Consider this analogy (the phone system or the internet as the "highway"):
You wish to / need to drive on the highway, along with all your fellow citizens.> Oh, and maybe invest a few dollars in public service ads.There are some nasty people also driving who like to throw rocks at you, swerve into you and run you off the road, maybe shoot at you. They have cars just like yours, can't tell them apart from the type of car. The only way to identify them is when they attack you; until then they're just another driver on the road.
Propose a means for "how to counter-strike" the bad guys without restricting your rights to drive.
Turns out it's damn difficult, often impossible, until damage has been done.
Here it is: "DRIVE DEFENSIVELY". Whether you're on the highway or the phone or the internet, practice defensive "driving". Be skeptical by default. Interacting with the outside world is dangerous.
There is a huge existing body of public information about how to be on the defensive, but people have to read it or see it on TV. Most people ignore it.
Whaddyagonnado?
> Propose a means for “how to counter-strike” the bad guys without restricting your rights to drive. <
There are YouTubers who call-flood scammers. That would be a good start. Just do it on a larger scale.
For those not in the know, call-flooding is using a computer program to call a specific phone number over and over, thousands of times. This usually shuts the number down, at least temporarily.
This counter-strike would have limited value against scammers who call you, as they usually spoof their own numbers. But it would be VERY effective against scammers who must use their real numbers in email scams.
Scams like: “You have won a $1000 Visa gift certificate. Call (whatever) to claim your prize.”
Or,
“This is your last notice from the IRS. Call (whatever) to avoid legal action against you.”
Call-flood ‘em.