New ClarityCheck survey data reveals a dramatic shift in user behavior around phone calls, as verification increasingly defines whether a call gets answered at all.
Phone calls are no longer the assumed channel for personal connection. According to a recent ClarityCheck survey of nearly 4,000 adults across the US, UK, and EU, 64% said they were more likely to classify an incoming call from an unknown number as a potential scam than a legitimate contact attempt. This shift marks a broader cultural reevaluation of voice calls, unfolding as fraud attempts grow more diverse across digital platforms.
The findings also show a marked decline in responsiveness to unsaved numbers: 71% of respondents reported letting unfamiliar calls ring out entirely. Concerns cited included spoofed identities, financial scams, and pressure-based tactics. For many users, the default expectation of answering a phone call has reversed. Instead, verification has become the prerequisite to engagement.
Importantly, this caution doesn’t reflect a retreat from voice communication altogether. Among respondents aged 25 to 45, 58% said they still rely on calls for urgent or complex matters, but stressed that identity confirmation must come first. The ability to verify a number before responding is now a core behavior, particularly among frequent mobile users.
This shift is driven by direct experience. 43% of those surveyed reported receiving at least one suspicious call per day, and 22% received three or more. This high exposure has led to what ClarityCheck refers to as a "defensive communication posture": users don’t reject calls, they delay engagement until risk is ruled out.
Etiquette is also evolving. Among users aged 18 to 25, 76% said they preferred a message before any unscheduled call, seeing it as a necessary step to establish legitimacy. This preference is becoming more common across age groups. The once-minor irritation of an unannounced call from an unfamiliar number is now interpreted as a potential threat.
Pattern recognition plays a critical role. Among those who had previously experienced fraudulent contact, 82% said just one such incident reshaped their long-term communication habits. This response is not a rejection of the phone call as a medium, but a reflection of how deeply trust now defines its use. Voice calls persist, but they are increasingly deliberate, pre-vetted, and identity-bound.
ClarityCheck’s findings suggest that while generational preferences are often blamed for the decline in calls, structural issues of trust are the real driver. As scam tactics grow more sophisticated, users are adopting verification tools and caution-first behaviors to bring a measure of certainty back to an interaction that once felt safe by default.
About ClarityCheck:
ClarityCheck is an all-in-one background verification tool for phone numbers, emails, and images. Designed for everyday digital safety, ClarityCheck helps users instantly identify unknown contacts, trace suspicious profiles, and check for potential fraud across phone, email, and photo input. By combining reverse lookup and OSINT technologies, it offers a streamlined way to verify identities and protect yourself online.
ClarityCheck is an all-in-one background verification tool for phone numbers, emails, and images. Designed for everyday digital safety, ClarityCheck helps users instantly identify unknown contacts, trace suspicious profiles, and check for potential fraud across phone, email, and photo input. By combining reverse lookup and OSINT technologies, it offers a streamlined way to verify identities and protect yourself online.