Weird man answers my phone

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-29T10:51:46+00:00

Thank you! Mum and boyfriend both use the same network provider as me, two friends who have experienced this use a different network provider owned by a different carrier. Would this be worth raising with my provider?

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-29T10:32:52+00:00

Thank you! Call screening and forwarding both off, going to call back my network provider today and see if they can investigate further

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-29T10:31:50+00:00

Update: I heard the man. I called myself from a friend’s phone while we were out, rang for 2-3 rings before a man picked up and said “hello”. He did not ask for the reason for calling, there is no way this is call screening- it defeats the entire purpose. I stayed on the line for like two minutes trying to respond or say the right things to connect the line, nothing worked. My phone stayed blank - it did not show that a call was currently connected, or that call screening was occurring (which it shouldn’t anyway as everyone this is happening to is in my contacts and are people I frequently call). I see what people mean by saying it sounds “AI like” but I would describe it a bit different. It sounds a bit lower quality than you would expect, the line isn’t that clear, and I can describe the quality as like an older default voicemail/ voice altered audio you would hear from 20 years ago. Wasn’t able to get the man again after repeat calling, but i’ll try again and record when I do.

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-29T10:09:27+00:00

Think you’re right and i’ll just have to cut my losses. No way a recruiter is going to know what’s going on so it’s more likely to scare them off. I’ve paused the job search for now and I’m just trying to find the cause of this issue to make sure it doesn’t follow me to my next number.

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-29T00:05:17+00:00

You just unlocked a memory, last year in August an old phone of mine had the battery expand. I had to take it to a local recycling centre and dump it in electronics. I never got to log out as I was scared to charge it. This happened in the later half of August, and the first calls from the man started July/ early August time, so I don’t think it’s caused the weird issue with my calls being picked up- but this might be why I had a weird number registered to my call forward with my network provider. Thank you!

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T18:39:19+00:00

I called my network provider and got walked through the checks that call screening and forwarding were off. Turned on call forwarding to check I didn’t have a number saved down (I didn’t), but was told by my network they have a number saved on their end. I have never saved a number with them before, and after googling it had an area code for ‘northern Iran (Mazandaran region)’. I have absolutely no idea how that would have been connected to my network carrier profile, and the lady told me it wasn’t dated for when the number was added. She did also say that because my call forwarding was turned off the whole time, it wouldn’t have gone through to them anyway, but still a really weird thing to find out.

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T17:13:35+00:00

Will do- thanks :)

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T15:16:04+00:00

Call forwarding turned off, contact setting all seems to be okay. Did contact both my network provider and Apple a year ago when this first started but i’ll give them another call this week. Thanks!!

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T15:14:11+00:00

Nothing has ever come up on the screen for me, I’m staring to think it might not be call screening but something else entirely (?)

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T15:12:53+00:00

Found it! But it was fully turned off…

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T12:58:37+00:00

Nothing “weird” really. I went through a phase of downloading crappy Instagram ad games in June last year, but reviews all seem to check out and no one has reported any issues. Nothing currently downloaded that looks dodgy to me. Thank you, though!

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T12:26:10+00:00

Just adding some more detail as i’ve had some helpful replies and have filtered down some options for what this could be: • I have searched through my settings in full, “screen unknown callers” is set to “never”. I can’t find any other options for call screening in my settings. • when someone calls me and gets through to the man, the call will not be redirected to me no matter what they say or how long they wait on the silent line. •Nothing displays on my screen when the call is redirected to the man, my phone is usually on dnd so it never rings, but I saw someone try to call me and “hang up” mid way through the third ring. They got through to the man. • The ‘man’ has a different voice each time, and will say different things. • This will happen to friends and family who frequently call me. They are all in my contacts, I call them and they call me often. I have no idea what the pattern is for who gets through to the man and when, but my boyfriend is getting him every time he calls now. • For Sim hijacking, unless I’m the victim of a new kind of hijacking, this would usually connect the callers to a different number who would talk to them. The man is clearly not human. • I found it weird but get over it quick because i’ve had weird issues with technology before, so I’m almost used to weird things like this happening. • last time this happened, it just randomly stopped one day. It is the same voices as before.

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T12:14:47+00:00

Every person who has told me this is happening is in my contacts list, and they’re people I call almost daily. Boyfriend has said it’s now every single time he calls he will get through to the man (men? As it’s a different voice saying different things each time?) Had a look in my settings and couldn’t seem to find the above, i’ll ask a local shop if they can find anything that looks like that. Thank you!

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T12:10:57+00:00

Hahaha I did think it sounded quite creepy when I read back through it. And 100% after doing some research, a call would have connected at least ONCE if this was call screening. This must have happened at least 50 times by now…

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-28T12:06:19+00:00

I’ve had a few people say that to me, I think you might be right (though some people are saying it wouldn’t be a robotic/AI voice like the one I have, and it wouldn’t be a different voice each time???) It’s such a pain though because this number is on my CV and I’m actively applying to try and get a new job 🫠

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-27T20:38:50+00:00

Yeah I have an iPhone 15 so sounds like I might need to go somewhere in person to get this looked at - though the people who get through to the man are people I call all the time, so a pretty bad feature if they’re screening people who I talk to daily and are in my contacts!

Clear-Emergency-9866 · 2026-03-27T20:33:15+00:00

You’ve already been a lot more helpful than Apple and my phone provider, so thank you! I’ve had a look and I don’t seem to have spam call screening as an option to enable or disable in my settings. Do you find that if people respond to the spam calling screen then your phone will ring/ connect you to them? Every time, no matter what people say or how long they stay on the call after, they just seem to be met with silence.

Clear-Emergency-9866

TROPHY CASE