My best scammer wind up to date.

Brilliant, might try that next time.

Sadly not my own reply, but I recently heard one which has become one of my favourites, it's the response to a caller who said they were phoning regarding a (non-existent) car accident:
In a spooky voice, "Yes, I was involved. I died." Needless to say the caller rang off immediately!

I loved the opening post. Even though you probably wonder how scammers sleep at night, this really could be someone who in desperation to earn enough to put food on the table had to take the job. Your chit-chat probably gave her the one moment in that day where she could actually relax and I'm sure she knew you weren't really an alien. I once took a job in a call centre and it very nearly pushed me over the edge. I refused ever to do it again. My nerves couldn't cope at all.

I had a call from an Indian person calling about my car accident. I answered 'Oh you mean the one I had with Noddy and Big ears? I strung her along for quite a while telling her Mr Plod the policeman had taken all the details. she clearly hadn't got a clue what I as talking about but I had a bit of fun!

My son had an email one over the Easter weekend, kept arriving so he sent one back saying thank you for subscribing to daily prayer then going onto say how much it would be costing them for each prayer, he has sent back a few prayers and got some unsubscribe messages back.

My brother was at work and had a call about replacement windows, he said he was glad they called as his needed doing, kept him on the phone for quite a while,he was on lunch break, in the end the salesman asked the address so he could go and measure, my brother gave him the address of the prison he worked at, line went dead

Irritating though they are, we must remember there is a difference between some poor soul trying to earn a living making appointments for insulation or replacement windows, and scammers who are criminals!

Love it VQ ??, I’m rather boring and just say ‘No. Thank you. Bye’.
I need to up my game ?

Buoyed up by all the useful ideas on here, I am now feeling super guilty.

Just had my 3rd spam call of the day and I announced myself as “Bullshire Police Headquarters, this is the switchboard, which department do you want”......only to have to apologise to a real delivery company visiting me tomorrow ??

(Bullshire Police being a real parody page on FB)

I remember answering a call years ago from 'microsoft' telling me I had a problem etc etc, and I said that I had Linux on my computer. He told me I was telling lies. Well I was but how did he know that I didn't have Linux that would have been very rude
When I was mid divorce for various reasons I was still paying now-ex's mobile bill, and the mobile provider - can't remember what it was, rang and started talking about changing the plan. I know I should have just cut him off yes, but had I done that he would have probably been abusive if I'd caused him lose his number despite having asked him many times to sort himself out ,a new contract, anyway the guy on the other end of the line was so nice to me and told me about how his mother had been abandoned by his father, and how well she was doing now, so although it was hard now things wouldbe ok
[In the end I got rid of his contract, onemonth the bill was a lot higher so I looked at the calls to see what was happening, and he'd been calling one number a lot, and I messaged him and mentioned that i was a lot higher and was there a problem, I'd thought it was maybe needing to ring his mum but it wasn't and he went ballistic and accused me of spying on him and immediately got himself a new contract]

My nephew gets these calls and has a good time leading them on. He asks lots of questions and the caller is going on about different features in windows. Nephew keeps telling them he cant see that feature. The conversation meanders on. Finally nephew tells the caller he is using a Mac and the caller hangs up.

Another variation is that he asks lots of random questions about where they are calling from, their qualifications, level of expertise etc. Then he admits he does not have a computer!

Best one I did was to speak back in the same accent caller was using! I asked who they were? Then asked if they had black hair (sounded Indian so was good guess)
him:yes
Me: my name is Geetha, what's yours?
Him : am I speaking to Mrs ****?
Meh no no no , in fact I think I know you! Do you work in call centre?
Him:yes
Me: thought so ! I can see you from where I'm sitting! You must have got a crossed line!?
Him:I don't think so madam
M: yes you have you have! We'd better stop the call before the supervisor catches us talking!?
Himk <click<
Call ended never rang back.... Or I'll speak as if I'm a complete pschycopath! They don't like that either....

Love it! One to remember

I must admit I've been selective in my wind ups , and now only if they're too familiar or rude! True some poor person is stuck doing a rubbish job .soul destroying.

My husband had a rash of calls about an accident he had in last 5 years? In th end he started saying he had been in an accident and he didn't need any help because he caused it!

One of my son's did cold calling for a kit hen company whilst at college, he lasted 2 days! He said he just couldn't lie to people!

Am I the only person who does not find it funny or useful to 'play' with people whose only way of trying to earn a living is to be part of these call centres?
With my landline, I usually let it go to answerphone before answering, unless it comes up with a name from my own number book.
If I, inadvertently, reply and it someone trying to sell me something of else trying to tell me I have had an accident, or owe HMRC or Amazon money, etc. I just disconnect that call.
On my mobile phone I then block than number.
I really have better things to do with my time than playing silly games,.

No you aren't the only one Franburn I too don't find it amusing. I let any unrecognized phone numbers go to answerphone.
All my ACs worked in call centres after they graduated and it's a thankless often boring job. Scammers are different but I dont have time in my life to listen to them so not wound up by them.

We have a BT phone that screens all our calls so nobody not on our safe list has to say who is call . This removes all unwanted calls .

I recently let someone go on at great length telling me about Virgin's threat to cut off my internet. He hung up very quickly when I finally mentioned that I didn't get my internet from Virgin.

I usually do "dim old lady who doesn't understand anything" so they think there is a good chance that I will give them my bank account details if they push hard enough. They have spent time guiding me through my computer as I pretended not to understand what they wanted me to do. I got so bored with one I hung up and they rang me back apolgising for being cut off!

Franbern, there is a difference between someone who has had to take a call centre job and someone who is trying to cheat you out of your money. Most of us would be polite to the first but I can't see why we should be polite to the second,

For a while (fortunately, they seem to have stopped) I was getting daily calls telling me my auto's warranty was about to expire, and I needed to renew it. This was obviously a scam, so one time I had my fun by answering, "Oh, really? I didn't know that. Which car is it?"

The conversation went on something like: "Your car."
"Yes, but which car? I own more than one. I need to know which car we're talking about."
"Your CAR, ma'am. The car you drive."

And so on, until I got tired of it and hung up.

Oh vq, what a legend! That is brilliant, well done! I usually pretend to be hard of hearing and ask them to repeat things, or pretend to be very confused and eccentric. If I'm having a bad day they get a tongue lashing with one very colourful expletives!

After one caller swore at me for wasting her time, it dawned on me that some of the people making the calls might think that they are in a genuine job and simply be trying to make a living. If that's the case, it's not their fault that the call is a scam, it's the fault of the person employing them.

Not a scam phone call, but I'm just adding this so you can all spread it around to beware ...

DH had a letter a few weeks back. A Letter. Through the post! Apparently from PayPal saying that his request for credit had been refused. And a number to ring if he hadn't applied for credit or if he wanted to take the matter further.

It was faultless. A beautifully contructed letter. Even had a return address on the envelope. Looked completely genuine.

DH hadn't applied for credit and doesn't even have a PayPal account and his first instinct was to call the number to query it I case his identity had been stolen. Fortunately a little alarm bell rang at the back of my mind and I rang PayPal customer services. They never ever send letters. Everything is done via email. We didn't know this and I suspect a lot of other people don't either .

I tried to report it to the police but its practically impossible as the system isn't set up for letters. You and Yours confirmed it is a scam. The latest way of getting to you.
Beware!!