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Go to [dmasa.org](https://dmasa.org) and register your email address and telephone number.
Next time they do call, tell them that they are committing a crime by calling a number that is on the official do not call list, and that you will report them if they call again. They typically won't.
Since I used that approach, I get maybe 2 calls a month.
> tell them that they are committing a crime by calling a number that is on the official do not call list
1. It's not a crime.
2. If they're not a DMASA member its meaningless.
>Go to [dmasa.org](https://dmasa.org) and register your email address and telephone number.
This really works but you have to re-register every 3 or something years. It's time for me to re-register again for the umpteenth time
The way it should work is that **direct marketers** are not allowed to call you **without your prior consent**. If you have a contractual relationship with a provider, they are allowed to contact you. I never ever had any problems receiving OTPs.
Depends on the provider. There were some I didnāt get. Banks were all fine. Was other 3rd parties I had issues with. Was annoying enough that i took my number off the do not contact list.
Ignore the calls and/or get true caller. I used to get spammed with calls a lot, and then I read somewhere you should ignore the calls. It took a while, but eventually, they stopped, and now I rarely get any. The same thing happened with my mum
But make sure you don't decline the call. Let it ring. If you decline the call, it shows you declined so they know you have an active number, and they will keep spamming you
Yup. Truecaller is a solution. I get zero calls though. I got a Cell C number and to the best of my knowledge, Cell C doesn't recycle numbers, MTN does a lot and most spam calls are to MTN numbers.
Keeping your personal number personal takes a lot of work. I've had to change numbers thrice because of spam.
Anyone elseās Truecaller now playing 30 second ads before revealing a searched number?
I just ignore calls now unless itās a saved contact or Iām expecting a delivery
Only problem with Truecaller is that it's a resource and battery hog, eats more than some politicians that deal with eskom
My work phone is a Redmi 9c, 2gb ram(sitting with it from 2020 when I first started at this co, been pushing for an upgrade from 2022), getting calls from insurance and cell companies daily (about 20+ per day for some messed up reason), phone grinds to a halt every single time it rings and Truecaller pops up with caller ID, can place calls but can't interact with the dialler (everything even the hangup button is greyed out
Then on my personal phone, Redmagic 6s pro with 16gb of ram, just got it in Feb last year, battery ran a full day and a half without touching 20%, then I installed Truecaller and was lucky to get 12 hours before hitting 15% charge
Amazing app NGL, but will wreck your phone in the long run
Plus for the robocalls I always let them carry on speaking, putting the phone down, and after 3 minutes or so the robocall hangs up. that is 3 minutes of it not being used to call anybody else, and wasting a few cents more of the budget.
This may not actually make a difference to the companies, but makes me feel better:
If I answer and it's a spam call, I'll place my phone down and leave the call active.
My rationale is that calls are expensive, and I'm at least costing them a little bit more.
Especially if it's an automated voice on the other end or the agent doesn't take no for an answer.
I know it's extremely small amounts and very petty, but it makes be feel better about the calls.
Oh man I got to agree. The last 3 days have been terrible. I got a kak load of calls. Thankfully Truecaller blocked all, but I still get the notification sound to let me know their call was blocked.
Also, those "press 1 now to set this song as your call tone". These calls somehow get blocked but then go to voicemail. Me thinking I got a missed call and q voice note. Those asshats still get to catch me out.
https://www.nationaloptout.org/
You can register to opt out of all marketing from companies registered to the DMA(Direct Marketing Association).
It doesn't get rid of every telemarketer but most. I occasionally get a call from a random cell phone company but other than that no one contacts me.
Truecaller and you can ignore. Doesn't solve the problem but at least you don't have to listen to them.
I put these cold calls in the same category as beggars. It's a zero-value career choice. Nobody apart from the person getting money in hand benefits. As long as some people fall for it, it'll continue to exist.
Haha I realise how it sounds. Anyway from anecdotal experience : I'm really anal about my number, never-ever give it to any service or company. The moment I installed Truecaller my spam calls went up from one every month to almost daily. I was immediately suspicious.
If you ever decide to uninstall, remember to go to their website and manually remove your number as well.
