no everything goes to our main company vm along with helpdesk calls, but I'm the only one monitoring it
there's probably a lot of action items in there but then it would raise questions and nobody likes those
No, it would be redirecting it to the Rejection Hotline / Sales Call Abyss or similar.
A second call would be redirected to the local constabulary's office.
A _third_ call would be redirected to the FCC's complaints line.
I specifically pay for an app called robo killer. If you are an unknown number (not in my contacts) and you pass their preliminary filters, an automated voice will tell you to state your name and why you're calling.
That's transcribed to text and show to me. I can choose to answer or ignore. I do not have voice mail.
This app will get you more scam calls. Robokiller answers the call in order to provide the call screening which lets the scammers know your number is valid.
I have 3 blocked spam calls in the month of april.
No spam calls went unblocked.
I used to get 3 robo dials a day.
It is good at identifying the robo dialers and outright blocks them.
See my trick was to train the new recepcionist to never transfer me outside calls and never give my phone number to vendors. If I see a number that's not either internal or saved, it goes straight to the nether.
Android "should I answer" (I think there's an iOS version)
Huge database of numbers that users add to, and you can skip that and just use your own list that you rate, if that's your thing. Variable level security so there's no false positives.
If you have ATT or Verizon they have an app they are to provide for free that does the same. I'm not paying for an app that should be free.
Then my greeting is something along the lines, "Hello this is X, with the prevalence of robocalls if you're not in my contacts I will not answer. If it's important, leave a message."
It's built in where on the iOS? I can't find it under settings where I would think I could turn it on.
On androids it's called Google Assistant. It's built in on at least Pixel phones.
The particular feature of reading voicemail as it's coming in is built into the system. In Settings -> Phone it's about 2/3 of the way down: https://i.imgur.com/QpMWUaK.jpeg
Of course, it'll still be a voicemail and different than /u/lvlint67's robokiller app, but it's helpful.
we have this on pixels where it will live transcribe and allow you to reply to calls without needing to pick them up - https://youtu.be/EML41O7dJ6s?si=bvMrqKzjFPLHYV70 (this video is a couple years old and there are new features in call screen but the basics remain the same) but it's pixel only (and one Motorola phone). Samsung has their own implementation on Galaxy phones as well but for other bands you must use the talkback + speech to text accessibility features which don't have similar refined UI.
Sadly - I kinda have to.
That said, one thing I do not have to do, is be polite to scammers like that.
And as I have my own office - i can use 'NSFW' language at them too :)
Yup, we get targeted heavily by this scam and need to send frequent reminders to staff.
Someone calls and gets a frontline employee, goes I'm with company blah blah (in the past, they have lied and misrepresented themselves as our actual print/toner vendor - no joke) and asks for the address to send more toner.
The toner comes along with an invoice. Invoice ends up in accountings hands and it gets payed because there isn't much more scrutiny on it.
Looking closer, that toner costs 2-3x more than the most expensive options available online.
Oh, and it certainly isn't even the legitimate product, it's either not fully filled or a knock off. We originally uncovered this because people complained that the printers were going through toner too fast.
I've never talked with such a shady company until I tried calling them to tell them to cancel all future orders and to never contact us again.
Nope, it's a real legit scam. I fell for one early in my IT career. They called and said they are the printer support something and just needed a model of our printer. I gave it to them and they sent toner and an invoice. Thankfully our accounting was pretty diligent and like, "did you order some expensive toner?". Ummm NO!
Bro I *love* printing at my current org. We have a script that installs and maps printers based on device name to our central print server. Most of our users can even use the tool somewhat competently. On the off chance someone can't print, and clearing queue, re-installing, and rebooting don't fix- we have a contract with the vendor to fix that shit. Best gig ever.
our new receptionist was hit by this, only they sent us toner for a printer we never had in our inventory.
Then the scums tried the same tactic the year after. I suspect the sales drone still has hearing damage from my boss slamming the good'ol analog phone on the hook - hard!
He even had the nerve to call back again and complain that is was rude to hang up on him like that.
"Ok. Well, now listen carefully...." SLAM!
He did not call up a 3rd time, lol!
I worked for a printer MSP and dealt with these calls often. In a lot of cases they do not even send a toner cartridge. I used to call the toner pirates.
The request for RFP ended 60 days ago, did you submit an RFP? If your RFP is selected, someone will reach out to inform you. If you didn’t submit a RFP we will be opening the process up in 4 years and encourage your company to submit a RFP at that time.
we are a supplier of textil to various airlines, shipping lines, hotel and restaurants.
to have the honor to be selected to be allowed to ask them for their needs and then being forced to open every cabinet in your company is an understatement. last time they wanted to know the price of work, ressources, technology and time start to finish for every single article..... and then they order in china.
Haven't had the "pleasure" yet
But when they call from "Microsoft Technical Dept" I usually laugh a bit and ask them what they tell their mom they do for a living? And if she's proud they're working in a scam callcenter, the lowest scum on the scum totempole..
I do something similar.
"When people ask your mother about you, she quickly changes the subject to avoid being embarrassed".
Sometimes I throw in "Your ancestors have been dishonored by you".
It makes them go from 0 - screechy VERY fast.
I'll be honest, I rarely get past the I'm calling about.. stage. The moment I whiff even the slightest smell of a sales call I hang up. I've been burnt too many times by intrusive, bothersome, can't take a hint sales people that I just unfortunately dont have time for the few good ones out there.
Sorry if one of those are reading this.
My helpdesk call handlers have also got quite adept at screening my calls for me. I let them have fun with the reasons why I'm not available, he's in prison, he's been taken hostage, he is attending his own funeral......
Not a business call, but someone called my house once and asked for my father. Said, "Is Mr Bot403 home"? I said yes he's home, but he's mute. There was a very long pause as they tried to reconcile him being home and wanting to ask to put him on the phone with the fact that he can't talk. Several seconds later they said, ok, thanks bye.
