Stop Spam Calls, Robocalls and Fraud Calls on Android and iPhone
Frank Canova developed the first commercially available prototype smartphone Angler in 1992 at IBM. In 1999, Japanese firm NTT DoCoMo released its first smartphone which received a huge mass adoption within the country. Inspired by DoCoMo, Ericsson Mobile Communications released the first touchscreen mobile Ericsson R380 in 2000. Eventually, the technological advancements in the mobile and smartphone industry gave us Android and iOS devices.

The fundamental use of mobile phone brought people close to each other through telecommunication. But the technology of the internet and LTE (3G/4G) led the functioning of mobile phones to video calls and watch parties. As the industry of internet service provider grew, the scammers and fraud calls raised more and made telecommunication a money-making business.
Today, there exists no smartphone which never received any scam call. If these repeated scam and robocalls are the cons for some users, then for others it is a salaried job to make these calls. Advancement in mobile calling feature has lead to both pros and cons situations. Therefore, it is essential to prevent fraud and scam calls.
But before that let’s understand the how scammers initiate these calls from one user to other.”
What do scammers do?
Today spam calls, robocalls, and fraud calls are the unwelcome distractions happening with us majority of the time. Scammers are behind these unwanted calls! Unfortunately, scammers have the power of the internet to make countless calls with ease. And when we as a user falls for their scam, they earn a huge profit.
Scammers are the network swindlers who con the people to make money. The most common scammer we all encounter - is a sweet voice of a lady. Around, 85% of scam calls are done by the service provider. For example, a user receives an automated call from their internet service provider about the upcoming offers. However, this call is a fraud with a same looking phone number of the original internet agency. Such calls are from customer care service departments.
Calls done by customer service executive is not a fraud call unless they ask you for money.
It is because the customer executive will only tell you his/her name along with the company's name. But if you ask for some more information like employee id then they have only one answer;
“Sorry sir, we are not authorized to give more information about us.”
But, there are few companies indeed providing us all the necessary information. Now, it depends upon you as a user to cross-check it before any further process. Everything now will depend upon a user: how he/she will act into this?
Generally, on an average, we all receive one spam call every day. The incessant spam calls are annoying same as like their caller ID numbers. Whenever we receive any spam calls, the scammer earns. Longer the call duration goes, more the scammer will gain. Rather than avoiding these calls, the majority of people pick them resulting in a massive profit of the scammer.
Federal Trade Commission receives more than three lakhs of complaints every month. But, nothing significant happened and the things are getting more worse. Moreover, the spam calls are increasing in many ways.
For instance, a user will get the call from a bank for an easy loan for marketing purpose. A user will get a business-oriented call detailing about their company’s performance and product. Sometimes, a user will receive calls from their internet agency and you will listen only to a song.
Here, if we can know the numbers of scammers or their look-alike numbers, then we can avoid calls intentionally to a great extent.
Why do spam calls look like a local number?
We as a user try to attend every call that comes to us. Due to this, scammers easily trick us. Scammers for their purposes get a number that matches to our area code and in temptation, we receive the call quickly to answer. This trick is known as Neighbourhood Spoofing. It is a new kind of spam that increases local calls on our number.
On the other hand, robocallers modify the phone numbers appearing on caller ID. This automated technology strategy is called ID Spoof strategy. Thus, for spoofing phone numbers to our caller Id scammers uses both these tricks.
Hence, a practical approach for judging these kinds of spoofing numbers is necessary. And if a user can’t judge such numbers, then the best way is to block spam and scam numbers as per requirement.
A scammer has three ways to annoy you with a scam call
The carriers wielding the power of the internet has three distinct ways of doing unwanted annoying calls for their purpose of making money.
- Robocallers - The automated and pre-recorded message from the carrier to a user.
- Spammer - Unwanted callers calling indiscriminately to recipients to give information which a user has no interest.
- Fraud Calls - A scam call pretending as someone with no malicious intent.
There are two ways to avoid such spam calls. First, ignore these calls and don’t pick them. Secondly, block such random numbers and calls permanently on Android and iOS devices. However, before we block spam numbers, a user must register an FTC (Federal Trade Commission) complaint to do not call registry.
“FTC registration will disrupt telemarketers and disrupts the scammer from calling you.”
Do Not Disturb Mode Option
Both Android and iOS allows the user to set Do Not Disturb mode only to get calls from people on your contact list. Do Not Disturb mode is a good solution to stop robocalls and scam calls permanently, but the user will miss important calls which need answers. Hence a complaint against such scammers from each individual may stop these annoying calls.
And FTC’s report to unwanted calls will be a great help to prevent such incoming calls.
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FTC - Do Not Call Registry
Established in 1914, FTC in the USA promotes consumer protection, prevention and elimination of business malpractices. FTC mainly encourages consumer. The home page of FTC has national do not call registry button giving you a choice whether to receive unwanted telemarketing calls.

