Scams!

[Way2slow]

Phone and computers have apparently become big business for the scammers and it seem nothing is being done to slow them down.  I guess there to million billions being made by the companies marketing stuff to "Protect You" from them.  

Between computer emails and phone messages I get at least a 1/2 dozen a day.  My PayPal has been frozen, verify you account, My internet has been frozen, verify your account.  There has been unknown computer to access your ebay, verify your account.  Your automobile warranty had expired, update your warranty now.  There is a federal warrant out for your arrest, Call the federal law enforcement now.  Your bank account has been frozen for suspicious activity (banks I don't even have an account with) verify your account.  The list goes on and on, these are just some of the most frequent.

After the fourth call in one day, I even answered one of the Federal Warrant calls and told them they were as much Federal I was an astronaut and would they take me off their call list.  He just replied "absolutely not" and hung up.  

I keep my phone on Do Not Disturb and only allow callers on my contact list so I don't don't know they are calling until I actually look at my recent calls on the phone and see all the red missed calls, but dang, I get tired of deleting them.  

Same with my internet, I just delete them, don't even open them if I don't know who them.  If it's something I might want to check on, I just sign into my account on line, I dang sure wouldn't respond to no email.

[TnRiver46]

I wait for a human on the line and try to waste their time. It’s the only way I’ve found to slow down the calls. When the auto warranty calls come in tell them you have all kinds of cars just make sure they are all old, I make them up on the fly . It’s kind of fun, they always ask about any other vehicles my family might have then eventually hang up on me. The key is to waste a human’s time and they don’t care for that 

[Way2slow]

Yea, I used to do that, but I've decided that only makes them add you to a dozen more list just out of spite.  Every now and then I will do that now to for payback, play dumber than dirt until they finally just hang up on me.

[TnRiver46]

They don’t call me much anymore thankfully. it’s kind of ridiculous because I need to answer phone calls to make money, and a lot of our customers won’t answer my calls because they think I’m a robot 

[throttleplate]

watch this guy, he scams the scammers when they get access to his computer as he lets them on and then the good guy deletes the scammers files. I have watched a hundred of his videos and its very informative and entertaining. Here is an example.

 

 

 

[Michigander]

An easy way to get off the list is to say, "Ma'am/Sir, this is a government number, please remove from your call list."

 

Works great. ?

[Choporoz]

I quit answering my phone years ago

[GreenPig]

If I get a call and a name from my directory doesn't appear with it I will not answer. It took my lawyer and doctors a while to figure out to leave a message or they're not communicating with me. If a email isn't from BR, TW, UPS, FEDEX, or USPS it immediately goes in my Spam folder.

[CrankFate]

Having been assaulted by a teacher in junior high school because I complained about a guy that worked there who got a student pregnant and later forced her to get an abortion, I learned that for every one victim there are at least a dozen people helping the guilty party.

[OCdockskipper]

Another fun thing to do with human scammers is to flip the script on them.  Engage them when you answer the call and as they get ready to launch into their spiel, interrupt them and tell them you are a consultant and you get paid for giving out information.  Ask them for their credit card number so you can bill them for your time before you proceed.  You get a lot of "Uhm" responses.

 

Or you can go the CrankYankers route and answer the phone as if you are someone with special needs.  No matter what they say, respond with "I won?  I won the contest?  Mom, Mom, I won!!  We won mom, we won!!"  Just keep repeating variances of that over & over as they try to explain themselves and calm you down.

[CrankFate]

Or you can go along with it like 99.9% of people do in real life. That girl in the story above later married him with parental consent so he didn’t get indicted. He then got her a job in a junior high school, where a kid in her care was killed because she didn’t stop the fight. It’s all good because the infrastructure cover for her, too. Then he cheated on her a dozen times and they got divorced. After shaking their families down for tens of thousands of dollars. So I guess you can say they all lived happily ever after.

[GaryH]

When it comes up potential spam, I always answer State sex crime division. Haven’t had one not hang up immediately.

[CrankFate]

6 minutes ago, GaryH said:

When it comes up potential spam, I always answer State sex crime division. Haven’t had one not hang up immediately.

Interesting way of contradicting what I just said. I’m my experience they’d hang up on me. And then everyone else would laugh at me.

[Hewhospeaksmuchbull]

 

[Sam]

Interesting post.

 

I usually blow my boat's fog horn into the receiver to blow their ears off.

 

I also will cuss them out really good and get into a cussing fight with them.

 

I say my name is Mike ____________, and have them repeat it to me. In addition, I ask some filthy questions about their sexual apatite, even with the women. The women hang up much faster than the men.

 

What bothers me most is that when I get through to a live person I get cut off, automatically. It's like they have my phone number plugged into their computer to disconnect when I press their buttons to be connected.

 

Very frustrating not being able to blow their ear drums out, ask embarrassing sexual questions, or cuss them out.

 

 

[Glenn]

11 hours ago, Choporoz said:

I quit answering my phone years ago

^^ This ^^  Unless I recognize the caller ID, I don't answer.  Most telemarketers won't leave a message, and it's easy to delete the ones that do.

 

[ATA]

42 minutes ago, Glenn said:

^^ This ^^  Unless I recognize the caller ID, I don't answer.  Most telemarketers won't leave a message, and it's easy to delete the ones that do.

 

I do the same, Expect ill block them, Must have near 500 blocked in my list already.

[Bankbeater]

I give out my cell number only to friends and family.  If I have to give a phone number for something like an online purchase, I give our landline number.

[Munkin]

18 hours ago, throttleplate said:

watch this guy, he scams the scammers when they get access to his computer as he lets them on and then the good guy deletes the scammers files. I have watched a hundred of his videos and its very informative and entertaining. Here is an example.

 

 

 

This guy is great! He deletes there files while they are on the phone with him.  Another guy uploads a virus that destroys the computer and plays an annoying song with a unicorn cat on the screen. 

 

Allen 

[Way2slow]

I've had mine setup for almost a year so if they are not on my Contact List, the phone doesn't even display the call, but it will still list it in my recent calls.

As for giving you my phone number, other than a doctor or someone that absolutely must be able to get me, 95% of the time if they ask for a contact number give out my home phone number.  There is no home phone, the number is just because my carrier requires I have one for my internet access.

 

[Junger]

I ported my home line to Google Voice and forward calls to my mobile phone. GV has a really good phone screening feature where if GV doesn’t recognize the number in its database it requires the caller to state their name and let’s screen the call. Verizon Mobile also does its own screening before my cell phone rings. Between GV and VZ, I don’t get robo calls about expired car insurance or IRS liens anymore.

[fishwizzard]

Because of my job I am always getting calls from all over the country from numbers I don’t know, but are actual calls I have to deal with, so for the most part I answer every call.   
 

  I don’t even bother to engage with scammers any more, I just mutter “jackass” and hang up.  

[J Francho]

"Caller #30, you're on the air here at WFSH 90.9 FM!"

[Boomstick]

Funny, I just watched the video below last night. Also check out of the kitboga channel if anyone ever gets bored, he gives them the runaround and keeps them on the phone for hours, disguising his voice often as "grandma" or whatever.

 

 

Or even better...

 

[J Francho]

"To repeat these options, press zero" lololololol