Do you take on the scammers?

[Grumpy old man]

I've been getting a few a day but I don't carry the phone around with me ,Most of the time it sits in the truck and I'll look at it when I need to use it other wise I can't be bothered . My message says "Leave a message" and that's it .

I'm OK with just having a phone hanging on the kitchen wall , The kids and family have that number and when it rings I'm pretty sure it's someone I want to talk to .

[special-K]

When I was getting those calls I came up with another way to have fun/cut it short. Once they'd rattle off who they were and what they did I'd barge in with, "Oh really? I sell a xxx product!" and start going on without a breath about my special offer.

One product was a custom program that screens out numbers known to hang up on telemarketers and smartasses who like to waste their time.

[shp4man]

Guys, don't answer those calls, even if it makes you feel good to cuss them out or whatever.
They actually log the numbers a human answers and sell the log to other telemarketers.
Cha-Ching...

[In The Ten Ring]

I've heard they do that but remember, I cannot avoid taking calls from strange numbers. When you open a rental business that caters to out-of-state renters, you'll see why.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by shp4man

Guys, don't answer those calls, even if it makes you feel good to cuss them out or whatever.
They actually log the numbers a human answers and sell the log to other telemarketers.
Cha-Ching...

If it's the cell and I don't recognize the calling number, I don't answer.

Our landline doesn't have caller ID, so we usually pick up.

[special-K]

I am self-employed and my work comes in through my phone from strangers. I figure if they want my services they will leave a message. If not, if they hang up and call the next person I probably wouldn't have wanted to work for someone that impatient anyway. Once I know we will be working together I enter their number in my phone. When I have gotten a telemarketer it has been when I thought I recognized the number as a job I'm working on getting. But, basically, I don't receive telemarket calls. It's been a long time. I dumped my house phone a couple years ago

[FleetsidePaul]

I have to admit that I like to screw with them. (telemarketers).

I kept getting calls telling me that I had won a free trip to the Bahama's.
So I would tell them, that's great. I just spent 20 years in prison and could use a vacation. But I need to call my parole officer to see if I can leave the state.
This didn't even seem to phase the woman on the phone.

I kept it up by saying. Can they extradite me back from the Bahama's if I don't come back?

Still no response. Nothing. But now she asks me for my credit card number.
I tell her I just got out of prison, I don't have a credit card.

CLICK!

What can I say. It amuses me.

[In The Ten Ring]

Yesterday my father told me of a new tactic. Number "000 000 0000" called and it was an "American-sounding" guy that identified himself as a relative with the same last name! "A haggard-sounding man who talked about a bad car wreck and needing help." My father refused him immediately and hung up stating "he did not know his name." My dad regretted not stringing him along so my story of my "taking on the scammer" the other day has given my normally-short tempered father the same idea!

[Ken O.]

My wife talks to them in German and eventually they hang up. One guy did say he was going to go find an interpreter and call back but never did. haha

[Indian113]

I received a call from a Credit Card Company offering to lower my Card Rates! I thought now I like that idea until they said if I didn't take the offer they would Cancel my card. That was a little odd if I didn't take the lower rates they didn't want my money at all? Click!

[CG]

We only have our home line because Comcast had some sort of deal that made it cheaper to have the phone too. We never answer it, no one calls it except telemarketers. We don't answer our cells unless it comes up as someone we know.

So no we don't take on scammers, and wouldn't bother even if they did get through some how. Just hang up and add them to my blocked number list. So simple. Same with door to door people, religious folks or sales. Open door, give them a polite hi not interested, close door.

[greasemonkey]

I've messed with telemarketers a few times, usually after answering the phone if I was expecting a call from someone and it turned out to be a telemarketer instead.

Most of the time, whispering is a decent way to string them along. Whisper something unintelligible a few times, or slur the words so they keep saying "sir? I can't hea you velly well, can you please speak up?" (Add whatever accent you'd like) and when they're about to give up, whisper loudly "What are you wearing?" And I promise they will hang up. I guess unless it's Jake from State Farm.

