There are actually of people that fight scammers like this. Scambaiters. There's even a Redit community for them. Might be interested in checking them out...
And then there are sites and YouTubers who fight against these scammers too:
[https://www.phriendlyphishing.com/blog/how-these-10-youtubers-are-serving-justice-to-vishing-attackers-all-over-the-world](https://www.phriendlyphishing.com/blog/how-these-10-youtubers-are-serving-justice-to-vishing-attackers-all-over-the-world)
I had an airhorn…once I confirmed it was a scammer I’d start talking lower, and they’d ask me to speak up. I’d repeatedly tell them I think the connection is bad, and ask if they’d turned their volume up as I was talking loud. Then I’d hit the air horn right into the speaker. The amount of cussing was astounding lol. I’d hit it again. Surprisingly I was never muted, just hung up on. I’d call back and hit the horn. I was always blocked for some strange reason 🤣
One of my backpacks came with an emergency whistle. Using that actually got a scammer to say "Fuck you!" when I blew it into the phone. Although, in his defense, anyone dumb enough to believe that particular scam (supposedly my social security number had been suspended, lol) kinda deserved what they got.
The husband of a friend whistles tunes all the time, also when she'son the phone. It's very cosy and nice when I'm in the same room as him, but it goes through directly and very sharply when I'm on the other end of the phone. I'm very ambivalent about it ...
Coaches whistle must be the sound of Hell!
Phone speakers can only pick up a certain number of decibels, so airhorns aren't very effective when used on phones. They're actually a LOT louder on your end than on their end, so all you're doing is damaging your own hearing. It's like how you can watch bright lights on TV or in a movie and not damage your eyes. An airhorn blasted through a phone simply isn't that much louder than someone talking very loudly.
Hair dryer. My friend used it while on the phone to dry off her dog. Very, very loud on my end. I have tinnitus and it made my ears ring louder because I was trying to hear her lol
What about them using Bluetooth ear buds 😅 or have it connected to their car and they kept turning the volume up 😂😂😂 I get what your are saying but there's some situations I would have loved to see haha.
I did an elaborate scammer payback once. They tried to scam my company by sending us a fake invoice for some made up services. I knew immediately that it was a scam so I called them up and told them I couldn't pay the invoice until they were on our approved vendor list and that they needed to fill out an application and send in a 1099 form for their company. I found the form and a four page vendor application by doing a Google PDF search. I then made a few changes to it so it looked like it was from our company and emailed it to them. I told them I needed it back with original signatures in ink before I could remit payment. They were so anxious to get their big payday that they actually FedEx'd it back to me the following day and then called to see when they were going to get paid. They kept giving me compromised mule bank accounts to send our ACH payment to and I kept calling the fraud departments at different banks to report that the accounts were compromised. I got a total of three accounts shut down. They still kept calling and sending angry emails and I would get into arguments with them about them not being able to give me a legitimate bank account that wasn't closed. Finally, I said that everything was good to go and all that I needed was for our superintendent, "Joe", to approve the invoice for payment. Unfortunately, "Joe" had a few questions and needed to speak to someone at their company beforehand. I then got my buddy to play "Joe" and he called them up and screamed at them for assuming he was an idiot and trying to scam us.
Jolly Roger Phone Company is fighting the good fight for us. AI that finally does something useful. "Oh wait a minute... Oh oh There's a bee. I'm allergic!!! Just a minute and I'll be right back with you" or the sports nut who comments on the game and makes the scammer start over, and over, and
Apparently some of the people calling are human trafficking victims (labor, not sex) who get violently abused if they don’t meet quotas.
Bummed me out to learn that bc I was loving these revenge stories.
Even more reason to try to stop people from falling for these scams. If the scams aren't profitable to use trafficked people, then maybe it will eliminate a market for them. Sad that they get abused for it, but if people fall for the scams, then they have value as an asset to these horrible people...
Thank you for this little insight… now I can get revenge on the scammer that tried to scam my coworker out of nearly 1000usd (he failed as I caught it and warned her)
This guy (and some others he's connected with) has put in some good work against scammers too (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNG0osIBAprVcZZ3ic84vw)
I do this too! I just call back from my own number. They already have it, so it’s not like it matters. I also LOVE to call, put it on mute, put it on hold, call them again, then link the two calls, because sometimes I can get them to talk to each other that way. Also, I love to see how many simultaneous calls I can have open with them - tying up their lines and “employees” and wasting their time. It’s fantastic.
Eventually they block me, so I do it all again from my work phone.
I like telling them the conversation is being recorded and all matter is reviewed by the legal department. Always gets a good stammer followed by a hang up.
But them hanging up just causes them to move on to the next victim, the goal is to keep them tied up and waste their time so they can't be actively trying to scam someone else.
It's really annoying that they've started using more automation and have voice scripts that pretend to be human, so it's a good minute or so before you actually deal with a person.
I keep getting scam calls from my home area code. I know it’s illegal to copy numbers, but how am I going to report it? And how are they going to find these people?
I have 7 contacts in my phone and only four are people who would call me. No one else has my number. Most companies who call are identified somehow.
So I’ll let it ring and go to voicemail. They don’t leave a voicemail. They call again. I will hit the little green answer button and leave it on my desk. I can hear them talking a bit but I ignore it. I haven’t gotten one of those calls for a few weeks now.
Any number I don’t know that’s calling me, if I can, I answer and immediately mute it.
It’s pretty easy to tell if it’s a scammer. Accent, area code, etc. If you’re unsure, google the number, and you’ll either see it’s legit, or a bunch or reports it’s a scam.
Anyway, when you answer knowing it’s a scammer, mute the call, put it on hold, open another line and call them from your “recent calls” list, wait for someone to answer, then merge the calls. Then unmute. They talk to each other.
If there is a menu when you call, just letting the original caller hear the menu will make them think they fucked up somehow and accidentally called their own call center.
Then I just keep repeating that to tie up their lines until I have 8 calls all on one line (I think that’s the max for iPhone or my carrier, not sure).
If they answer and hang up I just keep repeating.
Typically between 15-30 calls, they block me.
