Scam a again

I used to have fun with these calls but now only get the recorded ones. I did once politely tell one that I wasn't interested in whatever she was selling, said goodbye and hung up - she rang me back saying how dare I hang up on her!

I'm registered with TPS, which still doesn't stop the calls.
I then tell the caller I am reporting them to TPS, that gets them off the line quickly.

I like to say “Hello! You’re on the air!” That generally gets a quick click. The other one we’re getting here in Canada is one where they’re trying to get you to say “yes” so they can claim they have your consent to scam you (!!) so they start the call with”Can you hear me?” Those get “What? What?” until they get frustrated and hang up.

Just been reading all the ways of dealing with nuisance calls - I agree it can be quite funny when you're in the mood for them.
For those of you who prefer a quieter 'phone line - I guess you know about the telephone preference service which should help stop some of the calls. Just google telephone preference service - its free

There is a man who has made a good deal of money by charging these companies for his time.
As soon as they phone, he tells them how much his rate is, and he has been paid out by some companies. (UK ones, I presume)

Young man kept ringing about my loft insulation.
"Your loft insulation is out of date"
"Oh really"
He Prattles on for about 5 mins
"I don't know how to tell you this"
"I don't have a LOFT"
"Therefore I have NO loft insulation"
"Therefore How can it be out of date?"
He slammed the phone down lol!!!

I noted a particular number on my caller display which was a BT scam. The calls had been coming regularly. So when I next saw that number, I answered with, "Action fraud UK. How may I help you?" The calls stopped from that number. But my favourite bit of fun was had by a friend of mine. She had the usual you've had an accident call and she decided to sound delighted to have help so promptly as "the accident happened only yesterday". Of course, there had been no accident but she managed to keep the call going for some 10 minutes. Finally the scammer realised what was happening and said "You're just wasting my time" to which she sweetly replied "Now there's the irony"!

Hope you complained

as with emails-if they don't know your name or id number its a scam.
most of these calls aren't even "bought".a robot computer goes down a list of all probable numbers until theres a hit.then the operator of the line picks up the call.
its illegal in the states,but still gets done,because the incoming calls aren't from the usa.

had one call at 9pm and after the first hello started with fuck oh fuck then switched to another language.
*call and grands*the one with the "american accent"isn't-if you listen closely she doesn't pronounce certain words properly(in american or british
english)
husband used to put on a heavy accent and tell them to hold on while he got his wallet and put the money in the phone.left the phone off the hook.they are stuck with the line open and waste time on waiting.
microsoft--i don't use microsoft,one replyed but you have to...no i don't never have,don't do mac either.
had a 12 of them yesterday.must have hired a new crew.6 different numbers and all the same message-i usually don't bother to answer.my voicemail prompt just says "hello" confuses people and machines.they babble on like its a human.
cell/mobiles can have whatever code they want.if all the people who call with our areacode actually lived here the census count would double
my staffie likes to talk to people on the phone,so i put it on speaker and she rumbles grumbles and yips at them.when she gets bored she licks the phone and pushes to me to shut off.
another good one is if you know an obscure language-american indian languages are the go to here.yiddish works well too.

I miss not getting these phone calls now I don’t have a land line. Such fun but for those who don’t want them you can download Truecaller onto your mobile it works a treat in shifting out scammers etc

I had fun the other day. (You don't know where you're going to do you?)

I got a call saying I'd had an accident etc. I usually just put the phone down but obviously I was in a very strange mood.

I said oh it wasn't an accident. She said yes you had an accident and it wasn't your fault.
I said it wasn't an accident I meant to do it.
Her...you had an accident.
Me...no I meant to murder him. It wasn't an accident.
Her...you had an accident
Me..no I've murdered him what do you think I should do?
Her...hold on a minute I'll just ask my manager

I enjoyed it so much I'll be varying the theme but seeing how far I can push them.
I'm relying on you all to come forward if the police get involved

Tee-hee, lots of good ideas on here! I like playing with these idiots, sometimes leave them hanging while I do something else.A fun game to play with the car accident calls, is to agree you've had ano accident but it say it was in my company car. They will then continue with the hard sell, at which point I tell them I work for the police and it was a police car I had the accident with. It's really funny how quickly they hang up....
I don't actually work for the police I hasten to add!
And yes, I've been called a f*cking tw*t when I've declined other amazing offers from these kind cold callers. Maybe they ought to go into selling mouthwash....

