Getting Too Many Spam Calls? Here’s Why
Despite efforts by the US government, and others, to reduce the frequency of unwanted calls, they remain a consistent part of all our lives, with the average American receiving 3–4 daily. If you’re one of the sufferers, you may be wondering why you’re getting so many spam calls and how to stop unwanted calls from disturbing your peace.
The bad news is there are many reasons why you may be dealing with annoying spam calls. The good news is that there’s also a lot you can do to prevent them. We’ll show you why spam happens and give you step-by-step instructions to make it stop.
Updated: February 19, 2025
In short, you may suddenly be receiving many spam calls for several reasons, including:
- Your phone number was leaked in a data breach.
- Your phone number is being sold in scammer groups.
- You share your phone number publicly.
- You answered spam calls in the past.
- Someone is signing you up for spam calls.
- Data brokers are selling your phone number .
Continue reading to delve deeper into this and discover effective ways to put a halt to it.
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Your phone number was leaked in a data breach
If you’ve recently started experiencing an uptick in the number of spam calls you receive, this could be an indicator that your phone number has been exposed in a data breach. There have been 6.41 million data records breached in the first quarter of 2023 alone, so it isn’t as unlikely as one would hope.
To see if your data has been in a data breach, you can check haveibeenpwned.com. Their database is up-to-date and pretty reliable. We’ve checked several of our own email addresses with notable spam problems against those that we keep well-protected. As expected, the site flagged the spam-riddled accounts and confirmed that we have, indeed, been “pwned.” It also identifies where the breaches occurred, allowing you to secure accounts where needed.
To protect your phone number, consider using alternative or disposable numbers instead of your real one during online sign-ups.
Here’s what you can do right now:
Secure your accounts. Start with every email account that showed up as “pwned” on the Have I Been Pwned website. Change the password to something long (14+ characters), complicated (letters, numbers, symbols), and unique (used for only one account). Use a password manager like Bitwarden or NordPass. Once your email accounts are secure, go through and change any passwords that you use across multiple accounts so that each password is used only once. Set 2FA or MFA wherever it’s available. You can use something like Aegis for this—it’s safer and more convenient than SMS 2FA.
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Your phone number is being sold in scammer groups
Whether your data has been compromised in a data breach, bought by the wrong people, or scraped from various public sources, there’s a possibility it’s found its way onto the dark web. Cybercriminals often sell large datasets on scammer groups, making it easier to target you with personalized scams.
Information in these datasets may include account-name and password pairs, contact details, Social Security numbers, and financial information. I could also include things like your past purchases, browsing habits, health information, and more specific details.
Related:
- What to do if your SSN is found on the dark web
- What to do if your email is found on the dark web
- What to do if your number is found on the dark web
Here’s what you can do right now:
- Stop spam callers from reaching you on your current number. You can block all calls from unknown numbers, or block specific numbers one by one, right from your phone’s settings. You might also consider third-party, call-blocking apps—but be sure to read the fine print before you do.
- Get a new number. This may not be a solution you want to see. Getting a new number can be a hassle, but if your current number is on the dark web and receiving a lot of spam, it may be your only option. Consider this a last resort.
You may be directly contributing to the number of unwanted calls you receive.
Spammers may be getting your phone number from your social media profiles, personal sites, blogs, e-commerce listings, home-sharing sites, or anywhere else you might have shared it.
Unless you have a private number, you’re also exposing your caller ID to anyone you call.
Here’s what you can do right now:
- Stop sharing your phone number publicly. Make sure it doesn’t appear in your social media profiles and posts, take it off any personal websites, blogs, e-commerce listings (use each platform’s built-in chat instead), home-sharing sites, and so on. When placing calls to numbers you don’t trust, use vertical service code *67 (1167 on rotary phones) to block your outgoing Caller ID. More on hiding your number when making calls here.
You answered spam calls in the past
Answering calls from unknown numbers can lead to more spam calls down the line. When you answer calls, it lets the spammers know that your phone number is active, prompting them to target you more intensively.
If your caller ID doesn’t flag spam calls, it’ll make it harder to avoid unwanted calls too.
Here’s what you can do right now:
- Screen your incoming calls. Getting a call from a number you don’t recognize? Silence it or let it ring out (don’t reject or answer it). Search for the number online: you’ll see a lot of negative comments if it’s a spam number. In extreme cases, you can set your phone to silence all calls from unknown numbers, but you might miss important calls this way, so treat it as a last resort. Third-party call-screening apps can do a great job at screening your incoming calls, but carry huge privacy risks—check with your carrier for in-house apps first, and always read the privacy policy.
Someone is signing you up for spam calls
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We noticed an alarming volume of searches along the lines of “How do you sign someone up for spam calls?” People are specifically looking for instructions on how to inflict spam on others—whether as a “light-hearted” prank or out of malicious intent.
It may be more common than you might think. One of our own writers (who will remain unnamed for the sake of dignity) had their mobile phone number signed up for spam. They suddenly started receiving many spam calls and texts of an embarrassing nature and quickly realized why. Thankfully, they were equipped with all the tricks to deal with the aftermath of this type of situation—which we’re sharing with you here.
If you’ve recently been involved in any disputes—a bad breakup, friendly rivalry taken too far, or a road rage incident (yes, the TV show Beef is, unfortunately, completely plausible), this might be why you’re suddenly being flooded with spam calls.