Follow the below stepwise guide process and register on FTC.
- Click on Register for Do Not Call.
- Here you can register your phone and report to unwanted calls.
- Add all the required information and register your landline and mobile number. Also, verify it
- Now, click on Report Unwanted Calls and fill the form.
- Make sure your filled information is correct and finalize your verification. After your number is registered, also verify your email id.
- A page will pop up that will confirm your registration.
- To report against robocalls and spam calls, click on Report Unwanted Calls.
- Provide all the required information and hit continue button to submit the form.
This way FTC will receive your complaint against that spam number. After a thorough investigation of that spam number FTC will block that number permanently from your phone.
There exists an alternative to this whole procedure at FTC’s website. A user who doesn’t want to receive such spam calls can directly register a complaint on FTC’s by contacting them. Here is the link to the contact numbers of FTC https://www.ftc.gov/contact.
No matter which device you use, FTC will register your complaint. Hopefully, FTC will take action against those spam robocall numbers and will block them from your iOS and Android smartphones.
In case FTC does not function against those spam numbers, our smartphones devices have inbuilt features to block numbers.
How Spam Call filtering on Android Phone and iPhone
Recently Google added Caller ID and Spam Protection feature to the Google’s Phone app. The Caller ID can see the information about the spam callers and businesses.
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Furthermore, enabling the spam protection feature will allow you to block any number.
- Open your device's Google Phone app.
- Tap More > Settings > Caller ID & spam.
- There turn on your Caller ID & spam.
- Click on Filter suspected spam calls.
With this, you will receive your filtered call log in call history, but you won’t get any missed call or voice call. Even more, Android users can permanently block calls on Google Phone App. You can directly prevent the spammers from your phone without letting them know.
To block numbers in the Google Phone app, follow the below process:
- Open the Google’s Phone app and go to Recent calls.
- Tap on the call which you want to report as spam.
- Tap Block/report spam. Here you'll be asked whether you want to block the number or not.
- Tap block to permanently block the call from that number.
The Phone app also lets you unblock the number on your need. Your Android phone sends information about your calls to Google for using Google's caller id and spam protection. But, this feature will work only with new Android versions such as Android 6.0 or above.
Unlike the previous Android phone, iPhone also has no caller ID and spam protection feature. Therefore, blocking calls on the iPhone was not possible. But, in the new versions of iOS, call blocking is accessible. To block calls on iPhone;
- Go to settings > phone > call blocking and identification.
- Filter unknown and hidden spam messages from iMessages as follows:
- Go to settings > messages > turn on Filter Unknown Senders.
- The new notification from unknown senders will stop in iMessage.
- A user can report messages on the iMessage app without blocking them.
The above settings of iPhone and Android phone are only available in the latest versions released in last five years. However, a user with old versions cannot access the new features of new phone and caller ID versions. But, older versions also have a way to stop robocalls, spam calls, and fraud/fake calls.
Third-party app to tope scam calls

There are many services designed to prevent robocalls and scam calls on your phone. If few services are free then some charges monthly subscription fee. Third party apps like Truecaller ID, Robokiller, Nomorobo, etc. continually updates a list of scam calls. These apps work as a barrier between a scammer and a user.
An incoming call from scammer gets shut down before it reaches to any user. The third party app runs against the list of scam numbers and maintains your blacklisted numbers. Both iOS and Android allows the users to take control of the phone app. After downloading third-party apps, the user should enable them in settings App to permit caller ID.
Some best third-party apps
Below is a list of third-party apps that works well with both Android and iOS.
- Nomorobo is a paid app which gives a 14-day free trial. But, after a free trial, a user can access this app at $1.99 a month and $19.99 a year.
- Robokiller gives a free trial of only 7 days after which user can access the app at $2.99 a month and $24.99 a year.
- Hiya is free and works well with Android devices. The network carriers like AT&T and T-mobile also provides their spam id services.
- Truecaller is a free app specially made for iOS and Android to stop spam calls and messages. Truecaller host ads which are removable by a monthly and yearly subscription at $1.99 a month and $17.99 a year. The true caller id blocking app has 100+ million active users.
- Call clerk and Numbuster are also a great app that helps the user to avoid and block spam calls and messages.
- Sprint Premium Caller ID identifies spam callers and flags robocalls and spammers. Caller ID Sprint will assign a ‘threat level’ to unwanted numbers and calls about which a user can’t even suspect.
- Verizon Wireless avoids unwanted callers with spam detection. Also, prevents unsolicited callers from reaching you. But, Verizon Wireless is chargeable at $2.99 a month.
Though FTC is trying hard to detect mass robocalling operations, they are not going to pursue each and every individual complaint. Therefore the best recommendation is to install a third party app on your phone featuring caller id and spam protection services. If there are any other methods to stop spam calls, then share them in the comments section below.
Watch Video How to Stop Unwanted Spam Calls on iPhone and Android phones
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