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In the UK I get robocallers phoning me about car accidents or triple glazing grants. I always say "yes", then you get a real person who picks up. Then I will

In the UK I get robocallers phoning me about car accidents or triple glazing grants. I always say "yes", then you get a real person who picks up. Then I will do the old bait and switch. Start talking about how my car got written off after the great M25 exodus of 2018. That I lost my foot from a low flying scooter delivery driver. The story then becomes more and more ridiculous and eventually they will hang up. Since opting for this tactic my phone call count has gone down considerably.

bgeeek 7y ago
Yep, these are the ones we get. I detest the way in which they say "hello" and leave a pause, expecting you to say something back. At first it made me feel silly for having been tricked into a natural response. Now, we just don't answer the phone anymore...
blang 7y ago
I've heard the opposite can happen, if you respond and stay on for a while, you are marked as a real and active number and will get more calls.
- bduerst 7y ago
  This is true. Your number is marked as real/responsive and recycled, sometimes resold.
rscho 7y ago
Even more cruel: say yes, listen to the start of the spiel, then gently lay the phone down. They'll call back not knowing if it was a line malfunction. Now rinse and repeat. I got some so angry that they threatened to come over and break my face at home. This technique has up to now never failed me.
- braindouche 7y ago
  I once decided to talk with a "Hi this is Windows your computer wanted me to tell you it has a virus" guy once, and he's going through his script, trying to determine whether I have a Windows box or a Mac by describing whether I have a command key or a win key on my keyboard. My fancy-pants programmer keyboard happens to have neither, but in trying to explain this to him, he got so mad I literally heard him throwing things off his desk, last of which being the phone itself. I assume my family is still cursed, though I never took his physically improbable suggestions.
  - logfromblammo 7y ago
    I got one of those on the rental's land-line while away on vacation once. Since I was on vacation, I decided to have some fun. So I said I had two computers wired to the Internets, and could he please tell me the IP address of the one that had the problem. The answer, of course, was 127.0.0.1, so then I pretended to log in to my imaginary computer. He was magically able to see that I had logged in, and he told me that yes, my computer was definitely infected with a very bad virus. I played along until I got bored pretending to be a fumbling, bumbling, low-knowledge user, and revealed that I was not really at my computer, or any computer at all, and I was just messing with an obvious scammer for fun. And that induced a spluttering, heavily accented rage-stream of insults, which was also fun. "I am not scam people! You are the scam!"
Nextgrid 7y ago
I use a fake identity generator (search for “fake name generator”) to play along and give them real-looking details and then ask them for the company’s details for whatever scam they’re shilling. They’re never telling you that upfront but they’re usually more than happy to say after “closing” (or so they believe) their deal. At that point I can go after the company in small claims court for calling a number registered on the TPS (equivalent of the do not call list in the US).

bgeeek 7y ago

Yep, these are the ones we get. I detest the way in which they say "hello" and leave a pause, expecting you to say something back. At first it made me feel silly for having been tricked into a natural response. Now, we just don't answer the phone anymore...

blang 7y ago

I've heard the opposite can happen, if you respond and stay on for a while, you are marked as a real and active number and will get more calls.

bduerst 7y ago
This is true. Your number is marked as real/responsive and recycled, sometimes resold.

rscho 7y ago

Even more cruel: say yes, listen to the start of the spiel, then gently lay the phone down. They'll call back not knowing if it was a line malfunction. Now rinse and repeat. I got some so angry that they threatened to come over and break my face at home. This technique has up to now never failed me.

braindouche 7y ago
I once decided to talk with a "Hi this is Windows your computer wanted me to tell you it has a virus" guy once, and he's going through his script, trying to determine whether I have a Windows box or a Mac by describing whether I have a command key or a win key on my keyboard. My fancy-pants programmer keyboard happens to have neither, but in trying to explain this to him, he got so mad I literally heard him throwing things off his desk, last of which being the phone itself. I assume my family is still cursed, though I never took his physically improbable suggestions.
- logfromblammo 7y ago
  I got one of those on the rental's land-line while away on vacation once. Since I was on vacation, I decided to have some fun. So I said I had two computers wired to the Internets, and could he please tell me the IP address of the one that had the problem. The answer, of course, was 127.0.0.1, so then I pretended to log in to my imaginary computer. He was magically able to see that I had logged in, and he told me that yes, my computer was definitely infected with a very bad virus. I played along until I got bored pretending to be a fumbling, bumbling, low-knowledge user, and revealed that I was not really at my computer, or any computer at all, and I was just messing with an obvious scammer for fun. And that induced a spluttering, heavily accented rage-stream of insults, which was also fun. "I am not scam people! You are the scam!"

Nextgrid 7y ago

I use a fake identity generator (search for “fake name generator”) to play along and give them real-looking details and then ask them for the company’s details for whatever scam they’re shilling. They’re never telling you that upfront but they’re usually more than happy to say after “closing” (or so they believe) their deal. At that point I can go after the company in small claims court for calling a number registered on the TPS (equivalent of the do not call list in the US).