I haven't been able to lock down where the scammers got my name and phone number from.
Maybe I should not have given my name on my voicemail message.
Starting at 4am the day before yesterday, I started getting spam texts calling me by name, then robo-calls every few hours.
The texts are easily blocked until the scammers switch to a new number, so they aren't that much of a bother.
I ignored the robo calls for a day, then decided maybe they'd leave me alone if I made it clear they weren't going to get anything out of me.
The robo-calls will drop if I don't say anything and will ring in to an Indian sounding operator if I say hello.
The guy asks if I am <insert real name here> to which I
never respond "yes" because some of these scams are just trying to get a recording of you saying "yes". (as in I am agreeing to these charges)
It's no fun. The guy hangs up immediately if I don't participate in his script.
Answering was a mistake, as the frequency of the calls increased to every half hour after that. So I installed a call blocker app. After rotating through about 10 phone numbers, they seem to have run out of numbers to call from, but it's still going to voicemail and leaving a two second blank voicemail. Yesterday evening, they started coming every 10 or 15 minutes.
It's absurd to me that anyone thinks that a scam is more likely to work if they call every 10 minutes.
I will probably change numbers, but I'm too annoyed that their process is automated and takes no effort on their part.
The best thing I've come up with was to change my voicemail message to say "Hello" which will trigger their automated system to transfer to a live operator.
Then the message says hello again, followed by me repeatedly asking them to speak louder and pausing for their reply.
Hopefully this automates the process of me wasting their time with no effort on my part.
I was hoping to get the satisfaction of an Indian guy swearing in a voicemail, but the calls seem to have dropped off in the past hour.
So...
Never say "Yes" during a phone call with a scammer.
If you're in the United States and on the do not call list, report unwanted calls here:
https://complaints.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx(not that much can be done about people in foreign countries spoofing numbers, but maybe they're working on it)
Forward Spam texts to 7726 (SPAM) or file a complaint here:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/GettingStarted?NextQID=250&Url=%23%26panel1-5#crnt(maybe they can use the software that's spying on us to do something useful about spam texts)