Stopping Harrassing Calls

[catharine]

I have been receiving what I assume are automated calls every 30 seconds since 9 AM this morning. My phone is basically unusable. My voicemail fills instantly.

While I have used my iPhone settings to block/silence these calls this isn’t really a reasonable solution to this level of harassing calls. Does Public Mobile offer Call Control like Telus or some other solution?

There is no caller ID or phone number associated with these calls. Nor is there anyone on the line if I answer. 

[pkaraa]

Every 30 sec. Very strange..

Problem is no number to block and if you pick then noone speaks. It means the phone dialer on the computer is stuck on your number.

 when you pick the phone up and nobody speaks then press ############# numerous times until phone get disconnected. That will stop from re-dialing and bounce your number from their dialing list.

[Nezgar · Accepted solution]

@catharineAnd if you don't have a google phone with Android 12, download the "YouMail" app. It will integrate with their spam caller database which may help mitigate known spam calls from ringing your phone.

Unfortunately as a "value brand" Public Mobile does not have some of the features of the flagship Telus or mid-tier Koodo brands like Call Control.

If the calls have a consistent caller ID, you can try blocking the calls in the phone app settings. Though, this really just directs them to your voicemail so hopefully it doesn't fill your voicemail with junk. If they are random caller ID, this will not be effective.

Since you say there "no caller ID or phone number associated with these calls" you may be able to use the option to block anonymous calls. To have "blocked" calls diverted somewhere other than your voicemail, use the "busy" conditional call forward setting to forward it to a dead-end like 0000000000 (ten zeros) or to Lenny the anti-telemarketer bot as @darlicious previously mentioned.

With this in place, calls that do not get automatically blocked can still be diverted away from your voicemail by manually declining the calls which also triggers the "busy" conditional call forward.

Good luck!  Hopefully with some time with these mitigations in place the calls will subside and you can avoid having to change your number.

[DOA]

I use this and it works very well.  The free version will probably be enough for you.

[Zyl]

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@catharine wrote:

I have been receiving what I assume are automated calls every 30 seconds since 9 AM this morning. My phone is basically unusable. My voicemail fills instantly.

While I have used my iPhone settings to block/silence these calls this isn’t really a reasonable solution to this level of harassing calls. Does Public Mobile offer Call Control like Telus or some other solution?

There is no caller ID or phone number associated with these calls. Nor is there anyone on the line if I answer. 

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@catharine, if you are using a google phone and has Android 12 as the operating system, in the default google "Phones" app, if you go to settings by tapping on the three dots on the top right-hand corner, you can tap on "Caller Id and spam" to do some call controls.  You can first tap on "See caller and spam ID" to activate it for you to see the phone number that you are receiving the spam calls from and also tap on "Filter spam calls" to prevent suspected spam calls if Google is able to successfully identify the calls as spam calls.  And you can also go to the "General" section and tap Blocked numbers to tap "Unknown" to block calls from unidentified callers if those phone calls were from unidentified phone numbers and also you can tap on "Add a number" to add a number there for the "Phones" app to automatically block calls from this number. 

Quite a few choices there.  Hope they help.  When they do not work at all, then like many has suggested here, you can change your number here.   

[darlicious]

@catharine 

Use Lenny.....courtesy of @Nezgar .

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/Lenny-the-Telemarketers-worst-nigh...

[Watoko]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

@catharine   if you are on iPhone, they have an option to only answer calls from people on your contact list .  You might want to enable this until you see these calls stop coming.

Why you are getting these calls? you are being targeted?  If so,  you should open a case with the Police if you think you know the source.  

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Agreed - a call every 30 seconds that renders your phone unusable is very unusual and makes it seem like it is targetted towards you. I wonder if Public Mobile might be able to help out if you escalate it? Perhaps they can find out where these numbers are originating from and help you correspond with the provider to shut those numbers/accounts down...

[Meow]

Calls every 30 seconds? This is new! Never heard of such spam calls.

What do they offer?

Do they come from the same number?

Will complain to CRTC yield any action?

[hTideGnow]

@catharine   if you are on iPhone, they have an option to only answer calls from people on your contact list .  You might want to enable this until you see these calls stop coming.

Why you are getting these calls? you are being targeted?  If so,  you should open a case with the Police if you think you know the source.  

[esjliv]

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@catharine wrote:

I have been receiving what I assume are automated calls every 30 seconds since 9 AM this morning. My phone is basically unusable. My voicemail fills instantly.

While I have used my iPhone settings to block/silence these calls this isn’t really a reasonable solution to this level of harassing calls. Does Public Mobile offer Call Control like Telus or some other solution?

There is no caller ID or phone number associated with these calls. Nor is there anyone on the line if I answer. 

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@catharine  - that would be super annoying. 

Try to ignore them, and hopefully they just will die off SOON, as most spam calling will if ignored.

[HALIMACS]

@catharine 

Sadly, there is no Call Control here.

If you're not attached to the number, PM lets us change numbers 4 times per cycle.  It's something which can be done right on your self-serve.

Just an option.

[computergeek541]

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@catharine wrote:

I have been receiving what I assume are automated calls every 30 seconds since 9 AM this morning. My phone is basically unusable. My voicemail fills instantly.

While I have used my iPhone settings to block/silence these calls this isn’t really a reasonable solution to this level of harassing calls. Does Public Mobile offer Call Control like Telus or some other solution?

There is no caller ID or phone number associated with these calls. Nor is there anyone on the line if I answer. 

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Some phones have  setting to automatically decline calls from phone numbers not saved in your contact list (or when no number is provided).  As for preventing someone from leaving voice messages, you'll need to try a third party app for that.  There are some that can be set to answer such phone calls and then automatically hang up.  Unfortunately, this also means that some legitimate callers could be hung up on.

[Anonymous]

@catharine 

No at public mobile not have that option.

but if your phone number is new you can do change your number.