My favorite was a guy who had an accent from far far away who pestered me with some long spiel. I waited until he paused, and screamed as loud as I could "Allahu akbar!!!" There was a brief pause, then he started talking so I shrieked over the top of him "death to America! Death to the infidels!" And he STILL kept talking. I started beating on the fab table with a hammer hoping to simulate gunshots and I guess the noise was finally too much and the call ended.
I'm kinda surprised nobody showed up at my house with flashing lights.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by CG

Same with door to door people, religious folks or sales. Open door, give them a polite hi not interested, close door.

I tried the polite route several times with the Jehovah Witness people coming around. Didn't work. Seemed like they stopped by several times a year. Mind you I live back in the woods down a 2000' or so lane with no trespassing posted. After several times I finally answered the door totally naked ( full glass screen door) as I had been in the bathroom getting ready to go somewhere. This was probably 15 years ago and they have never come up again so they must have a do not call list as well. Disclaimer is your results may vary Now I can't hear so they can knock or call all they want, I won't answer

[special-K]

Now that I think about it, the times I have messed with telemarketers or been crappy with them have been the times I rushed to answer an important call I was expecting, such as about some work, only to have someone wanting to sell me something. I hate that, I didn't drop what I was doing and run to catch "my" phone to allow an intruder into my life!

[Andy4639]

Me and my daughter have a good one we use if we are tgether.

Whoever answer will listen for few seconds then holler hold on and hand the phone to the other one all while saying get the blood off the wall first then worry about the floor. While you are telling whoever is on the other end you just had a home intruder. The call never does get to the end!

[Stocker]

Yesterday "Molly" called us 5 times to tell us our Apple devices have been compromised, press '1' or press '2' or call this number. This morning she called about problems with our I-cloud account. Never did go to a live person.

We have no Apple devices and no I-cloud account, never have.

[Stocker]

Bump for an old thread..... I recently heard about something called anonymous call rejection. Anyone else heard of it, or is anyone using it? Quote from a site I found with Google's help:

On landlines: there’s a function called anonymous call rejection. To enable it, just pick up your phone and press “*77.” You should hear three short beeps to let you know it’s activated, and then you can hang up. After that, all calls that come in as Anonymous, Private (a favorite of robocallers), or Blocked won’t get through. You can turn the feature off whenever you want by pressing “*87.” Virtually every phone company has this feature built right into your service, and it’s just sitting there waiting for you.

https://wtop.com/news/2017/05/how-to...ones-for-good/

[v30crewcab]

when I get a call from a number I don't recognize, I answer it without speaking, and put it on mute. if its someone actually trying to talk to me I can tell. otherwise, they get nothing and hang up. it has really cut down on the calls I get. they assume it was a deadend call. Otherwise, if I just let it ring it would go to voicemail and they'll keep calling back.

[special-K]

Do I talk to scammers? Yes, in the past two weeks I've had to talk with two banks I have credit cards with about their mess that is my problem, two bank tellers when cashing checks from their accounts they charge to service, and tomorrow I have to talk to my mortgage company that is charging me a late fee for my payment that reached them on the deadline date of Saturday 2/16 (paid $25 for express) and they are counting it as received on Tuesday 2/19 because Monday was a holiday for the privileged few. I have never had weekends or holidays effect date received in the 32 years I have been making mortgage payments. I worked Sunday and Monday.

Banks make money by producing nothing, just making money with someone else's money and charging them to do so. I guess that's why they got bailed out for performing poor business practice and I didn't when that put a major hurt on my business that only makes money when producing results from good performance

[flashed]

Tim , banks suck . I have been with Regions Back a very long time . I had no idea I could only take money out of my savings 3 times per month . The 4 th time , I was buying trucks and parts , they charged me an $8 fee for getting my own money out . I was pissed to say the least . I had $50,000 sitting in that account (insurance money) that I was letting sit until I decided what to do with it , they forced me to deal with it after that . I talked with my frieds wife who is VP at a Community Bank about moving those funds to her bank and got a generous interest rate .I went the next day to my Regions Bank and asked to withdraw that $50,000 and they told me they never keep that much cash on hand .I said thats fine , give me a cashiers check . They attempted to charge me for a cashiers check . Im usually very calm when Im doing business in pulbic but that pissed me off and I told the teller loudly that in that case I would politely wait on $50,000 in case to be delivered and I did not have all day . She called a manager over and he politely went back to her computer and looked up what I had in their bank and told her she was to never charge me a fee for anything .I still have my working checking account there and CD's simply for the convenience factor but told them one more time and Im closing all my accounts . Those big banks are entirely too big to care about customer service . The other Community Bank I use is 20 miles away but offer the very best service .