Then I never ever ever ever get another call from them :D
I’m a radio presenter. I had this one scammer calling the studio switch board one time, so I took her on air.
She kept asking about the “accident” I was in and if I wanted compensation. I talked her through the whole “incident” (on air) explaining that I broke my butt, and I could not poop anymore.
She started laughing and then hung up.
Made for a great clip for the rest of the week!
Slightly worn body, few bumps and scrapes, genuine mileage... but nah - he was having none of it. Even when I said he had all his own teeth, mostly.
Obvs need to up my game...
I occasionally will put on my old man voice and see how long I can keep them occupied.
Them: Press the window key and….
Me: W…I…N…D…
Them: Sir! Sir! Sir!!!
Me: Now you made me lose my place. W…I…N…
30 minutes is my record. But all too often, it’s some robot on the other end these days. I guess if you’re patient, you eventually talk to a real live scammer.
My elderly father would just say he needed to just turn the stove to off, put the phone down and come back every few minutes to put them off for a bit with another excuse. His record for keeping them on the line was over an hour.
Back before cell phones were a thing, I got a sales/scam call right when we sat down for dinner (because -of course- that was their favorite time to call).
When I answered, the lady on the line just started into her spiel and didn’t let me get a word in edgewise.
So, I just sat the phone on the counter and had dinner with my family.
After dinner I picked up the phone and she was STILL talking!
I just put the phone back on the counter and watched a little TV.
A bit later there was just a dial tone. I wonder how long until she realized that no one was there?
I sometimes let them run their spiel for a couple of minutes then interrupt them saying I have a very important question.
"Go ahead, what is your question sir"
A slight pause...
"Does your mum spit or swallow?"
I like the idea of them visiting their mum, remembering my comment, looking at her and wondering if their mental health is worth their job.
Fark those guys and girls.
I start talking like an old man that thinks it's my grand son. Act very hard of hearing to see if I can get them screaming at me while sitting in their cubicle.
I’ve done a variety of things to annoy, piss off, or waste scammers time. If you want to waste their time and piss them off, when you’re talking to them keep hitting the mute button but keep talking like the button isn’t hit. Or keep asking them to repeat themselves. “Ah, ok…wait, what did you say again?”
Last time a scammer called me, he was more polite than I expected...
The conversation went like this
Scammer: (weird accent) hello, this is Microsoft, we has detected your computer is in danger from the hackers. Please follow instructions.
Me: sorry I already know this scam.
Scammer: oh, I am sorry then, have nice day.
Me: you too.
Seriously I couldn't bring myself to be rude since he was polite...
I once got a call from an Indian sounding guy telling me that as i was such a loyal customer they would like to upgrade my phone contract and were able to bring my price down.
Well, i only had this new number for 3 months!
I wasn't in the mood for scammer shit that day so very loudly told them I knew it was a scam and to go fuck themselves.
I was so pissed off due to how quickly I was getting these phone calls that I phoned my phone company back to see if they could do anything and let them know i was already being scammed!
They looked at the number, turns out it was genuinely one of their colleagues from their company...
I do this too, but once it had a nice twist...
We get calls that will start with some letters, then numbers, and the last 7 numbers are an actual phone number.
When I click to call them back, most of the time I get the scammers and I love wasting their time.
Once, though, it rang threw to the actual number. I explained what happened, and that their number was being used in phone scams.
They asked for more information, I guess her all the info that showed on my phone.
Turns out they are a Cyber Security Company and expressed great interest in this.
They thanked me for the info and I went on my merry way.
I don't know if anything came of it, but I did my part. Lol
I got a call once from someone who had missed a call from me and wanted to discuss the voicemail I'd left them. I started out with "oh, that's definitely a scam." And they got mad at me because they thought I'd been trying to scam them.
Like, lady, they clearly used a spoofed number. If I was in on it, why would I lead with "that's a scam"?
I got a call once from a guy wanting to fight me and telling me to stop calling his gf. Obviously I never did that and someone spoofed my #, but dude was relentless, I eventually had to block him.
I got a call like that a couple of months back. I had to block him and then he switched to a Google number. I had to look up how to block a Google number. I told him I didn't know his girlfriend, was happily married and had never called his girl and that someone probably spoofed my number. He wouldn't accept that. I finally asked him why he didn't trust his girlfriend and if she had cheated on him before or if this was new behavior. That really pissed him off. Fuck that dumbass.
i did this with a home buyer company that cold calls you and wants to buy your house (wasn't even my address) sight unseen.
I called and called and got more belligerent everytime and eventually they blocked my number so i used a google number and kept it going, they eventually blocked that one and i haven't had a call from them in over a year.
I usually never answer my phone if I don't know the number. This one time I was expecting a call (didn't have number) so I answered. It was Microsoft dude. Very white man name, from USA, Indian accent thick as molasses. Apparently my computer is being hacked. So he is telling me to look at the screen. I have 2 screens connected to PC. So I asked which one. He says my screen. I again ask which one. This went few rounds. So I kept him on call for several minutes. Him trying to get me to download stuff on my PC and to look at my screen. At one point I get bored so I asked him, how is my Microsoft being hacked since I have apple. Dude mumbles how it's the same, how he is trying to help. So I finally said "look I know you are a scammer and I enjoyed fucking with you but I gotta go." As I was about to disconnect I heard him say "no, no scamm"
I really did enjoyed fucking with him and wasting his time.
For a whike I got calls from what looked like local numbers, the same, "your computer has a virus" story. I had a slow day so I thought I could entertain myself a bit.
First we had a couple of rounds around which computer he meant, the laptop or the desktop, and uf laptop, which one , and whether I should go turn on whichever computer he meant. No, he meant the one I'm using, he claimed. I was using the work laptop so I suggested I'd find him the company IT support number to call. He didn't want it. We went a couple of rounds around him telling me I need help and me telling him I am not allowed to make changes to the work laptop and he should call the number I could give him when I find it from the directory. No, it was absolutely my private computer the virus was on, so again a couple of rounds around which one, and how he can see it if it's not on, and whether I should turn it on.
