I never answer my phone if I don’t recognize the number. For years, I didn’t have voicemail but then I finally relented and switched it on. And so recently I started getting messages on the voicemail in angry Chinese voices from NYC numbers. It’s getting annoying because I receive them a couple of times each week.
Does anybody know what it is? A new form of phone harassment? What’s the point of it?
Clarissa's Blog 
In Israel we have another curse – phone calls form all kinds of numbers with “do you speak Russian?” or “Zdravstvyite” if I answer, trying to sell me something. I do not know how they found out I speak Russian, but it’s very annoying. My strategy is start talking in Hebrew and they immediately end the call then. Do not know how they know zero Hebrew, if they live in Israel, but it appears to be so.
Mother said some of them call from Russia, but if I see an apparently Israeli number, it’s weird.
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Your mother is probably right. It’s easy to fake any kind of number through internet programs.
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We receive those in Montreal also – apparently it’s a scam targeting older Asian people.
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My area code is upstate NY, so that’s why I get it, I guess. Thank you, this explains it!!
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Just block it all. I have an Android phone and it’s a joy because I immediately can block a number and never hear from it again.
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I’m blocking them but it’s always a new one. I wish I could block all New York numbers in bulk.
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‘I never answer my phone if I don’t recognize the number. ‘
Haha, me neither. Habit from my old days of fucked up credit.
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The exact same reason here. 🙂
And it’s the first time somebody gets it.
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Us: 😎
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I’m feeling teary right now. Must be the meds.
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I haven’t been getting spam calls, but I have the suspicion that someone is giving my number as their own. For some reason over the past few days I’ve repeatedly gotten calls for a “Mark.” I’ve only been answering because I’m waiting for a call about a job application (which I’ve apparently missed two of — my phone has this annoying habit of not informing me of missed calls).
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My $12 a month landline doesn’t have caller ID, so I never answer the phone unless the caller speaks into my voice mail and gives me a reason to answer them.
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I get all kinds of weird calls when I answer the phone. My grade school alum association. Some weird political push polling orgs. Somebody trying to sell me car insurance warranties. A pastor trying to arrange funeral eulogies in another city (this happened right after someone close to me died, coincidentally.)
Now I’m answering calls because I’m waiting on a job application. I am so annoyed when it’s someone trying to sell me something.
Normally I don’t answer phone calls from unknown numbers for two reasons: I hate talking on the phone, and phone harassment of various sorts. I had a neighbor call repeatedly and leave unhinged messages claiming I was generating noises that only he and his wife could hear. The dude once called the cops on me for… a block party three buildings down. I also had some dudes with Indian accents claim that they were from the IRS and they were going to arrest me for back taxes unless I paid them immediately.
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You haven’t been called yet by the woman who says that “your Windows program” is going to stop working in three days if you don’t call back and register it? I get that prerecorded message about once a month, also frequent calls from local realtors asking if I’m interested in selling my house. Since I’m a registered Republican, during the last local election I got several messages recorded by Trump himself.
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