Comment by cyanydeez

My theory is: picking up, making zero noise and just waiting for it to hang up has a chance of marking it as a fax line or some other automated system. Eitherway, it wastes their time but never engages.

But it's also _not a real person_; these are automated dialers that wait for someone to speak, then they get transfered to a scammer. 99% of the time, there's not anyone listening at the start. It's only when you engage does it go to the scammer.

People conceptualize this stuff wrongly. Having worked in debt collection teaches you just how automated it all was, 30 years ago.