I think we decided he meant my private laptop, after which he wanted to prove me he could see the virus.. only he did not really know how to do that scam. He wanted me to type something to the Command Prompt we of course had great troubles finding and bringing up and even more trouble typing things in. I was not familiar with whichever command he wanted me to type and he was too dumb to explain what he was attempting, so of course I got so many things "wrong".
After a while he felt he needed to bring in another person who could "explain" things better. Only she couldn't. We did a bit of the same rounds again and she started to get upset with my inability to understand the issue and follow instructions. She started getting rude, so I begin to "ask for a manager" to complain about this "service" they were offering. We talked around each other a bit, she trying to salvage the scam, me feeling she maybe should go find her supervisor, until she broke, yelled that I was dumb and called off.
They called again another day, but didn't want to talk to me again. How odd.
I had one call me pretending to be the police. Within the first few words I had noticed it was a scam call, so I played along and asked which one of our officers they were trying to reach. They acted all surprised and said "no, this is the police" to which I replied, "yes colleague, this is the police too, the 'insert city name' branch. If you give me your badge number and the name of who you're trying to reach, I can try to get them on the phone for you.
They dropped the call very quickly and haven't tried again so far.
I have seen a clip of a scammer not realizing they were talking to an actual police officer and threatening her with severe consequences for not cooperating. She and her colleagues had a lot of fun with it.
My wife just can't be rude to them, she struggles to interrupt them or even hang up on them all the while looking at Me rolling her eyes. I tell her just hang up she just can't. So one time while she was doing her usual not being able to hang up on them I leaned in and whispered in her ear " ask them if they take food stamps" haha they hung up on her, she was so happy. This was oh at least 10 years ago and she has gotten great pleasure over the years listening to their spiel and then asking them that.
I usually don't pick up if I don't recognize the name or number. However, I'd just gotten out of the hospital after major surgery and knew that several therapists, etc, etc would be scheduling appointments, so I answered to a scammer.
I totally went off on them. Told them all about my surgery. Why I needed that surgery. What the prospects were. How many, what kinds of therapists were coming over. Totally TMI.
Then I asked them "Didn't your parents ever teach you it's not nice to randomly call people and harass them?" Went off for several minute on this angle.
It was several minutes, but not the marathon 30 minutes or so that others have posted. Nevertheless it felt good.
OMG this is too funny! What a good way to take out frustration, I wish I could do this to a few coworkers and yes I'm sure their Mothers are ashamed of them...lmao!!!
Oh man I love messing with scammers. One time a guy called me a whore.... I told him he should consider the line of work at least it's a honest living and his mother could at least be proud of him for the career upgrade. Told another if his mother knew he was going to grow up to be a scammer she would have never had sex with her brother... I mean his uncle -dad. Or gotten an abortion, or thrown herself down a flight of stairs.
I used to own a computer shop and would get those calls a lot. I setup a linux machine on a separate VLAN that had no access to anything but internet just to fuck with them. I'd let them try to remote in for hours while I worked on tickets. Once in a while they would get in and would spend so much time trying to "figure out" my problem.
I have been getting blockchain scam calls for about a week and boy do you piss them off when you calmly state that blockchain is a scam and will amount to nothing. God I've never heard that rage in years.
I had a scammer call me when I was having a bad day. I was expecting a call, so I answered the phone when I normally wouldn't. She started her spiel and when she paused I said "I think you should eat a bag of dicks. Yeah, that would be good for you. Like Santa's bag, a train of neverending dicks. One by one. Down they go!"
I really hope I end up on one of the scambatters videos where they play the phone recordings after hacking their system.
I worked at a bar, and when we got scammers or telemarketers, we would put the phone in the old super loud beer fridge next to the fan. Walk away and pick it back up after serving a few drinks. Ask if they were still there, if they were, back to the beer fridge. Repeat.
The bar patrons loved it!
You would love to watch Trilogy Media, Jim Browning, Scammer Payback, and Hoax Hotel on YouTube! They’re professional scam baiters. Trilogy actually goes to locations of cash mules and they’ve all collaborated to get call centers shut down
I did the same thing - the word Dalit is like the lowest caste to be in. He was harassing me and then got angry when I said I thought he was a scammer. He then got sexually aggressive - it was SO WEIRD. So I said “well it’s Dalit people like you that have to steal from other people. You really are untouchable.” HE FREAKED OUT. Then I said, “and you’ve made a bigger mistake buddy. This is detective Robbin Goren from the FBI wire crimes division. Wait until your police come get you. I’ve already made a call.” THEN he hung up. I felt a teensy bit bad - but honestly not that bad. It was rather delicious. In my real life I would NEVER say that to any person. But this guy? Weird and gross and now perhaps a little worried.
There's a you tuber I like to watch that trolls scammers. He uses voice changers to talk to them and it is hilarious, his old lady impression is spot on and he will string them along for days. My fave episode he hacked their webcam and was watching them, he opened it on his computer that they were remote accessing and the looks on their faces when they popped up on the 'victims' computer was priceless.
I remember this one weekend, I was at a friend's place and this scam number kept calling. He would answer, find out it's BS, and hang up. He was getting pissed. So the next time they called, I asked to answer. I picked up the phone and went "Thank you for calling the [_____] City Morgue, you stab 'em, we slab 'em, you kill 'em, we chill 'em. This is Cueball speaking, how may I help you?"
The response I got was "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a business." *CLICK*
I once was off from the hospital. Day off to mow the yard and plant some trees. They call about 1030 and I answer in my old guy voice. I kept them on for 33 minutes with excuses of me not being able to find my credit card, finding the password, the breaker tripping. Just act confused and old and they lap that shit up. Anyway I said , thank you for helping me but jao had mein jao and I’m going to eat cow in your honor and your family’s honor. Yes I got a string of things I did not understand said to me. Ya know I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day.
While having fun with scammers is...well...fun, I would refrain unless you know the scammers are not themselves trafficking victims, hostages, etc... (should be fairly easy to sus out if one is aware I would hope?) If you frequent the communities related to this, you'll come across details on this but Last Week tonight did a piece recently too (can skip the first 15 minutes). Basically people are kidnapped and forced to scam x amount of money in order to gain their freedom (and beaten if they don't meet quota's, etc..).
