Question about phone spammers

[sleepydvdr]

My cell phone rang once and hung up. I looked up the number and someone said that they do that because they want you to call them back. If you call them back, it gives them the right to keep calling you even if you are on a "do not call" list. Does anyone know if that's true? If it is, then that's good to know and I will never call back an unknown number.

 

[beancounter]

I never call back an unknown number. If someone calls and hangs up without leaving a message, something is fishy...

 

[RabbitLuvr]

I never answer a number I don't recognize, and I never call back if they don't leave a message.

 

[Pickle Juice]

I don't know if it's true that they have the right to call you back if you are on the do not call registry, because if you are on that they have no business calling you to begin with.

But like the others, I don't return calls from unknown numbers.

 

[Muggle]

If they keep ringing me, I change my phone settings to withholding my number, dial it and refuse to tell them who I am before I find out who they are (and if they are a spammer, I put the phone down straight away and I save the number in my phone as spam or whatever so I never pick it up by accident. )

Or I'll ring them off the house phone if it's a landline or freephone (0800) number (the house phone is a withheld number and we have free landline calls at any time. 0800 numbers aren't free from mobiles. )

If it's a number that only rings me the one time, I never bother to find out who they are.

I also refuse to pick up withheld numbers; they can leave a message.

 

[sleepydvdr]

Normally, I don't pick up phone calls from unknown numbers. However, lately, I have had lots of things going on where I may receive calls from numbers I don't recognize. But in cases like I described in the first post, I look the number up before calling back.

 

[Tom L.]

I swear I'm not technophobic... but I don't have a cell phone. However, at my place of employment, I did manage a pool of cell phones which were loaned to people if they had to work in the field. I out all of them on a "do not call" list, but later heard that this had been an urban legend, and that for some reason cell phone #s aren't called. I never found out if that was true or not, but this was about 2 to 8 years ago; maybe phone spammers were given permission.

What I HAVE found out is that, if I answer my land line and there is initially three or four seconds of silence, it's someone making a solicitation for charity. I haven't bothered to get caller ID, but I do have an answerng machine.

 

[Pirate]

I'm not sure if thats true. If anything, calling them back just makes them realise that the number is still in use. Thats what I hear about when people text "STOP" to spam/email back.

The way I see it is if it's important someone will leave a voicemail, if not sod them.