When you get such calls do this:
Act very interested but give out no information, then say. “Oh, that’s so interesting. I’ll let my husband take the info from you. He works for the FBI telephone fraud division.”
I’ve done this.....they hang up so fast, dont even say goodbye.
“I’ve done this.....they hang up so fast, dont even say goodbye.”
A guy I worked with used to let them talk for a while, then when they paused, he’d say, “I’m naked. What are you wearing?”
They always hung up.
So, I do different things when getting scam or unwanted calls. SOmetimes I answer, Officer O’Malley, FBI... or I answer with non-sequiters—after they go through their spiel, I say” “ I like riding in rented cars”—or I say “Let me get my Mom.” (I am a senior citizen btw) I say other things too that come to mind, sometime sthey involve liking meat-loaf or I tell them I have no friends, or I live in the woods without electricity—blah, blah blah...Or one of my favorites is, I let them go through their bit, and I say: “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”
The phone invariably goes click...
I’ve done this.....they hang up so fast, dont even say goodbye.
They’ve claimed “I’m with publisher’s clearing house” and I said “no.” This repeated 3 or 4 times and I said you’ve called a government phone number. Then they said “F*** the government” and hung up so they can’t be too bad.
Most fun I ever had with a scammer was a call from India (where else) that claimed to be from Micro Soft Tech Services.
They kept telling me my computer was slow because of a virus that they would remove but needed all my passwords.
I strung them along for 2 days by telling them I would continue to trouble shoot the problems from my end, my computer is slow because I’m in the middle of nowhere with crap service.
This went on until I got tired of the game and on the last call (about 20 to 25 in total) I told the guy he didn’t have to worry about it any more.
He told me that my computer was still showing that it was infected with a virus, I told him again it didn’t matter anymore.
He finally asked the question I was waiting for “why does it no longer matter”!
I answered “BECAUSE I TOOK MY COMPUTER OUTSIDE AND SHOT IT”.
LOOOONG silence on the phone, then he says “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SHOT IT”.
I answered him with “it was obviously a damaged machine so I took it outside on the front lawn and shot it 3 times with my Ruger 45 caliber Long Colt”.
Odd; those guys never called me again!
I have different tactics. Sometimes I keep saying “hello, hello” as if I cannot hear them..they usually hang up...or I strongly ask “who is calling”..as soon as they announce themselves, I tell them I don’t do business over a phone, then hang up. Sometimes I tell them that they are the third caller today with the same sales pitch and the answer is no. Sometimes I screen my calls on answer phone...they usually hang up.
Bottom line, don’t engage, don’t give out anyinfo.. don’t even admit you are who they are asking for....I wonder when some angry dude is gonna find one of those call centers and destroys the place