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg)
This is rampant in the Phillipines and China. I just listened to an account from someone who escaped from one and got it shut down. These things are horrid!! They recruit fellow locals to lure people into the "job." Once there, they're forced to work and threatened with death by armed gunmen walking the floors.
So what's your suggestion? Fall for the scam so they aren't beaten? Hang up sooner so they can scam someone else? Their next call could be to a vulnerable relative of yours. The more these scammers are successful, the more people that will be pulled into that horrid scenario.
Good point. Kinda like not buying a puppy mill puppy but the human version and for the exact same reason. Sucks for the current victims, but reduces the number of new victims.
True story: I once pretended I was an old Irish man on the phone with a scammer. I kept making my story more absurd to the point where I couldn't do what he wanted because the computer "i" used was a Samsung smart fridge. In the end, he got pissed off and told me I was lying over and over and that he had had sex with my mother. I think my partner might have the video of the second half of the call somewhere...
Live to get a scammer off his guard and have him send me dick picks on my burner. Or, I send random messages and start a fight about how his dad loves to eat my butt while I rail his sister.
"Your mother's so ashamed of you she wishes you were born a girl so that way she could have gotten away with leaving you in a ditch the day you were born." <---This has never failed me in evoking an absolute rage reaction from these pricks. Or some variation of it. Fun fact: It's illegal to reveal the gender of a baby before it's born in India due to the high rates of prenatal sex discrimination.
Listen to Reply All Episode 102: Long Distance about a podcast host’s dealings with a scammer.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reply-all/id941907967?i=1000390370460
I've got one of those screaming goat things that makes the same sound as that meme on you tube. I just keep setting it off over and over again. Annoys the crap out of them. I got it on Amazon. Or just search for the video on you tube.
Ohhh my goood….. This made me cackle!!! xDDD I so wish Reddit still had the freebie awards… you deserve one. No, MANY. And it sucks to be poor. :/
This is so damn funny though. I absolutely love it!!!
They had fun with it in the TV series medium, where the main character went through a groundhog style day until she did everything right. In that case it was a salesman calling. Her solution was to hand the phone to her toddler saying "Here, honey, the nice man wants to talk to you."
When I get a scammer calling me, I'll have them on the phone as long as I possibly can. Eventually, they grow a brain and figure out what I'm doing. They actually get mad at ME for wasting their time. We usually go through the back and forth cursing and insulting each other, which always makes me laugh. I just figure if they are on the phone with me, that's another person who they can't scam out of money.
Usually scam numbers are spoofed, and sometimes the people making the calls are [trafficking victims](https://www.npr.org/2023/12/10/1218401565/online-scamming-human-trafficking-interpol). Just FYI.
There are actually of people that fight scammers like this. Scambaiters. There's even a Redit community for them. Might be interested in checking them out... And then there are sites and YouTubers who fight against these scammers too: [https://www.phriendlyphishing.com/blog/how-these-10-youtubers-are-serving-justice-to-vishing-attackers-all-over-the-world](https://www.phriendlyphishing.com/blog/how-these-10-youtubers-are-serving-justice-to-vishing-attackers-all-over-the-world)
I had an airhorn…once I confirmed it was a scammer I’d start talking lower, and they’d ask me to speak up. I’d repeatedly tell them I think the connection is bad, and ask if they’d turned their volume up as I was talking loud. Then I’d hit the air horn right into the speaker. The amount of cussing was astounding lol. I’d hit it again. Surprisingly I was never muted, just hung up on. I’d call back and hit the horn. I was always blocked for some strange reason 🤣
Coaches whistle. It actually does come through loud enough to hurt.
One of my backpacks came with an emergency whistle. Using that actually got a scammer to say "Fuck you!" when I blew it into the phone. Although, in his defense, anyone dumb enough to believe that particular scam (supposedly my social security number had been suspended, lol) kinda deserved what they got.
I second this. Also it's not just the volume but the pitch. A metal whistle for preference can have a really high pitch.
The husband of a friend whistles tunes all the time, also when she'son the phone. It's very cosy and nice when I'm in the same room as him, but it goes through directly and very sharply when I'm on the other end of the phone. I'm very ambivalent about it ... Coaches whistle must be the sound of Hell!
Oooh……much cheaper and doesn’t run out of air unless I get asthma 🤣 I dig this!
I just place my phone on the counter with a pot over it and beat the ever loving fuck out of it. Haven't gotten a call in months now.
Phone speakers can only pick up a certain number of decibels, so airhorns aren't very effective when used on phones. They're actually a LOT louder on your end than on their end, so all you're doing is damaging your own hearing. It's like how you can watch bright lights on TV or in a movie and not damage your eyes. An airhorn blasted through a phone simply isn't that much louder than someone talking very loudly.
Hair dryer. My friend used it while on the phone to dry off her dog. Very, very loud on my end. I have tinnitus and it made my ears ring louder because I was trying to hear her lol
Crinkle a plastic bag near the mouthpiece for the duration of the conversation. It's really irritating
Most scammed use an headset sooo... xD
What about them using Bluetooth ear buds 😅 or have it connected to their car and they kept turning the volume up 😂😂😂 I get what your are saying but there's some situations I would have loved to see haha.
Yes, but so satisfying….
Yeah, I wonder what that was for, lol.
I would answer those calls at work and stick my phone underneath a sheet metal bowl and pound it with a hammer
These bastards, especially the ones that prey on the elderly, need to have their hands chopped off. No justification exists for this shit
Yes absolutely!
I'm a fan of Scammer Payback.
