Stop the Spam: Easy Ways to Cut Down Junk Calls and Emails

Frank Bravo 0:00
If your phone rings and your first thought is, what is it this time? Congratulations, you're living in the modern world. Because at this point, spam isn't just something that happens occasionally. It's a lot like the weather. It's just there. It's in your email, it's in your phone, and it's all the time. And some days it's a full on thunderstorm. Robocalls, fake texts, and an inbox full of messages that start with the word urgent. Today we're going to fix that. Or at least we're going to talk about how, hopefully to make it better. Not a move to the cabin in the woods and throw your phone into the ocean kind of way. But maybe something with a little more practical tips, some settings, and some habits that can help turn the volume way down. And as a bonus, it reduces your risk of getting tricked by phishing scams. And you know the stuff that looks legit until it's too late. So let's do a little spam spring cleaning. Welcome to your Tech Makeover, the podcast that gives you tips and tricks to help you simplify and get more out of the technology in your life. I'm your host, Frank Bravo. Today's topic is stop the spam, or at least make it easy ways to cut down on junk calls and emails. So yes, spam is annoying. That's obvious. Everybody agrees. But here's what makes it even more annoying. Spam is the one main delivery system out there for scammers. Scammers don't start with hello, I'm here to scam you today. They start with something that feels normal. Your package is delayed. Maybe a suspicious login attempt message. Your account will be locked if you don't respond immediately and we need to verify your payment. I just did an episode about getting scammed. Scammed I should say a few weeks ago. Check it out in the feed or drop me a note. If you don't find it, I'll send you a link. The reason spam works as well as it does is because it catches you off guard, and it's usually happens while you're busy, and the more noise you're surrounded with, the easier it is to first click and then think later. So today's goal is not perfection. The goal is to get less noise and fewer chances to get trick. So I want to change your mindset to make this easier. You're not going to win by dealing with spam, one call or one email at a time, or even marking it as spam. It's just like trying to empty a bathtub while the faucet is still running. Instead, we're going to turn that faucet down and hopefully allow you to get ahead of it. So let's start with calls, because this is something that's relatively new and where the emotional damage happens easiest. When the phone rings, it's basically a demand for your attention. And spam callers know it. So here's the move that I'm going to tell you that will help you stop, or at least limit the unknown calls from interrupting your life. Most phones have a setting that silences unknown callers or filters. That's for suspected spam. It's the exact wording may vary depending on the device, but the idea is still the same. If the caller isn't in your contacts, your phone doesn't ring like it's an emergency and needing your immediate attention. Now what? People hear this, they immediately go, well, what if I miss something? That's a total valid concern. But here's the truth. Important people leave messages, or someone's trying to get Ahold of you from a number that you don't have. They'll probably text you or get Ahold of you another way. Scammers do not leave messages for the most part. They usually. I usually say that because, you know, they usually don't. But you know, sometimes they do. So watch out for that. And the most important thing. The, you know, the thing about the important call I might miss is often a fantasy. Like, what if the president tries to call me personally? Well, actually, your important calls are like your doctor and your kid's school and your work and your family. And those contacts are usually saved in your phone anyway. So the real trick here is just flipping on that setting. It's doing one of these small follow up things as well. You want to make sure that your contacts are up to date. Take a few minutes and add numbers that really matter. These may include like your pharmacy and the kids school like I mentioned. You know, maybe you have multiple numbers for your doctor's office. Make sure they're all in there. People that you don't want to miss calls from. Oh, and your significant other in your kids into parents are probably obvious, but I want to mention that anyway. When you do that, your phone becomes instantly calmer because it's not ringing for strangers. So people usually ask, well, what about text? Well, that's a great question because spams have moved into text in a very heavy way. And the simple rule is don't reply and don't engage. And yes, including the reply, stop on sketchy, sketchy messages. Those usually are not good for spam. Those will only work for legitimate marketing lists that you knowingly have joined, like your pharmacy texting you to pick up reminders or store you actually shop at. But what if you get a random text like your package is pending? Click here. Do not reply. Do not tap the link because you're just telling the sender that this is a real number and keep going. A lot of people will tell you to report it as junk or block the spender as the sender. But you know, I don't suggest that it's like playing whack a mole. It's sort of pointless. Pointless, and it's just better to delete those messages and put them out of your head. You usually won't get the same spam from the same caller multiple times. And here's one more piece that people miss your carrier. You know, the people that own your phone. The phone company you know that gives you the service. They likely offer spam filtering, too. Sometimes it's built into the phone features, sometimes it's on the carrier account side, and sometimes it's an app. But most carriers have tools that identify likely spam, either by labeling it or blocking it, or routing it away from you. This is a big deal because it means spam is getting stopped before it even reaches your phone. Again, it's not perfect. Nothing is. But when you combine the filtering with