Get your own back with scammers

I ask them for their name, then I ask them to wait while I get a pen and paper, then I ask them to spell it. If they’re still there I ask them to speak up as I’m a bit deaf, then I say hold on there’s somebody at the door and I put the handset down and wait until I hear the dial tone, letting me know they’ve rung off.

I had the same call yesterday. I said I’d had two accidents and which one were they calling about. Could they tell me the date. They hung up. How rude ?

I watched a video of a woman who agreed to speak to the scammer about whatever issue they'd rung about.

She said "Oh, just for security purposes, could you please tell me your mother's maiden name...? No? Never mind, how about the name of your first pet?"

This was a regular call a little while ago. “I am calling about the accident ... so I went into full hysteria and said oh no! I knew something was wrong... he’s late, what’s happening is he in hospital? He’s dead! Are you calling from the ambulance? Where is he? Etc, etc. Oh and DH was standing next to me wondering what was happening. I haven’t had a call since.

Them: I understand you've been involved in an accident that wasn't your fault
Me : Which one was this, can you give me the date
Them : so you have been involved in an accident
Me: if you give me the date I will tell you

Phone goes dead

I have caller preference on home phone but do get them on mobile

to be fair, those sound like junk calls rather than scams.
there is a whole community of scam-baiters out there, if anyone is interested.

When I get a scam phone call, I wait for them to finish their spiel, then I say "I don't believe you". They usually insist that [insert scam] to which I reply "But as I said, I don't believe you" until they hang up.

I did feel a bit sorry for the very young sounding girl who phoned this week saying ever so politely "I believe you was in an accident ..." to which I replied "it's were in an accident, and no, I wasn't".

MIL used to put the phone beside the budgie's cage and Snowy (always a good talker) used to deal with them.

DH takes great delight in keep them talking as long as he can, about 25 mins. is the record so far. If it’s from ‘windows your internet has been hacked/is going to be cut off’, he wastes time getting the laptop, setting it up, being generally incompetent and asking them to repeat themselves. He asks daft questions about the caller and eventually challenges them at which point they give up, sometimes throwing in some quite foul language!

Last year I received a call from a chap trying to sell me life insurance. He told me about the peace of mind I would have if something happened to my husband. I wouldn't have to worry about paying the bills etc. I listened to what he had to say then I said. "Thank you for phoning me, and I hope this doesn't sound vulgar or rude but you see we're incredibly rich and if anything happens to myself or my husband we have so much money that we'll be fine". He was clearly taken aback and didn't know what to say next. I thanked him for his time and hung up.

I know some people (possibly on GN - I may have heard of it here, so if it's you, sorry for taking your idea!) answer the accident call by saying "Yes, it was a fatal accident, and I died." I would love to try that one, but so far I've never had that particular scam call.

Some of these answers are brilliant!

I've had a couple of phishing "accident" calls but the last one was a couple of years ago. The man started by saying "you were in an accident last year". I responded by asking whether he was asking or telling me and if he was telling me I was very grateful because I didn't know. He proceeded to ask me when the accident happened. I said I didn't know as I've only just found out. He even asked when did I find out and who told me. I explained that someone had phoned and told me. He then even asked when was I phoned. I told him today. He sounded very disappointed and said "so you've already spoken to someone today about this'. I said yes. He asked who. You I said!

The companies asking if you've had an accident are legal companies touting for business. They aren't doing anything illegal.
Whereas a scam is someone with illegal intent.

Petra I realise the difference, but they are all chancers !

Also, I think the manner in which the legal companies tout for business by lying (by saying "I believe you have been in an accident...") is a form of fraud, and should be illegal.

My other half is very good with the "fatal accident" gambit when he is in the mood. He builds his story, different every time as he attempts to better his previous performance. I do feel sorry for the caller as by the time they record the details of the accident where he was alone in the car when........ (long and detailed story ensues) .............. to the part where he starts referring to the "fatal accident". Usually they ask who in the other vehicle died which is when he says "I think they survived, I haven't seen them since" then as the caller asks again who died he ends with "me of course".
Most put the phone down but one in particular started swearing at him and an argument ensued.

A friend of mine used to say, ‘Could you just hang on a minute?’ - and then go and plug in the vacuum cleaner and have it blasting into the phone.
Though that was mostly sales calls - before scamming turned into a global industry.

Sometimes I play along, depending how much time I have or the mood I'm in, but on other occasions I put the phone next to the radio which I turn on full blast!

When I get these calls I generally just laugh and hang up - one day I received the same call 3 times, the last time I quietly told them that if they ever called me again I would find them and burn everything they loved to the ground - not had that particular call since!

When the call is about Windows I go along with it until they ask me to go to the computer and then say I don't have a computer, they say but you have a laptop and I say no I don't have one, why are you calling me and where did you get this number? at that point they sound completely annoyed and hang up.
Or I ask them to please hold on whilst I go to the computer and just put the phone down and leave it until I hear the tone.
My aim is to keep them on the line as long as I can.

These type of calls annoy me as I think they could really upset some people. I have Callminder on my landline, so not troubled by such calls there, but have had calls on my mobile. None since the pandemic though, strangely enough. I always block them if I get one. I was just having a chuckle to myself - it would be great to have a recording (or the actual thing!) of a foul-mouthed parrot saying “f... off” very loudly at the appropriate moment!

Many years ago my elderly Dad was plagued with the “we can buy your house from you for instant cash” calls. They were common at the time, trying to talk folk into selling their home at way below market value. They preyed on those who were struggling financially.

They thought they’d hit the jackpot with my Dad. He said he would love to sell his home to them and they asked him several questions, which he deliberately interrupted to mention his corns, his constipation etc. The caller finally managed to bring the call to a conclusion and said the next stage was to set up a home visit to value his house.

My Dad said before we do that I need to make a phone call. This cash sale is just what I need but I must check the council have no objections if I stop paying rent and sell the house to you.

I'd love to play along with these callers but they mostly ring me when I'm watching something interesting on the telly (like Pointless or The Chase) so I don't usually pursue this.

Most of my calls are about supposed domestic appliance or washing machine insurance for which I haven't devised a smart reply.

There are very funny items on You Tube if you can find them - a 'chap' called Lenny replies in a confused manner but it's really a computer 'chatbot' - he has fun with these callers.

I find most of these type of calls are obvious when I answer the phone. There is a tell tale 2 second pause before anyone speaks. I just hang up at that point.

I know some folk are alarmed by that silence waiting for someone to speak. But it’s just because a large amount of random phone numbers are dialled at the same time and the caller has to quickly see who’s answered and connect to them. I prefer just to hang up and don’t give them a chance to speak.

If I actually speak to a person (most seem to be recordings) I politely explain that I only deal with ethical companies, that usually floors them but, if they continue, I explain that I am signed up to the TPS so they wouldn't call me if they were ethical.

Interesting that since we left TalkTalk we no longer get the Microsoft ones, must have come off the list.