I have a land line that was installed as part of a simple alarm system for insurance purposes, that
was only used to test the line and get the number,
and never given out , and it is hitched up to an old answering/message center phone, so every time I walk past it I can see the calls pilling up.
The real issue is that the whole phone system is porous, well realy ,all comunications and data, so we lurch along, the scams very much like a parasitic infection that is only an inconvienience
to it's host species, to which we apply powders and salves, the question then, is there the will to rebuild everything with a real immune system
that is effective enough to prevent any scam ecosystem from evolving to profitability.
certainly we are all exasperated by the irritation
and the inability to swat and squish the offenders
and gain some sense of retrebution, giving the whole ordeal a singular grimmness