scammers programme on Wednesday night

Leaving all incoming calls to go to message deters most scammers. They prefer to talk to ‘live victims ‘.

I have a really good call blocker on my phone so no scammer would be bothered- life is quiet here nowadays.

We have an excellent free call blocker from our provider, it acts as a screening service. They've got to say who's calling to the recorded voice and if we reject it, it won't be let through again. No unwanted calls nowadays!

We love scam calls in this house and compete to see who answers it. My OH sometimes graciously tells them “you need to speak to the wife” and passes them on.
His favourite is the “we hear you’ve been in an accident”. He strings them along with full details of the collision then builds up to tell them it was fatal having previously told them he was alone in the car.
My speciality is the IT ones where they tell you some fault has been detected on your line. I go into my little old lady persona asking them all sorts of crazy questions like “do you want to sell me an internet? I lost my last one.”
On a money scam we both take our time “finding” our credit card then read out an imaginary number.
I tend to finish asking them if they are proud of what they do and does their mother know that they try to cheat people for a living.
OH prefers the transferring you through to the police scammers hotline approach.
My excuse for all this is that we had a lot of time on our hands during lockdown and the longer we keep them occupied the fewer vulnerable people they will be able to contact.

If you would like to play this game I suggest going along with everything said then excuse yourself as you go to get your bank details then put the phone in a drawer and forget about them.

Infoman
Never put the correct number in those boxes. Just put the mobile code and then any 6 digit number.

Esspee
You've reminded me of my friend who tells them she is the police and she's at a crime scene.

We’re on mobiles only, if I don’t recognise the number, I don’t answer, genuine callers leave a message.

Bluesky It sounds as though we have the same- life is so quiet now.

I used to be plagued with people ordering pizzas and they were not happy if I said I did not know how to cook one so go elsewhere.

Late night openings were a pain because sometimes I was wakened. There was one digit difference between our numbers and people are careless.

I used to have fun with the scam callers but now all the calls are recorded voices - the last one I had appeared to be computer generated!

I used to have a very similar number to the local butcher! and had people ringing to order steak and sausages sometimes they would try and tell me their whole meat order before I could interrupt and tell them they had the wrong number.

My latest scammer told me there was a warrant out for my arrest. I told him I wished I had the opportunity to be wicked but had been in lockdown for 4 months, then hung up.

Any number that comes up as unknown is ignored by me. If it’s someone from a reputable company they’ll leave a message.
My DH drives me mad! he’ll never leaves his phone unanswered and moans when it’s a scam call!!

When they say there is a fault on my internet, I usually say that this is very interesting as I do not have a computer!
Alternatively, I tell them I am a senior IT executive, so please go ahead and tell me what is wrong. All lies of course.
On a bad day, I use the filthiest swear words I can muster, but I'm not proud of that.

I love Espee's comments as that's exactly how I handle these calls when I'm in the mood/have time. I love being the doddery old lady who keeps thanking the scammer for being so helpful and asking them to be patient with me as I have a number of ailments from bunions to piles(I describe in detail & they have to listen/empathise) that slow me down but yes I looking for my computer to turn it on etc.
When I'm not in the mood I immediately say please hold on whilst I turn on the recording equipment for police evidence and they soon hang up. My BT call blocker list is full and I have to remove an old number to add a new one (I get up to 6 a day) and I then list the number on
www.who-called.co.uk to check/help others

Depends on how I feel, sometimes they get a mouthful, sometimes I just put the phone down but if I feel like it I wind them up. one such call, I can't remember what it was for, as the man started talking I put on my little old lady voice and said 'are you my friend', he stuttered a bit and said 'no', i let him carry on with his spiel for a while then said ' I had an egg for my breakfast', he said 'what', so I repeated it, he just said 'oh', then after a little more of his script I went 'OOH, I have just wet myself', he put the phone down and has never called back.
Another one, one of the you have had an accident, I said I need your name and address, the woman asked why, I said well there was no one there when my car was hit so as you know about it, it must have been you, you pulled straight out of that side road and hit me and then drove off', she was spluttering and saying no that wasn't the case, I told her it must have been her otherwise she would not have known about the accident. She hung up. It's fun if you are in the right frame of mind.

