The 3-Second Silent Call: Why You Should NEVER Speak First
19th February 2026
If you receive spam calls, you will have noticed the gap between your answering a phone and the point where the robodial system connects you to a Real Person.
What scammers want to do is to start a conversation in which they can elicit a recording of you saying “yes” or some sort of affirmative statement that can then be weaponized against you.
Proper phone protocol is for the person who calls you to identify themself and tell you who they are and why they are calling. If, instead, they give you something like a breezy “Hey! How ya doin’?”, either hang up or become rude. My invariable practice is to say “Who are you and why are you calling?” Any word-salad you get in response ought to be the signal to hang up.