No, it was a live person. She stumbled over the guy's last name. Had it been a recorded call, I'm sure that the stumble wouldn't have been there.
It’s also helpful to look up the purported caller ID number online. A search engine will typically bring up a few websites such as 800notes.com or whocalled.us or a few others. Other people post info about their calls.
If I ever do speak to another agent of these sleazy companies asking for ‘Maria’ I’ll tell them that I go by Mario now and I will thank them for covering the cost of the operation.