“Do not use your phone to answer phone calls” is not advice as much as it’s a condemnation of regulatory inaction that has led a vital means of communication to ruin.
The first rule of avoiding scam calls is to never answer unknown numbers, and even some known ones. Curious? Bored? Worried it’s an emergency? Wait the extra minute it takes for the call to go to voice mail, then decide if it’s legitimate.
Phone scams are still hugely popular — and they depend entirely on people curious enough to answer.
Is it just a regulatory problem? I feel like the industry could have done (a lot) more to address this and have just chosen not to.
I have children, I answer the phone.
I don’t even answer my work phone. Voicemail transcript will get emailed immediately.
I used to send all unknown numbers to spam, but unfortunately a few people I have to talk to block their numbers. Luckily I usually know when they are going to call and everyone else gets sent to VM.
I put it on speaker and remain silent. Most of the scams are in Mandarin or Cantonese which makes sense if someone is targeting Vancouver numbers.
Never answer Knock Knock. Could be a joke.
I have a kid. If he's not at home, you can be damn sure I'm answering at least local calls, even if I'm pretty sure it's spam. Not answering the phone is not really an option.
Maybe it's my generation, or perhaps just me, but don't call me. Just send me a text.
What’s next? “Avoid using Twitter”?
It's also why you should not believe any polls that use cold calling. Because only people who fall for scams answer those polls.