I quite like telling them all they are *** frauds.
But when it's the 'Microsoft' lot, I either let them blather on and then say that this is all very interesting as I don't have a computer. (Lol)
Or...my favourite....I tell them I'm a senior executive for an IT company, and that I'm sooo interested in what they are going to tell me. (I'm actually clueless about tech stuff!)
Does the trick every time.

I had an email this morning saying that my bank payment had failed and the service was going to be disconnected on the on 31 March if I didn't update my billing details. A scam phishing for information as OH pays this bill.

I've had a number of the scam "Microsoft calls - usually someone with an Indian accent called James or Marie. Depending on how I feel I usually say the door bell has just rung and put the phone down and carry on with whatever I'm doing.

GabriellaG Not only withheld- the latest version of the scam comes up showing your own town / village code. Oh yes, it’s Shirley, such a busy lady: apparently she has been trying to contact us for a couple of days, our router has been compromised, they will provide a new one free of charge if I press 1 to speak to their engineer. DON’T DO IT!!
Look up www.who-called.co.uk.

I've never had abuse but it can only be a matter of time. I have a collection of characters I play out to them (it satisfies the actor in me) or I speak Welsh (I don't speak Welsh but I remember all the old Welsh hymns and recite them as conversation)............

Gherkin this is a common ploy by bank scammers. they stay on the line, even though you think you've hung up, and then when you dial your real bank come back on to fool you. All advice from banks is to use another phone if possible to make the check call

We keep getting calls that seem to originate in this country and a robotic sounding female voice says she's Shirley from your internet provider and goes on about trying to get hold of us! I don't even get a chance to call her out on

We do the same sarahellen, just put the handset on the table, walk away then pick it up after a few minutes, say a firm 'goodbye' and replace it. That way we don't hear any abuse.
I do seriously wonder why they bother with these calls as I don't know anyone who would actually buy anything over the phone. How is it worth their while?

I had a phone call apparently from my bank asking if I still had my credit card on my person as someone had just used it and spent £450 to Argos online. Well I knew it wasn’t me and I don’t have a BOS credit card only a debit card. He asked me to check the card and give him the phone number of customer services that was printed on my card. Well I figured you must know it if you work for them. Anyhow knew it was a scam and hung up. My husband took the phone and dialled my son’s number and got a woman saying “customer services”. Turns out they had obviously anticipated we would dial the number on the card to check if it was legit and had not hung up from their call although we had.

I no longer answer the phone unless I recognise the number coming up on the screen. If I'm nearby I listen to ensure that there isn't a message being left on the answerphone; invariably there is only silence.

Perhaps you could get a phone with caller display. Then you would know whether to answer or not.

Not that simple, GabriellaG. Many of these calls show 'Number withheld' and if all such calls were ignored, we could potentially miss important calls from the hospital, doctors' surgery etc, as they routinely use the 'number withheld' feature. Call screening phones, such as the ones we've got, are far more effective.

I am seriously considering getting rid of my landline and just having an internet line. We all have mobile phones and more or less the only calls I get on the landline are stupid ones trying to sell me something. I have noticed that if you answer they call again and again so I have stopped answering the phone unless I know who is calling and guess what I now get fewer calls. These were not all calls from abroad so BT get your act together.

We don’t answer any phone call that isn’t in our ‘phone book’....if we’re expecting a doctor or hospital call (why are these ALWAYS withheld numbers)...then we have to answer as they won’t leave a message. It’s annoying but it staves off 5/6 unwanted calls a day!