll be able to enjoy those Unlimited Text and Calls from Circles.Life with the people you actually want to talk to!