Silent phone call? DO NOT say anything, they may be 'stealing' your voice

Lester Kiewit speaks with Andrew Bourne of Zoho Corporation about scammers recording people's voices when making 'silent' calls.

Do you ever get calls with nothing but silence on the other side? It could be criminals gathering 'biometric' data.

The silent calls check if your number is still active, thereby increasing its value on the dark market.

Saying 'Hello? Hello?' is not enough to steal your voice but it is a starting point towards hacking into your voice notes or other unsafe apps and getting recordings of it to make a 'deep fake'.

Vocal biometrics are sold to criminal organisations which use them to extort people or commit fraud.

Fraud cases are most likely to target "whales", people with huge financial portfolios - scammers sell their data to the highest bidder. 

These criminals can, for example, fake a child's voice and simulate a kidnapping, where victims will hear things such as 'Mommy, help!'

Bourne suggests you obtain verification when asked for personal details.

He also suggests a 'safe word' as a family to ensure in real time you are not being scammed.

"Awareness and education is very important at this point."

- Andrew Bourne, Zoho Corporation

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.