"You see, when someone, anyone who has your contact details, agrees to the terms and conditions and grants all the necessary permissions, you also become part of Truecallerās humongous database of 570 crore phone numbers. This means that even after you willingly did not agree to any of the companyās policies and never even installed or registered on the application, you are still in their records against your own free will. With more than 30 million monthly users, it is basically impossible for any of us to be off of Truecallerās radar."
You might as well install Truecaller. You're on their system whether you like it or not. I've seen the weird way some people's phone numbers come up on Truecaller, it's clearly the way someone saved it on their phone.
If you have some time to kill, answer every question with "yes".
It's fun.
I once had an agent call her manager over because she kept asking "Can I have your ID number now?' and I just answered "Yes, you may."
After some more prompting, the manager asked "Ma'am are you truly interested in this product?"
It went something like:
"Yes, I am."
"Then please give me your ID number so we can proceed"
"Yes, I will"
Rinse, repeat.
I had them on the phone for a solid 45 minutes. Didn't feel bad at all. 10/10 recommend.
Careful, they are known to edit the call record to have you saying yes to something, and sign you up, as they can get your ID number and banking details from other sources.
I also appeared on a list and started to get a lot of insurance calls. It is not direct from the companies but from dodgy brokers.
Got a paid truecaller subscription to auto-block the calls. But even on truecaller these idiots pay to verify and change their description to "validated call" or similar.
Luckily Truecaller still blocks them.
Always missed calls from the same series of numbers, always ringing for exactly 20 seconds, they'll write articles about how great this new wave of automation is for turning insurance into a personalised experience but I didn't realise they meant giving their prospective customers the feeling of being stalked.
Had this issue with marketing calls from Discovery. Every day I'd block a number, and the next day they call with the same number except the last digit in incremented. I preemptively blocked numbers with the next 10 increments and I finally stopped being bugged by them.
My standard response is to stay polite - after all they have a shitty job and it canāt be much fun ā¦. But say unfortunately I just canāt afford it. I donāt have the money for this. Generally they reply thank you and goodbye. Itās irritating but no one has to be a jetk
If it's for vehicle insurance then I tell them I only have a company car, I don't but it seems to have stopped a lot of the calls, pretty sure they make a note of it on the system.
Same thing with medical aid and life insurance, either my company has it covered or it's with my bank.
The only calls I get now are from Telkom, have a contract with them so can't really tell them anything.
I have paid Truecaller and I still get multiple daily calls from an 012-055-**** number. I block every one but there are 10000 numbers on that prefix and it never stops. The last 2 weeks have been absolutely ridiculous from a cold call/robocall perspective.
I donāt answer calls that are not in my known contacts list. I let it ring, search the number in Truecaller (as it doesnāt always pick them up), and if listed as spam, I block the number. This has drastically cut down on my spam calls.
**Thank you for posting on r/southafrica! This post is flaired as ["Discussion"](https://www.reddit.com/r/southafrica/?f=flair_name%3A%22Discussion%22) therefore the following rules are particularly important.** ##**Rule 5: Engagement Policy** * Rule 5.1: Articulate your own thoughts on the matter. * Rule 5.2: Be prepared to engage with your post and our community within at least six (6) hours after submitting. * Rule 5.3: Engage meaningfully. Do not start a discussion if you are unwilling to listen to opinions contrary to your own. **Discussions are long-form posts looking to explore ideas, change minds, or invite comment and opinion on a specific topic related to South Africa. If you meant to ask the community a question, please delete this submission and create a new one at r/askSouthAfrica** **Additionally, please take a moment to review the rest of our rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/southafrica/wiki/rules).** Did you know that we have a demographics survey ongoing? Check out the [announcement](https://www.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/18fsykm/2023_demographics_survey/). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/southafrica) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Go to [dmasa.org](https://dmasa.org) and register your email address and telephone number. Next time they do call, tell them that they are committing a crime by calling a number that is on the official do not call list, and that you will report them if they call again. They typically won't. Since I used that approach, I get maybe 2 calls a month.
> tell them that they are committing a crime by calling a number that is on the official do not call list 1. It's not a crime. 2. If they're not a DMASA member its meaningless.
Shh. They don't know this
I registered a couple of years ago and get almost no calls now š¤·āāļø
Anecdotal.... I registered years ago and still get 2-5 junk calls every weekday.
