Spam calls from the contacts list?

[Mtiede]

My wife has recently received 2 calls that appeared to be from someone in her contacts.  The first one was answered and it sounded like odd noises.  So we hung up and called her contact.   That person said she had not called and didn't think it was a butt call.  She may have looked to see if she called, but I'm not sure.

The second one was a missed call.  When that person was called from contacts, she also said she had not called.

Is there some scam where they pretend to call from a known number for you and somehow they can do something with that information?

[RedOregon · Accepted solution]

Not really, just a couple spammers who happened to pick her contact's numbers to spoof.

[Mtiede]

But doesn't that imply they HAVE her contacts?  That is not a good thing.  And for what possible purpose?

[RedOregon]

Nope, they spoof numbers randomly, just happened to hit the right ones. Unfortunately, when you answer the call, it flags your number as a valid one.

[Mtiede]

Again, to what purpose?  What can they do with knowing that it is valid?  Make another call spoofing our number?  Sell it to someone?   Something else?

[RedOregon]

Yes, for telemarketing, unfortunately. She may or may not see an increase in spam calls. These days, I rarely answer calls right away. If someone calls and they leave a voicemail, I call back. If they don't, must not have been important. Kinda sucks, but it cuts down on the spam - if they don't get a response, they don't try after a while.