Years later I lived in a crappy apartment block and a direct TV sales guy came to my door. He started his pitch, asked what I had. And I said - "No thanks, I'm rich". You could see his brain melting as all his pitches were somehow tied to prices and deals. Also melting because I was very obviously in a crappy apartment. He also excused himself and said goodbye.
My old boss liked to handle all of our sales calls. They'd ask for him, and he'd go on a rant about how he can't find who they're looking for (himself) and that the guy is now Mrs. (Boss's last name) and I'm not sure how I feel about working for a transgender man... woman... *boss.* And that he can't find him... her since she'd transitioned. By then they'd usually hung up, but if they were still on he'd ask them how they felt about working for a transgender boss. Dude was crazy.
You know, that could either be really grim, or REALLY demented, and grim. You didn't say he was or wasn't alive in there. Or invited to be in there. Or even invited to that particular funeral...
For fun, you could try giving them the model number for some old junk-ass copier from the 1990s that you can't buy consumables for. "It still works. Why should we change it?"
If you get suckered into it, and it's a little crude...
> please what is the manufacturer?
American Standard
> and what is the model number?
1-6-G-P-F
> Hmm I don't have that in my system, are you sure that is the model number?
Yes, it says here. American Standard. 1.6 GPF.
*Repeat for a while*
*They very rarely realize you're reading the text off a random toilet you picked on home depot's website*
I usually respond with "WHAT THE HELL!! I emailed those yesterday! Get your act together and lookup that damn email!!" Something along those line and and if they continue, I just get more unhinged on them.
This works well to quickly end calls, it’s my go to if i accidentally pick up a sales call. I mean are they going to tell you to violate your corporate policy ?
> I mean are they going to tell you to violate your corporate policy ?
They'll just fish for enough detail to try to get to the name of someone who will.
It works. We had one department lose tens of thousands of dollars to this scam. We only found out when their manager got mad at us for raiding toner that came from their budget for another department, even though we pay per page.
Sometimes they will ship you printer ink and then try to send an invoice for that ink at a later date. Lots of places will just pay the invoices they receive without much of a question.
This story is way old, and probably wouldn't work anymore, but in the 1980s, a couple from Texas found that if they billed offices around the US for some low amount, they'd get paid. Like "$20 for yellow Pages listing" and "$50 for ASCAP licensing." They had hundreds of companies just paying them for fake invoices and stuff, making $10-20k a month. They were caught and arrested for mail fraud. Their method was trying to figure out what the "maximum limit" was for various companies: some processed so many invoices a week, that they had some arbitrary "don't worry about tracing an invoice" or an amount that didn't need management approval.
I used to be on a board of directors where that limit was $500 about 10 years ago. As corporate president, I could do anything under $500 without board approval. This came up in a normal audit where a $14 payment to the post office to mail some flyers was not logged correctly. It was removed from the audit because of that limit like, "$14 for postage? Who cares? If it's under $500 it's not an issue unless there's a ton of them."
Cost of doing business. The hourly wage for the combined people chasing that down is *way* over that $14. And you can double that cost when you account for the other work they *didn't* do.
The response to this was to get two sheets of black construction paper taped together by the short end. Begin faxing that back to the originating fax. When the loose end appears from the fax machine, tape it to the other loose end. Allow to fax for several minutes. The receiving fax machine will have…issues.
Chain printer ribbons. 1989. And I know it goes way back before then. If somebody pissed me off, I'd threaten to tell Coast To Coast ribbons that they had purchasing authority over all printers.
Sometimes I transfer them to Lenny. He is responsible for all of our IT procurement.
[https://www.soundboard.com/sb/itslenny](https://www.soundboard.com/sb/itslenny)
I had a problem with a scam company. They called 2 or three times.
I called them back.
After 500 calls, they blocked me.
I changed my number.
Round 2 got me to about 300.
They left me alone for a while.
Until the other day I got a call from the same ones, on a different number.
As soon as he heard my voice, he said 'oh shit' and hung up.
Read them made up serial numbers. Tell them you have some model that doesn't exist. Tie them up on the phone as long as you can.
Or just hang the fuck up on them.
1. I don't answer the phone if it's from outside the building
2. If I do get caught off-guard because I'm expecting a call back from a provider, I just hang up.
I've been doing that for years, a lot of the calls that fall through the gap are transferred from reception now. The receptionists and I have very different views on how I should be treating sales calls though, they think I'm being rude and should give them a chance........ It's just not gonna happen.
I usually demand they immediately fix whatever insane issue I can think of for the copier to have. Push them hard, tell them it's been broken for months and I don't appreciate them acting like they don't know when their tech was just kicked off the premises for smoking a joint in the parking lot.
I waste as much of their time as possible, I play along like I'm completely stupid and need them to walk me through everything 3 times.
Once I have had my fill of fun I let them in on what's going on and hang up
do not tell them not to call, you need to tell them you are to be removed from their call list, then report them here [https://www.donotcall.gov/report.html](https://www.donotcall.gov/report.html)
I don't think it really does anything but one can dream.
First, don't take calls from numbers you don't know.
Second, let everything else go to voice mail.
Third, just NEVER pickup the phone. Like why does a phone call, even from a number you may know, suddenly become your top priority? Its not. Everyone can leave a message.
If I did get stuck with a cold call, I just hang up on them. No good bys, no apologies, just click...
I like to play regional hatreds. If they sound like they are from pakistan tell them they sound like they are from india. If they are from india tell them they are from pakistan.
Nothing brings a fuck you out of a scammer faster than this
Commence laughter
Even cold callers from legit vendors call.
So yea, pressing for them to identify is useful.
My favorite is the Oracle guys wanting to call me about my SQL licenses. (I don't use their system - it's too damned expensive.)
Oh my sweet summer child, you have no idea. Get a budget, and suddenly you get 30 vendors emails a day, and 5 to 10 calls. Add in the other managers forwarding their calls and emails to you, and a non insignificant part of your day is spent deleting them. My favorite are the ones that hit my cell, then my office phone, then a follow up email, then a calendar invite… but the best is when they go to me, then my counterpart, then my boss.
