For about a solid week or two, I felt like everywhere I went, someone commented how they “kept getting tons of spam calls” — without knowing that I had been experiencing the same thing. Every 20 minutes, it seemed, I was getting a text from “the courthouse” or a call from a number that my phone detected as potential spam.
I consider myself fairly tech-savvy — perhaps thanks, in part, to being a zillennial — so I can usually identify spam and ignore it. But I have to admit, some of the texts, emails and calls I’ve received more recently seemed somewhat legit. After further research, I was able to discern what was spam (read: all of it) and ignore the messages. But ever since, and even in the past, I’ve wondered: What’s up with this major uptick in spam calls? According to experts, there’s a phone habit many of us have engaged in that’s super unhelpful, and you only need to do it once to feel the burn.
The Phone Habit That Increases Your Risk of Spam — And Why
The phone habit in question is all too relatable: answering calls from unknown numbers, particularly spammers. Keep in mind, you don’t always know who a spammer is; answering a call “with a familiar number” or “because you’re worried it’s a doctor or friend” falls into this category. Checking the caller ID or area code isn’t even necessarily a safe or reliable hack.
“Scammers often use a technique called ‘neighborhood spoofing’ that allows them to disguise the true location,” said Stanislav Kazanov, head of GRC and cybersecurity at Innowise. “They can also change the caller ID to show a number with the same area code as you or possibly even some of the digits from your own phone number.”
Answering unknown numbers can increase your chances of getting more spam calls. To understand how it increases the risk of spam — because it’s more of a complicated process than you may realize — cybersecurity experts say there’s a lot to understand about what goes on behind the scenes. “The initial call may not necessarily mean to scam you; rather, its primary purpose is to verify whether your phone number is active and/or whether there are humans behind that number,” Kazanov said. “Simply answering a call ― even just saying ‘hello?’ ― allows this same phone number to be verified as active through its use of ‘Proof of Life’ technology.”
That moment provides “immense value” to scammers, according to Bob Gourley, a CTO, cybersecurity expert and author of “The Cyber Threat.” The system can then collect several pieces of information, including the number, the time of the call and the call’s duration. “For example, who picks up in the morning hours, who refuses to talk and who stays on the line longer,” he said. Data is collected, and efforts are targeted. “After that, your number gets upgraded from ‘unknown’ to ‘verified and active,’” he continued. “The latter attracts much more attention and also can be sold across the entire network for further utilization.”
Kazanov said that autodialers can make thousands of calls a minute. Next, cybercriminals and data brokers can obtain a list of those numbers — not even by expensive means — and keep track. “That newly verified phone number will be bundled and then sold to dozens of other scam networks on the dark web,” Kazanov continued. “Each time you answer a spam call ― even just one time ― you have inadvertently subscribed yourself for the rest of your life to receive additional spam phone calls.”
Debatably, spammers abide by “sharing is caring,” too, and not in a good way. “A significant percentage of spam calls come from the same handful of companies, and once they know your number is good, they add it to their overall workflow and network of affiliates,” said Conor White, the president of strategic initiatives at Daon, who has 25 years of experience in cybersecurity and digital identity.
Further, all of this applies to spam texts and emails. Even replying “STOP” to a spam text, reading a spam email or clicking “unsubscribe” confirms a human is behind the number. “Sometimes, opting out from a spam message or email can inform bad actors that the email/number is real and valid,” White explained. “They do this because it provides a veneer of legitimacy, which drives interactions, and they don’t want to waste resources on ineffective numbers.”
Other Explanations For The Recent Rise In Spam Calls
You may have received more spam calls for other reasons, too. Experts share a couple of major examples:
- A company you gave your phone number to (like a grocery store, app or social media site) experienced a data breach, and your number ended up on the dark web, where scammers can find it.
- Scammers used AI voice agents (which are improving) to send more of those calls (and realistic-sounding ones) efficiently and cheaply.
Regardless of whether we like it (and we don’t!), these are unavoidable truths in our world nowadays. Spam calls are alive and real, and something to consider when you get a call, text or email from an unknown person. The ramifications are simply too serious to ignore. “The reality is, if you think it’s spam, it probably is,” White said. “The good news is, you don’t have to answer.”