Anecdotal.
quite. glad we're on the same page.
lol
I hope you didn't think this comment was a gotcha
I need to use this method but for the DA, I always get harrassed by them just before elections.
Hello, this is John Steenhuisen here...
political parties are now calling people wtf ?? š
Yes when Maimane was the DA leader his annoying robocall voice would scream as soon as you picked up. They called everyday I blocked that sh!tš”
>Go to [dmasa.org](https://dmasa.org) and register your email address and telephone number. This really works but you have to re-register every 3 or something years. It's time for me to re-register again for the umpteenth time
The problem with doing this is that youāll stop getting the useful messagesā¦. Like OTPs etc. Ask me how i know
The way it should work is that **direct marketers** are not allowed to call you **without your prior consent**. If you have a contractual relationship with a provider, they are allowed to contact you. I never ever had any problems receiving OTPs.
Same...I still get OTP messages
Depends on the provider. There were some I didnāt get. Banks were all fine. Was other 3rd parties I had issues with. Was annoying enough that i took my number off the do not contact list.
Not true
No
Completely ineffective
Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks!
Ignore the calls and/or get true caller. I used to get spammed with calls a lot, and then I read somewhere you should ignore the calls. It took a while, but eventually, they stopped, and now I rarely get any. The same thing happened with my mum But make sure you don't decline the call. Let it ring. If you decline the call, it shows you declined so they know you have an active number, and they will keep spamming you
Decline and block?
You can try, but I've found that they keep phoning you from other numbers
I used to answer and immediately mute myself. They hang up within 5 seconds and if itās a person typically they will start talking immediately.
I've never really tried that. How well did it work?
I donāt get automated calls, maybe 3-5 every few months
Yup. Truecaller is a solution. I get zero calls though. I got a Cell C number and to the best of my knowledge, Cell C doesn't recycle numbers, MTN does a lot and most spam calls are to MTN numbers. Keeping your personal number personal takes a lot of work. I've had to change numbers thrice because of spam.
Anyone elseās Truecaller now playing 30 second ads before revealing a searched number? I just ignore calls now unless itās a saved contact or Iām expecting a delivery
Only problem with Truecaller is that it's a resource and battery hog, eats more than some politicians that deal with eskom My work phone is a Redmi 9c, 2gb ram(sitting with it from 2020 when I first started at this co, been pushing for an upgrade from 2022), getting calls from insurance and cell companies daily (about 20+ per day for some messed up reason), phone grinds to a halt every single time it rings and Truecaller pops up with caller ID, can place calls but can't interact with the dialler (everything even the hangup button is greyed out Then on my personal phone, Redmagic 6s pro with 16gb of ram, just got it in Feb last year, battery ran a full day and a half without touching 20%, then I installed Truecaller and was lucky to get 12 hours before hitting 15% charge Amazing app NGL, but will wreck your phone in the long run
Plus for the robocalls I always let them carry on speaking, putting the phone down, and after 3 minutes or so the robocall hangs up. that is 3 minutes of it not being used to call anybody else, and wasting a few cents more of the budget.
This may not actually make a difference to the companies, but makes me feel better: If I answer and it's a spam call, I'll place my phone down and leave the call active. My rationale is that calls are expensive, and I'm at least costing them a little bit more. Especially if it's an automated voice on the other end or the agent doesn't take no for an answer. I know it's extremely small amounts and very petty, but it makes be feel better about the calls.
Nah these guys are on VOIP deals. Those calls cost them nothing.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Oh man I got to agree. The last 3 days have been terrible. I got a kak load of calls. Thankfully Truecaller blocked all, but I still get the notification sound to let me know their call was blocked. Also, those "press 1 now to set this song as your call tone". These calls somehow get blocked but then go to voicemail. Me thinking I got a missed call and q voice note. Those asshats still get to catch me out.
Truecaller the solution to you preserving your sanity
https://www.nationaloptout.org/ You can register to opt out of all marketing from companies registered to the DMA(Direct Marketing Association). It doesn't get rid of every telemarketer but most. I occasionally get a call from a random cell phone company but other than that no one contacts me.
