I answer all calls that I don't know because I am looking for a job otherwise I wouldn't answer any number I don't recognize. It was a recorded message congratulating me on winning a trip. I just hung up.
Automated message stating I won 2 cruise tickets to the Bahamas. All I needed to do was take a survey from Scientific Survey and would receive my tickets. She said press one to take the survey or press 9 to be removed permanently from the calling list. I pressed 9. Something that sounds too good to be true, usually is.
>>> press 9 to be removed permanently from the calling list. I pressed 9. Something that sounds too good to be true, usually is. <<<
You certainly are correct -- pressing 9 to be removed from the "calling list" permanently IS "to good to be true."
You see, most of the blind calls that go out today simply use autodialers that are programmed to dial all the numbers in a given range sequentially. The autodialer doesn't know or care if there's someone at that number or not -- it just dials.
If you had pressed 1 to take the survey, you would have been scammed right then and there, in all likelihood. But even if you didn't want to take the survey, pressing 9 to avoid it still let the caller know that you are at a number with a live person who is willing to pick up the phone, even if you don't know who is calling you.
Lists of the latter type of people (i.e., those who press 9) are of value to scammers, too, because such lists are likely to lead to better results much more quickly than merely dialing sequentially.
So congratulations on all the new calls you can expect to receive from scammers in the next few weeks!