What is the purpose of spam calls?
I understand the purpose of telemarketing and scamming attempting but I’m asking about the purpose of those spam calls where the caller just stays silent after you answer? What is the purpose of that? Is it to collect data and ensure that it’s still an active phone number for other spam calls?
Comments
If they call you and you pick up, the line has now been verified to belong to someone who answers calls from unknown numbers. The caller can then sell that information to a company that does real telemarketing and/or scam calls to save them a bunch of trouble looking for new marks.
They’re like sonar pings – checking if your number’s active. Answer, and you’re on the spammer VIP list.
They could be looking for a live number, but they are also using robo dialers at a call center. Once you answer the phone, they try to connect you to a live person at the call center. If there’s not one available, or it takes time to transfer, that’s where you get the pause.