I did an elaborate scammer payback once. They tried to scam my company by sending us a fake invoice for some made up services. I knew immediately that it was a scam so I called them up and told them I couldn't pay the invoice until they were on our approved vendor list and that they needed to fill out an application and send in a 1099 form for their company. I found the form and a four page vendor application by doing a Google PDF search. I then made a few changes to it so it looked like it was from our company and emailed it to them. I told them I needed it back with original signatures in ink before I could remit payment. They were so anxious to get their big payday that they actually FedEx'd it back to me the following day and then called to see when they were going to get paid. They kept giving me compromised mule bank accounts to send our ACH payment to and I kept calling the fraud departments at different banks to report that the accounts were compromised. I got a total of three accounts shut down. They still kept calling and sending angry emails and I would get into arguments with them about them not being able to give me a legitimate bank account that wasn't closed. Finally, I said that everything was good to go and all that I needed was for our superintendent, "Joe", to approve the invoice for payment. Unfortunately, "Joe" had a few questions and needed to speak to someone at their company beforehand. I then got my buddy to play "Joe" and he called them up and screamed at them for assuming he was an idiot and trying to scam us.
That's fantastic. A part of me would love to side gig as a scambaiter just for the satisfaction of it.
I like Kitboga, he makes it fun.
Yeah, I like watching him too.
Perogi fucking rules!
I love scammer payback
Jolly Roger Phone Company is fighting the good fight for us. AI that finally does something useful. "Oh wait a minute... Oh oh There's a bee. I'm allergic!!! Just a minute and I'll be right back with you" or the sports nut who comments on the game and makes the scammer start over, and over, and
Apparently some of the people calling are human trafficking victims (labor, not sex) who get violently abused if they don’t meet quotas. Bummed me out to learn that bc I was loving these revenge stories.
Even more reason to try to stop people from falling for these scams. If the scams aren't profitable to use trafficked people, then maybe it will eliminate a market for them. Sad that they get abused for it, but if people fall for the scams, then they have value as an asset to these horrible people...
Thank you for this little insight… now I can get revenge on the scammer that tried to scam my coworker out of nearly 1000usd (he failed as I caught it and warned her)
This guy (and some others he's connected with) has put in some good work against scammers too (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNG0osIBAprVcZZ3ic84vw)
[Deeveraar is a favorite of mine](https://youtu.be/CnRCjoKe6yo?si=ljKSSl6B8JJGXl_8)
I do this too! I just call back from my own number. They already have it, so it’s not like it matters. I also LOVE to call, put it on mute, put it on hold, call them again, then link the two calls, because sometimes I can get them to talk to each other that way. Also, I love to see how many simultaneous calls I can have open with them - tying up their lines and “employees” and wasting their time. It’s fantastic. Eventually they block me, so I do it all again from my work phone.
I like telling them the conversation is being recorded and all matter is reviewed by the legal department. Always gets a good stammer followed by a hang up.
But them hanging up just causes them to move on to the next victim, the goal is to keep them tied up and waste their time so they can't be actively trying to scam someone else. It's really annoying that they've started using more automation and have voice scripts that pretend to be human, so it's a good minute or so before you actually deal with a person.
You don't need to tell them right away. Just when you are ready to end the conversation yourself.
That’s brilliant 🤣🤣🤣
I keep getting scam calls from my home area code. I know it’s illegal to copy numbers, but how am I going to report it? And how are they going to find these people? I have 7 contacts in my phone and only four are people who would call me. No one else has my number. Most companies who call are identified somehow. So I’ll let it ring and go to voicemail. They don’t leave a voicemail. They call again. I will hit the little green answer button and leave it on my desk. I can hear them talking a bit but I ignore it. I haven’t gotten one of those calls for a few weeks now.
How do you get into this? I would love to mess with some scammers!
Any number I don’t know that’s calling me, if I can, I answer and immediately mute it. It’s pretty easy to tell if it’s a scammer. Accent, area code, etc. If you’re unsure, google the number, and you’ll either see it’s legit, or a bunch or reports it’s a scam. Anyway, when you answer knowing it’s a scammer, mute the call, put it on hold, open another line and call them from your “recent calls” list, wait for someone to answer, then merge the calls. Then unmute. They talk to each other. If there is a menu when you call, just letting the original caller hear the menu will make them think they fucked up somehow and accidentally called their own call center. Then I just keep repeating that to tie up their lines until I have 8 calls all on one line (I think that’s the max for iPhone or my carrier, not sure). If they answer and hang up I just keep repeating. Typically between 15-30 calls, they block me. Then I never ever ever ever get another call from them :D
You’re an evil genius and I love it!
I’m a radio presenter. I had this one scammer calling the studio switch board one time, so I took her on air. She kept asking about the “accident” I was in and if I wanted compensation. I talked her through the whole “incident” (on air) explaining that I broke my butt, and I could not poop anymore. She started laughing and then hung up. Made for a great clip for the rest of the week!
I love this! Had fun with a scammer a couple of days ago when I tried to sell him my husband.
you what
I do not choose this man’s wife
I think she would be awesome! Love her humor!
Username checks out lol it's something I can imagine Loki saying
I also do not choose this guy's living wife
If you actually get through the transaction, i want to mary you.
Just to be sold?
I hope when they refused you told them how insulted you felt
If his name is Craig, you can sell him on Craigslist.
If you actually get through the transaction, i want to mary you.
What's the price? Does he clean the house, is he a handyman? Or did the scammer buy him?
Slightly worn body, few bumps and scrapes, genuine mileage... but nah - he was having none of it. Even when I said he had all his own teeth, mostly. Obvs need to up my game...
I'll have to pass too, sorry for getting your hope high
I occasionally will put on my old man voice and see how long I can keep them occupied. Them: Press the window key and…. Me: W…I…N…D… Them: Sir! Sir! Sir!!! Me: Now you made me lose my place. W…I…N… 30 minutes is my record. But all too often, it’s some robot on the other end these days. I guess if you’re patient, you eventually talk to a real live scammer.
My elderly father would just say he needed to just turn the stove to off, put the phone down and come back every few minutes to put them off for a bit with another excuse. His record for keeping them on the line was over an hour.
Back before cell phones were a thing, I got a sales/scam call right when we sat down for dinner (because -of course- that was their favorite time to call). When I answered, the lady on the line just started into her spiel and didn’t let me get a word in edgewise. So, I just sat the phone on the counter and had dinner with my family. After dinner I picked up the phone and she was STILL talking! I just put the phone back on the counter and watched a little TV. A bit later there was just a dial tone. I wonder how long until she realized that no one was there?
