Private Numbers.

I never answer a private number.

I never answer any number unless I know who it is.

Apparently Gen Z don't believe in using the phone for actual talk under any circumstances.

Haha certainly not Gen Z( Gen A or B ??) but agree with that poster . Scam calls are so much more prevalent now . I respond to voicemail if I miss a genuine call or take the block off at certain times if I am expecting a call eg from hospital .

I just use landline for all calls from relatives / family / doctor etc

I had experience of one hospital using private numbers to ring you back booking appointments etc. Daft.

I answer all calls.

If it’s a scam call, or any sort of sales, survey etc., I just end the call.

If I had relatives in care, or kids in schools, I would have those numbers. I'd know who was ringing.

I don't get phonecalls from couriers. They just deliver my packages!

They're VoIP calls, mostly originating very far away - quite frequently from criminally operated call centres. They are not coming from Ireland or Belgium. They just spoof the numbers and the networks just take them at face value and pass them through.

There's a major problem with how the Caller ID protocol works - it basically just takes whatever information's sent though on trust as it was designed in the days when the only people who could adjust the number being sent out were legitimate telephone companies. Nowadays and little VoIP setup can drop calls into the networks with false caller ID information.

There are some solutions coming on stream to reduce it by verifying origins of numbers, but it's still quite patchy and slow to rollout.

The systems behind the voice networks are also becoming far more sophisticated - modern 'soft switches' (software based servers) have replaced the old core digital exchanges which were fully digital etc, but basically as sophisticated as 1970s mainframe and not designed to exist in an IP environment. They couldn't really do anything very complex like authenticating origins of calls etc. They weren't IP based, instead using TDM (Time division multiplexing).

All the backwards compatibility with old tech like that resulted in some pretty clunky old protocols hanging around for far, far too long.

All of the networks have been progressively removing those technologies from their systems - should be little or none of it left at this stage.

It's no harm to answer the call, just hang it up if it's a cold call/scam. I got a call 2 weeks ago from a private number,it was the ambulance service for me to get to a relative urgently as it turned out they passed away as I reached there.

No legit calls.You are being targetted in that case.

I never answer the phone to private numbers - if it's a genuine caller they will leave a voicemail

After the storm my landline was down again and due to living in a mobile black spot the only way I could call out cheaply was with Viber Out and when calling mobiles my number showed up as calling from a different country and a different number to mine so a lot of services like that could be the same so I answer all calls and hang up if it's a scam call.

I'm happy to answer any call that comes to my mobile.

Scams come in on fictitious numbers. No use blocking them. And at the moment they aren't able to get into my wallet just because I answered a call so if I have some spare time and can be bothered, I might spend some time wasting their time.

Just on blocked numbers, I had to make a couple of 112/999 calls recently. Interesting to see that any numbers that you have blocked become unblocked for a time after a call to the emergency services.

I don't answer any number that doesn't come up as someone in my contacts, and I don't answer private numbers. If you are genuine, you'll leave a voicemail which I listen to immediately and call straight back.

Same as one of the above posters, I'm getting 2/3 calls a day at the moment from Belgium. Presumably they'll give up eventually.

I have kids in school, and couriers delivering things all the time. The only time I might answer a call is in the 40 minutes between ordering a takeaway and the takeaway arriving, in case it's the delivery person.

141 redials the last number you called.not sure if it works on a mobile