They usually use someone else’s number. For instance one day I got a couple calls from people I never heard of and they told me I called them to talk about winning a radio contest. They didnt believe me or didnt care.
Is there a follow up video anywhere of those duct cleaners showing up?
My iPhone (and I suspect many other phone models) has a setting that silences all calls from any number not on my contact list. I love love love this feature. If it happens to be a legit caller, they are still free to leave a voice mail, but 99% of the time they do not.
I know I’m a drop in the proverbial bucket, but if everybody just stopped answering calls from unknown numbers, it would no longer be worth the scammers’ time to make them.
I also have my iPhone set to not ring for numbers not in my contacts, sending them straight to voicemail. It is great!
I also have my voicemail set up so I can read the messages. Voice to Text has come a long way, transcriptions are usually correct.
I usually don’t answer in English or Spanish with hello or hola. I go with guten tag or jawohl. Messes up robo dialers. Real callers either hang up or start with their message.