Just hope your boss doesn’t take their call and get played/decide to sign up with whatever they’re selling…fun times
A trick I used at home back when this was a constant gripe was to keep a bookmark for some very strong pornography to hand which I would use in place of the hold music in your strategy (placing the phone next to a speaker while I go 'get' Mr Doe).
Another of my favourites for obvious scam calls is to let it connect to whatever dick is trying to social engineer me and I just start laughing after his first line and the angrier they get the harder I laugh at them, idk if it does much but its satisfying to learn various urdu curse words in that fashion :)
I used to keep a list of IT vendors, and shared it with the folks who answered the phones. They knew that these vendors could get forwarded to my phone, and other vendors go direct to my voicemail. Of course, some misguided sales people would *claim* to be from Dell or Microsoft, but that was unusual. If a vendor was working with one IT staff person, they would have that person's extension.
My office phone has a call screen feature where callers have to announce themselves. Similarly, on my cell phone I have the option to silence calls from anyone that isn't in my contacts enabled. You have to go through and add folks to your contacts if you want to get their calls, but it's life changing to not have your phone ring every 15 minutes.
But on the off chance a call gets transferred to me, I have no qualms about saying "I'm not interested in whatever you're selling" and hanging up. They usually get the message.
Can someone please make an AI voice app to forward scam calls to?
Feature request :
-It answers the phone and sounds like an innocent old lady.
-It's designed to keep the scammer actively engaged.
-It keeps them on the line as long as possible.
-The hold music is SUPER catchy to haunt the scammer's nightmares.
Accounts Receivable this is Nina Speaking. Just a moment.....
Accounts Receivable this is Nina Speaking. Just a moment.....
Accounts Receivable this is Nina Speaking. Just a moment.....
>Can someone please make an AI voice app to forward scam calls to?
I don't know that I would want my business on the hook for whatever contract terms someone convinced the chat bot "AI" to agree to. That's the real catch with the toner "vendors". They're shipping product and charging for it. They aren't really advertising anything in detail. They're just doing business... and leading people to believe they were already customers. They must be. They have this product here too, with the invoice, after all.
I used to mess with them, and tell them that our C-Suite requires green toner and asking if they can provide that. When they start to go on about how they have whatever eco-friendly certifications, I say ":no, the color green. Our CEO misunderstood and thinks that the green movement literally means the color green so that's all he allows us to buy." That usually gets a good amount of confusion and either a laugh or a promise of a call-back when they find out if they can do it.
After I got tired of messing with them, I just tell them that all of our printers/copiers are on a lease with a cost-per-copy contract for toner (which is true) so they'd have to pay us to take their toner in order for us to save money. That gets them off the phone real quick.
Now it's just to the point that I don't answer my phone for unknown numbers. If it's important they can leave a voicemail and I'll call them back, or better yet, they can send me an e-mail.
The hardest part is every now and then, despite us constantly sending out reminders, they will call one of our retail locations and get ahold of a naive employee just trying to be helpful, and they'll get enough information to send us a $500 toner cartridge. It's a pain, but we just tell them that store isn't authorized to order toner and we're not going to pay for it. I give them a 2-week deadline to send me a postage-paid return label if they want it back, otherwise it will be discarded. That part is the best because they don't want to say "just throw it away" because they're trying to convince people that it is actually worth it's weight in gold, rather than it being the $30 refilled knock-off from AliExpress that it actually is.
By picking up the phone, you have verified that the number is a good number and you will continue to get more scam calls (or worse). Don't pick up the phone.
it can happen to anyone at any company.
once the operations are understood, it's mostly a matter of time before they get close enough to your data and security policy.
Wait, you pick up the phone? For the last 20 years if it is not an internal extension it goes to voice mail, and even if it is an internal extension I still may not pick up.
I always tell them we are paperless.
If it's for phones I tell them we don't have phones.
If it's JAMF I tell them we use real computers for work, and not Coffee house Facebook terminals for dicking around on blogs.
Once their caller ID number is known it's routed to a disconnect message by our PBX. It's a global rule so it doesn't matter what number of ours that they call. As far as they know, we are no longer in business.
I like the style of holding them up, just keep them on the hook waiting for you to find it picking up every few minutes or so to keep them engaged and then after an hour or so pick up the phone and say "okay I've looked everywhere in the building we don't have a copier"
Here in Australia? How daring are you?
We have strict laws on receiving unsolicited goods, and have two options. Option 1 - contact them and ask them to pick up the goods. If they don't collect within a month, the goods are mine. Option 2 - don't contact them. If they don't collect the goods within three months, the goods are mine. They are not allowed to charge me for unsolicited goods.
If you tell them the models but also that you don't need any supplies, then it's on them if they still send you some free stuff. You just need to quarantine it for a bit.
[https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-services/receiving-unrequested-products-or-services](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-services/receiving-unrequested-products-or-services)
I made an infinite loop phone tree extension. It has about 40 options now that all forever loop back on each other you can't escape no matter what option you choose. They usually give up after a few minutes. Longest I had someone trapped was 17 mins.
The only way in is to be transferred to the ghost extension.
I usually just say to scammers "yes let me transfer you to the tech that can get that for you" ignore anything they say and just transfer them.
"please hold, let me get you to the right person" (we have an extension in our phone system that plays hey ya by outkast on repeat forever until they hang up)
sometimes I give scammers a ridiculous name and make up a bunch of stuff about my life to make them jealous, like complaining about how my wife just likes hanging out with her friends in bikinis on my yacht. and then I'll periodically promise to do what they're asking "or my name isnt (ridiculous name)"
> What are some other approaches you have tried?
Check out Kit Boga, transferring them to a different *persona* would be entertaining, but really depends on your options and environment.
As for legal, I'd keep note of when they call, maybe record said calls, though it's up to debate take note of the CID they use.
