Okay, so here's my experience with this fake Verizon call scam. I've found out that it's indeed a scam.
Total numbers that have called me within this month alone:
9197943907; 9197943499; 9193234181
After months of ignoring these calls and trying to block them only to receive new ones, I finally answered. I now won't be answering them ever again.
My first attempt to remove myself from their list got me a menu with two choices: press 1 if I'm this random dude's name, press 2 if I'm not. This leads to pressing one to get a hold of the random dude they're requesting, or pressing 2 if he's unavailable. Pressing 2 leads to some other choice, including pressing * if they have the wrong number. This hangs up the call.
My second attempt was to call them myself. Pressing 1 if I'm "random dude" asks me for my zip code. As a joke I typed in 90210. It repeatedly asks me to enter my zip code, and after 3 attempts, it tells me, "Sorry that you are having trouble" and ends the call. It tells me to call the spoofed number back. But didn't I just call the number? If I press 2, it tells me to wait for a representative. Which, by the way, also happened in my first attempt. Both tries for a rep end up with a fake music wait clip, followed by "We're sorry, no one is available." It promptly hangs you up. The wait time for a rep is a whopping 5 seconds. Wow. It's like they're so busy scamming others!
Now, here's why I call it a scam. I'd discussed this with a family member, and somehow I was unaware of a potential hijacking situation. Because your smartphone is basically a mini tablet computer, even answering your phone is much like clicking a link in those scammy chain letters. The act of answering puts your cell phone at risk. It's like opening your door to let an intruder inside. They can then data mine the crap out of your personal details.
The phone call itself sounds totally pointless, until you take the data mining concept into consideration. With that in mind, don't answer these calls, ever. EVER.