Phone scam/phishing?

@wjn705 said:

AT&T (Yahoo) are in a better position to do something since they are aware of the telephone numbers and e-mails addresses.

They are?  They have a list of every possible non-assigned phone number across all the the various phone services (including cellular) in this country?  And they would maintain in real time all the time?  Hey that would be great.  Impossible.  But great.  Sorry, no matter how many lists they could maintain the spammers will always find away around.  Even the FCC doesn't really know how to stop this.  So the burden is on you. 

As repeatedly suggested get a decent call blocker.  There are blockers that can do wild card matching (including blocking entire exchanges). Some can block by name too (spammer uses the same name with different telephone numbers).  And I'm hoping an update to my call blocker (Digitone) comes along that can block calls which have no name (the majority of mine are now like that).  For mobile/digital devices there are services like nomorobo.   All of this is for you to fight the spammers.  Don't ask your local carrier to determine what is an what is not a valid telephone number. I'd rather they just pass one whatever call is sent through them (and up to recently they were required to do just that - I think the law was change in 2017).

Here's a couple of interesting related articles:

Phone companies could stop robocalls. They're just not doing it

Phone companies get new tools to block spam calls

As for email Att is not in the email business (editorial; as for yahoo, they are only barely in the email service, just my opinion of them - couldn't resist the dig ).  But most email services do supply spam filters (for better and worse) and could be viewed as the moral equivalent of the phone call blockers.  It's a slightly different problem and not as deterministic as telephone numbers or call id names, but it is already provided by the service.  But again it still is not att's problem. 

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@wjn705 wrote:

I believe that the we must do everything we can to stop this ongoing mess. We file complaints, we block calls, we install ad blockers, etc. Nothing seems to stop mess. AT&T (Yahoo) are in a better position to do something since they are aware of the telephone numbers and e-mails addresses. I fully realize that a crook will always find a way but there should be someone who can but up roadblocks.

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As a police detective told me 30 years ago (yes, I'm old):  "No matter what you do, a criminal is always going to find a way to commit a crime." 

It was true then and even MORE true today.

I have found these responses helpful and informative. Though I have limited understanding of the tech side at least I can move in the right direction. Thank you for helping and clarifying.

The calls I'm getting in the last two days is the one saying my Microsoft account has been compromised and in the past I know it connects to a person who offers to fix it for a fee or your computer will crash. Of course I didn't and this time I didn't stay on to get a person, but they have been very persistent which has become very aggravating. I think I will find a whistle or some other loud noise and use it once it connects to a person. Can't block it as it is showing my phone number! Pieces of crap! I have way important things to do other than deal with these bots! It would be nice if ATT could help in finding a way to stop the spoofing! They sure get enough money to invest in the research!

It has now become AT&T's (hereinafter ATT) problem.  I just got a call claiming to be from ATT's Internet Security Service.  Caller ID showed ATT and caller said she was calling from ATT.  She said their system had showed that I was having internet security issues.  She asked if I had received a notification that I was having issues; I told her no.  She asked I had checked, I said no.  She said she would wait while I checked.  This really surprised me, but I said OK.  I laid the phone down and opened up the internet, trying to remember what i should check.  When I reached for the phone, she had hung up!  I called the number back, from caller ID:  1-800-331-0500.  I got the usual polite male voice recording and told him my issue was internet security.  After I moment, I was talking to a very nice young man, who was a little confused about my call.  I said that someone from ATT had called and I gave him the info as set out above.  He asked what number I had called.  I told him.  He said I had reached their 1-800-288-2020 number, which is the only number I had ever used to reach ATT.  He also informed me that there was no way ATT would know I was having an internet security issue, unless I called them, looking for help.  SO . . . . ATT has now been scammed.  

If you Google 800-331-0500 you'll see that it's a phishing phone number.

@sandgranny1955 That call was not from ATT. ATT will never make such a call. It was most definitely a phishing scam. You are fortunate they hung up. Not sure why you think you calling ATT somehow scammed ATT or the call itself was a scam of ATT, it wasn’t. The caller was trying to scam you.

I keep getting calls from this number 778-383-8848. I never answer cuz I don't recognize it. Finally had to look it up and found that others have the same issue. I found this https://npnr.org/778/383/8848/7783838848.html

Guess all I can do is block the number. But I get it from many different numbers also. What can I do?