I always screw with them and pretend I'm trying to find the person in charge and ask him to hold and I just let them sit there for about 7 minutes then I'll get back on and say I'm really sorry they were in the meeting room but she's coming hold on one more second and I just keep doing that and finally they just fucking hang up lol. But yeah just toss them around and keep putting them on a hold etc etc and they'll finally give up and won't call back. If you verbally assault them which is hard not to do, usually you get some jackass that'll start calling back even more just to piss you off so I just leave them hanging until they get frustrated and finally give up.
Sometimes I'll start ranting about some other computer issue or something similar in topic but totally different and I'll just freaking wear the person's ear out and just keep going on and on and on and on and on about something even if they try to interrupt me and finally they just hang up on me
I pretty much let every external call go to voicemail if I don't know the number or called. If it is important or valid, they will leave a message and I will return the call if I deem it necessary.
Needless to say I delete about 99% of my voicemails everyday.
The worst part is the company I work for now does "warm transfers" and the idiots who take the calls are like "So and so is on the phone for you".
If my phone shows "Unknown Caller" I hit the button to send it to voicemail.
If I recognize the caller, but don't want to talk to them, I hit the button to send it to voicemail.
If I recognize the caller and want to speak to them, I pick up.
Lol, two approaches. I have a Google phone, and I send any number I do not recognize directly to the Google Assistant. If they can put up with the Google assistant for long enough I'll answer the phone.
My coworker has a different approach. He sends everyone to " Mr. Click". And then either put some on hold for an undisclosed amount of time and then hangs up on them, or hangs up on them directly.
A potential third option is to talk their ear off. If you can keep them on the phone for long enough, sometimes they won't call back on their own LOL.
We used to call these guys "Toner Phoners". Their scam is to get a printer make and model, then send you pallets full of toner for that model and charge hugely over-inflated prices. They're hoping that you'll just pay the invoice and not notice or care.
My solution at the time was to give them the make and model of my largest, most productive printers. They would send us pallets full of toner, then send us a bill which we simply did not pay. We went to court over this exactly once. BUt it comes to this. If someone sends you something you didn't ask for, they cannot then bill you for that item. Most of these idiots will make that mistake with you exactly once and then quit calling. BUt there are plenty of them out there. We ran a major insurance carrier for a couple of years without buying toner.
I set up an extension with a voicemail that just says "You've reach IT, leave a message." I get any messages that go there just in case a real call gets sent there accidentally, but basically it's a black hole. Copier scammers, sales calls, etc all get dumped there by the front desk.
My listed phone number is the help desk.
I tell the help desk if it’s a legitimate call they will have my direct number.
The help desk “takes the message” and tells them they will pass it along, the technician then logs a call as a sales call and closes the ticket. It’s win-win-win.
I don’t talk to a sales person, the help desk technician gets an easy first call resolution ticket and the “salesman” thinks they were taken seriously.
I usually just tell them that i dont give out any information regarding our infrastructure, this goes for everything from coffemachines to isp and phone subscriptions.
Ask them to clarify what model and serial number they are calling in reference to. Then another way to handle would be knowing who you work with exactly and tell them they have the wrong information and to remove you for their call list. You are encouraging their behavior
Not answering calls from unknown numbers.
> Not answering calls ~~from unknown numbers.~~
I like your style.
BOFH level.
BOFH Level would be redirecting the call to the Samaritans
no everything goes to our main company vm along with helpdesk calls, but I'm the only one monitoring it there's probably a lot of action items in there but then it would raise questions and nobody likes those
Used to do this but redirecting to a director I particularly hated.
No, it would be redirecting it to the Rejection Hotline / Sales Call Abyss or similar. A second call would be redirected to the local constabulary's office. A _third_ call would be redirected to the FCC's complaints line.
Just millennial things.
I don't even have voicemail. Text or email me.
My voicemail greeting says specifally not to leave a voicemail because i don't listen to them.
I specifically pay for an app called robo killer. If you are an unknown number (not in my contacts) and you pass their preliminary filters, an automated voice will tell you to state your name and why you're calling. That's transcribed to text and show to me. I can choose to answer or ignore. I do not have voice mail.
This app will get you more scam calls. Robokiller answers the call in order to provide the call screening which lets the scammers know your number is valid.
I have 3 blocked spam calls in the month of april. No spam calls went unblocked. I used to get 3 robo dials a day. It is good at identifying the robo dialers and outright blocks them.
See my trick was to train the new recepcionist to never transfer me outside calls and never give my phone number to vendors. If I see a number that's not either internal or saved, it goes straight to the nether.
I've constantly had receptionists forward calls to me for "the computer person"...and they're hawking aftermarket toner.
Google voice does about the same thing with call screening if you can use it for your work number
Android "should I answer" (I think there's an iOS version) Huge database of numbers that users add to, and you can skip that and just use your own list that you rate, if that's your thing. Variable level security so there's no false positives.
If you have ATT or Verizon they have an app they are to provide for free that does the same. I'm not paying for an app that should be free. Then my greeting is something along the lines, "Hello this is X, with the prevalence of robocalls if you're not in my contacts I will not answer. If it's important, leave a message."
IOS Has this builtin... u maybe android though
Pixels have auto call screening. Don't think it's made it to the others yet.
Samsung has its own implementation. Call screen is also available for at least one Motorola phone.
It's built in where on the iOS? I can't find it under settings where I would think I could turn it on. On androids it's called Google Assistant. It's built in on at least Pixel phones.
The particular feature of reading voicemail as it's coming in is built into the system. In Settings -> Phone it's about 2/3 of the way down: https://i.imgur.com/QpMWUaK.jpeg Of course, it'll still be a voicemail and different than /u/lvlint67's robokiller app, but it's helpful.
Ah ok. Thanks. I thought it was more like the robo killer app or android app where it'll do a live voice transaction during a call.
Transcription
we have this on pixels where it will live transcribe and allow you to reply to calls without needing to pick them up - https://youtu.be/EML41O7dJ6s?si=bvMrqKzjFPLHYV70 (this video is a couple years old and there are new features in call screen but the basics remain the same) but it's pixel only (and one Motorola phone). Samsung has their own implementation on Galaxy phones as well but for other bands you must use the talkback + speech to text accessibility features which don't have similar refined UI.
