Have you ever channeled your inner Liam Neeson when dealing with a spam phone call/telemarketer?

I’m never rude or cruel to a legitimate telemarketer, because I’m speaking with someone who needs to work and earn money. How desperate does someone have to be to take that job, one that’s so despised and a magnet for verbal abuse?

But, scammers are another matter.

Has anyone watched those Scammer Payback videos on YouTube? A guy disguises his voice and pretends to be a vulnerable, old lady. He keeps a scammer on the phone for a long time, often for hours, while he accesses the scammer’s computer, finds the person’s name and location, and deletes files from the scammer’s hard drive. Liam Neeson indeed!

“I don’t know who you are, but if you keep calling me about my car’s extended warranty I will find you and I will kill you.”

If I had an inner Liam Neeson, I’d probably put him to better use!

I haven’t overtly threatened them, but I’ve done quite a variety of… behaviors… toward them.

Sometimes they can tell by your tone of voice, or by not following their script, that they should just hang up.

Today I got a call that identified as coming from a city in Poland, claiming I needed to talk to them or else I was going to be arrested. I pressed 1 to talk to “law enforcement” and a guy with a thick but non-Polish accent answered saying “This is the marshall’s office. What can I do for you?” I said, “You called me.” They hung up on me.

@Love_my_doggie I’ve seen various such videos but not one where they managed to hack the scammer’s computer. That sounds good.

I think that in the future, when I answer a telemarketer call or a scammer call, I will say “I want to inform you that I am recording this call.” and then continue.

My guess is that 99.9% will hang up as soon as I say that the call is recorded.

@elbanditoroso Let us know.
I find that most of the ones I get are recorded so I don’t get the satisfaction of hanging up or saying something smart.

My favourite interaction is still this one

That was hilarious!!!

I prefer the legendary scam baiting techniques of Shiver Metimbers over at 419eater. That guys knows how to drain a scammer of their resources and will to live. He puts the trophies up for your enjoyment as well. I love the guy who sent Shiver audio files of his reading of the entire Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, only to be slapped down for the poor quality, and forced to do it again!

Uh…no. I have zero patience for such calls. I definitely have no desire to play with them. I use a spam blocking app on my cell phone. All unknown callers are immediately encouraged to leave a message. Known spam numbers are blocked completely.