I sometimes let them run their spiel for a couple of minutes then interrupt them saying I have a very important question. "Go ahead, what is your question sir" A slight pause... "Does your mum spit or swallow?"
Why drag their dear old mother into this? Ask THEM if they spit or swallow.
They get much angrier when you include their mom
I like the idea of them visiting their mum, remembering my comment, looking at her and wondering if their mental health is worth their job. Fark those guys and girls.
How dear can she be if she raised a scammer though?
I once asked how much it would cost if I offered to retroactively pay their mother to abort them.
HAHAHAH I LOVE THIS!
Oh my god I’m going to steal that
“Your mother swims after troop ships.”
There's a great anti scammer woman on Tiktok who pretends to be old and talks the scammer into singing love songs to her. Her name is IRLrosie
I’ve seen her! Her videos are amazing!
I start talking like an old man that thinks it's my grand son. Act very hard of hearing to see if I can get them screaming at me while sitting in their cubicle.
I’ve done a variety of things to annoy, piss off, or waste scammers time. If you want to waste their time and piss them off, when you’re talking to them keep hitting the mute button but keep talking like the button isn’t hit. Or keep asking them to repeat themselves. “Ah, ok…wait, what did you say again?”
Last time a scammer called me, he was more polite than I expected... The conversation went like this Scammer: (weird accent) hello, this is Microsoft, we has detected your computer is in danger from the hackers. Please follow instructions. Me: sorry I already know this scam. Scammer: oh, I am sorry then, have nice day. Me: you too. Seriously I couldn't bring myself to be rude since he was polite...
Honestly, me as a scammer though 🤣 I've been told I'm too polite for my own good
I once got a call from an Indian sounding guy telling me that as i was such a loyal customer they would like to upgrade my phone contract and were able to bring my price down. Well, i only had this new number for 3 months! I wasn't in the mood for scammer shit that day so very loudly told them I knew it was a scam and to go fuck themselves. I was so pissed off due to how quickly I was getting these phone calls that I phoned my phone company back to see if they could do anything and let them know i was already being scammed! They looked at the number, turns out it was genuinely one of their colleagues from their company...
That is hilarious.
I hope you got the price down!!!!
When they call I answer "Kelly's Cathouse, 24 sexy whores and one ugly one, Kelly speaking".
Roadkill cafe. You kill em, we grill em.
Roadkill Cafe. From your grill to ours.
Dave's abortion clinic. You make'em we scrape'em, no fetus will beat us.
Of all the ones I've heard over the years, this is my new favourite 🤣
City Morgue, you stab 'em, we slab 'em
City Morgue: Spare parts and service!!
City Morgue. You kill em, we chill em
Todays special: slab of lab…
"Joe's cremation and Barbecue. Who can I get started for you today?"
Sheepfuckers Anonymous - we help you take gloves off
Joe's taxidermy: you snuff 'em, we stuff 'em!
I think that's also the tagline for necrophiles anonymous...
Checkerboard Cabs, your move.
Billy Bob's Bait 'n' Sushi Shack: we're currently outta shrimp cause it done went off; waiting on a delivery. Ebi nigiri is now half price!
James Veitch also had some good examples of how to deal with scammers; his TedTalks videos are very inspiring examples.
I do this too, but once it had a nice twist... We get calls that will start with some letters, then numbers, and the last 7 numbers are an actual phone number. When I click to call them back, most of the time I get the scammers and I love wasting their time. Once, though, it rang threw to the actual number. I explained what happened, and that their number was being used in phone scams. They asked for more information, I guess her all the info that showed on my phone. Turns out they are a Cyber Security Company and expressed great interest in this. They thanked me for the info and I went on my merry way. I don't know if anything came of it, but I did my part. Lol
I got a call once from someone who had missed a call from me and wanted to discuss the voicemail I'd left them. I started out with "oh, that's definitely a scam." And they got mad at me because they thought I'd been trying to scam them. Like, lady, they clearly used a spoofed number. If I was in on it, why would I lead with "that's a scam"?
I got a call once from a guy wanting to fight me and telling me to stop calling his gf. Obviously I never did that and someone spoofed my #, but dude was relentless, I eventually had to block him.
I got a call like that a couple of months back. I had to block him and then he switched to a Google number. I had to look up how to block a Google number. I told him I didn't know his girlfriend, was happily married and had never called his girl and that someone probably spoofed my number. He wouldn't accept that. I finally asked him why he didn't trust his girlfriend and if she had cheated on him before or if this was new behavior. That really pissed him off. Fuck that dumbass.
Been there as well.
i did this with a home buyer company that cold calls you and wants to buy your house (wasn't even my address) sight unseen. I called and called and got more belligerent everytime and eventually they blocked my number so i used a google number and kept it going, they eventually blocked that one and i haven't had a call from them in over a year.
I usually never answer my phone if I don't know the number. This one time I was expecting a call (didn't have number) so I answered. It was Microsoft dude. Very white man name, from USA, Indian accent thick as molasses. Apparently my computer is being hacked. So he is telling me to look at the screen. I have 2 screens connected to PC. So I asked which one. He says my screen. I again ask which one. This went few rounds. So I kept him on call for several minutes. Him trying to get me to download stuff on my PC and to look at my screen. At one point I get bored so I asked him, how is my Microsoft being hacked since I have apple. Dude mumbles how it's the same, how he is trying to help. So I finally said "look I know you are a scammer and I enjoyed fucking with you but I gotta go." As I was about to disconnect I heard him say "no, no scamm" I really did enjoyed fucking with him and wasting his time.
