If you answer a spam call and say hello, what happens is the "hello" that you say will confirm that your phone number is active and it marks you as a "live" target for scammers.
When you say "hello" on a spam call, your number then becomes more valuable to scammers and can be sold to other criminal operations, which results in an immediate surge of future nuisance calls.
If you pick up an unknown number, don't say anything at first and wait 3 to 5 seconds as robocall algorithms need a voice to connect you to a scammer and if you don't speak, the machine will assume the phone line is dead and disconnects the call.
You can also filter your calls by turning on "Silence Unknown Numbers" on your iPhone or enable built in spam protection on your android phone to prevent these spam and scam calls from ringing your phone entirely and never call back.
If you answer, hear a click and the caller hangs up, don't call the number back as it's an automatic dialer that is testing your availability.
The five area codes you should never answer are the area codes of, 268 (Antigua and Barbuda), 876 (Jamaica), 473 (Grenada), 649 (Turks and Caicos), and 284 (British Virgin Islands).
These area codes are international area codes and are very notorious for "one ring" scams and even international toll fraud.
These scams from these 5 area codes rely on you getting you to call the number back out of urgency or curiosity and after you return the call, you are then connected to a premium rate international line and charged exorbitant connection and per minute fees.
Don't answer these calls and instead allow the phone to ring and let it go straight to voicemail.
Never call it back and if the caller left no voicemail or an urgent, suspicious message, don't return the call.
To stop most spam calls and scam calls and some telemarketer calls you can contact the Do Not Call Registry at 1-888-382-1222 and it can help slow down the amount of spam and spam calls and telemarketer calls you get, although it doesn't stop all these calls, but can help some.
The phone number 1-888-382-1222 belongs to the Do Not Call Registry and after you call the number for the Do Not Call Registry and state that you don't want to be called anymore, you should not receive any more scam or spam calls after 31 days.
Although, while the National Do Not Call Registry prevents most unsolicited sales calls from legitimate, reputable companies that follow the law, it does not completely block all calls.
The National Do Not Call Registry simply tells registered telemarketers which numbers not to dial.
While the National Do Not Call Registry stops the majority of for-profit telemarketing, the registry has several key limitations:
Exemptions: Charities, political groups, debt collectors, and survey organizations are legally exempt and can still call you.
Prior Business Relationships: Companies you have done business with in the past 18 months or asked about their services are permitted to call unless you explicitly tell them to stop.
Illegal Scams: Criminals and scammers routinely ignore the registry.
No Call Blocking: The registry is a database, not a call-blocking tool.
If you are already registered and receive unwanted sales calls, you can report them directly to the Federal Trade Commission.