Eagle Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 For a long time I stopped answering my telephone (landline) because the overwhelming percentage of calls were marketing. I've started answering some calls lately, and I don't understand what's happening. I answer a call, and all I hear is several seconds of dead microphone, then a click and the connection is broken. They aren't the typical robo calls, because there's no canned announcement that starts playing as soon as I pick up. These are strictly just dead air, then disconnect. Has anyone else experienced this? Do you have any idea what it's about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 My understanding is they're verifying the number belongs to a human, since you inevitably say "hello" when you pick up. Then they know to unleash the actual spammers/scammers when they get the chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted April 17, 2019 Author Share Posted April 17, 2019 Makes sense. So I should probably revert to letting the answering machine take all calls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 Nomorobo, it flat out works, and it's free for landlines: https://www.nomorobo.com/ It takes a couple minutes to set up and then it's all automatic from there. Any spam/telemarketer/unknown/spoofed caller gets screened out. All you hear is one ring, and if you don't hear any more after that you know the call got blocked. You can get it for mobile devices also, but it's $1.99/month. It has been working so good on my landline I ponied up and bought it for my Android. Works just as good on it, too. You're welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ωhm Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 Have your landline ring on your cell phone (call forwarding). Then you can screen calls using your cell phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 33 minutes ago, Eagle said: So I should probably revert to letting the answering machine take all calls. Yeah. If it's important they will leave a message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 51 minutes ago, DirtyComanche said: My understanding is they're verifying the number belongs to a human, since you inevitably say "hello" when you pick up. Then they know to unleash the actual spammers/scammers when they get the chance. That's precisely what it is I haven't had a landline since 1999 If I don't recognize the number I don't answer the phone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankTheDog Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 7 hours ago, Jeep Driver said: That's precisely what it is I haven't had a landline since 1999 If I don't recognize the number I don't answer the phone This, we dumped our land line several years ago. I keep a lot of the numbers I have called in my contacts, I have approximately 400. If a name doesn’t come up I don’t answer. If they don’t leave a message they don’t get called back unless it’s a name from my list. No complaints so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 I don't call anyone back who didn't leave a message. If it was important, they would've done so. I've answered too many calls from people who say "who is this why did you call me" when I never did, or gotten calls returned when I realized I mis-dialed and hung up immediately, but not immediately enough I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 robo calls are sneaky. super sneaky. it's not always obvious what they want out of the call. best bet is to screen everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 22 minutes ago, gogmorgo said: I don't call anyone back who didn't leave a message. If it was important, they would've done so. I've answered too many calls from people who say "who is this why did you call me" when I never did, or gotten calls returned when I realized I mis-dialed and hung up immediately, but not immediately enough I guess. It's so easy to spoof numbers for caller ID that it's criminal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, DirtyComanche said: It's so easy to spoof numbers for caller ID that it's criminal. I got a call from myself once Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 1 minute ago, Pete M said: I got a call from myself once Yeah, that's a typical one. Here we get calls that the CRA (like the IRS) has an open warrant on you and they're going to get the police to arrest you, and caller ID shows the number as the 1-800 for the actual CRA. I love it when we get that on a work line, because I'll certainly play along for a while before telling them what I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHMJXJ Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 If you're going to answer, wait 6 seconds before you say a word. Most robo calls drop after 5 seconds. I dropped my landline when phone numbers became portable and hung the number as a second line to my cell service. My personal phone protocol is; don't answer unknown, or blocked number calls and return missed calls to known numbers. I only give my cell number to people I actually want to talk with and everyone else gets the old landline number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schardein Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 My cell number is an area code for VA but I live in MO. Get calls about once a day from numbers with a VA area code. I guess they think I will answer since it's a "local" call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
500 MJ Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 My line of work, I have to answer every call because it could be something important that I need to tend to. So, once I find out it’s a scammer call, I either hang up if I don’t have the time or make the best of it (usually when I’m driving long distances and have the time to kill). I go through their process and tell them mostly what they want to hear. String them out and keep holding that carrot out far enough to keep them on the line and not hang up. I know it’s sick, but what they are attempting to do is very sick minded as well. Sometimes it is VERY entertaining/absurd to listen to what they have to say and what they want to sell you. Put on the acting hat and play a role of a made up character with a different name than my own. It’s really fun to start new conversations of a totally different nature when they transfer you around to talk to the “specialist” on their end of the line. Give them a totally new name and a completely different story. Confuses them to no end! Don’t give out any actual personal information and make the drive go that much quicker. I feel I’m not hurting a thing when doing this, just taking away their time that they could be calling someone else and bothering them. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 and the robo voices are very lifelike these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minuit Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Unless the call is from a number I know, even if I'm standing right next to my phone I probably won't answer it. If you really want to talk to me, you can leave a message and I'll get back to you. The robocallers have ruined it for everyone. Suits me just fine. I hate talking on the phone anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All around mj Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 They are getting sneaky. I answered a call from my mother in law that was a telemarketer. When I checked the number in my call history I noticed it was +1 1(417)XXX-XXXX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyav8r Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 If I don’t recognize the number, I don’t answer. If they don’t leave a voicemail, I block the number (on my cell phone). AT&T has a no cost service you can sign up for that identifies telemarketers and tells you what they are. You may not even have to sign up for it. Our land line is with Charter/Spectrum so the calling number shows up on the TV and, again, if we don’t recognize it, we don’t answer it. I’m seeing more calls with my area code and number prefix, indicating that the anal orifices are getting more sophiscated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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