I’ve heard these wrong number scams are used to probe for an active phone number
Basically they’re fishing for a “sorry I think you have the wrong number” to confirm or deny that there is a human on the other side so they don’t waste resources spamming inactive phone numbers
All of them are to probe for active numbers. Calls and texts. The best thing you can do is ignore them. For calls, don’t pick up, don’t hang up. Even ending the call early let’s them know your line is live.
Just ignore them and their system will mark your line as dead. I get maybe one or two calls a month now.
Sometimes when I have to answer a call from an unknown number, I’ll pick up but won’t say anything. A human will say something when they hear it stop ringing, but most bots listen for voice activity before they start their recording so they’ll just stay silent as long as you do.
Exactly why you shouldn’t press the hang up button when unknown caller happens. Just mute the call and let it ring out in silence. Don’t press the voicemail button either to send them straight there. It’s like social media, any interaction is a positive for their bot system and the only way to avoid making things worse is to not interact at all.
There’s an even better way to handle spam calls if you have a recent Android phone: use the automated call screening. Every time robocallers hang up immediately before saying a single word because they know if the person flags the call as spam then Google now has a recording to automatically flag future calls even if they spoof new phone numbers.
I’ve heard these wrong number scams are used to probe for an active phone number
Basically they’re fishing for a “sorry I think you have the wrong number” to confirm or deny that there is a human on the other side so they don’t waste resources spamming inactive phone numbers
Anyways this is still really funny tho
All of them are to probe for active numbers. Calls and texts. The best thing you can do is ignore them. For calls, don’t pick up, don’t hang up. Even ending the call early let’s them know your line is live.
Just ignore them and their system will mark your line as dead. I get maybe one or two calls a month now.
Sometimes when I have to answer a call from an unknown number, I’ll pick up but won’t say anything. A human will say something when they hear it stop ringing, but most bots listen for voice activity before they start their recording so they’ll just stay silent as long as you do.
Exactly why you shouldn’t press the hang up button when unknown caller happens. Just mute the call and let it ring out in silence. Don’t press the voicemail button either to send them straight there. It’s like social media, any interaction is a positive for their bot system and the only way to avoid making things worse is to not interact at all.
There’s an even better way to handle spam calls if you have a recent Android phone: use the automated call screening. Every time robocallers hang up immediately before saying a single word because they know if the person flags the call as spam then Google now has a recording to automatically flag future calls even if they spoof new phone numbers.
I pick up muted so they have a null like they hit an old fax line
Don’t fax machines directly initiate the handshake?
I remember being screamed at by angry modem noises in ancient times when calling a fax number.