Your mobile rings. You look at the screen. A number you don’t recognise. And that’s where the existential dilemma of the 21st century begins: should I answer or not? If you’re one of those who thinks, "maybe it’s important," I understand you. But if you’ve been receiving strange calls at odd hours for a while now, you probably already know that most of those calls are pure and simple SPAM.
You are not alone. Millions of people in Spain receive unwanted calls from unknown numbers every day trying to sell you something, scam you, or simply waste your time. And the worst part is that they are getting more and more creative.
What exactly is a SPAM call and why is it on the rise?
Let’s get to the basics. A SPAM call is any unsolicited call you receive for commercial, fraudulent, or simply annoying purposes. They can be phone companies trying to get you to switch providers, supposed electricity companies that "are going to lower your bill" (yeah, right), or outright scam attempts where they impersonate your bank, the tax office, or even the Pope if necessary.
The problem is that technology has drastically reduced the cost of making thousands of calls a day. With automatic dialers and predictive dialing systems, a single company can bombard hundreds of thousands of people without breaking a sweat. And there you are, heart racing every time your pocket vibrates.
How these calls work
Most SPAM calls operate with robots that dial numbers en masse. When you answer, several things can happen: you might get a recording, be connected to an operator who seems to be reading a script written by someone who has never had a real conversation, or they might just hang up without saying anything. The latter has a trick: they are checking that your number is active to sell it later to other databases. Nice, isn’t it?
There are also calls from numbers that seem to be from Spain but actually operate from abroad. They use masking technology so that the prefix appears national, increasing the chances that you’ll answer the phone.
The blacklist: numbers reported by users as SPAM
Here comes what you were probably looking for. We have compiled a list of numbers that have been repeatedly identified as SPAM by users in forums, blocking apps, and online communities. If any of these sound familiar, you know what to do: don’t answer and block it directly.
624978010 · 919462579 · 919977573 · 662912126 · 961824711 · 695665761 · 919462682 · 983070300 · 689853690 · 931225081 · 910203782 · 914566686 · 919611578 · 630300080 · 636817506 · 876460007 · 664113220 · 911969176 · 662912126 · 911177239 · 960259654 · 623417433 · 948991532 · 624522818 · 881599756 · 911176057 · 881889043 · 911175866 · 613132614 · 660121122 · 919462650 · 935215810 · 911178216 · 917015598 · 633633556 · 910623457 · 923061800 · 918330604 · 936119482 · 919900469 · 622776393 · 912222123 · 944436785 · 662900822 · 900601004 · 662991273 · 911176275 · 621624549 · 919611630 · 613445675 · 919973558 · 615804297 · 919048030 · 934922728 · 910381794 · 911083825 · 910714507 · 935010141 · 919611559 · 937060595 · 6303051032500 · 662993288 · 912066666 · 977033470 · 932715208 · 683786284 · 8096831108 · 630306418 · 919973509 · 621220053 · 630306333 · 919917750 · 919611607 · 93577 · 615034460 · 946073920 · 646179543 · 919611622 · 931225497 · 917676371 · 621211482 · 911177224 · 919462935
As you can see, the variety is impressive. There are numbers with prefixes from Madrid (91X), Barcelona (93X), Valencia (96X), and even numbers that clearly do not correspond to any standard Spanish format, such as 6303051032500 or 8096831108, which should raise all your alarms.
Prefixes that should alert you
Pay special attention to numbers starting with 919. As you may have noticed in the list, there are an absurd amount of them. This is not a coincidence: many aggressive telemarketing companies and call centres operate with assigned number blocks that share similar prefixes. If you see a 919 that you haven’t saved, the chances of it being a legitimate call are, let’s say, quite low.
The same goes for some numbers starting with 911. Although 911 can be a perfectly normal geographical prefix for Madrid, the reality is that several blocks of this prefix are being massively used for SPAM phone campaigns.
What you can do to protect yourself
Okay, you know the problem exists and you have a list of usual suspects. But what do you do in your daily life to avoid being bombarded with calls?
The first and most obvious thing: register with the Robinson List. It’s free and, although it’s not a magic solution, it legally obliges companies not to contact you for advertising purposes. The problem is that scammers don’t care about the Robinson List, as they are already operating outside the law. But at least you reduce the volume of legal commercial calls.
Secondly: use call identification apps. There are several very popular ones that work with collaborative databases. When someone marks a number as SPAM, the rest of the users receive an alert before answering. It’s like a *radar for
- phone nuisances and it works surprisingly well.
Third: never return a call to an unknown number that has only rung once or twice. Some scams work precisely this way: they make a missed call so that you call back and charge you a premium rate without you realising until the bill arrives.
And fourth, something that few people do but makes a difference: if you receive a SPAM call, report it. Whether in blocking apps, forums, or even to the Spanish Data Protection Agency. The more complaints a number accumulates, the easier it will be for the authorities to act.
What the law says about these calls
Since June 2023, the General Telecommunications Law prohibits commercial calls without prior consent from the user. This means that, in theory, no company should call you to sell you anything if you haven’t expressly given your permission. In practice, you know how it goes: the law exists, but enforcing it is another story.
What you can do is file a complaint. If a company calls you without your consent, you have the right to file a formal complaint. Fines can be quite hefty for the offending company, so don’t underestimate the power of a good complaint.
Common sense, your best tool
In the end, the best defence against phone SPAM is a mix of technology and common sense. Don’t answer numbers you don’t know if you’re not expecting any calls. Use your phone’s blocking tools. And above all, distrust anyone who calls you promising something too good to be true, because it probably is.
Your phone is yours. Your time is too. And no robot with a strange accent has the right to take it from you.
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