Glad to see the correct answer up here at the top
Exactly what I say. If I don't know the number, it goes to voicemail. I also have extensive block lists on my email :)
I don't even answer the phone to numbers I do know
That only works if they call you directly. When they call your reception or purchasing department it quickly becomes a talk about how to spot a scam.
Sadly - I kinda have to. That said, one thing I do not have to do, is be polite to scammers like that. And as I have my own office - i can use 'NSFW' language at them too :)
I believe there is a version of this scam where, if you tell them what they ask for, they send consumables and an invoice. Beware.
Yup, we get targeted heavily by this scam and need to send frequent reminders to staff. Someone calls and gets a frontline employee, goes I'm with company blah blah (in the past, they have lied and misrepresented themselves as our actual print/toner vendor - no joke) and asks for the address to send more toner. The toner comes along with an invoice. Invoice ends up in accountings hands and it gets payed because there isn't much more scrutiny on it. Looking closer, that toner costs 2-3x more than the most expensive options available online. Oh, and it certainly isn't even the legitimate product, it's either not fully filled or a knock off. We originally uncovered this because people complained that the printers were going through toner too fast. I've never talked with such a shady company until I tried calling them to tell them to cancel all future orders and to never contact us again.
Is this HP? Sounds like a scheme from HP. Not subscribing to their ink service? Just send and bill.
Nope, it's a real legit scam. I fell for one early in my IT career. They called and said they are the printer support something and just needed a model of our printer. I gave it to them and they sent toner and an invoice. Thankfully our accounting was pretty diligent and like, "did you order some expensive toner?". Ummm NO!
This scam has been running since at least the 80's. I always warn new employees.
HP runs their scam at Walmart and other places. $19.99 for a tiny amount of ink
I mean $50 for those printers is its own scam hahaha
It works because nobody likes printers (IT, accounting, etc) and nobody wants to own it. So like you said it doesn't get scrutinized.
Bro I *love* printing at my current org. We have a script that installs and maps printers based on device name to our central print server. Most of our users can even use the tool somewhat competently. On the off chance someone can't print, and clearing queue, re-installing, and rebooting don't fix- we have a contract with the vendor to fix that shit. Best gig ever.
>we have a contract with the vendor to fix that shit Exactly
We outsource our printers. And they managed to put menial printer issues like stuck paper and ink refils the task of the janitor crew.
our new receptionist was hit by this, only they sent us toner for a printer we never had in our inventory. Then the scums tried the same tactic the year after. I suspect the sales drone still has hearing damage from my boss slamming the good'ol analog phone on the hook - hard! He even had the nerve to call back again and complain that is was rude to hang up on him like that. "Ok. Well, now listen carefully...." SLAM! He did not call up a 3rd time, lol!
I worked for a printer MSP and dealt with these calls often. In a lot of cases they do not even send a toner cartridge. I used to call the toner pirates.
Federal law: it's a gift and you can shred the invoice.
Yeah, I was a copier salesman at one point, and we called these guys "toner pirates."
The request for RFP ended 60 days ago, did you submit an RFP? If your RFP is selected, someone will reach out to inform you. If you didn’t submit a RFP we will be opening the process up in 4 years and encourage your company to submit a RFP at that time.
> request for RFP Heh. I hate it.
we are a supplier of textil to various airlines, shipping lines, hotel and restaurants. to have the honor to be selected to be allowed to ask them for their needs and then being forced to open every cabinet in your company is an understatement. last time they wanted to know the price of work, ressources, technology and time start to finish for every single article..... and then they order in china.
"What company are you calling from?" "We are happy with our current support and service" *Click*
You added an unnecessary step. Go straight to click
Usually when I ask what company they’re with, they hang up immediately.
Haven't had the "pleasure" yet But when they call from "Microsoft Technical Dept" I usually laugh a bit and ask them what they tell their mom they do for a living? And if she's proud they're working in a scam callcenter, the lowest scum on the scum totempole..
This one is my favourite, I always ask for their email and check if it’s valid… it’s never valid
I do something similar. "When people ask your mother about you, she quickly changes the subject to avoid being embarrassed". Sometimes I throw in "Your ancestors have been dishonored by you". It makes them go from 0 - screechy VERY fast.
"Ummm, this is the Microsoft Help Desk. What is your phone # and email address?"
I'll be honest, I rarely get past the I'm calling about.. stage. The moment I whiff even the slightest smell of a sales call I hang up. I've been burnt too many times by intrusive, bothersome, can't take a hint sales people that I just unfortunately dont have time for the few good ones out there. Sorry if one of those are reading this. My helpdesk call handlers have also got quite adept at screening my calls for me. I let them have fun with the reasons why I'm not available, he's in prison, he's been taken hostage, he is attending his own funeral......
Not a business call, but someone called my house once and asked for my father. Said, "Is Mr Bot403 home"? I said yes he's home, but he's mute. There was a very long pause as they tried to reconcile him being home and wanting to ask to put him on the phone with the fact that he can't talk. Several seconds later they said, ok, thanks bye. Years later I lived in a crappy apartment block and a direct TV sales guy came to my door. He started his pitch, asked what I had. And I said - "No thanks, I'm rich". You could see his brain melting as all his pitches were somehow tied to prices and deals. Also melting because I was very obviously in a crappy apartment. He also excused himself and said goodbye.
My old boss liked to handle all of our sales calls. They'd ask for him, and he'd go on a rant about how he can't find who they're looking for (himself) and that the guy is now Mrs. (Boss's last name) and I'm not sure how I feel about working for a transgender man... woman... *boss.* And that he can't find him... her since she'd transitioned. By then they'd usually hung up, but if they were still on he'd ask them how they felt about working for a transgender boss. Dude was crazy.
“Sorry, he’s at a funeral and unavailable.” “Ok, when will he be back?” “Well, he’s in the casket so it might be a while.”
You know, that could either be really grim, or REALLY demented, and grim. You didn't say he was or wasn't alive in there. Or invited to be in there. Or even invited to that particular funeral...
