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Comment by cgijoe | Hacker News Reader

My takeaway: Never, ever talk to anyone over an incoming call. Always, always initiate the call yourself, and to the official number.

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I take it one step further and never answer incoming calls.

I got rid of fixed line and set iPhone to 'ignore calls from numbers not in my contact list'.

How did you do that??

Go into the "Do not disturb" settings, and you can find an option for that there.

Having DND enabled all the time could have unintended side effects though.

Ah. I had not considered using DND for that purpose. Thanks!

Actually there is now a silence unknown caller options if you have an up to date iOS https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT207099

If someone claiming to be from your bank calls you, it isn't safe to hang up and call on the official number, unless you call the bank on a different line. The original call doesn't end until the calling party hangs up, and they might spoof a dialling tone and then a ringtone.

How do you spoof "dialing tone" on a smartphone?

That is only on VERY old land line systems... in fact, I don't think any exist anymore (the lasts ones were phased out a few years ago)

New scam keeps fraudsters connected after victim hangs up https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/line-in-trapping-techn...

"Scammers using line-trapping technology to trick victims, police warn"

What is line-trapping? The article doesn't explain how it works and which devices are vulnerable. I tried to look it up but the results aren't helpful. They are either rewrites of the same article or irrelevant pages about wildlife trapping.

I suspect they affect landlines, but the articles have confusing photos showing smartphones.

I think I read about it in one Mitnik's books years ago.

Basically, if you hang up your landline, it doesn't sever the connection.

Ok, so just call with a different phone.

What if your counterparty has the same policy?

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