Why should you not say ‘no’ ni ‘aló’ when we answer a call

A daily gesture how to answer a call can be the entrance door to a sophisticated fraud attempt. With the advance of communication technologies and the growing use of the voice as a means of verification, the calls of unknown numbers have become an ideal channel for cybercriminals.

Expressions as common as “no” or “Aló” have become key tools for those who seek to supplant identities and commit financial fraud.

Consumer defense organizations and banking entities have warned about the risks involved in responding naturally an unknown call. Although saying “yes” appears as one of the most vulnerable responses – for its use in fraud where the victim’s authorization is recorded -, Other frequent expressions such as “No” and “Aló” have also been in the sights for facilitating different types of audio manipulation or activating automatic systems.

The case of “no” is more subtle than that of “yes.” Although it does not represent an affirmation, its record in a conversation can be cut, edited or manipulated by scammers who use artificial intelligence software to simulate human voices.

With speech fragments, they can build false conversations that serve to deceive automated care systems, to representatives of financial entities or services that verify the identity of the user by voice.

More explicit is the case of “Aló.” Its use, extended in Spanish -speaking countries, is usually an almost instinctive way to respond to the phone. The problem lies in its content, but in what it represents for automatic dialing systems: an unequivocal sign that there is a real person on the other side of the line.

Many automated call centers – legitimate and criminal – depend on that first word to derive the call to a human operator. If human sound is not recorded, the call is canceled without connecting. Respond with “Aló”, then, enable the passage to later stages of the scam attempt.

Cybercriminals do not need large audio fragments to initiate an identity impersonation. With only a clear voice sample, such as greeting or a statement, it is possible to generate false recordings with sound manipulation tools. So, They manage to appear that a person accepted an offer, hired a service or authorized a bank operation.

Among the most commonly used techniques is the Vishing, where the scammer passes through a representative of a legitimate entity – like a bank – and asks questions aimed at inducing an affirmative answer: “Do you listen to me well?”, “Are you the holder of the account?”.

when capturing the voice of the interlocutor, the offender can recreate a non -existent consent. Although banking systems do not usually authorize voice transactions as the only factor, recordings can be combined with personal data obtained by other ways to perform complex fraud.

The recommendation to the call of an unknown number is to avoid automatic responses such as “yes”, “no”, “hello” or “aló”. Instead, it is suggested remain silent for a few seconds to identify if it is an automated call.

If who calls is presented as a financial entity or a services company, The most prudent is to finish the conversation and contact the institution through its official channels. Under no reason you must provide personal information, codes, passwords or banking data.

For those who want to prevent this type of situation, the most recent Android phones include functions that allow to identify or filter suspicious calls. Brand devices such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola or Honor integrate a spam detection tool in Google’s Telephone application. To activate it, you have to follow the following steps:

1. Open the phone application.
2. Touch the three -point icon (top right).
3. Enter “configuration.”
4. Access the section “Call identifier and spam”.
5. Activate the functions “See ID of Issuer and Spam” and “Filter Spam calls”.

This allows, before answering, the system shows on the screen if the number has a history such as spam, scam or unwanted advertising.

Another alternative is to directly block the unknown numbers. This function, also available on Android, prevents any number not saved on the phone’s agenda to communicate. To activate it:

1. Open the phone application.
2. Go to “Configuration”.
3. Enter “blocked numbers.”
4. Activate the option “Block unknown numbers”.

This type of measures allows to reduce exposure to suspicious calls, although it may also have the inconvenience of filtering legitimate communications such as labor interviews or medical appointments.