Your Free Guide to Reducing Junk Calls

Why Junk Calls Have Become a Growing Problem

If your phone has been ringing constantly with calls about car warranties, credit card offers, or mysterious package deliveries, you're far from alone. According to data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Americans received approximately 3.7 billion robocalls in 2023—that's roughly 11 calls per person for the entire year. The problem has only intensified as scammers have become more sophisticated in spoofing phone numbers, making it appear as though calls are coming from local numbers or trusted organizations.

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The volume of these calls matters because it affects your daily life in measurable ways. Studies show that the average person now spends anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes per week dealing with unwanted calls—time spent answering, hanging up, or trying to figure out if a call is legitimate. Beyond the time drain, junk calls pose real risks. Scammers use these calls to attempt identity theft, harvest personal information, or trick people into sending money. The FTC reported that in 2023 alone, Americans lost over $8.6 billion to fraud initiated through unwanted contact.

What makes this landscape confusing is that junk calls come in different forms. Some are completely automated robocalls (prerecorded messages). Others are calls from actual people reading from scripts. Some callers are legitimate telemarketers, while others are outright scammers. Your phone company might not distinguish between all these types, and call-blocking technology varies widely in effectiveness.

What this section teaches: Understanding the scale and types of junk calls helps you recognize which ones pose actual risks versus which are merely annoying. This knowledge informs which defense strategies matter most for your situation.

How Phone Numbers Get Sold, Shared, and Circulated

Before you can understand how to reduce junk calls, it helps to know how your phone number gets into the hands of scammers and telemarketers in the first place. Your number doesn't appear on calling lists by accident—it typically gets there through one of several documented pathways.

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The first pathway is commercial data brokers. When you sign up for a loyalty program at a store, enter a contest, subscribe to a service, or fill out a warranty card, that information often gets sold to data brokers—companies whose entire business model is collecting and reselling personal information. These brokers then sell your number to marketing companies, which sell it to telemarketers, which sometimes sell it to people operating scam operations. Each transaction happens for a fee, but the profit incentive is strong at each level.

The second pathway is public records. Your phone number may appear in property records if you own a home, vehicle registration documents, business filings, or court records. Scammers routinely scrape these publicly available databases and use the numbers for targeted campaigns. A homeowner, for instance, might receive multiple calls about "property damage" or "foundation issues" because their address is in the public record.

The third pathway is website forms and online interactions. When you enter your phone number into a website—whether it's to get a quote, claim a coupon, or contact customer service—you're trusting that company not to misuse or sell your information. Sometimes they honor that trust. Sometimes they don't. Some websites are also compromised by hackers who steal customer databases containing phone numbers.

The fourth pathway is past interactions with scammers themselves. If you've ever answered a junk call or responded to a text, that tells scammers your number is active and that you respond. Your number then circulates through scammer networks as a "live" number—making you a higher-priority target for future calls.

What this section teaches: Knowing these pathways explains why reducing junk calls isn't just about blocking numbers—it's also about controlling where your number is shared. This understanding points to preventive strategies that reduce calls over time rather than just managing them in the moment.

Built-In Call Protection Features Your Phone Already Has

Before paying for premium services or installing additional apps, understand what your phone can already do. Most modern smartphones come with native call-filtering features that work right out of the box, though they operate differently depending on whether you use an iPhone or Android device.

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If you have an iPhone, Apple's native features include the ability to silence calls from unknown numbers and to create a custom "Do Not Disturb" schedule. You can also block specific numbers directly from your call history by selecting a number and choosing "Block This Caller." These blocked numbers get sent directly to voicemail. For iOS 13 and later, you can also enable "Filter Unknown Callers," which sends calls from numbers not in your contacts to your voicemail automatically. This feature is particularly effective because most junk calls come from numbers you don't know.

If you use Android, Google's Phone app includes Google Call Screen, which identifies likely spam calls and either blocks them or asks the caller to identify themselves before connecting. The feature uses Google's database of known spam numbers. You can also review suspected spam calls before deciding whether to return them. Like iPhone, Android lets you block specific numbers and create "Do Not Disturb" schedules. Samsung phones (which run Android) have additional Spam Protection settings built into their dialer app.

Most phone carriers also offer free or low-cost call-screening tools. AT&T's Call Protect, T-Mobile's Scam Shield, and Verizon's Call Filter all work at the carrier level, meaning they can block calls before they even reach your phone. These tools are frequently free or included with your monthly service. You can log into your carrier's website or visit their store to see what's available on your account.

What these built-in features have in common is that they operate on a blocklist model—they identify calls from known spam sources and block them. They're reasonably effective at catching obvious spam, but they won't catch scammers using spoofed numbers or new calling campaigns. Still, they require no setup beyond turning them on and no additional cost.

What this section teaches: Before exploring other options, learn what protection your phone provider and device manufacturer already give you. For many people, simply activating these existing features reduces junk calls by 40-60%, eliminating the need for additional tools.

Strategies to Keep Your Number Out of Circulation

If you want fewer junk calls in the future, the most effective approach is controlling where your phone number goes. This requires being intentional about when and where you provide it. Here are the specific practices that reduce how many times your number reaches calling lists.

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Limit where you enter your number online. Every form you fill out is a potential entry point for your number into a data broker's database. Before entering your phone number on a website, ask yourself: Do I actually need to provide this? Is there an email option instead? Is this site from a company I know and trust? For online shopping, loyalty programs, or service signups where you feel the number is necessary, use a secondary phone number or a Google Voice number (which is free to set up) instead of your primary number. This creates a buffer that lets you control which numbers receive which calls.

Read privacy policies before signing up. When you create an account somewhere or join a program, look for the privacy policy section. It usually appears at the bottom of the webpage. Specifically, look for language about whether the company sells or shares phone numbers with third parties. Some companies explicitly state they don't share your information; others reserve the right to do so. This information helps you make informed decisions about which services to provide your primary number to.

Opt out of data broker lists. Several data brokers operate in the United States and sell your information if you're in their database. Sites like OptOutPrescreen.com allow you to opt out of prescreened offers (which reduces marketing calls). Sending a letter requesting removal to major data brokers like Experian, Equifax, and Acxiom can slow the flow of your number through the system, though the process is slow and doesn't completely stop information sharing. The FTC maintains a list of known data brokers and instructions for contacting them.

Register with the National Do Not Call Registry. The Do Not Call Registry (donotcall.gov) is a free, government-run list where consumers can register their phone numbers to reduce telemarketing calls. When you add your number, telemarketers are required by law not to call you. The registry is legitimate and actually does reduce calls from reputable telemarketing companies. However