I got a lot of "survey" calls from the Univ of DE, and I would always very politely tell the calling party that I don't do surveys and to take my number off their calling list. These continued off and on for several months and at least 3 or 4 times per week until I finally "blew my cool" one day and demanded to speak with the supervisor in charge of the program. After I gave him an earful, I've had no more calls. Get a lot from a State Police program trying to sell me homemade jams and jellies, and I just interrupt their sales pitch and tell them I'm not interested. Most of the callers are polite, but the last idiot hung up on me before I could get more than a few words out. And of course the ones from "my" credit card company giving me a big opportunity to lower my interest rate. One day I thought I'd play their game, and when I got a representative, I asked just which card company they were from. I got a big "click" in response.
A new email scam I started getting around the holidays claims to be from FedEx, saying they couldn't find my house and left my package at the post office - all I have to do is open their link and print a receipt to take to the post office to get my package that they delivered there. Sure - and pigs fly too.......