How am i receiving calls from disconnected numbers

@gypsyqueen13 No, there is no solution. There is no way to stop spammers and scammers from number spoofing. If you have postpaid service, you can try the Call Protect app, it will cut down on those calls but still won't block them all. 

Just wait, telemarketers are trying to get congress to allow calls to go directly to voicemail without ringing your phone. They think they will have the right to do this if they donate enough money to the campaign funds of congress. 

Its not just at&t its all carriers wireless or landline

Ghost calls are usually the result of a neglected autodialer, either due to mismangement of the device or a company forgetting to turn it off before they shutdown (hence the out of service numbers if you try calling back).  This latter scenario can sometimes result in years of ghost calls before the device is detected & finally taken out of service.  So, how does this contraption work?

An autodialer makes hundreds of calls per minute & utilizes AI to detect when someone (or your VM) answers the call.  It then directs the call to a telemarketer waiting to tell you all about that "all-inclusive cruise to the Bahamas that you won just for being awesome!"  If the device isn't managed properly and far more calls are picked up than they have available telemarketers, no one is there to give their spiel & you (or your VM) hear nothing but dead air.  Now, if you have the patience of the Dalai Lama & don't hang up immediately, the call will eventually hang up on you.  How rude!  This is due to FCC regulations on how long a telemarketing company can tie up a phone line (~2 seconds) without interacting with the "customer" before they have to move onto the next "lucky" phone owner.

"But I registered my number on the Do Not Call List!  Why are they still calling me!?!"  Unfortunately, telemarketers have learned sneaky ways of getting around this piece of legislation.  Because of the wording of the bill, if the telemarketer says something to the affect of "...because you expressed interest in...", they are no longer in violation of the law.  The reason they can do this is because you probably used your phone number when filling out a giveaway entry somewhere at sometime or didn't check off an appropriate box at some point & your number is now on an endless loop of phone numbers being sold between telemarketing companies.  Changing your phone number might work, but then again, phone numbers are recycled & you'll probably still end up receiving calls because the previous owner of your new phone number had the same idea of dumping a tainted number, and now you're receiving the calls he or she was receiving before they switched numbers to get away from the telemarketing calls.  Kinda like a case of herpes making it's way through a college campus, doncha think?  The real trick here is being able to say, "remove me from your list" before they so rudely hang up on you!

Now for the slightly less bad news.  Telemarketers aren't going away anytime soon, and because they have learned tricky ways of getting around the DNCL, you'll never be able to get rid of them entirely.  However, we can work together to eliminate those machines that are associated with disconnected numbers and lessen the frequency of these calls!  Whocalled.us and 800notes.com (and possibly others) collect notes from anyone who received a call and wants to know a bit more about the number on the caller ID screen.  Personally, I think 800notes.com looks more legit, and it clearly states it's objectives at the top of the website, which makes me feel more confident that my efforts are being put to good use.

I hope this bit of information was as informative as it was entertaining.  Now, I'm off to report yet another ghost call...

Hurricane Katrina was blamed on Bush, now, robocalls are blamed on Trump. I have seen it all...

It doesn't matter what carrier you have, it is happening all over and the government needs to get involved.

The FCC is involved.

ATT has Call Protect, which is free.

verizon has a paid subscription service.

all current smartphones have do not disturb, which has settings to allow numbers in contacts only.

So I have had the same issue. I keep getting calls from my same area code with the same first 3 digits. Today, however, I decided to call a couple back. The first one answered and her name was Ruth. She said she didn't call me and she had been at work all morning. The second one answered and his name was John. He said he didn't call me either. If they didn't call me, then why do I have their numbers on my missed call list?? I have been getting 3-4 of these random calls a day. I am so annoyed. When I do answer these calls, it's an immediate hang up. Why is this happening?