I do not answer my landline unless I know the number, except if that number is mine.

And I don't take messages.


That said, I get this type of call regularly — the phone rings and CID say one of:

OAKLAND CA
ALAMEDA CA
VENTURA CA

Or some SOME OTHER CITY CA.

(Actually, I'd answer if it said VENTURA HWY.)

The phone rings, on my end, twice, no more no less, and then stops.

Most people who use answering machines (vintage tech) let them ring at least four times so they canget to the phone. So the call ends before most machines would take the call, or even before many people could reach over and pick up if they were close.

Always city-state.
Always two rings only.
Always stops immediately after second ring.

All that rules out wrong number/butt dialing.

What's their game?

Trying to remotely detonate a bomb but they got the wrong number?
Trying to get my to *69 the number out of curiosity to some pricey toll number?
Hostage with momentary access to phone trying to anybody for help, and clean forgot about 9-1-1?

I'm not concerned with trying to stop this. I'm just curious as to why this is happening. What's in it for the mystery caller?

---

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

Everybody matters or nobody matters.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

It's a scammer or telemarketer, I promise.

Quote
RAMd®d
Always two rings only.
Always stops immediately after second ring.

What's their game?

I have a theory. Or maybe a few theories.

If you are on the Do Not Call List, they may have your number checked against the list only after the auto-dialer has begun with your number. If you answer, and nobody is there (like many of such calls we receive), this supports my theory.

There is the remote possibility that your phone carrier is blocking the call (after it has proceeded) after checking against known scammers.

If you answer and someone is there and wanting to happy lie to you and steal your money, they were just maximizing their chances of speaking to a live person by stopping after two rings.

Robocaller. Which is, by definition, for nefarious purposes. Expect the flood to accelerate in the US as we get further into the national election.

My Ooma forwards my 'home number' (*) to my iPhone.
My iPhone is set to not ring for calls that are not in my contact list.
Anyone that leaves a voicemail I can review the transcript easily. And delete, delete, delete.

(*) Used to be my POTS number, we still use it as a single point of contact for doctors and whatnot.

There used to be some robocallers that posted a number that was pay-per-call but I have not personally seen one of those in the last several years.

Some are just calling to verify there is actually a phone at the number.

---

In tha 360. MRF User Map

Obviously, it's somebody who doesn't have the callee's best interest.

But I still don't see any of these callers actually expecting an answer within two rings.

Maybe it's somebody calling with a ransom demand and the flubbed the dialing.

Another sweet mystery of life unfound.

---

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

Everybody matters or nobody matters.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

I suspect the software can detect live lines vs unassigned, fax or other dedicated numbers, thus building a salable database.

Batch calling if everybody in call center has a live one shut down calls in progress .

Batch calling if everybody in call center has a live one shut down calls in progress .

That makes sense.

---

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

Everybody matters or nobody matters.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
RAMd®d
Batch calling if everybody in call center has a live one shut down calls in progress .

That makes sense.

More reason to pick up, string them along and then hang up.

Not that it'll stop them, they're not stoppable unless you take your phone off the grid - ala Cbelt3

I say that cavalierly since I'm robocall free. Don't ask why or how because I don't know - I have 5 active numbers and just don't get unwanted calls. This post will probably end that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2020 11:43PM by RgrF.

There is a tiny amount of money that can be made from the caller I’d info. Fractions of pennies.
WSJ article

Sorry it is behind a paywall.

Sure the big score is scamming you, but the little score add up.