silent phone calls

[scarlets fan]

Recently I have been receiving phone calls - display states "Out of Area" when I pick up the phone there is silence followed by a recorded voice that just says "Thank You - Goodbye". Anyone else had this happen? Anyone know what it is, is it one of the random computer picks.

[Chickadee]

I think this is probably a company selling something, a computer dials numbers and if a real person isn't available to speak to you then you get the message you mention.

[Kefalonia]

That's exactly it. I work in a small shop and get lots of these. I immediately hang up.

[AlBags]

Make sure you are registered with TPS ... and hang up on the rest!

[masma]

We get these "silent" phone calls in the middle of the night, they drive us crazy thinking it's a family member in trouble. We signed up to TPS but they take 28 days to take effect.

[boxtops]

I got an email circular today which suggested that these silent calls are remotely monitoring an automatic dialling system, noting when people actually pick up the phone, to give cold callers a time when they know someone is likely to be in so they can ring again later. This email suggested that if you immediately press the hash key on your phone (#) 6 or 7 times, it will confuse the autodial the other end so it won't be able to track which number you answered on.
I don't know if this is true, but it could be worth a try.

[woofgang]

the only prob with that Meg is you have to allow your number to be picked up by the call recognition software yourself. We have our number blocked so the only people who can get it from a phonecall are the emergency services.