05-02-2021, 10:50 AM
1
Scam baiting
There is a website dedicated to scam baiting, but I wondered if any of you have ever tried, or what you do if you get a scam call.A couple of recent ones: -
My Lovely Cousin had a call saying her Social Security number had been compromised and she needed to do something about it. She repeated to me what she had just been told so I called out, "But you're an illegal immigrant, you don't have a social security number."
.......*click*
I got a call on my mobile 'phone offering me a new contract. I replied, "You have made a mistake, I don't have a 'phone."
..... *click*
On the landline, "Our records show you have recently been involved in an accident." I replied, "Oh yes, I suffered a serious head injury, but it was so serious I don't remember anything about the accident."
*laugh* ...*click*
"This is Microsoft calling, we have detected a wirus
on your computer." Says I, "Oh you want our IT department, let me put you through to them"....*click*
(At home) "We are holding a package for you but you need to pay a release fee before we can deliver it to you." Says I, "Do you know the extension number of the person you want, or at least the department name?
"Pardon?"
"This is the main switchboard. I need to know the extension number or department name so I can conect you."
.... *click*
I've kept scammers on the 'phone for ages, tying them in knots because : -
I don't understand how to bring up the computer screen they want.
I keep bringing up the wrong screen
I Can't find the right buttons on my keyboard or can't see the icons/commands/programmes they are talking about.
I'm hard of hearing so keep asking them to repeat stuff
I don't understand so keep asking them to repeat everything
My record for keeping someone on the line at home is fifteen minutes, and at work it was twenty three.
A lot of these cold callers are not allowed to hang up on you so no matter what happens, they have to stay on the line and take whatever you throw at them until the call cuts out by a timer at their end.
One from work a few years ago, "I understand someone there has had an accident." I replied, "Well, three and a half thousand people work here so I expect someone has had one."
... *click*
My absolute favourite was when our office of about eighty staff got war-dialled one evening. There were only five of us as the day shift had gone home. Every desk had five-digit internal 'phones, often with sequential numbers, but by putting the STD code followed by another two digit code in front, people could dial in.
I spent half an hour running round the office picking up 'phones, putting them on hold, getting the same scammer more than once (Oh, hello, it's me again, I spoke to you in my other house a minute ago), I put pairs of 'phones together and could hear the scammers talking to each other, sang happy birthday, and generally had a great time.
My colleagues were in fits as I came up with different ideas each time.
Best of all, I was being paid.
05-02-2021, 10:56 AM
2
Re: Scam baiting
I have done a bit of it now I can't be bother and put the phone down.I have pretended to not understand English and made up a language to reply ...
I have been Lady Margaret Templeton Smyth , a Lady in Waiting to the Queen at Buckingham Palace ....
and a few other things
05-02-2021, 11:00 AM
3
Re: Scam baiting
The strangest time was when a man phoned claiming to be from microsoft ( again) please madam I am calling you from microsoft ,,,,I lost it,,, no youre not youre an bloody Indian scammer..
Madam how dare you I am not Indian I am Bangladeshi ... and he hung up on me!
05-02-2021, 11:08 AM
4
Re: Scam baiting
I blow a shrieking whistle down the phone if they start talking. I must have a reputation now because I only get silent calls, haha! When that happens I just lay the phone down in front of the dog and she snuffles and snorts in it for a while. They don't stay on the line long!
05-02-2021, 11:41 AM
7
Re: Scam baiting
One I read about recently. Somebody who got the call from "Microsoft" played a Youtube clip of someone using a dial-up modem. Of course it didn't connect the first time so had to be repeated until the scammer gave up.
As for blowing a whistle, there used to be a risk it would damage the eardrums of the caller, which is an offence in the UK, but now digital 'phones have a noise limitation built in that prevents it from happening. It still does annoy the scammers though.
05-02-2021, 02:17 PM
8
Re: Scam baiting
I haven't had one of them for ages. But the last time I did I let him have an up close and personal belt of the Aztec death whistle. I recorded the audio of this off you tube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Qu...%93Raghallaigh
He didn't come back. Do I care if it blew his eardrum?..Did he care if I was a frightened gullible person that believed his b*llsh*t and sent him money?..I don't think so
05-02-2021, 02:38 PM
10
Re: Scam baiting
Originally Posted by Fruitcake
->
As for blowing a whistle, there used to be a risk it would damage the eardrums of the caller, which is an offence in the UK, but now digital 'phones have a noise limitation built in that prevents it from happening. It still does annoy the scammers though.
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