My phone is calling and being called by the same person at the same time

[Android Central Question]

Not my phone in fact, asking on behalf of my mother. Anyway, she's wondering if she should be worried about her phone's recent behaviour.

First case: happened about three weeks ago. Her phone rang and it was her parents' number, so she picked up. But her father on the other end said that *he'd* picked up because *she* was calling *them*. In other words, their phones both received a call from the other at the same time.

Second case: happened this morning. She saw that she had a missed call from her sister. Her sister - let's call her Amy, for the sake of clarity - claimed that she hadn't called. Judging by the time of the missed call, it was around the time that Amy had received a missed call from her colleague, who in turn denied having called. An added strange detail was that Amy's phone's sound was turned on, but the phone never went off - Amy swears she was in the same room as her phone when the call happened. There is also no record of having called my mother in Amy's phone, although my mother's phone obviously has registered receiving a call.

Sooo... bit over my head here. Related problems, or no? Virus, phishing, scam, other?

 

[BRICKLOCKx86]

It could be multiple things like:

1. Spoofing the number
2. Scammers pasting a number which matches that number
3. Feedback can cause all sorts of calling issues
4. Virus... Could be?

 

[Rukbat]

Mostly spoofing, is my guess. We can no longer depend on the number calling us being the actual number that's calling us. And the same robocaller bank can be using number A to call number B while another robocaller in the same bank is using number B to call number A.

If you receive a call from a number you recognize, you're more likely to answer it - and be asked to buy whatever they're selling. If the robocaller bank isn't working right, you can get a connection, then a disconnection, so the phone will show a missed call.

In the US, it's illegal to spoof numbers for fraud, but getting you to answer a sales call isn't going to be considered fraud under the current government. (Look at what happened with the Do Not Call list - it was never enforced.) Answer calls you think are important but, even if it sound like a real person on the other end, don't feel bad, if it's just a spammer, for just hitting the "off" button without saying a word.