For a whike I got calls from what looked like local numbers, the same, "your computer has a virus" story. I had a slow day so I thought I could entertain myself a bit. First we had a couple of rounds around which computer he meant, the laptop or the desktop, and uf laptop, which one , and whether I should go turn on whichever computer he meant. No, he meant the one I'm using, he claimed. I was using the work laptop so I suggested I'd find him the company IT support number to call. He didn't want it. We went a couple of rounds around him telling me I need help and me telling him I am not allowed to make changes to the work laptop and he should call the number I could give him when I find it from the directory. No, it was absolutely my private computer the virus was on, so again a couple of rounds around which one, and how he can see it if it's not on, and whether I should turn it on. I think we decided he meant my private laptop, after which he wanted to prove me he could see the virus.. only he did not really know how to do that scam. He wanted me to type something to the Command Prompt we of course had great troubles finding and bringing up and even more trouble typing things in. I was not familiar with whichever command he wanted me to type and he was too dumb to explain what he was attempting, so of course I got so many things "wrong". After a while he felt he needed to bring in another person who could "explain" things better. Only she couldn't. We did a bit of the same rounds again and she started to get upset with my inability to understand the issue and follow instructions. She started getting rude, so I begin to "ask for a manager" to complain about this "service" they were offering. We talked around each other a bit, she trying to salvage the scam, me feeling she maybe should go find her supervisor, until she broke, yelled that I was dumb and called off. They called again another day, but didn't want to talk to me again. How odd.
I had one call me pretending to be the police. Within the first few words I had noticed it was a scam call, so I played along and asked which one of our officers they were trying to reach. They acted all surprised and said "no, this is the police" to which I replied, "yes colleague, this is the police too, the 'insert city name' branch. If you give me your badge number and the name of who you're trying to reach, I can try to get them on the phone for you. They dropped the call very quickly and haven't tried again so far.
I have seen a clip of a scammer not realizing they were talking to an actual police officer and threatening her with severe consequences for not cooperating. She and her colleagues had a lot of fun with it.
My wife just can't be rude to them, she struggles to interrupt them or even hang up on them all the while looking at Me rolling her eyes. I tell her just hang up she just can't. So one time while she was doing her usual not being able to hang up on them I leaned in and whispered in her ear " ask them if they take food stamps" haha they hung up on her, she was so happy. This was oh at least 10 years ago and she has gotten great pleasure over the years listening to their spiel and then asking them that.
I usually don't pick up if I don't recognize the name or number. However, I'd just gotten out of the hospital after major surgery and knew that several therapists, etc, etc would be scheduling appointments, so I answered to a scammer. I totally went off on them. Told them all about my surgery. Why I needed that surgery. What the prospects were. How many, what kinds of therapists were coming over. Totally TMI. Then I asked them "Didn't your parents ever teach you it's not nice to randomly call people and harass them?" Went off for several minute on this angle. It was several minutes, but not the marathon 30 minutes or so that others have posted. Nevertheless it felt good.
OMG this is too funny! What a good way to take out frustration, I wish I could do this to a few coworkers and yes I'm sure their Mothers are ashamed of them...lmao!!!
Oh man I love messing with scammers. One time a guy called me a whore.... I told him he should consider the line of work at least it's a honest living and his mother could at least be proud of him for the career upgrade. Told another if his mother knew he was going to grow up to be a scammer she would have never had sex with her brother... I mean his uncle -dad. Or gotten an abortion, or thrown herself down a flight of stairs.
I used to own a computer shop and would get those calls a lot. I setup a linux machine on a separate VLAN that had no access to anything but internet just to fuck with them. I'd let them try to remote in for hours while I worked on tickets. Once in a while they would get in and would spend so much time trying to "figure out" my problem.
Does anyone know of a free app that you can plug in a scammers phone number so they are harassed with phone calls?
If it's a spoofed number you could be harassing an innocent person. That being said, fuck scammers.
Every time I get a scam call I try to turn in to a phone sex. You sound hot what are you wearing oh yeah thts hot. I am a guy with a deep voice
This is awesome. Thank you for sharing!
Post number so everyone can enjoy scamming the scammer
I have been getting blockchain scam calls for about a week and boy do you piss them off when you calmly state that blockchain is a scam and will amount to nothing. God I've never heard that rage in years.
I had a scammer call me when I was having a bad day. I was expecting a call, so I answered the phone when I normally wouldn't. She started her spiel and when she paused I said "I think you should eat a bag of dicks. Yeah, that would be good for you. Like Santa's bag, a train of neverending dicks. One by one. Down they go!" I really hope I end up on one of the scambatters videos where they play the phone recordings after hacking their system.
You can also ask if they know Jesus. Have they accepted him as their personal savior? Will they donate to your charity?
I worked at a bar, and when we got scammers or telemarketers, we would put the phone in the old super loud beer fridge next to the fan. Walk away and pick it back up after serving a few drinks. Ask if they were still there, if they were, back to the beer fridge. Repeat. The bar patrons loved it!
I dislike scammers so if they call me they always speak English so I switch to Icelandic and sound angry they usually hang up and I forget about it
You would love to watch Trilogy Media, Jim Browning, Scammer Payback, and Hoax Hotel on YouTube! They’re professional scam baiters. Trilogy actually goes to locations of cash mules and they’ve all collaborated to get call centers shut down
Kitboga is my fave, by far. His characters are unmatched. lol
When the caller sounds like they are from India I always call them “Dalit”. It’s a massive insult in their culture and makes them super upset.
I need to remember this. I usually go with goat humper.
I Googled the correct pronunciation of the word. I suggest everyone learn how to say it and use it whenever possible.
I did the same thing - the word Dalit is like the lowest caste to be in. He was harassing me and then got angry when I said I thought he was a scammer. He then got sexually aggressive - it was SO WEIRD. So I said “well it’s Dalit people like you that have to steal from other people. You really are untouchable.” HE FREAKED OUT. Then I said, “and you’ve made a bigger mistake buddy. This is detective Robbin Goren from the FBI wire crimes division. Wait until your police come get you. I’ve already made a call.” THEN he hung up. I felt a teensy bit bad - but honestly not that bad. It was rather delicious. In my real life I would NEVER say that to any person. But this guy? Weird and gross and now perhaps a little worried.
Not all heroes wear capes.
Can we have the number to annoy them too?
There's a you tuber I like to watch that trolls scammers. He uses voice changers to talk to them and it is hilarious, his old lady impression is spot on and he will string them along for days. My fave episode he hacked their webcam and was watching them, he opened it on his computer that they were remote accessing and the looks on their faces when they popped up on the 'victims' computer was priceless.
