• FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    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

    • astrsk@fedia.io
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      3 months ago

      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.

    • pseudo@jlai.lu
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      3 months ago

      In a similar vein, there is unsolicited calls from call center that dial your number automatically. If you picked up and say “Hello?” they register the sound and connect you with an agent. So I picked up my phone and stay silent every time I got a call from a unknown number. Quite enough that ends up by being hang up after 5 or 10 seconds. Actual people say “hello?” first when we don’t.

    • abbadon420@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      That happens mostly with phone calls, doesn’t it? They call you and if you pick up, they know it’s and active number. I’ve picket up a phone call or two that immediately hung up on me and I immediately realised I had to expect a couple scam calls or texts I’m the coming weeks.