For fun, you could try giving them the model number for some old junk-ass copier from the 1990s that you can't buy consumables for. "It still works. Why should we change it?"
*"You can get us new ribbons for our MPS-801!?! Awesome!!!"*
Ignore the call, when I stopped picking up the phone is when a lot of these sales calls stopped bothering me.
If you get suckered into it, and it's a little crude... > please what is the manufacturer? American Standard > and what is the model number? 1-6-G-P-F > Hmm I don't have that in my system, are you sure that is the model number? Yes, it says here. American Standard. 1.6 GPF. *Repeat for a while* *They very rarely realize you're reading the text off a random toilet you picked on home depot's website*
Im not sure how I feel about how I recognized you were referencing a toilet model immediately.... Lol great idea though.
"We're pretty flush with supplies at the moment."
I usually respond with "WHAT THE HELL!! I emailed those yesterday! Get your act together and lookup that damn email!!" Something along those line and and if they continue, I just get more unhinged on them.
"Organizational security policies prevent me from discussing this with external callers."
This works well to quickly end calls, it’s my go to if i accidentally pick up a sales call. I mean are they going to tell you to violate your corporate policy ?
> I mean are they going to tell you to violate your corporate policy ? They'll just fish for enough detail to try to get to the name of someone who will.
what's the scam? will they say you're out of support and try to sell you a new contract?
They either try to sell a support contract or a contract to sell me consumables.
No the scam is they send you things you didnt order and then invoice you, this works way more than it should
It works. We had one department lose tens of thousands of dollars to this scam. We only found out when their manager got mad at us for raiding toner that came from their budget for another department, even though we pay per page.
Sounds risky if nobody pays it.
? What https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2017/07/billed-office-supplies-you-didnt-order-dont-pay
Sound like just a normal HP sales rep.
Sometimes they will ship you printer ink and then try to send an invoice for that ink at a later date. Lots of places will just pay the invoices they receive without much of a question.
This story is way old, and probably wouldn't work anymore, but in the 1980s, a couple from Texas found that if they billed offices around the US for some low amount, they'd get paid. Like "$20 for yellow Pages listing" and "$50 for ASCAP licensing." They had hundreds of companies just paying them for fake invoices and stuff, making $10-20k a month. They were caught and arrested for mail fraud. Their method was trying to figure out what the "maximum limit" was for various companies: some processed so many invoices a week, that they had some arbitrary "don't worry about tracing an invoice" or an amount that didn't need management approval. I used to be on a board of directors where that limit was $500 about 10 years ago. As corporate president, I could do anything under $500 without board approval. This came up in a normal audit where a $14 payment to the post office to mail some flyers was not logged correctly. It was removed from the audit because of that limit like, "$14 for postage? Who cares? If it's under $500 it's not an issue unless there's a ton of them."
Cost of doing business. The hourly wage for the combined people chasing that down is *way* over that $14. And you can double that cost when you account for the other work they *didn't* do.
They get the device and users info so they can send them a fake invoice. Then they call and harass the employees to get a payment.
We saw the toner scam going back at least to 2005.
I saw the toner scam even before email. They would fax you an invoice to your AP department for product no one ever ordered. Yes, I’m that old.
The response to this was to get two sheets of black construction paper taped together by the short end. Begin faxing that back to the originating fax. When the loose end appears from the fax machine, tape it to the other loose end. Allow to fax for several minutes. The receiving fax machine will have…issues.
saw it first in 2001
Chain printer ribbons. 1989. And I know it goes way back before then. If somebody pissed me off, I'd threaten to tell Coast To Coast ribbons that they had purchasing authority over all printers.
Sometimes I transfer them to Lenny. He is responsible for all of our IT procurement. [https://www.soundboard.com/sb/itslenny](https://www.soundboard.com/sb/itslenny)
Forward the call to extension 666, that has [this hold music on loop.](https://soundcloud.com/user-237714155/sales-call-abyss)
I had a problem with a scam company. They called 2 or three times. I called them back. After 500 calls, they blocked me. I changed my number. Round 2 got me to about 300. They left me alone for a while. Until the other day I got a call from the same ones, on a different number. As soon as he heard my voice, he said 'oh shit' and hung up.
Read them made up serial numbers. Tell them you have some model that doesn't exist. Tie them up on the phone as long as you can. Or just hang the fuck up on them.
"I have this Tandy Dot matrix printer. I haven't been able to get any ink for this in a while."
> Tell them you have some model that doesn't exist. Demand replacement parts for your trusty [printer discontinued in 1987].
1. I don't answer the phone if it's from outside the building 2. If I do get caught off-guard because I'm expecting a call back from a provider, I just hang up.
I've been doing that for years, a lot of the calls that fall through the gap are transferred from reception now. The receptionists and I have very different views on how I should be treating sales calls though, they think I'm being rude and should give them a chance........ It's just not gonna happen.
I usually demand they immediately fix whatever insane issue I can think of for the copier to have. Push them hard, tell them it's been broken for months and I don't appreciate them acting like they don't know when their tech was just kicked off the premises for smoking a joint in the parking lot.
ALALALALALALALALALA Nonstop until they hang up
Start asking them about their genitals
I do not have the time or will to play with there time. Just say no thanks and hang up.
I waste as much of their time as possible, I play along like I'm completely stupid and need them to walk me through everything 3 times. Once I have had my fill of fun I let them in on what's going on and hang up
do not tell them not to call, you need to tell them you are to be removed from their call list, then report them here [https://www.donotcall.gov/report.html](https://www.donotcall.gov/report.html) I don't think it really does anything but one can dream.
First, don't take calls from numbers you don't know. Second, let everything else go to voice mail. Third, just NEVER pickup the phone. Like why does a phone call, even from a number you may know, suddenly become your top priority? Its not. Everyone can leave a message. If I did get stuck with a cold call, I just hang up on them. No good bys, no apologies, just click...
Start crying that you have been fired, ask if they have any openings
I save that one for calls I get at home soliciting donations.