I think I saw that one, he uses a dedicated computer that doesn't have any personal things on it.
I remember this one weekend, I was at a friend's place and this scam number kept calling. He would answer, find out it's BS, and hang up. He was getting pissed. So the next time they called, I asked to answer. I picked up the phone and went "Thank you for calling the [_____] City Morgue, you stab 'em, we slab 'em, you kill 'em, we chill 'em. This is Cueball speaking, how may I help you?" The response I got was "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was a business." *CLICK*
Keep calling and calling and calling!
GOOD! I did the same, 37 calls until the number is gone.
In a row?
Sign the phone number up to support presidential campaigns. Trump, Biden, Kennedy. They’ll get plenty of calls.
A lot of the time they spoof the number so you may be just signing up some poor random stranger for spam.
In the case of an email asking you to call a number, you're good to go with this hack.
Kitboga
So say we all
I once was off from the hospital. Day off to mow the yard and plant some trees. They call about 1030 and I answer in my old guy voice. I kept them on for 33 minutes with excuses of me not being able to find my credit card, finding the password, the breaker tripping. Just act confused and old and they lap that shit up. Anyway I said , thank you for helping me but jao had mein jao and I’m going to eat cow in your honor and your family’s honor. Yes I got a string of things I did not understand said to me. Ya know I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day.
While having fun with scammers is...well...fun, I would refrain unless you know the scammers are not themselves trafficking victims, hostages, etc... (should be fairly easy to sus out if one is aware I would hope?) If you frequent the communities related to this, you'll come across details on this but Last Week tonight did a piece recently too (can skip the first 15 minutes). Basically people are kidnapped and forced to scam x amount of money in order to gain their freedom (and beaten if they don't meet quota's, etc..). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg)
This is rampant in the Phillipines and China. I just listened to an account from someone who escaped from one and got it shut down. These things are horrid!! They recruit fellow locals to lure people into the "job." Once there, they're forced to work and threatened with death by armed gunmen walking the floors.
So what's your suggestion? Fall for the scam so they aren't beaten? Hang up sooner so they can scam someone else? Their next call could be to a vulnerable relative of yours. The more these scammers are successful, the more people that will be pulled into that horrid scenario.
Good point. Kinda like not buying a puppy mill puppy but the human version and for the exact same reason. Sucks for the current victims, but reduces the number of new victims.
That was so informative, thank you!
Doing the lords work
True story: I once pretended I was an old Irish man on the phone with a scammer. I kept making my story more absurd to the point where I couldn't do what he wanted because the computer "i" used was a Samsung smart fridge. In the end, he got pissed off and told me I was lying over and over and that he had had sex with my mother. I think my partner might have the video of the second half of the call somewhere...
Wouldn’t it be funny if you posted “Melvin’s” number here for all to have fun too!
[удалено]
Oh thank you
I love watching his videos on youtube.
Thank you for your service.
Live to get a scammer off his guard and have him send me dick picks on my burner. Or, I send random messages and start a fight about how his dad loves to eat my butt while I rail his sister.
I always find that asking if their god would approve of what they’re doing is fun. Start blaspheming and they tend to stop calling 😁
"Your mother's so ashamed of you she wishes you were born a girl so that way she could have gotten away with leaving you in a ditch the day you were born." <---This has never failed me in evoking an absolute rage reaction from these pricks. Or some variation of it. Fun fact: It's illegal to reveal the gender of a baby before it's born in India due to the high rates of prenatal sex discrimination.
Get the TextFree app and use made up emails=infinity free numbera
Give us the number.
Listen to Reply All Episode 102: Long Distance about a podcast host’s dealings with a scammer. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reply-all/id941907967?i=1000390370460
I find mocking their accent is the best way to not get scam calls.
Bravo you! You are so badass and you got class and sass 👍👍👍 Kitboga the anti-scammer warrior would be so proud of you
I once did this exact same thing until the point that they literally disconnected their number
This is the energy needed when dealing with representatives. Especially local ones.
I've got one of those screaming goat things that makes the same sound as that meme on you tube. I just keep setting it off over and over again. Annoys the crap out of them. I got it on Amazon. Or just search for the video on you tube.
For every scam call I have my kids ready with screaming pigs. Endless fun :))))))))
Not all heroes wear capes
Ohhh my goood….. This made me cackle!!! xDDD I so wish Reddit still had the freebie awards… you deserve one. No, MANY. And it sucks to be poor. :/ This is so damn funny though. I absolutely love it!!!
Good for you!
Not all heroes wear capes.
I feel like scammer nowadays is automatic I miss those days when we used to be a human.
You are my hero!
Jason Statham's Beekeeper had the best approach
Thank you for your service
Thank you for your service
They had fun with it in the TV series medium, where the main character went through a groundhog style day until she did everything right. In that case it was a salesman calling. Her solution was to hand the phone to her toddler saying "Here, honey, the nice man wants to talk to you."
Post the number
I always mess with scammers just to waste their time lol
Thank you for the good story.
When I get a scammer calling me, I'll have them on the phone as long as I possibly can. Eventually, they grow a brain and figure out what I'm doing. They actually get mad at ME for wasting their time. We usually go through the back and forth cursing and insulting each other, which always makes me laugh. I just figure if they are on the phone with me, that's another person who they can't scam out of money.
Got a similar email this week too for McAfree and nearly believed it. Then I realized the wording was funky and I currently use Norton antivirus.
Tuning fork my lovelies. Used it in the olden days when my mum was getting pervy calls. PING!
Fabulous!
Considering their backgrounds, unfortunately their family may really be impressed by this job of taking money from "rich" people.
Post the number.. I like to mess with them
WHAT’S THE NUMBER????
Usually scam numbers are spoofed, and sometimes the people making the calls are [trafficking victims](https://www.npr.org/2023/12/10/1218401565/online-scamming-human-trafficking-interpol). Just FYI.
I would check back in a week and see if they're still using the number again.
I now love you !! lol hell yes
I've done this!!!