These simple rules help you decide when to answer the phone—and when to let it ring.
According to YouMail, a call filtering service, Americans spend more than four hours each year answering spam calls. That’s a lot of wasted time—especially considering the potential risk of falling for a scam. Are calls from unknown numbers ever worth answering? Generally speaking, you’re better off ignoring most of them, but I’m here to walk you through which calls are actually worth picking up and how to avoid scam callers before they steal more than your time.What Caller ID Labels Really Mean
If the call is coming from someone in your phone’s contact list, you’re probably safe to answer it. I’m hedging a bit here, because criminals can (and do) spoof phone numbers belonging to people or businesses you know and trust, and then use AI to impersonate them and steal your money or personal information. Most also spoof area codes or prefixes to appear like they’re local callers to further encourage you to pick up. I’m not mentioning this to scare you; I’m just letting you know that it’s a possibility.
To determine which other calls are worth your time, review the call log on your phone. In addition to people from your contact list, you’ll probably see some less friendly entries. I’ve seen calls labeled No Caller ID, Telemarketing, Scam or Spam Likely, and Unknown Caller (or Private Caller for AT&T customers). Let’s talk about what these labels mean:Telemarketing and Scam/Spam Likely
These labels are self-explanatory, and most people know to avoid these calls. After all, you probably aren’t expecting a call from a telemarketer, and you definitely don’t want to answer « Scam Likely » under any circumstance.No Caller ID
This is the label to watch out for. It indicates that the person calling you intentionally blocked their name from being displayed. Maybe the person did it to protect their privacy, or maybe they are a scammer; either way, be wary.Unknown Caller
This means the person hasn’t attached a name to the phone number. It’s possible that the caller has recently obtained a new phone number or prefers not to disclose their full name publicly. This label can also indicate a benign issue, such as a network error, or the caller may be using a prepaid phone.
