We’ve collectively reached the point where most of us don’t want to take calls from people we know, let alone the scammers, hucksters, and ne’er-do-wells who bombard our phone numbers. Here’s a short list of tools and techniques to keep phony calls from interrupting your day.

ADD YOURSELF TO THE REGISTRY

It’s not perfect. Bogus calls still slip through. But it doesn’t hurt to add yourself to the FTC’s National Do Not Call Registry. The site lets you check if you’ve already registered your phone number, register it if you haven’t, and report unwanted calls that you’ve received.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll need to give it about a month to really take effect and, even then, unscrupulous callers might still skirt the rules. But at least you’ll have a basic level of protection set up.

BLOCK SPAM CALLS AT THE CARRIER LEVEL

Many carriers offer free basic anti-spam features, so check to see what’s available to you.

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