Here’s what you can do right now:
- Deal with the spam calls as best you can. Use the options we’ve already discussed to cut back on the number of spam calls that get through and wait for the storm to blow over. This may or may not work, but it’s worth a try. Use your phone’s settings, options provided by your carrier, and trusted third-party apps to stem the flow.
- Change your number and keep the new one private. If someone has it out for you and is actively sending spammers your way, the less painful option may be to just burn that phone number and get a new one. Talk to your carrier about switching to a new number. Once you have it, be careful about who you share it with and use a reputable data removal service to keep it out of data brokers’ hands.
Data brokers are selling your phone number
Data brokers and people search sites hold a lot of responsibility for the overabundance of spam. These companies collect personal information, including your phone number (and far more), and compile personal profiles which they sell to interested third parties.
A huge portion of those sales go to marketers who buy data, in bulk, to help them target potential customers. But data brokers have been known to sell directly to fraudsters too. There have been multiple legal disputes over the years regarding this.
One notable case involved three data brokers, Epsilon, Macromark, and KBM, that were charged for knowingly selling data to scammers to help them commit crimes like elder fraud. They even provided data on successful scams to help the cybercriminals refine their attacks.
People search sites, a type of data broker that publishes or sells personal information online for anyone to buy, also put a target on your back. They make it incredibly easy for someone to find out who you are, where you live, how to contact you, and even details like who you live with and where you work. You’ll find disclaimers on these sites stating that their data should not be used for purposes like phone scams, but that does very little to deter criminals.
The worst part is that taking your information back from data brokers can be very time-consuming and labor-intensive. They form intricate webs, collecting data from many sources, both public and private, and selling it to various third parties, including other data brokers. Once your data gets caught in this web, tracking it down and removing it becomes a challenge.
Here’s what you can do right now:
- Look into data removal services. Yes, Incogni offers a data removal service and yes, we believe it’s the best service on the market. An automated data removal service like Incogni will handle removing your data from data brokers on your behalf, saving you hundreds of hours a year. Try it and see for yourself, it takes a while to kick in, but once it does, you’ll see the number of spam calls you receive plummeting.
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* See the full list of data brokers Incogni covers here.
How do I stop getting so many spam calls?
We’ve covered this in detail!
Check out these articles about stopping spam calls:
- How to stop spam calls on landline and how to block a specific number on a landline
- How to stop spam risk calls
- How to stop spam calls on iPhone
- How to stop “potential spam” calls
- How to find the number behind “no caller ID”, how to block “No Caller ID” numbers, and How to call a no caller ID back
- “No caller ID” vs “Unknown caller” – how to stop anonymous calls
- How to stop spam calls on Android
- How to stop anonymous calls
- How to block “No Caller ID” on an iPhone
- Stop spam calls from health insurance companies
- Phone number generators
- How to stop Medicare calls?
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* See the full list of data brokers Incogni covers here.
How to report spam calls
You can and should report spam calls to the Federal Trade Commission. While it may not immediately affect the number of spam calls you receive, it will help the FTC take legal action against illegal callers.
There are three circumstances in which you should report spam calls to the FTC:
- If you’ve signed up for the national Do Not Call registry and you’re still receiving telemarketing and other types of nuisance spam calls, you can report it to the FTC here.
- If you receive robocalls, even if you haven’t signed up for the Do Not Call registry, you can also report those robocalls using the same portal.
If the type of spam call you receive is fraudulent, you should report it to the FTC here.
Related:
Not exactly what you’re looking for? We’ve organized all our articles about stopping spam here.
FAQ
Should I be worried if I get a lot of spam calls?
Spam calls are very common, however, it may be cause for worry if you experience a sudden increase in the number of spam calls you get. This could indicate a deeper problem, such as a vulnerability in your cybersecurity or your number being sold in scammer groups.
Is it better to ignore or decline spam calls?
It’s better to ignore spam calls. When you decline a call, it may alert the spammer that your phone number is active, prompting them to call you again. If you use a call-blocking tool that uses caller ID, never answer calls labeled as spam.
What happens if you answer a spam call?
It’s never a good idea to answer spam calls. This may lead to many more spam calls down the line in the best case. In the worst cases, it could lead to loss of funds, identity theft, or legal trouble, if the spam call was fraudulent in nature.
How many spam calls a day is normal?
Will spam calls eventually stop?
Spam calls won’t stop on their own. You can take steps to stop spam calls from reaching you, however.
Methods to stop spam calls include:
– Removing your phone number from data brokers and people search sites;
– Signing up for the national Do Not Call registry;
– Using *60 to block spam callers;
– Blocking spam callers through your cell phone settings;
– Blocking spam callers through your mobile carrier;
– Using spam-filtering apps.
Why are spam calls so hard to stop?
Spam calls are hard to stop because your phone number is likely exposed in multiple places across the web, from data brokers to your online accounts. While you can make legitimate organizations stop calling, the only way to stop illegal callers is by making your phone number private.
Why do spammers call and not say anything?
Silent spam calls are usually telemarketing cold calls. This happens when the company uses predictive dialers which make many calls and sometimes don’t have available agents to handle the call, resulting in a silent call that normally disconnects soon.
Where do scammers get your information?
Scammers can obtain your information through various means including data breaches, social media, and phishing. For more details, read our article: Where do scammers get your information?
What happens if you open a spam email?
Opening a spam email can expose you to risks like malware, phishing attacks, and identity theft. Clicking on links or downloading attachments may install harmful software or steal your personal info. It’s best to delete spam emails without opening them to stay safe and protect your data. If you already accidentally opened a spam email do this.