Cutting down robocalls and unwanted sales calls

If you answer the phone and hear a recorded message instead of a live person, it's a robocall. Two steps cut down how many you get. The Do Not Call Registry stops sales calls from companies that follow the rules, and call blocking catches many of the rest.

What you need

• Each phone number in the household
• An email address you can check, if you register online
• The phone itself, for its blocking settings or an app

Steps

1. 1

   Register each number

   Go to DoNotCall.gov, or call 1-888-382-1222 (TTY 1-866-290-4236) from the phone you want to register. Registration is free and never expires.

   5 min

2. 2

   Confirm the email

   If you registered online, click the link in the confirmation email within 72 hours, or the registration doesn't go through.

   2 min

3. 3

   Check that it worked

   Your number should be on the Registry the next day. Check it at DoNotCall.gov, or call 1-888-382-1222 from that number. Sales calls can take up to 31 days to stop.

   2 min

4. 4

   Ask your carrier about blocking

   Call-blocking and call-labeling services cut down robocalls. What works depends on whether the phone is a cell phone, a traditional landline or a home phone that runs over the internet. Check what your phone company offers. The numbers of illegal callers are released publicly each business day, and phone companies use them to build their blocking and labeling tools.

   5 min

5. 5

   Note who can still call

   Political, charity, debt collection, survey and purely informational calls can still come through, as long as they don't include a sales pitch. So can companies you've recently done business with, or that have your written permission.

   1 min

When a robocall gets through

Hang up. Don't press a number to speak to someone or to be taken off the list, because that will likely lead to more calls.

Don't rely on caller ID either. It can be faked, so a call can look like it comes from a government agency or a local number. Scam calls may not be flagged as scams at all.

The calls that are almost always scams

Robocalls offering to lower your debt are almost always scams. The Registry won't stop scammers, but being on it means a sales call that still gets through is easier to spot as one.