I used to love the ones where 'there is a fault with your windows, we need to connect to your computer'. I would babble on for ages about double glazing.
The 'you have been in an accident' ones can be such fun. Describing the fall from the chandeliers after wrapping Mr P in a bin bag with an orange in his mouth usually results in a dead line. Or sometimes I will tell them that they are the only ones who understand it was an accident and the fact that I dug the grave in the woods and put the body there doesn't mean I'm guilty.
Loads more, but they don't have a sense of humour.

I'm full of admiration for those of you who keep them going.

My reaction is to say 'you have no right to call this number, put me through to your manager' and the phone goes dead. Only on one occasion did I actually get to speak to someone else, I demanded to have my number removed from their list, and to my astonishment they apologised and promised they would do so!

Read with interest and grateful thanks for the reminder and good advice. Mine seldom rings these days as most use mobile however I’ve just set the answerphone and am going to leave all calls and ring back if I know them. Scary world in terms of scamming. I always believe in good and am very trusting so all remainders are good for me x

Thank you, you have made me chuckle! The accident calls I usually ask them which accident they are referring to, the recent one they say, so I ask again which one? I have done the 'I am the cleaner' and will complain about how much ironing, washing up I have to do and that the lady of the house has gone out and left me. The automated ones are the worst as you cannot reply. I am waiting to be arrested, that I need to pay for my subscription or I will be disconnected, my cavity wall insulation is all wrong, and my loft insulation needs stripping. As for my solar panels, well they are not producing enough! I do have a call blocker so if I answer a call upstairs I do get a little exercise in having to get to it before they hang up.

My favourite is to say this X police station, how may I help you? That used to get rid of them. I tried that with the pizza orders but stopped that because I thought there was an excellent chance of my local police ordering pizzas for their supper on a quiet night.

It was really peaceful during lockdown as we had minimal scam calls, but they have started again now, a robotic voice "Amazon Prime calling" telling me that I owe money and it will be taken out of my bank. We don't have Amazon Prime. Strangely enough when we got these before lockdown the amount was 39.99, it's now increased to 79.99!! These calls come through regularly, but always from a different phone number. If I get a call I never say anything, and guess what they hang up.......I am on TPS which is supposed to stop calls like this getting through, but it doesn't work. I think it's about time the government bring in a law that stops these companies (because that's what they are) from trading and preying on the general public, no matter what age they are.

Have to admit nowadays I normally give out my mobile phone number - if it's a scammer it's easy to block. The house phone, not so easy. When they ask me about the car accident, I ask if they are willing me to have one. Usually reduces them to stammer. If it's about a fault on my computer, I tell them I don't have one. If they can't even be bothered to put a live person at the other end, but a recorded message - I see red!! and just leave it to talk to itself!

I used to get frequent calls from somebody who liked to talk dirty. I saved the number as Nuisance don’t answer. A few months ago I downloaded WhatsApp and he came up in my contacts as Nuisance don’t answer with a photo of himself. I was able to recognise him at last.....hahaha

When I get double glazing calls I put on old ladies voice and keep asking what is your name..oh I love that name, let me get a pencil and write it down, Now what is your name again, how lovely, where is my pencil now...I’ll get another, oh no it needs sharpening....you get the idea. They soon disconnect me.

Perhaps I have too much time on my hands.

I have an Acme Thunderer whistle near my phone. Any time I get a live scammer I let them ramble on for a bit then blast their eardrums with my whistle.
On one occasion I led them on a bit then started to cackle and told the person on the other end that I was a witch and that they were cursed for all eternity.
We rarely get troubled by them anymore.