[Red71gmc]

Not what the OP asked but I can go on all day about modern banking. I started at a small, one location bank 36 years ago and only switched because they were of course bought up by a bigger bank with the big bank attitude only small bank rates.
I have been through all the big ones since then and have currently made my way back to a small bank with 8 locations (small in today's world). If I have to do business with large banks again, I am selling my businesses and going off the grid entirely!

[special-K]

The OP asked about scammers, you're right on topic talking about banks. I am with a community bank that doesn't play any of the big bail-out bank BS. When I had an account with BOA-constrictor, which started as a community bank account, Thurmont Bank, that got bought by Suburban Bank in Washington, DC, then Sovran, then Nations Bank, then the constrictor, the bank I have now would cash checks from their account holders for free at the drive-thru and even cashed a $1,300 check then let me know their limit was $1,000 at the drive-thru. My 30+ year account, with 5 zeros added to the front, with the BOA meant nothing to them. It started out, with Thurmont as an interest bearing checking @ 5%. The BOA couldn't take it away, but the interest dropped to .01% and I got charged a $10 fee every month my balanced dipped below $3,500. So I stood to lose $120 a year. If I maintained $10k my annual interest earned would be $100.

I did a job with a fellow contractor. I took his check to his bank to cash and there was no fee to cash it because they would not cash it because I had no account. When I said that was a crock she said, "We find most banks are doing this". I told her, "You are the only bank, most do it for a fee, but my bank that is rated higher than yours just does what banks are meant to do and simply cash their account holder's checks with a smile.

When I went to the BOA recently with a check the teller advised me of the $9 flat fee, then asked if I received many BOA checks. I said, "If you are about to suggest I open an account with you, No Thanks. I had an account since '82 but went with a good bank that didn't need to be bailed out, never closed doors in the great depession of '29, and are rated in the top 10%"

[Steeveedee]

OK, not a scammer per se, but we bought a phone that answers with "Press 1 to continue", which a robo-call machine can't figure. They show up on the TV screen (my wife calls out from the family room to tell me, because I don't watch TV). Even the robo-calls have dropped to almost zero, where before we were getting 12 to 15 calls a day. Any real person will press one and get through. That's pretty basic tech and I expect it to be defeated eventually.

As far as scammers, that Nigerian Prince thing started a forum where the people bait them back, leading them on and making them do all kinds of crazy stuff in their own country. I don't have time for that, though.

[Stocker]

This just happened and it's a first for me. A guy just called and said he was from Reader's Digest. I told him I'm not interested, he acted like he didn't understand and I hung up on him in mid-sentence. Less than a minute later the same guy calls back. I said I already told you no deal and he says sir, you just won 3 1/2 million dollars. I was laughing as I hung up. He hasn't called back.... yet.

[Red71gmc]

Ok, I have to tell about one that I had to eat my words on. I got a phone call from an individual with a heavy India accent wanting to verify my address and information. I couldn't understand him well as to why he wanted this information and laughed at him while telling him how much of a low life scammer he is. I went full hillbilly on him and even went so far to tell him where to fly his majic carpet.
I hung up on him and went on with my business. He called right back which seemed weird so I listened more carefully. I finally made out he was saying he was with Con Agra and verifying my change of address for my checks. You see, I raise popcorn for Con Agra (Global Company) and changed my mailing address. I texted my local rep, and sure enough it was legit. Ooooppps!
No wonder foreigners hate us. In my defense, really?, a guy from India of all places seeking legit information? I was told by my local rep that almost all growers had the same response to this poor guy.