Robocalls: what they are and how to stop them
What counts as an illegal robocall in the U.S., common robocall scams, and practical steps to block them.
What a robocall is
A robocall is a call that plays a prerecorded or artificial voice message. In the U.S., most sales robocalls are illegal unless you gave written permission.
Allowed exceptions
Some prerecorded calls are permitted, such as purely informational messages (flight changes, appointment reminders), some political calls, and calls from charities and healthcare providers, depending on the situation.
How to reduce them
Turn on your carrier's free call-blocking or spam filtering and your phone's built-in silence-unknown-callers feature.
Register at donotcall.gov — it won't stop scammers, but it makes legitimate telemarketing calls easier to identify as violations.
Don't press a number to 'be removed'; it confirms your number is active.