silence, only known callers, then you have a good bouncer at the door and the second bouncer is inside the house. A quick shout out to listeners like you who helped make your tech makeover possible. Your support helps keep this podcast going and I truly appreciate it. Want to contribute? Just click the link in the show notes or visit your technique. Overcome. Plus, as a special thank you, supporters who give $25 or more will get $25 off a one time consultation with me to help you simplify your tech. Thanks for being part of the your tech make over community. Now back to what I was saying. Let's move on to email now. If your inbox is a mess, the temptation is just delete everything and get it. And I get that. You know, that's that's very tempting. Deleting everything feels productive, but it doesn't teach your mail system anything. Here's the upgrade. I'd suggest report spam instead of just deleting it. When I say report spam, I don't mean to someone. What I mean is to market as junk or spam, because that trains your email provider or the software you're using to recognize patterns and block similar messages in the future. So when it's obvious junk, don't just throw it away, report it. Now, what about newsletter and marketing emails that you're tired of? That's where the word unsubscribe comes in. But here's one and very important rule only unsubscribe from senders you trust. If it's a real newsletter, the company will recognize you and unsubscribe you. And that's great. But if it's an obvious scammy like you one, don't click on anything in that email market as spam. Move it on. Because scammers also use fake unsubscribe to make you click. And once you've clicked, they know that's a real address with a real person sitting at the other end. Here are some other tricks that maybe will make your inbox feel more organized instantly. Somebody. Sometimes what works the most is very, very simple. It's create a filter or rule that moves things that you don't want a way out of your main inbox. This is how my inbox is almost always empty. Really. I did an episode on this a long time ago, and you've probably heard me talk about it before, and it's in this feed if you're interested. And if you don't find it, let me know and I'll send you a link. This doesn't delete it or block it, it just moves it somewhere. Because here's what it mostly what you mostly want. You don't want to lose the deals or updates forever. You just want to make it so that it's not mixed in with real messages from real people. So imagine your inbox is only messages for humans, bills you need to handle, school or medical messages, or maybe work messages. And I'd even argue that unless you pay your bills, immediately filter those somewhere and deal with them later. And marketing stuff goes into a folder called promotions or later, or stuff to ignore until Sunday. It's just cleaner and less stressful. So how about a quick gut check? Let's talk about the scams that do sneak through and what I did the recent episode on this as well. But let's recap in case you haven't heard that one yet. Here's a fast way to think about phishing. Not the one that you do with a poll, but stuff that comes in through your email. Phishing almost always uses urgency and emotion. They want you to panic. They want you to act fast because if you slow down, you'll notice the cracks. And here's the gut check. If an email or text says you have to act right now, you should pause. Look at the sender. Look at the link. If it's the bank saying suspicious activity, don't click the email, open your bank's app or go to the website yourself and log in there. If it's real, you'll see that message on that site. If it's fake, you've just dodged it. And that goes for phone calls too. So all right, let's turn this into something you can actually do. Here's your spam spring cleaning plan. It's about 15 minutes total. I've done this the last couple of episodes and people seem to like it. So let's talk about it this way. 15 minutes. Okay. Ready? The first five minutes we're going to turn off. Turn on. I should say we're going to turn on the call filtering or silence. Unknown callers make sure only key people get through because they're in your contact. So if they're not in your contacts, make sure they're in your contacts. The second five minutes is for your email. Look at your inbox and report spam instead of deleting it. Unsubscribe from a few legit news letters that you're not reading anymore or that you're just tired of. And finally, in that last five minutes, decide on one safety habit you'll keep. My favorite is. If it's urgent, go to the app or website directly. That's it. You don't need to become a cyber security expert. You just need to follow a few patterns and make sure that you have a few better instincts. So, you know, we've talked about spam, we've talked about scammers. It's not going away, but you can absolutely help make it stop running your day. When your phone isn't ringing nonstop. You feel calmer. When your inbox isn't a landfill, you feel more in control. And when you know how to spot the urgent scam tricks, you're going to be much harder to fool. So what's your biggest spam problem right now is it calls text email. Maybe it's all of the bells? Let me know. And as always, if you have ideas for topics you'd like me to cover on future episodes, please feel free to contact me at Frank at your Tech Makeover. That's it for now. Thanks for listening to your tech makeover. If you haven't done it already. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast platform so that you don't miss an episode. You can always check out your Tech makeover.com as well, where you can find out more information about each episode. And if you're on Substack, don't forget to subscribe there so that you get a newsletter directly in your inbox and don't market a spam. If you don't want it anymore, you can just under subscribe, right? We talked about that. That would be awesome. Actually, it wouldn't be awesome to unsubscribe. It would be awesome if you did subscribe on Substack. And you know, if you want to find out more about me, please visit Bravo. It's com. Until next time, I'm Frank Bravo, and this has been your tech makeover.