4 ms·

It is interesting half the calls I bother to answer, are just instantly disconnected. Why bother calling if you are not even going to attempt to scam me. It is

It is interesting half the calls I bother to answer, are just instantly disconnected. Why bother calling if you are not even going to attempt to scam me. It is funny to get a live person and mess with them though..."oh which credit card are you referring to" I kept one agent on the line for a few minutes and was eventually called some very insulting swear words. If I recall correctly I was called a "bitchass mother fucker"

jonknee 9y ago
> Why bother calling if you are not even going to attempt to scam me. I think it might be something silly like confirming the number has a person on the other end. For selling to other spammers. Not sure why they can't do both at once though, so maybe I'm off.
- apotheothesomai 9y ago
  Pretty sure that is the reason. It's the phone equivalent of verifying an email. They ping, you pong, it goes on a list of verified numbers.
  - JdeBP 9y ago
    It isn't, though. Getting a ringing response is enough to validate a number, and someone who isn't making the effort to check contact lists against do-not-call registries won't be making the effort to track numbers that do not answer, either. In any case, RTNR to such people simply means that there's no-one to answer right now and is no reason to discard a number. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16871131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16871131 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16873537 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16873537 for what's actually happening.
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  They call more people than they have available to answer the phone at the other side. Normally, many phones won't answer. When more phones answer, they just hang on the ones they can't handle. And, obviously, they can save a bit by always having more phones answer than they can handle. This way their employees don't waste any time waiting for a call, instead it's your time that is wasted, what costs them nothing.
  - jonhendry18 9y ago
    And they can save your number to call back later.
om3n 9y ago
Reminds me of "scam baiting" which is becoming a popular live stream opportunity. I occasionally watch this guy who calls tech-support scammers or IRS scammers and attempts to waste as much of their time as possible. He will often impersonate an old lady using a voice modulator (or he'll implement other personalities) to make his performance more realistic. It can be quite entertaining. https://www.twitch.tv/kitboga https://www.twitch.tv/kitboga
noselasd 9y ago
They're overbooking their calls. Many people are dialed up simultaneously, but there's not enough people to service everyone at all times. As you answer the call, everyone is busy servicing other people that also answered - your call gets hung up.

jonknee 9y ago

> Why bother calling if you are not even going to attempt to scam me. I think it might be something silly like confirming the number has a person on the other end. For selling to other spammers. Not sure why they can't do both at once though, so maybe I'm off.

apotheothesomai 9y ago
Pretty sure that is the reason. It's the phone equivalent of verifying an email. They ping, you pong, it goes on a list of verified numbers.
- JdeBP 9y ago
  It isn't, though. Getting a ringing response is enough to validate a number, and someone who isn't making the effort to check contact lists against do-not-call registries won't be making the effort to track numbers that do not answer, either. In any case, RTNR to such people simply means that there's no-one to answer right now and is no reason to discard a number. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16871131 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16871131 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16873537 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16873537 for what's actually happening.
marcosdumay 9y ago
They call more people than they have available to answer the phone at the other side. Normally, many phones won't answer. When more phones answer, they just hang on the ones they can't handle. And, obviously, they can save a bit by always having more phones answer than they can handle. This way their employees don't waste any time waiting for a call, instead it's your time that is wasted, what costs them nothing.
- jonhendry18 9y ago
  And they can save your number to call back later.

om3n 9y ago

Reminds me of "scam baiting" which is becoming a popular live stream opportunity. I occasionally watch this guy who calls tech-support scammers or IRS scammers and attempts to waste as much of their time as possible. He will often impersonate an old lady using a voice modulator (or he'll implement other personalities) to make his performance more realistic. It can be quite entertaining. https://www.twitch.tv/kitboga https://www.twitch.tv/kitboga

noselasd 9y ago

They're overbooking their calls. Many people are dialed up simultaneously, but there's not enough people to service everyone at all times. As you answer the call, everyone is busy servicing other people that also answered - your call gets hung up.