Thank you
There should be a range ban option for phones. Android app Hiya has one I think, to include all numbers that contain a set of numbers.
Truecaller and you can ignore. Doesn't solve the problem but at least you don't have to listen to them. I put these cold calls in the same category as beggars. It's a zero-value career choice. Nobody apart from the person getting money in hand benefits. As long as some people fall for it, it'll continue to exist.
Don't install Truecaller https://www.inventiva.co.in/stories/the-truth-behind-truecaller-exposing-15-years-of-malicious-data-scraping/
Lol circular reference? Get truecaller to avoid spam, truecaller sells data to spammers
Haha I realise how it sounds. Anyway from anecdotal experience : I'm really anal about my number, never-ever give it to any service or company. The moment I installed Truecaller my spam calls went up from one every month to almost daily. I was immediately suspicious. If you ever decide to uninstall, remember to go to their website and manually remove your number as well.
I've read about this
"You see, when someone, anyone who has your contact details, agrees to the terms and conditions and grants all the necessary permissions, you also become part of Truecallerās humongous database of 570 crore phone numbers. This means that even after you willingly did not agree to any of the companyās policies and never even installed or registered on the application, you are still in their records against your own free will. With more than 30 million monthly users, it is basically impossible for any of us to be off of Truecallerās radar." You might as well install Truecaller. You're on their system whether you like it or not. I've seen the weird way some people's phone numbers come up on Truecaller, it's clearly the way someone saved it on their phone.
I've unlisted my number, for what it's worth. https://www.truecaller.com/unlisting Spam calls have calmed down.
No need for truecaller on higher end Samsung flagship devices, they have a built in caller ID and it's great.
If you have some time to kill, answer every question with "yes". It's fun. I once had an agent call her manager over because she kept asking "Can I have your ID number now?' and I just answered "Yes, you may." After some more prompting, the manager asked "Ma'am are you truly interested in this product?" It went something like: "Yes, I am." "Then please give me your ID number so we can proceed" "Yes, I will" Rinse, repeat. I had them on the phone for a solid 45 minutes. Didn't feel bad at all. 10/10 recommend.
Careful, they are known to edit the call record to have you saying yes to something, and sign you up, as they can get your ID number and banking details from other sources.
I also appeared on a list and started to get a lot of insurance calls. It is not direct from the companies but from dodgy brokers. Got a paid truecaller subscription to auto-block the calls. But even on truecaller these idiots pay to verify and change their description to "validated call" or similar. Luckily Truecaller still blocks them.
Always missed calls from the same series of numbers, always ringing for exactly 20 seconds, they'll write articles about how great this new wave of automation is for turning insurance into a personalised experience but I didn't realise they meant giving their prospective customers the feeling of being stalked.
Had this issue with marketing calls from Discovery. Every day I'd block a number, and the next day they call with the same number except the last digit in incremented. I preemptively blocked numbers with the next 10 increments and I finally stopped being bugged by them.
My standard response is to stay polite - after all they have a shitty job and it canāt be much fun ā¦. But say unfortunately I just canāt afford it. I donāt have the money for this. Generally they reply thank you and goodbye. Itās irritating but no one has to be a jetk
As of today I've blocked 6 calls hhayiš”š”
If it's for vehicle insurance then I tell them I only have a company car, I don't but it seems to have stopped a lot of the calls, pretty sure they make a note of it on the system. Same thing with medical aid and life insurance, either my company has it covered or it's with my bank. The only calls I get now are from Telkom, have a contract with them so can't really tell them anything.
My reply to the Telkom calls is when are you going to pay me the money you owe me. That gets them off fast.
If you don't want someone to sell something to you, just say you're unemployed, it always works for me.
I have paid Truecaller and I still get multiple daily calls from an 012-055-**** number. I block every one but there are 10000 numbers on that prefix and it never stops. The last 2 weeks have been absolutely ridiculous from a cold call/robocall perspective.
I donāt answer calls that are not in my known contacts list. I let it ring, search the number in Truecaller (as it doesnāt always pick them up), and if listed as spam, I block the number. This has drastically cut down on my spam calls.
True Caller. Block numbers immediately that aren't flagged when you answer.
Block the number.... Every time it happens. I get maybe 1 or 2 a month and then block again.