You receive a call on your phone. The caller says they're from your bank

Bank-initiated calls and identity verification

• Many dislike when banks call and demand personal details while offering no way for the customer to verify them.
• Several people reported hanging up and calling the bank’s main published number, sometimes being routed back to the same agent via an extension or reference code.
• Some banks explicitly train customers to never share information on incoming calls and instruct them to call back via official numbers; others are inconsistent and even send confusing “we’ll never ask for X” messages while asking for X in practice.
• Bank fraud controls while travelling are described as both overzealous and poorly coordinated, sometimes ignoring prior travel notifications.

User strategies for avoiding phone scams

• Strong norm: never reveal information to an unsolicited caller; either don’t answer unknown numbers, or let them go to voicemail.
• Some avoid giving banks/government their phone/email at all so any contact via those channels is assumed fraudulent.
• A few note old phone systems where hanging up didn’t always disconnect, but others say modern systems make this mostly obsolete.

Telemarketer trolling and automation

• Several users describe intentionally wasting telemarketers’ time with elaborate stalling, seeing it as protective for others.
• Tools and services exist (pre-recorded, Markov/AI-based, VOIP) to automatically tie up spam callers or play fake “number out of service” tones.

Technology & call verification

• Pixel and some Android phones’ call-screening and spam filtering are praised; lack of comparable non-Google options is noted.
• Ideas raised: HTTPS-like authentication for calls, STIR/SHAKEN, out-of-band verification via apps, “verified calls” that send caller identity/reason through a trusted channel.
• Some mention app-based messaging or in-app calling as safer than traditional telephony, but note usability and sandboxing constraints.

Experiences with specific scams

• Referenced cases include a Chase UK in-app-notification scam and Coinbase “suspicious transaction” calls that try to push users into revealing credentials or moving funds.
• Consensus: once someone on a call asks for full card details, payment, or gift cards, it should be treated as a scam regardless of how convincing the context is.

Accessibility and special contexts

• Deaf users still face scams via sign-language relay services; there was controversy over whether interpreters could warn users, now reportedly allowed.
• Language switching (to a non-local language tied to the user’s home country) is suggested by some as an informal check, though others note high-quality local-language scams.