Sales calls and telephone scams are a real problem that affects us all with increasing frequency. Without going any further, In less than 24 hours, I received a total of three calls from unknown numbers. Not to mention fraudulent SMS messages, such as messages from the DGT, the Treasury or the Post Office, among many other examples.
Although there are times when behind the call there is a real company trying to sell us their products or services, In most cases, these are attempts at fraud.like calls from Indeed's supposed human resources department. Fortunately, there are several things that can help us reduce the incidence of these calls.
There is no way to completely protect the phone, but we can protect ourselves
The new general telecommunications law came into force in mid-2023 and although it has helped reduce commercial calls, there is one important exception where we continue to receive them. The reason is that only calls to which we have not given our consent are illegal and we often accept them unintentionally.
However, there is a key point that explains why calls of this type continue to be common: The law only applies to calls originating from our countryTherefore, the Spanish Data Protection Agency cannot do anything against all companies that make calls from a call center located outside of Europe.
Although it is not possible to nip sales calls and phone scams in the bud, We can try to reduce its incidence. One of the best-known resources is the Robinson List, which can help us stop unwanted ads. The best part is that it not only protects us from sales calls: it also reduces advertising via email, SMS and postal mail.
Of course, we cannot forget the existence of Google's spam call filter, one of the best tools we have in the “Google Phone” application. If you open the app and go to “Settings” > “Caller ID & Spam”, you will find the “Filter unwanted calls” option, which will help you reduce the incidence of sales calls.
If, despite following the tips above, you continue to receive calls from unknown numbers at all hours, you might be interested. Install an app to block these types of calls. The National Police itself recommended it a few days ago and it is an option chosen by many users. One of the most popular alternatives is Truecaller, which we have already talked about previously.
The problem of commercial calls and telephone scams is so serious that the Spanish government announced a series of measures a few months ago to try to put an end to it: commercial calls from mobile numbers, calls of international origin identified with national numbers. and calls using numbers not assigned to a service, operator or customer will be blocked.
The government also wants to put an end to scams circulating via SMS. To achieve this, a database will be created with users who use alphanumeric characters in messages (like company name) and SMS messages from companies or entities that are not in said database will be blocked. However, for the moment, the deadlines for these measures to come into force are not known.
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