Why More People in China Are Refusing to Answer Calls From Unknown Numbers

For many smartphone users in China, an unfamiliar number on the screen now prompts one reflex: Hang up.

The topic "more and more people don't answer calls from strangers" climbed the trending lists on Chinese social media in recent days, drawing a flood of users who said they had long stopped picking up. Many said they only answer numbers saved in their contacts, or a stranger who calls twice in a row.

"It's normal. Most unknown calls now are sales pitches and ads," one commenter wrote. Another said simply that seeing an unfamiliar number made them feel "really put off."

The first reason is nuisance. Calls offering insurance, loans or even dental implants arrive day after day. In its notice on telecom service quality for the second quarter of 2026, released on August 13, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said financial services, including debt collection, loans and wealth management and insurance sales, accounted for 76.5 percent of complaints about unsolicited commercial messages. Retail promotion made up 5.1 percent, and education, health care and real estate agents most of the rest.

The second reason is fear. Fraudsters posing as police, prosecutors or court officials can sometimes recite part of a victim's ID number, and artificial intelligence now lets criminals imitate the voices of relatives.

On October 11, China's Ministry of State Security addressed a tip that had been circulating online: Stay silent for about 3 seconds after answering an unknown call. The ministry said some criminals deliberately say nothing after a call connects, waiting for the person to respond with "hello" or "who's this?" A voice sample of just a few seconds, it warned, could be used for AI voice cloning and then to impersonate the speaker in fraud. It advised people to let the caller speak first and to hang up if the line stays silent.

Habits have shifted too. With WeChat and other messaging apps now the default, many people leave a text when something comes up, and even ask "Is now a good time?" before calling about something urgent. Compared with that, a phone call demands an instant response that cannot be edited or put off, which some users say makes them anxious.