The scourge of robocalls and scam calls has been especially rampant the past few months. While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and major network carriers are fighting toward minimizing these suspicious calls, sometimes the strongest action against them comes from the phone users themselves. There are a number of ways users can prevent these kinds of calls from reaching their phones.

First, some definition of the different types of calls is necessary. "Robocalls" are calls that come in and play a pre-recorded message. "Spammers" are those who call among a large pool of numbers, and the user may have unintentionally given them permission to sometime prior. "Fraud calls" are calls from impostors with entirely malicious intent.

One of the easiest and yet most tedious way of minimizing these calls is to just block suspicious numbers. This can be easily done on an Android or iPhone by selecting the number on the Recent Calls list, and clicking the appropriate block option. It is not that efficient because the user may need to block numbers one by one, but if a particular number keeps calling, this might be the solution one needs.

Major United States carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile also have offers that can help minimize these calls. AT&T offers an app called "Call Protect" that protects against fraudulent robocalls. Meanwhile, T-Mobile has a Scam ID system that can identify numbers and give users the option to block them. The only problem is that these offers are available only for postpaid subscribers. Prepaid users do not have access to them.

Last but not the least option is to turn to third-party apps to do the blocking for the user. Apps such as Robokiller and Hiya are specially made to block suspicious calls. Nomorobo and Robokiller require a subscription fee after a set trial period, but Hiya is free.

In any case, users could only hope for better rules and regulations that can minimize the inconveniences caused by these suspicious calls. It has been reported that the FCC is planning a joint policy forum with the Federal Trade Commision to discuss plans to combat these calls.