Phone scams: is there (still) a danger of being billed just for pressing 1?

Most scam phone calls are just ordinary phishing, getting the victim to reveal a credit card number or some other info to a “live” operator. The initial, automated part asking the victim to press 1 is just to skim out the nonbelievers and connect the more gullible victims to a “live” operator, who can then proceed to reel them in. So there is no consequence to pressing 1 if you know what you’re doing and want to waste the scammer’s time; we’ve all seen examples of that on YouTube.

My recollection: about 20 years ago, there were a fraction of scam calls where the idea was only to get the victim (person V) to press the 1 button; the system would then hang up on V after a few seconds. The idea was to mechanically add Touch-Tone codes after that 1 to establish a long-distance phone call between two other people, A and B. Somehow, through the magic of the telephone billing system, the fact that the initial 1 was pressed by V made V liable for the cost of the call between A and B. The scheme was complex enough that it was only worth it for expensive overseas calls between, say, Sudan and Azerbaijan.

  1. I don’t know if the above was ever true, or just an urban legend.
  2. If the above was true in the past, is it still true today ? In other words, is there a financial “danger” in pressing 1 as a response to an automated scam call ?

While that may have been a danger in the past, the problem with pressing 1 (or any other number) is that, by doing so, you have confirmed that that particular number is directly tied to a real person. That information is valuable to phone scammers, because a list of such numbers can be used and/or sold. Even if you think you are being clever by pressing that number for a chance to screw/yell at/berate the live operator that might pick up, all you have done is pretty much guarantee many more phone calls in the future.

There must be other factors in play. I answer every call (and screw with scammers as much as possible) and still only get 3-5 calls a month,sometimes less.

I get the impression that they don’t target numbers known to be tied to real people but instead just call all possible numbers.

In that case, I should be getting a constant stream.

Why? You said you answer all of these calls so if they really were targeting numbers tied to real people you would be getting a constant stream but my suspicion is that they are not targeting numbers known to be tied to real people.

But if they’re targeting all numbers, then I should get more calls. If not, why do some people say they get numerous calls every day?

I have no idea. I was just speculating, partly based on the fact that the Chinese language calls don’t seem to be targeted in any way.

Anyway, back the OP, this seem apocryphal. If all it took was hearing the tones associated with the number 1 after someone picks up, they could easily wait for you to pick up and then send those tones. Once you’re connected, I don’t think there’s a way to tell who pressed the button.

I kind of doubt this. ITSM that the set of people who have pressed 1 can be assumed to be someone who is:

  • a failed scamming target, and thus known to be resistant to scamming
  • a successful scamming target, and likely resistant to a repeat attempt, or
  • a prankster

therefore, in a game where you need to contact as many marks per hour, you want to avoid already-called numbers because they’re more likely to be a time sink.

A few times a year, I will get a call that has an automated message saying that there is a suspicious charge on my credit for such and such (a few hundred dollars up to a couple thousand) and if I wish to deny it, press 1. So I press 1 and then they ask me to stay on the line. And then…nothing and the call is eventually hung up. What’s going on there? The first time it happened I called the bank and there was no mysterious charge. Since then, I have hung on trying to find out what the scam is, but I’ve never got to talk to a live “agent”. All in all, I don’t get many scam phone calls. But oh my, the phishing emails I get. The number of people who claim they wanted to gift me several million dollars is just incredible. Always to an email address I haven’t actually used in five years (but it is still alive for forwarding).

You get put in a queue but get booted if the scammer takes one of the other calls.