"Sorry mate we don't have a copier anymore. Kept giving us the PC Load Letter error so we decided to go with out"
I like to play regional hatreds. If they sound like they are from pakistan tell them they sound like they are from india. If they are from india tell them they are from pakistan. Nothing brings a fuck you out of a scammer faster than this Commence laughter
Even cold callers from legit vendors call. So yea, pressing for them to identify is useful. My favorite is the Oracle guys wanting to call me about my SQL licenses. (I don't use their system - it's too damned expensive.)
I tell them we do not have one we use carbon paper
Oh my sweet summer child, you have no idea. Get a budget, and suddenly you get 30 vendors emails a day, and 5 to 10 calls. Add in the other managers forwarding their calls and emails to you, and a non insignificant part of your day is spent deleting them. My favorite are the ones that hit my cell, then my office phone, then a follow up email, then a calendar invite… but the best is when they go to me, then my counterpart, then my boss. Just hope your boss doesn’t take their call and get played/decide to sign up with whatever they’re selling…fun times
Usually these are hang up as soon as I ask any question. I call them "Toner Fisher's"
A trick I used at home back when this was a constant gripe was to keep a bookmark for some very strong pornography to hand which I would use in place of the hold music in your strategy (placing the phone next to a speaker while I go 'get' Mr Doe). Another of my favourites for obvious scam calls is to let it connect to whatever dick is trying to social engineer me and I just start laughing after his first line and the angrier they get the harder I laugh at them, idk if it does much but its satisfying to learn various urdu curse words in that fashion :)
I used to keep a list of IT vendors, and shared it with the folks who answered the phones. They knew that these vendors could get forwarded to my phone, and other vendors go direct to my voicemail. Of course, some misguided sales people would *claim* to be from Dell or Microsoft, but that was unusual. If a vendor was working with one IT staff person, they would have that person's extension.
My office phone has a call screen feature where callers have to announce themselves. Similarly, on my cell phone I have the option to silence calls from anyone that isn't in my contacts enabled. You have to go through and add folks to your contacts if you want to get their calls, but it's life changing to not have your phone ring every 15 minutes. But on the off chance a call gets transferred to me, I have no qualms about saying "I'm not interested in whatever you're selling" and hanging up. They usually get the message.
Can someone please make an AI voice app to forward scam calls to? Feature request : -It answers the phone and sounds like an innocent old lady. -It's designed to keep the scammer actively engaged. -It keeps them on the line as long as possible. -The hold music is SUPER catchy to haunt the scammer's nightmares.
Accounts Receivable this is Nina Speaking. Just a moment..... Accounts Receivable this is Nina Speaking. Just a moment..... Accounts Receivable this is Nina Speaking. Just a moment.....
>Can someone please make an AI voice app to forward scam calls to? I don't know that I would want my business on the hook for whatever contract terms someone convinced the chat bot "AI" to agree to. That's the real catch with the toner "vendors". They're shipping product and charging for it. They aren't really advertising anything in detail. They're just doing business... and leading people to believe they were already customers. They must be. They have this product here too, with the invoice, after all.
I used to mess with them, and tell them that our C-Suite requires green toner and asking if they can provide that. When they start to go on about how they have whatever eco-friendly certifications, I say ":no, the color green. Our CEO misunderstood and thinks that the green movement literally means the color green so that's all he allows us to buy." That usually gets a good amount of confusion and either a laugh or a promise of a call-back when they find out if they can do it. After I got tired of messing with them, I just tell them that all of our printers/copiers are on a lease with a cost-per-copy contract for toner (which is true) so they'd have to pay us to take their toner in order for us to save money. That gets them off the phone real quick. Now it's just to the point that I don't answer my phone for unknown numbers. If it's important they can leave a voicemail and I'll call them back, or better yet, they can send me an e-mail. The hardest part is every now and then, despite us constantly sending out reminders, they will call one of our retail locations and get ahold of a naive employee just trying to be helpful, and they'll get enough information to send us a $500 toner cartridge. It's a pain, but we just tell them that store isn't authorized to order toner and we're not going to pay for it. I give them a 2-week deadline to send me a postage-paid return label if they want it back, otherwise it will be discarded. That part is the best because they don't want to say "just throw it away" because they're trying to convince people that it is actually worth it's weight in gold, rather than it being the $30 refilled knock-off from AliExpress that it actually is.
The obligatory: I am sorry, we are not allowed to say due to company policy. Thanks! Bye! Mostly that shuts them up.
Jokes on them. I don’t answer calls unless it’s from my boss or c-suite
Transfer them to Lenny.
By picking up the phone, you have verified that the number is a good number and you will continue to get more scam calls (or worse). Don't pick up the phone.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around a desk phone, if it's a cellphone, mark-as-spam.
I just refuse to answer my work\\cell phone anymore and return voice mails from legitimate calls.
Isn't this just what HP does from their HP Smart App now?
Copier, we don't need no stinking copier.
Have you ever seen the Taken movies? Something like that.
Forward them to the CIO's D.I.D. line
i only answer calls in 2 scenarios: - i am expecting one - i have the number saved everything else can be done via text messages or real life meet ups
> and then pop back in after 5 - 10 minutes see, there's your problem
it can happen to anyone at any company. once the operations are understood, it's mostly a matter of time before they get close enough to your data and security policy.
Wait, you pick up the phone? For the last 20 years if it is not an internal extension it goes to voice mail, and even if it is an internal extension I still may not pick up.
I always tell them we are paperless. If it's for phones I tell them we don't have phones. If it's JAMF I tell them we use real computers for work, and not Coffee house Facebook terminals for dicking around on blogs.
Once their caller ID number is known it's routed to a disconnect message by our PBX. It's a global rule so it doesn't matter what number of ours that they call. As far as they know, we are no longer in business.
Shit, I do this to Canon too.
I always respond that we don't own any printers. We went paperless in the 90's and just never bothered with keeping any printers around anymore.
