Social Security spam calls

October 23, 2020 7:48 AM

I'm getting inundated with spam calls about my social security number. How can I stop this???

All of a sudden, I started getting spam calls regarding a problem with my social security number. I've gotten 16 calls in the past 24 hours. I know it's one of them because the phone number calling me has the same first 6 digits as my cell number. The last 4 digits are always different. I've blocked everyone that's come through but...there's thousand of combinations for four digits so that really doesnt help.

If I answer (which I only did the first couple times) a robo voice tells me there's been suspicious activity with my SS# and press 1 to hear more. Obviously I dont press 1.

If I DONT answer, they leave the same automatic message in my voice mail, over and over. I just cleaned out 8 voice mails from them.

There's no opt out option. They dont txt. I'm already on the Do Not Call list. This is driving me crazy! Help! I have a Samsung phone, with Verizon service. ALSO I get a lot of work calls, so I can't just not answer a call if it's not on my contact list (although like I said, these calls all start with the same 6 digits, so it's pretty easy to figure out who they are.) Honestly, I'm more annoyed with the voice mails than the calls.

posted by silverstatue to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

Response by poster: I already have Verizon Spam Filter activated. It does nothing :(
posted by silverstatue at 7:51 AM on October 23, 2020

Might be time to try an anti-robocall service, like Nomorobo or Hiya.

Hiya is not doing much for me, honestly. I will not renew it when my subscription expires. Nomorobo is doing pretty well on my landline, so I will probably give it a shot on mobile.
posted by humbug at 8:07 AM on October 23, 2020

I've looked into this sort of thing in the past, because I had a rash of spam calls which spoofed numbers in local exchange, i.e. shared the same first 6 digits of the phone number as mine, which they do in order to make it look like a local call. I assume that's what you're experiencing.

Currently the only thing I can find that attempts to do this is an app called Mr. Number (Play store) which, according to this two year old How To Geek article, can block by starting digits of the phone number.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:40 AM on October 23, 2020

i've had great success having a phone number in my area code but from a different region. that way the spam calls aren't showing your local exchanges and you can pretty readily ignore them.

most cell companies don't really give you a choice but google voice lets you 'pick' your phone number and then you should be able to port it to a cell phone carrier.

cavaet- this does mean that your phone number is no longer in a local exchange, so if you're calling a bunch of random people that don't have your number/contact details they may not answer.
posted by noloveforned at 8:59 AM on October 23, 2020

There isn't any enforcement action that can be taken against these calls: the caller ID is fake and they're sent over VOIP, often from another country. Since the cost of doing this is so low, they call random numbers, and being on any published no-call list doesn't help: those are ignored, or as happened with Canada's do-not-call list, was used as a source of valid verified numbers by the spammers. But it's still very jarring to get these.

If the spammer calls from the same number, you can get a few days' respite by using Android's "block and report spam" feature (which may not be in all Android phones or carriers). When they shift to a new number in a few days, you'll have to do it again.

These callers have destroyed the last remaining utility a voice phone has for me. Only if I know I'm expecting a pre-arranged call will I take the phone off silent and answer it. I know this isn't an option for you. If this is a work phone and answering calls is required by your work, it's your employer's policy problem to fix, not yours.
posted by scruss at 10:00 AM on October 23, 2020 [2 favorites]

For what it's worth, I used to get these, too. One time, I just decided to click through and when the guy with the Indian accent answered, I said, in a flat voice, "Well, sir, it's your lucky day. You've randomly called the US Federal Communications Commission. Do I have your permission to tape this call?" He was perplexed and I asked again to tape the call. The line went dead and I haven't had any of the calls since. It's was a crazy long shot but all I can think is that he, just in the wild case I really was with the FCC, just thought it would be easier to scratch my number off their list. Oh, and I've had pretty good luck with Nomorobo for our landline. If you have Verizon, it's free.
posted by lpsguy at 11:48 AM on October 23, 2020 [4 favorites]

This might be a nonstarter if you typically need to be on the lookout for phonecalls from numbers not already in your phone's contact list, but iOS has an option in the Settings app under Phone to silence unknown callers. If the phone number isn't already in your contacts or isn't one you've called, the phone won't ring when you receive a call from that number. It will go to voicemail. It's a blissful experience for me, but like I said, might not be for you if you regularly take calls from people you don't know.
posted by emelenjr at 12:35 PM on October 23, 2020

Just FYI that Nomorobo is not good at catching this particular scam -- I get it all the time. (I did put them off for like a year by clicking through and asking THEM to tell ME what my social security number was. They hung up.)
posted by Countess Sandwich at 4:54 PM on October 24, 2020

I have also gotten a sum total of one of these calls, I pressed 1 to be connected and then laid into the person on the other end about not knowing how they sleep at night scamming people for a living. I got hung up on, and felt slightly bad afterward because I didn't really know that person's situation, maybe they were on hard times and it was the only job, etc (but c'mon, seriously, find an ethical way to earn money!). But end result they left me alone. YMMV.
posted by danapiper at 6:31 AM on October 25, 2020

Response by poster: If anyone else is wondering how this turned out..... I got nonstop calls for three days and then it ended! So I guess the takeaway is don't answer any of the calls and eventually they'll give up?
posted by silverstatue at 8:48 PM on November 2, 2020