Who the heck is calling me?

[MamaBear2014]

This is so weird. This Galaxy S5 is my first smart phone, and I got it in May.

But this past couple of weeks, I've been getting these weird calls, like the one today. I was driving at the time. But the phone rings and uses some weird ringtone that's NOT one of mine. I tap the "answer" square on the screen and then instead of picking up, it gives me my unlock screen, and at the same time, my regular phone starts ringing on the screen. So I tap to pick that up, and it just stops - nothing. I looked later, while stopped at a light, for incoming calls at that time, and it showed NONE. There were also no voice messages marked, or anything.

So what the heck was it doing?

 

[1Coopgt]

This is so weird. This Galaxy S5 is my first smart phone, and I got it in May.

But this past couple of weeks, I've been getting these weird calls, like the one today. I was driving at the time. But the phone rings and uses some weird ringtone that's NOT one of mine. I tap the "answer" square on the screen and then instead of picking up, it gives me my unlock screen, and at the same time, my regular phone starts ringing on the screen. So I tap to pick that up, and it just stops - nothing. I looked later, while stopped at a light, for incoming calls at that time, and it showed NONE. There were also no voice messages marked, or anything.

So what the heck was it doing?

Maybe it was this . If your cell phone rings once, don't call back .

 

[AZgl1500]

It was a computer test dialing you to find out IF your phone number is valid.

IF you answer, the computer then enters your phone number into a database and it is sold to telemarketers.

Those computer dialing programs spoof their return number to a non-working number, so you have no way to track them.

I use an app called Reverse Lookup fastidiously to check those calls out before I attempt to return the call.

About half the time, Reverse Lookup comes back with "telemarketer"

* Reverse Lookup - Android Apps on Google Play

 

[MamaBear2014]

We're supposed to be on the Do Not Call list, which is totally useless because we have an 800 number with simultaneous dial, for the part time home business. But I just checked and both our home number AND the 800 number have been on the Do Not Call list since 2012. Swell!

 

[AZgl1500]

The "Do Not Call List" is a farce and is totally ignored by everyone.

That is a fact of life, and telemarketers especially are going to ignore it. They just set their "Return Number" to something non-working and dial you anyway, knowing that we as a user, have no way to track them down.

The FBI and other big agencies can track them down, but just you and me? Ain't going to happen, and they know it.

If you only take calls from your Contact List, then the answer is simple. Select "Accept Calls Only From Contacts List" and enjoy a nice, uninterrupted sleep. Your family is not going to wake you up when they know you have to go to work in 3 hours, especially if you are a day sleeper and work nights.

My daughter is a 911 dispatcher and works rotating shifts. We and her friends know when she is working, she has no problems.

I'm a real Obnoxious Basterd when I get annoying calls and they don't call me back, ever....

I used to have a number in Phoenix, AZ and that phone number was always getting calls from everything **** van **** in the world.

I changed to a phone number in a very rural part of Cowboy Country where the income is so low, the grass grows higher than the average Sonic employee's paycheck..... I never get unwanted calls anymore.... well almost never, I've had 1 this month and can't remember the one before that.

 

[MamaBear2014]

But we have a home based business, and random clients call at any time of the day ( not night ) so such a list won't work.

For awhile we tried using our 800 number at RIngCentral, which simultaneously rings home and cell, to have them dial 1 to talk to us, and it eliminated robo calls but clients fell off sharply when we did that. I guess they want to talk to a live person, right away.

 

[troshs]

The OP also stated that the ringtone that plays isn't one that is on the phone...what the hell? +1000 on all the scam info....I had family members get hit by something similar not long ago.

Boom! From My S5