In the early days of the Internet (the 90s) I had two jobs, one of which I ran out of my home office.
For some reason, phone scams were rampant in those days, and it was difficult to get removed from calling lists, etc.
The scope and variety of scams was amazing. I decided to fight back my own way, since no matter what I did, I'd keep getting calls, often from the same scam. I had several different "scripts", but it basically went like this:
Phone rings:
"Hello, is Mr. KingoftheCove in?"
"Yes he is. He's in the back yard. May I ask who is calling?"
"This is Tony from We'reGonnaScrewYa Corporation, and I need to speak to Mr. KingoftheCove."
"OK, I'll go get him. Hold on a minute please"
At this point I would hold the phone away from me a bit, and yell "Dad! You have a phone call!"
I would wait for a bit, and then I'd say loudly "Dad, the phone is for you. I have to leave now, don't forget to lock the door". I'd wait another 10 seconds or so.
Then I'd put a wash cloth over the phone, and speak using my "very elderly gentlemen" voice.
"Hello, this is Mr. KingoftheCove."
"Hello!. We are offering a variety of ways to steal money from you, blah blah blah.............does that sound good Mr KingoftheCove?"
"I suppose so. Sounds pretty good. What do I have to do?"
"Well just provide me with your blah blah blah blah.......so can you give me that number now?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. Could you repeat that please?"
"blah blah blah blah.......so can you give me that number now?" (in a much louder voice)
"I'm sorry, I need to turn up my hearing aid.....darn crappy battery. Try again, and speak louder if you can?"
Now the scammer is talking real loud, and I make another excuse.......and it goes on..........
I've had some of these azzclowns yelling into their phones, at which point I simply have my phone lying on my desk, while working on my computer. When they were done yelling, I'd pick up the phone and make another excuse and apology, and see if I could get them to scream the scam again.
Some figured it out sooner than others......but eventually they hang up.
I started getting far fewer calls after a few months of my counter offensive.
Edited by user
Sunday, December 7, 2014 11:12:09 AM |
Reason: Not specified