‘I keep on getting calls, but nobody answers’

Nothing is more frustrating than being busy with work or kids and having to drop everything to answer your phone – only to find the person dropping the call on the opposite end the moment you answer with a ‘Hello’.

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This has become a frequent occurrence for many South Africans. Although many of us seem to brush off the unnecessary inconvenience within five minutes after the unsuccessful interaction – there is much more to these calls than some of us perceive.

Aura – a company specialising in digital security – explains that while many of these calls may be legitimate and come from genuine people or organisations, fraudsters are now using this strategy to get involved in illegal activities using your voice.

‘For their scams to work, fraudsters need you to pick up the phone. Yet, most people won’t answer a call from a purely random number. And scammers know this,’ explains a representative from Aura, which is why scammers come up with alternative solutions to access your voice.

According to Aura, these are some of the ways:

Neighbour spoofing – This takes place when scammers spoof their numbers by changing their codes to appear as if they are calling from a town or city close to the recipient. It is believed that receivers are most likely to answer a call from their own town instead of that which comes from afar.
One ring scam – This is when the caller/fraudster dials your number and lets it ring once before hanging up. According to Aura, the objective is to gain your curiosity, hoping that you will call back.
Private number – This is believed to be a common one, where fraudsters set their numbers on private to prevent you from calling back or tracking.

In an interview with Cape Town-based radio Station Cape Talk, Andrew Bourne of Zoho Corporation spoke to the public about the dangers of scammers recording people’s voices when making ‘silent’ calls.

According to Andrew, silent calls are a technique used to verify the current status of your phone number, which in turn increases its value on the dark market.

While it is true that repeatedly saying ‘Hello? Hello?’ during a silent call is not sufficient to steal your voice, it can act as a starting point for hackers to gain access to your voice notes or other vulnerable apps. Once they have these recordings, they can use them to create a ‘deep fake’ and extort individuals.