Imagine – your phone is ringing repeatedly, but no one is speaking on the other end. Or a strange voice is scaring you about your “blocked PAN card”. First you ignore one or two calls, but when these calls start coming 5-10 times a day, then understand that your number is under the radar of spammers.
This is what happened to me when an unknown number harassed me more than 50 times in a week. Sometimes silent calls, sometimes false warnings of “your bank account being frozen” or “digital arrest“. The most dangerous thing? Most of these calls were coming from the area code of my city itself. Spammers adopt this method – cheating by winning your trust in the guise of a local number.
If you are also a victim of such an attack, then do not panic. I myself have freed my phone from these type spam calls using these 5 methods. These are not bookish advice, but solutions that work in the real world and have proved to be effective…
1. Activate DND (Do Not Disturb) service
If you get promotional calls from credit card, loan or unknown companies on your phone daily, then first activate the DND service of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). This facility is available for free and to activate it you have to register by visiting the mobile app or website of your telecom operator (eg Airtel, Jio, Vi). Once DND is activated, companies can’t call or message you. Although some spammers bypass this system, it still blocks more than 80% of spam calls. I used it myself and saw a 90% reduction in spam calls over the course of a month.
2. Use apps like Truecaller
Truecaller is a powerful tool and trusted app that identifies the caller and tells you if the call is spam or not. I found that most spam calls are marked as “scam like” or “fraud”, allowing you to block them. The premium version of Truecaller offers even better filtering and features. Although some users are concerned about data privacy, it’s a great option if you want to avoid spam. A friend of mine told me that after installing Truecaller, he now gets only 1-2 spam calls a week, compared to 5-6 a day earlier. Even, I have installed it on my device as it flashes the caller’s name and this gives me enough time to understand should I pick this call or avoid.
You can get this app for your Android or iOS device (iPhone) on www.truecaller.com or you can directly download it from the app store for free.
3. Do not share your number on social media and public platforms
Many times we inadvertently post our phone number on social media (like Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn) or any website, which leads to spammers scraping it. I did an experiment where I put my number on a fake website and saw that within 48 hours I started getting many promotional messages.
Apart from that, I also found do not share your number on local shops like chemist shops, medical care center, fitness clubs. These people share your number to others local dealers and later you receive a lot of spam calls like Are you interested in term insurance? Do you need medical insurance? Are you looking for full body checkup? We have offers for you!
So, if you are filling an online form or registering on any website, make sure that your number is not publicly accessible. If it is necessary to provide the number for any service, then you can use Google’s “Virtual Number” service or better use alternate mobile number which not linked with your bank account, PAN, Aadhar.
4. Block spam calls manually and complain to TRAI
If a number is spamming repeatedly, then you can block that phone number manually. This feature is available in both Android and iPhone. All you need to just – 1. Tap and long press number for few seconds > 2. Tap on block/junk report. This way you can block a number on your device!
Apart from this, you can lodge a complaint on TRAI’s “Chakshu” portal (चक्षु). I myself once reported a fraudulent call, and within a few days the calling activity on that number stopped. TRAI takes these complaints seriously and sometimes instructs telecom companies to block such numbers.
5. If spam is too much, consider getting a new number
Sometimes the situation gets so bad that your number is included in many spam lists. In such a case, getting a new number may be the best option. However, while getting a new number, make sure to share it only with trusted people and services. One of my relatives did this and found that spam calls on the new number were almost negligible.
While getting new number, buy the SIM from spam free network provider like Airtel. In India, Airtel offers spam free network, means they will auto block a number of fraud calls and also alert you that do not pick this call. These type of services save your time and keep you save from big frauds.
Conclusion
A single method is not effective to avoid spam calls and messages, but a combination of solutions is needed. By combining methods like DND, Truecaller, number privacy and manual blocking, you can reduce spam call by up to 90%. If you are also facing this problem, then definitely try at least 2-3 of these methods. All of these are based on my and other users’ personal experience, which really work and quite usefully in everyday scenario.
Being a smartphone user I recommend you to follow these methods and save your money from such big online running digital frauds and also share this information with others on social media platforms.
