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Comment by pdonis | Hacker News Reader

I don't answer calls from numbers I don't know, period. (In fact I routinely have my phone in Do Not Disturb mode so only a few numbers, the ones I have in my favorites, will make the phone ring at all.) If it's urgent enough to the caller (either because they're legit or because they're a scammer and are trying particularly hard), they'll leave a voice mail. (I've had plenty of fraudulent voice mails.) If they claim to be from some company I have a relationship with, I check independently to see if something's up. This incident illustrates why, even if it seems like a call is legit, if you didn't initiate the call, you shouldn't even be talking.

I also don't leave any information I'm worried about someone stealing in my Google account. I find it hard to understand how anyone in tech could fail to see how risky that is.

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I understand the dangers of answering scam calls, don't explain it to me

but you're assuming that "bank security" (or the like) will never call you to alert you to a scam, or that you will recognize their number. maybe they don't, you may know that, but I sure don't.

ignorance is not a defense.

It's true, unknown calls are 99% spam. That's on you if you'd want to believe otherwise; by your own admission, you don't know.

Yes, important companies you do business with you will come to store those in your contacts. You'll have specific account reps even. Services, apps, don't call you, for this very reason, they have in-app confirmation flows.

They can leave a voicemail.

I don't think security at most bank will ever call you about a transaction. At best they may text you. But if you get some communication there's a problem, if you talk to someone, you should call the official number rather than someone who calls you.

I've gotten both calls and texts from my bank and credit card companies about fraudulent transactions. Indeed, I want them to do that, so I'm alerted as soon as they spot something fishy.

But if I get such a call or text, I don't answer it. Instead I do what you describe--call the official number that I already know independently. (Or I log in to their website to check for alerts.)

> you're assuming that "bank security" (or the like) will never call you to alert you to a scam, or that you will recognize their number

I'm assuming no such thing. I have indeed gotten calls and texts from my bank and my credit card companies alerting me to fraudulent transactions, that were legit calls and not scams.

But I didn't answer those calls or texts directly, or try to figure out whether the number that was calling me or texting me was the right one. What I did was to call a number that I already know, independently, leads to my bank, or to my credit card company's fraud department. Or I independently logged into the bank's or credit card company's website to see if there were any alerts. And if there were, I acted on them.

I described this in my earlier post: "If they claim to be from some company I have a relationship with, I check independently to see if something's up."

Bank or government use to call me about important stuff (when I messed up tax report, because of my mortgage, etc.), so not answering is not always a good idea.

And nobody use voice mail in EU, it seems to be an US thing.

> not answering is not always a good idea.

Sure it is. Just because you get a call about an issue that turns out to be legit, doesn't mean you need to resolve that issue by answering the call.

I describe upthread what I've done when I've received calls or texts from my bank or credit card companies about issues.

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