Be careful if someone calls you and does this: what are robocalls, how to identify them and what to do if you receive one

Robocalls have become a common nuisance for many users in Spain. They ring at any hour, often begin with a recorded message, and, in some cases, can pose a risk to your privacy or security.

Have you ever received a call from an unknown number where, after a silence, you hear someone say 'goodbye' in English? And then they hang up? If the answer is yes, you should know that the 'robocall' phenomenon is hidden behind this.

Although not all of them are malicious, it's good to know how they work and what to do if they call you.

But, for your peace of mind, we'll give you a heads-up: this is a form of spam , and if you've been a victim, you should know that it won't affect your phone bill, nor is it a phone scam that's trying to steal your information. However, in Spain, there's a new version of the infamous "robocalls ."

What are robocalls?

Robocalls are a technique some managers use to make mass calls using a list of phone numbers . This is done by a random bot , and if a response is received, operators select that user to send all kinds of offers and promotions.

The problem with this practice is that by the time you pick up , the operators are likely busy with another call, and that's when those moments of silence occur on the other end of the line. This system, in those moments of silence, waits for an operator to become free in order to serve the customer waiting.

In other cases, this bot simply calls to check the availability of the numbers on the list and, based on that, set up a schedule for calls. One of the things people ask is why they hear "goodbye" at the end of each call. Unfortunately, we don't have the answer to that question, and the reason is unknown.

The new type of robocalls that has arrived in Spain

There's a new version of this phone spam , and it's already reached Spain . The modus operandi is quite similar, but it clearly reflects the constant innovation of those perpetuating this attempt at deception. The goal remains the same: to record your voice, specifically the word "yes."

Once they call you, the prefix always begins with +34 , and you can hear a pre-recorded voice , usually created with artificial intelligence, repeating the following message: "Hello, can you hear me? My name is Juan Carlos González." It doesn't just repeat it once, but several times, with the intention of getting the word out of the user's mouth.

Additionally, you can add to this first sentence the following: 'I wanted to talk to you about subsidies for solar panels.' By repeating the first and second sentences, they want to capture your voice so you can say 'Hello, yes, I'm not interested' and capture the necessary word.

If you want to avoid this, sign up for the Robinson List , a secure service that allows you to stop receiving unwanted advertising calls. If you continue receiving them despite this, you can choose to block all unknown numbers from calling you or download an app that will do this for you.

With these simple tricks you can tell if a call is spam

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