New phone scam technique?

[Dr Strangelove]

In the last few days I’ve got five missed calls, two from Belgian numbers, three from Dublin numbers.

When I pick up I get what sounds like a European ringing tone for about 20 seconds and then the call ends.

I presume they are getting me to try and call back (I don’t).

I’m pretty annoyed I’m already a scam target despite having this number less than a year.

 

[DannyBoyD]

Autodialler - it just keeps trying the next number till it gets a hit.

 

[Protocol]

Yes, I received two calls from +32 Belgium today.

 

[ClubMan]

I’m pretty annoyed I’m already a scam target despite having this number less than a year.

It's unlikely to be a targeted attempt. As mentioned above they're most likely just churning through automatically generated numbers.

If it's ringing for more than a second or two then it's unlikely to be banking on you calling back. Most likely if you answered they'd start going through some sort of scam script.

There's nothing obviously new here in terms of scam techniques as far as I can see?

 

[Dr Strangelove]

It's unlikely to be a targeted attempt. As mentioned above they're most likely just churning through automatically generated numbers.

Maybe but five calls in three days seems like a pattern. Answering the first time might have been the mistake and they persisted after that. Unfortunately I'm at a point in life where I get calls from unknown numbers that are for hospital appointments and I generally tend to answer.

How ComReg and the network providers (a mere three of them) haven't solved this problem is beyond me.

In any case, the thread title is a little misleading as there's nothing obviously new here in terms of scam techniques.

Indeed, it was only new to me.

 

[Leo]

When I pick up I get what sounds like a European ringing tone for about 20 seconds and then the call ends.

With that the call is most likely originating in a call centre. The central system keeps churning through numbers, when you answer it then tries to match you to an available agent/ scammer, at which point you hear the beeps until one picks up.