Your phone rings, you pick up and say hello. On the other end: total silence. No one answers, and the call abruptly disconnects. If you don\u2019t already use spam call blockers, you\u2019ve almost certainly run into this situation before.<\/p>\n
In most cases, these are scam calls. Today, we explain why these calls happen, what the callers want from you, and how to protect yourself. Most importantly, we\u2019ll look at whether you even need to bother protecting yourself against them in the first place.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just scammers on the line\u00a0\u2014 robots, legitimate call center operators, and ordinary folks make these calls too. Let\u2019s break down each type of caller \u2014 ordered from best-case to worst-case scenario for your security.<\/p>\n
The most harmless scenario is that an actual person called you, but their microphone is acting up. Maybe they accidentally muted themselves with their ear, or their smartphone connected to a Bluetooth headset, speaker, or car system that isn\u2019t capturing their voice. Carrier glitches can also mute one side of a call. The caller might have no idea there\u2019s a problem\u00a0\u2014 as far as they know, they are speaking, but no one can hear them. In cases like this, you usually recognize the incoming phone number.<\/p>\n
If the call comes from an unknown number, there\u2019s still no need to panic\u00a0\u2014 though the list of those who might be calling gets much longer.<\/p>\n
One legitimate possibility is a call center agent who simply didn\u2019t pick up or connect their headset in time. Call center systems are designed to dial numbers faster than agents can wrap up their calls. The system tried to route the call to a human, but no reps were available. That\u2019s why you sometimes have to wait a few seconds before hearing a single word, or why you might hear ringing tones as if you were the one making the call.<\/p>\n
Silence on the line is a common sign of robocalls. Robots test whether a phone number is active and, if it is, pass it along to a human\u00a0\u2014 meaning a real sales rep (or scammer) will call you back in the next few days. It\u2019s worth noting that scammers aren\u2019t the only ones making these pinging calls. Legitimate call centers use the exact same tools to reduce the workload on their live agents.<\/p>\n
An AI agent could also be behind the silent call. To the person answering, there\u2019s no practical difference: the call looks identical to one made by a standard bot. However, AI can do more than just auto-dial numbers\u00a0\u2014 it can analyze your response and use that data to decide whether your number is active and ready to be handed off to a live person for follow-up.<\/p>\n
Now we get to the real threat. Perhaps one of the most dangerous and unpleasant sources of silent phone calls is a scammer. A quick, silent call like this can actually be the groundwork for a long, elaborate attack with cover stories about loans, government agencies, other fraudsters, even law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Debt collectors might also be calling and staying quiet. Your number could end up on their radar if you, your family, or close contacts have outstanding debts. In these cases, a silent call is often used as a tactic for psychological pressure.<\/p>\n
A similar technique is used in stalking. While silent calls cause no direct harm on their own, they can be leveraged to induce anxiety, create a feeling of being constantly watched, and cause ongoing emotional distress.<\/p>\n
When you pick up, you likely respond out of habit with a quick \u201cHello?\u201d or \u201cHi there.\u201d That\u2019s all it takes for the other party to gather a wealth of data. While this information used to be difficult to process, the rise of artificial intelligence has made the task significantly easier. Let\u2019s look at what someone can learn about you from just one spoken word:<\/p>\n
Back to the \u201cwhy do they call and stay silent\u201d, the main reason is to harvest biometric data. Just a few seconds of recorded audio can help cybercriminals create a voice deepfake. While one or two words might not yield a convincing clone on their own, attackers can stitch together recordings from multiple silent calls to build a believable replica.<\/p>\n
This technology is already being used in real-world scams<\/a>. Impersonating a relative, colleague, or boss, fraudsters can urgently ask you to send them money, to share a two-factor authentication code for government services, or to complete some other seemingly innocuous request. The more realistic the deepfake sounds, the harder it is to spot the scam\u00a0\u2014 especially when backed by a convincing backstory.<\/p>\n If you answer a call, say a few words, and hang up, there\u2019s no need to panic. However, that brief interaction can confirm to attackers that your number is active and that you\u2019ll answer calls from unknown numbers. As a result, your phone number could end up on target lists for future spam or scam campaigns. That said, it\u2019s important to remember that a single silent call poses no immediate security threat.<\/p>\n Here are a few tips to help you stay calm and avoid falling for scam tactics if those silent calls are becoming a problem:<\/p>\n Further reading on scammers and deepfakes:<\/p>\n A look into silent phone calls, how they relate to modern scam tactics, and where artificial intelligence fits in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2754,"featured_media":56203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1788],"tags":[1140,960,3716,80,726,513,240],"class_list":{"0":"post-56202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-privacy","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-deepfakes","11":"tag-fraud","12":"tag-scam","13":"tag-social-engineering","14":"tag-spam"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/silent-phone-calls\/56202\/"},{"hreflang":"ru","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.ru\/blog\/silent-phone-calls\/42396\/"},{"hreflang":"ru-kz","url":"https:\/\/blog.kaspersky.kz\/silent-phone-calls\/30906\/"}],"acf":[],"banners":"","maintag":{"url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/tag\/social-engineering\/","name":"social engineering"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56206,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56202\/revisions\/56206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What to do if you get a silent call?<\/h2>\n
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