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Idea: A button on your phone app that plays a generic "number doesn't exist" recording to confuse spam callers (lemmy.ml)

submitted 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) by HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Receiving a spam call puts you in a bit of a dilemma, or at least it does for me: How do I deal with this call that doesn't alert the spammers that this is an active number that they can call again? Answering the call is obviously the wrong choice, but I always assume that rejecting the call outright will also be detected as a deliberate action and therefore a person is on the other side. Some people have suggested answering the phone but not talking, so they think it's a dead number, but I want something more definitive.

My idea is to have a "spam" button on the incoming call screen, that answers the call but doesn't connect the microphone. Instead it plays either the standard "the number you're dialing is not assigned, please check your number and try your call again" recording, or a fax/modem sound to make them think the phone number belongs to a machine and not a human.

Would this work? Or would they still be able to determine that the recording is spoofed by the phone itself? Does anything like this already exist?

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[–] Bags@piefed.social 12 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

I don't know if it's a universal thing, I've never bothered to research further. On my several-year-old Oneplus phone (Android), if I single-press the power button, it mutes the ringer and vibrate but the call doesn't end or reject (I could still then go and answer or reject the call normally, it doesn't affect the user interface, just the ringer/vibrate). That's how I've been "rejecting" unknown calls for a long time. A simple, elegant solution that doesn't give the caller any hints.

[–] irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 15 hours ago

That makes them think you aren't available, but if you have any kind of voicemail it means they know it's a real number so autodialers will probably still try later. I think this request is how can we fool the spammers (automated or otherwise) to think the number is totally invalid so they stop calling it.

That is difficult since there's probably some indication from the phone company other than just a voice message that indicates a number is invalid/unallocated.

That said, muting is the way I do it, but now most autodialer systems are configured to call twice in a row to get around the Do No Disturb settings on most cell phones, so it is more annoying now.

[–] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 3 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I don't get many spam calls but I thought this was what everyone did.

I could do it on my Android 8? Phone. With its notification led, and card slot, and headphone jack... I miss that thing

[–] Bags@piefed.social 2 points 17 hours ago

That solidifies my suspicion that it's a standard Android feature... I also don't get many spam calls, and only distinctly remember performing that action on this most recent phone.

Based on OP's comment "...I always assume that rejecting the call outright will also be detected as a deliberate action and therefore a person is on the other side...", I figured maybe they didn't know about that feature and/or have an iPhone and they somehow don't behave that way.

I also miss the old days of Android... I got a smartphone specifically to play Pokemon go in 2016 lol, up until that point I was still rocking one of those Casio Gzone indestructible flip-phones. Walked into WalMart, bought the cheapest LG whatever phone I could find (Android 5 I think?), caught a bazillion Pokemon. I remember buying multiple batteries for longer sessions, because you could just pop the back off and replace it on the go.

[–] SaneMartigan@aussie.zone 1 points 15 hours ago

I think it's down volume on my pixel 5 to mute an incoming call.