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i never answer a call from a number i do not recognize... and sometimes i look it up...

Same here. If I don’t recognize the number, if it’s not in my contact list, and especially if it is not a local number, I let it go to straight to voice mail. If they don’t leave a message or the message seems to be bogus, I don’t, I never call them back and I always put the number into a “google” search and most of the time it comes up as a scam. I often use “http://www.findwhocallsme.com/”

FWIW, I ditched my land line years ago and it has greatly cut down on the number of these unwanted scam calls, although I still occasionally get them.

For a while I was getting collection calls from some collection company looking for someone who wasn’t me but evidently either had my cell phone number before me or had used a false phone number. After getting tired of getting these phone calls; once a week, sometimes every day or several times a day, and FWIW, they did leave messages for someone named “Juan”, and after looking up the number and determining that it was from a legitimate collection agency, I called them back and as soon as someone answered and they went into their speale about this being a collection call and that all information was being used in an attempt to collect a debt, and all the legalize and about recording the call, etc. blah, blah, blah, I would not answer any of their questions other than the reference number they left in the voice mail, and all I said was, “You are calling my phone number (xxx-xxx-xxxx) in attempt to collect a debt owed by someone going by the name of “Juan Rivera” and I am informing you that this is not his phone number. I am not “Juan Rivera” nor do I know a “Juan Rivera” and I am giving you notice to immediately cease and desist calling me.”

The person then asked for information about my name and address, and some other very highly personal information and I answered none of their questions and again repeated, “You are calling my phone number (xxx-xxx-xxxx) in attempt to collect a debt owed by someone going by the name of “Juan Rivera” and I am informing you that this is not his phone number. I am not “Juan Rivera” nor do I know a “Juan Rivera” and I am giving you notice to immediately cease and desist calling me.”

Then I asked them for a mailing address to which I could send a certified letter requesting that they not contact me again and informed them that a copy of such letter along with the certified mail receipt would be sent to the Federal Trade Commission and the office of my state Attorney General. I also informed them if they contacted me again, that they would be in violation of the law and that I could be entitled to collect damages from them for unlawful harassment. I never heard from them again.

http://www.debtcollectionanswers.com/debt-collection-for-the-wrong-person.html