Community Chat

[Kachina624]

Have you ever answered the phone to find no one on the other end and wondered: What are they trying to sell me if they aren't speaking?

According to experts, these kinds of calls are step one in a phone fraud scheme that could lead to your identity being stolen and/or your bank account drained. The silence on the other end of the phone is actually a computer gathering information about you -- yes, just from your answering "Hello." A mere cough will signal to the computer that the 10 digits it just dialed is an active line, answered by humans.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, these kinds of calls are on the rise. "[Robocalling] is the No. 1 consumer complaint that we receive," FTC attorney Patty Hsue told NPR. On average, the FTC gets about 170,000 complaints a month related to robocalls.

But how does it escalate from the silent call to fraud or identity theft? Vijay Balasubramaniyan, CEO of Pindrop Security, a company in Atlanta that detects phone fraud, estimates that 1 in every 2,200 calls is a fraud attempt. He told NPR that once the silent computer can ascertain that your number is real, that information is sold to criminal rings. Next, you'll get calls and messages asking you to call back a "1-877" number and answer prompts about various bits of personal data. If you or the police call them back from a phone other than the one they called you on, you'll get the message that the line has been deactivated -- making it hard to catch the scammers.

Once there is enough information on you, the criminal ring has humans call your bank and credit card companies and ask what your available balance or credit is. And once knowing how much they can get away with, the caller will ask to have your address updated -- taking over the account.

In his NPR interview, Balasubramaniyan suggested calling back the number on the back of your credit or debit card, not the number left on your voice mail. And if you don't recognize the number on your caller ID, don't answer the phone. The FBI says that seniors are the most targeted group for this kind of fraud.

[sunshine45]

just ONE of the reasons why i love having caller id and an answering machine......i never answer the phone unless i know the caller.

[Vivian]

I have one particular call that goes on several times each day. There's no one on the other end for a few seconds so I hand up. It's a number that caller ID shows is about an hour away. I once held on and it turned out to be a political solicitation. Then, on Monday, I called the number back. I got a recording asking if I wanted to stop receiving those calls, press one, which I did. I was told it would take ten days for the calls to stop. Yesterday they called again. I totally lost my temper with the woman on the other end and hung up. These solicitation calls are a national menace!

[brii]

If I don't recognize the number, I do not answer. 

Yesterday my phone rang and the caller ID showed +1 011.  I thought that was odd. 

I don't waste my time with these nuisance calls.

[qualitygal]

I agree, they can leave a message. I only answer who I know is calling.

[MaggieMack]

I started getting these weird calls for "AutoCare" and "Microsoft" about six months ago. All were from cities like LA or NY etc. I googled the numbers and they were all reported as scams, so I blocked all the numbers that had already come in and quit answering the calls. They never leave a message. Now, when the phone stops ringing, I block that call, too. If it's important and a call I should have answered, they know how to reach me another way.

[Montana]

I never answer calls from unknown numbers on either landline or cell. I only have the landline in case the electricity goes out, so anybody I want to talk to has my cell number.

I recently decided to stop checking these voicemails every day. I got tired of feeling annoyed by that blinking red light.  So I only listen to them a few times a week now. That is all the time I am willing to waste on them.

And please everyone, don't fall for that "press this number" to opt out option.  It only lets the scammer know they have a working number.  

[handygal2]

I get at least one scam call a day. I never pick up a call l don't recognize. Thank goodness for caller ID! Most will ring 4 times, then hang up when my answering machine kicks in. What's annoying is that surveys and political calls are exempt from the Do Not Call Registry, and l get plenty of those, too.

i google every one of these calls. Most are either free Medic Alert and grocery coupons, free Disney vacation, Card Services to lower your credit card debt, or computer virus scams. I report every one to the DNC Registry. It probably does no good, as that agency must be overwhelmed and understaffed. And many come from foreign countries, with phony (spoofed) numbers showing on the caller ID.

i think this is a main reason, besides the cost, that many people are disconnecting their landlines. But these scams have found my cell number also, and l get even get some scam texts.

[biancardi]

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@sunshine45 wrote:

just ONE of the reasons why i love having caller id and an answering machine......i never answer the phone unless i know the caller.

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me too!

[faeriemoon]

The problem with not answering some of these robo calls is that they will continue to call until you answer and listen to the message.  At the end of the message they often give you the option to "press one to hear more" or "press two to be removed from the call list."   Unfortunately, hanging up doesn't give you the result you hope for.

I usually listen long enough to press two.