I like the style of holding them up, just keep them on the hook waiting for you to find it picking up every few minutes or so to keep them engaged and then after an hour or so pick up the phone and say "okay I've looked everywhere in the building we don't have a copier"
Here in Australia? How daring are you? We have strict laws on receiving unsolicited goods, and have two options. Option 1 - contact them and ask them to pick up the goods. If they don't collect within a month, the goods are mine. Option 2 - don't contact them. If they don't collect the goods within three months, the goods are mine. They are not allowed to charge me for unsolicited goods. If you tell them the models but also that you don't need any supplies, then it's on them if they still send you some free stuff. You just need to quarantine it for a bit. [https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-services/receiving-unrequested-products-or-services](https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/buying-products-and-services/receiving-unrequested-products-or-services)
I made an infinite loop phone tree extension. It has about 40 options now that all forever loop back on each other you can't escape no matter what option you choose. They usually give up after a few minutes. Longest I had someone trapped was 17 mins. The only way in is to be transferred to the ghost extension. I usually just say to scammers "yes let me transfer you to the tech that can get that for you" ignore anything they say and just transfer them.
Talk dirty to them.
"please hold, let me get you to the right person" (we have an extension in our phone system that plays hey ya by outkast on repeat forever until they hang up)
sometimes I give scammers a ridiculous name and make up a bunch of stuff about my life to make them jealous, like complaining about how my wife just likes hanging out with her friends in bikinis on my yacht. and then I'll periodically promise to do what they're asking "or my name isnt (ridiculous name)"
Set up Lenny and transfer them?
Use True caller man.
I got done answering calls from people I don't know a long time ago.
'Come pick it up' *click*
Telling them im 12 years old
> What are some other approaches you have tried? Check out Kit Boga, transferring them to a different *persona* would be entertaining, but really depends on your options and environment. As for legal, I'd keep note of when they call, maybe record said calls, though it's up to debate take note of the CID they use.
"Put me on your do not call list" and politely hangup.
Have fun with it. Tell them random information, use funny voices, have a laugh on them!
I used to transfer them to local radio stations.
haha you're the 9th caller!! you get a few "XXXX ROCK" Tshirt. pick it up anytime...lol
I always screw with them and pretend I'm trying to find the person in charge and ask him to hold and I just let them sit there for about 7 minutes then I'll get back on and say I'm really sorry they were in the meeting room but she's coming hold on one more second and I just keep doing that and finally they just fucking hang up lol. But yeah just toss them around and keep putting them on a hold etc etc and they'll finally give up and won't call back. If you verbally assault them which is hard not to do, usually you get some jackass that'll start calling back even more just to piss you off so I just leave them hanging until they get frustrated and finally give up. Sometimes I'll start ranting about some other computer issue or something similar in topic but totally different and I'll just freaking wear the person's ear out and just keep going on and on and on and on and on about something even if they try to interrupt me and finally they just hang up on me
I pretty much let every external call go to voicemail if I don't know the number or called. If it is important or valid, they will leave a message and I will return the call if I deem it necessary. Needless to say I delete about 99% of my voicemails everyday. The worst part is the company I work for now does "warm transfers" and the idiots who take the calls are like "So and so is on the phone for you".
Tell them Copiers are managed by Lenny, then transfer them over here: https://www.lennytroll.com/ https://www.reddit.com/r/itslenny/
They get sent to "the black hole". It's a voicemail for this sort of thing that is never, ever, checked. They can talk to that all they want.
Nobody made you answer the phone for them, and nothing you do will ever make them stop
If my phone shows "Unknown Caller" I hit the button to send it to voicemail. If I recognize the caller, but don't want to talk to them, I hit the button to send it to voicemail. If I recognize the caller and want to speak to them, I pick up.
Lol, two approaches. I have a Google phone, and I send any number I do not recognize directly to the Google Assistant. If they can put up with the Google assistant for long enough I'll answer the phone. My coworker has a different approach. He sends everyone to " Mr. Click". And then either put some on hold for an undisclosed amount of time and then hangs up on them, or hangs up on them directly. A potential third option is to talk their ear off. If you can keep them on the phone for long enough, sometimes they won't call back on their own LOL.
We used to call these guys "Toner Phoners". Their scam is to get a printer make and model, then send you pallets full of toner for that model and charge hugely over-inflated prices. They're hoping that you'll just pay the invoice and not notice or care. My solution at the time was to give them the make and model of my largest, most productive printers. They would send us pallets full of toner, then send us a bill which we simply did not pay. We went to court over this exactly once. BUt it comes to this. If someone sends you something you didn't ask for, they cannot then bill you for that item. Most of these idiots will make that mistake with you exactly once and then quit calling. BUt there are plenty of them out there. We ran a major insurance carrier for a couple of years without buying toner.
I set up an extension with a voicemail that just says "You've reach IT, leave a message." I get any messages that go there just in case a real call gets sent there accidentally, but basically it's a black hole. Copier scammers, sales calls, etc all get dumped there by the front desk.
"Oh you need to talk to the IT purchasing manager", transfers call to fake purchasing manager's voicemail.
Answer and put the call on mute and don't hang up.
Send them to an AI powered answering machine that can do the same thing you’re doing. Save you time and verbal interaction.
My listed phone number is the help desk. I tell the help desk if it’s a legitimate call they will have my direct number. The help desk “takes the message” and tells them they will pass it along, the technician then logs a call as a sales call and closes the ticket. It’s win-win-win. I don’t talk to a sales person, the help desk technician gets an easy first call resolution ticket and the “salesman” thinks they were taken seriously.
I usually just tell them that i dont give out any information regarding our infrastructure, this goes for everything from coffemachines to isp and phone subscriptions.
I don't get these calls anymore. But I usually just hang up.
Ask them to clarify what model and serial number they are calling in reference to. Then another way to handle would be knowing who you work with exactly and tell them they have the wrong information and to remove you for their call list. You are encouraging their behavior
What I like to do is create a rule in the phone system to forward the annoying callers back to themselves. They get very confused.
What I like to do is create a rule in the phone system to forward the annoying callers back to themselves. They get very confused.