Having fun with the scammers

I'll not be told to have shame in a thread where people think its sensible to engage in conversation with scammers.

Scammers work in call centres too. Scammers are often people from countries for whom even you average UK pensioner is connsidered fabulously wealthy. Are they criminals? Of course they are.

Do little games involving giving them false IP addresses and pretending to be dead help in any way at all? No, they make it worse.

The same people aren't calling you many times a day just for a chat. Their software has identified you as somebody who will engage with them when they call and it is re-trying the number, because they know you will answer and talk to them.

Instead of congratulating ourselves on how funny and clever we are, be aware that every time you say anything at all to a scammer they are learning something about you. Answered the phone? They know it's an active number and that you are happy to answer the phone to strangers. Giving the phone to the 3-year old? They know you have children. Giving out false IP addreses? They know you are savvy enough to understand IP addresses and will use more complex scams next time.

The only thing you are achieving by engaging with them is boosting your own ego. Hang up.

After spending too much time on here, my ego needs all the help it can get.
My house, my rules.

I sing to them. Then they HANG UP. Wonder what they will do with the knowledge that I sing badly.

Tell you there is a warrant out for your arrest unless you pay £999.78?

Notinthemanual

I sing to them. Then they HANG UP. Wonder what they will do with the knowledge that I sing badly.

They'll know that you have enough time on your hands to engage with unknown people so are worth phoning back. They may hear background noise which allows them to place you geographically. Your choice of song will give them an idea of your age and socio-economic status.

There are more thing in heaven and earth, Notinthemanual, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

My house, my rules.

Fair enough. Be sure to come back and tell us when your bank account is emptied

Its empty already, by my own fair hand.
I don't engage with them anyway.

I just dislike being told what to do.

Oh, okey doke. How clever.

Question in the OP: What do you do when you get these annoying callers.

I'm explaining what you should do and why. Up to everybody if they take the advice, but pretending that engaging with scammers is either fun or clever is not a good look.

I know.
I'm just feeling a bit contrary today.

worth a watch.....

Rav Wilding is working with ethical hackers to hack into fraudsters’ illegal call centres to try and stop victims losing out to real-time scams..........

Scam Interceptors

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00164dz/scam-interceptors-series-1-episode-1

Volver…. What do they gain from re-calling people who talk nonsense to them or sing? Surely if they if they gather information about who answers the call they will note that their scam attempt was a waste of time.

For someone who doesn’t like being told what to do, you sure are bossy

They know that you will answer the phone. They may not be looking for immediate return on their calls, in other words they may not be wanting you to send them money today. They may be hoping that they can glean more information from you every time they call, and eventually steal your identity. Because they are linked into other databases. They are able to leverage the likelihood of you forgetting what you've told them, and not really paying attention.

Perhaps you might consider how good your attention to detail is when you realise that it wasn't me who said they don't like being told what to do ?

Yes it was.

Sorry, it was me who said it.

The thing is, my house phone is for long calls to people I know, and my contact number for the gp, hospital, school, etc.
That's why I have it, because my mobile is unreliable.
So, I should be free to answer the thing.

Well I could comment on that, but I don't want to be bossy ?

Volver, you said “I’ll not be told to have shame… blah, blah, blah”

Nonsense and singing gives them no information other than the ability to answer phone.

If you’ve lost a stick I think I might know where it is.

Fair enough. You can call me Cassandra. ?

Letsbe clear.
This is not about cold callers. They have my utmost sympathy.

This is about scammers. People who deliberately set out to trick people into handund over their bank details.
They prey on people's fears.

I hung up once thinking it was a scammer and it turned out to be my new consultant!

volver

I'll not be told to have shame in a thread where people think its sensible to engage in conversation with scammers.

Scammers work in call centres too. Scammers are often people from countries for whom even you average UK pensioner is connsidered fabulously wealthy. Are they criminals? Of course they are.

Do little games involving giving them false IP addresses and pretending to be dead help in any way at all? No, they make it worse.

The same people aren't calling you many times a day just for a chat. Their software has identified you as somebody who will engage with them when they call and it is re-trying the number, because they know you will answer and talk to them.

Instead of congratulating ourselves on how funny and clever we are, be aware that every time you say anything at all to a scammer they are learning something about you. Answered the phone? They know it's an active number and that you are happy to answer the phone to strangers. Giving the phone to the 3-year old? They know you have children. Giving out false IP addreses? They know you are savvy enough to understand IP addresses and will use more complex scams next time.

The only thing you are achieving by engaging with them is boosting your own ego. Hang up.

Try saying all of that to my mother who was conned out of £20 000.
Luckily the bank sorted it. But it now means she can no longer buy anything online without having jump through about a 100 extra security hoops. Shes been reclassified as a 'vulnerable
customer' Probably a good thing.

I think you're a little bit confused.
There's a huge difference between cold callers and scammers.

To me, defending scammers is a bit
low.
I don't care if scammers are from a poor background. It doesn't give the person a right to con people.

snowberryZ I am perfectly well aware of the difference between cold callers and scammers. Its not me that's confused.

I'm sorry to hear about your mother.

How did you know it was a scammer and not BT, who do phone with offers?

snowberryZ

volver

I'll not be told to have shame in a thread where people think its sensible to engage in conversation with scammers.

Scammers work in call centres too. Scammers are often people from countries for whom even you average UK pensioner is connsidered fabulously wealthy. Are they criminals? Of course they are.

Do little games involving giving them false IP addresses and pretending to be dead help in any way at all? No, they make it worse.

The same people aren't calling you many times a day just for a chat. Their software has identified you as somebody who will engage with them when they call and it is re-trying the number, because they know you will answer and talk to them.

Instead of congratulating ourselves on how funny and clever we are, be aware that every time you say anything at all to a scammer they are learning something about you. Answered the phone? They know it's an active number and that you are happy to answer the phone to strangers. Giving the phone to the 3-year old? They know you have children. Giving out false IP addreses? They know you are savvy enough to understand IP addresses and will use more complex scams next time.

The only thing you are achieving by engaging with them is boosting your own ego. Hang up.

Try saying all of that to my mother who was conned out of £20 000.
Luckily the bank sorted it. But it now means she can no longer buy anything online without having jump through about a 100 extra security hoops. Shes been reclassified as a 'vulnerable
customer' Probably a good thing.

I think you're a little bit confused.
There's a huge difference between cold callers and scammers.

To me, defending scammers is a bit
low.
I don't care if scammers are from a poor background. It doesn't give the person a right to con people.

For once I find myself agreeing with Volver??. To be fair I don’t think she was defending scammers or cold callers. She was simply trying to tell us that by engaging with them on the phone often leads to further unwanted calls. So unless engaging with these callers helps brighten your day, then perhaps it would be better to just hang up.?‍♀️

Thank you Libman. Do people think I'm telling others not to engage because they think we should be nicer to scammers? Is that what people think? ?