Name: Landlines.
Age: 148 years.
Appearance: A cable connected to your phone that is tied to your house.
I haven’t had a landline for years. Oh young thief! You’re really missing out.
About what exactly? So much! Telling the caller your full phone number when answering the phone, being trapped in a room where everyone in your family can clearly hear your side of the conversation. It’s the best.
It doesn’t seem the best. You wouldn’t understand. I still get a lot of calls on my landline, you know?
Whose? Oh, all my new friends. The guy who promised to give me millions of pounds as a thank you for lending him £10,000. The woman at the bank who keeps asking me for all my personal information. They are a lovely group.
I hate to say it, but I think maybe they are scamming you. I’m almost certainly being scammed, yes. It turns out that more than half of all calls to landlines these days They are scammers.
Because? It could be because it is more difficult to detect and block fraudulent numbers on a landline than on a mobile phone. It could be because people who want to talk to you for a legitimate reason will simply ring your cell phone. Or it could be because nowadays it is mainly older people who have landlines.
How is that relevant? Because scammers like to target older people, and 80% of older people have landlines, compared to only 50% of 18- to 29-year-olds.
So if you are a scammer and dial a landline… You’re more likely to find a friendly older person who may not realize you’re trying to empty their bank account.
Terrible. This has to be the death of the landline. Don’t speak too soon, because the landline is now coveted by Generation Z.
Because? Because they’re cool and retro, like cassette players. Listen, if you’re 20 years old, then you’ve lived your entire life using your phone as a laptop, camera, book, and food ordering system. Doesn’t it sound refreshing to be able to use it just as a phone?
Oh, sure. It is imagined nostalgia. Maybe it will catch on. After all, nothing gives you more pleasure than a real phone in a telephone conversation.
Wait, what do you mean conversation? You know, talk to someone.
By text message? No, through your mouth.
Yo actually I would have to talk to someone? Vocally? By phone? That is my biggest fear. Well, you could die of loneliness with that attitude, but the good news is that you will never get scammed.
Say: “Landline users are more susceptible to scams.”
Don’t say: “But give me all your bank details and I’ll tell the scammers to stop.”