“I’m calling about your accident”. “This is HMRC, please call us back for the tax refund you are owed”. The number of scam and spam calls made on a daily basis is astounding. It feels like the phenomenon is out of hand.
What’s more frustrating is that our phones are helpless. They can only recognize numbers saved in our contacts. Unfortunately (or not!), none of the scam callers are in our contact list. That means we can’t reliably block them. So how do we save ourselves the trouble of picking up the phone only to hear a mechanical voice urging us to give our money away? Luckily, there is a solution.
Both Android phones and iPhones have a wide range of free apps that recognize and block scammers and spammers. For Android, we have Caller ID, Truecaller and a host of others. For iPhones, we can use Hiya. There’s also a version of Truecaller for iOS. The list goes on.
These apps all maintain a global list of known scammer phone numbers. When you get a call, they match the caller’s number against that list. If the number is recognized, it can automatically be blocked. You can also set it so that you’re warned but can still take the call.
These apps can save you a lot of time and grief. To save yourself some time and the risk of getting scammed, install a caller ID app and protect yourself.
Optimising My Life 