Earlier quoted context omitted.
I always answer the call and then joyfully "block/report spam" the number in the Android dialer. Being able to do something to fight back is satisfying enough that I don't ignore the call. I did just switch to T-Mobile and they pass "SCAM LIKELY" as the caller name so I may start declining those.
the block button doesn’t do anything since most of the phone numbers are spoofed (someone pretending to be someone else). Filtering out any number that shares my area code and first three digits and not in my phone book would go a long way to getting rid of spam.
Filtering by number is a lot easier when you have a number with a small state's area code when you have not lived there for some time. All unknown callers from that state are then easily identified as spam with 99% probability.