How to not get scammed

I have gotten promotional calls a lot and thought to answer one of them, when I responded to one of them, I regreted it, most people think promotional calls are from foreign countries, but this one from Antarctica ( can't send his number and pic as he/she blocked me after I did ). I heard those sounds like seals making noises and a male screaming as loud as he can for help, I thought it's real and blocked it, but after that I got to know it's a prank but one thing I didn't notice is that once u get a promotional calls, never respond, try to find where is it from, if u are familiar with it, answer it otherwise once u respond them, they get your information bit-by-bit To avoid it, simply block it :)