We receive on average a half dozen junk calls every day on our landline number, even though we registered it with the FTC's "Do Not Call" list years ago. Recently a good number of these junk calls have shown an "875" exchange, which is correct for Alton where I live, but the following four digits are fake. (Faking the numbers Caller ID displays is easy and it is a technique often used by scammers.) For 99% of these calls, no messages have been left.
Interestingly, however, we have received several calls this year from the "IRS" that have included messages. The spiel usually goes that a warrant for our arrest has been issued due to non-payment of taxes, and that if we don't call a certain number immediately we will be hauled off to jail and our house will be confiscated. The voice is computer-generated and is quite ominous. I have yet to call the provided numbers and so far, at least, I haven't been handcuffed and taken away in the back seat of a cruiser.
About a year ago I ordered a call blocking device that plugs into a telephone jack. Since then, when we receive a call from a number we don't recognize and no message is left, we simply press the "Blacklist" button on the call blocker unit. From that point on if the number calls us again, the phone only rings once and then the call is automatically disconnected. This unit works well, but we continue to get junk calls from new numbers on a daily basis.
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DRH
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