Spoofed number from a legitimate land line in my area.  These criminals have no shame.  I've taken to answering in foreign languages; the robo system quickly disconnects.  Why doesn't my phone carrier and my government protect me from these scammers?

There is no way to prevent the calls from being initiated.  There are attempts being made to stop the robo-dialing, but so far as I'm aware,  they have not been successful.

There are call blockers available that you can utilize.  Also, it'd help if you did NOT pick  up on call numbers you do not recognize.

You might want to block area code 201.

There are no easy answers to this problem.  Call blocker can help, but only somewhat.

Some personal research on your part would also be helpful.  It's not rocket science, ya know.