Spam calls and texts are a common nuisance for millions of people, with some leading to costly and worrying scenarios but one man has discovered a “satisfying” method for putting a stop to their calls
A man has shared an effective tactic to getting rid of spam callers while also ensuring they’re not likely to call back. Millions and millions of people will be on the receiving end of a spam message or call from fraudsters working to gain access to their personal information or bank accounts.
Independent regulator Ofcom revealed “100 million suspicious messages” were “reported to mobile providers last year”, with new “planned measures” coming into force in a bid to “significantly drive up protections and build on the most effective existing initiatives”.
Scammers can have very sophisticated schemes in place, designed to catch people off guard.
It could be that they’re posing as a relative in need of emergency money to get out of a dangerous or frightening situation, or it could be they pose as your bank to try and get you to turn over access to your money, or as a legitimate company making an enquiry, and many more.
One man has found the most “satisfying” way to deal with these corrupt people – wasting their time.
Taking to Reddit with a post titled, “The most satisfying way to deal with scam callers that I have found so far”, he explained: “I get a lot of spam calls…like 10-20 per day.
“Unfortunately due to my job I frequently get legitimate calls from unknown numbers, so just ignoring them isn’t an option.
“I find that if you just tell them off, they don’t care. If you just hang up, they’ll call again.
WARNING: Some strong language below
“But if you intentionally waste as much of their time as possible, they get legitimately angry. My new method induces maximum frustration for the spam caller.”
He then shared a mock-up of a conversation he’s had with scammers, in which he lets them complete their “intro script (which is usually a whole mouthful for them)”, before repeatedly asking them, “Who is this?”
The Reddit user said: “It drives them nuts.”
He continued with his play-by-play example of a scam call, jokingly referring to the spammer as being from “Bulls*** Funding”.
After each attempt from the scammer to explain the purpose of their call, the man – who referred to himself as ‘Jim’ in his faux script – continually asks them who they are.
Eventually, he said the scammer becomes so frustrated that they hang up – but not before wasting valuable time on a call with ‘Jim’.
In the comments section, fellow Reddit users were keen to share their thoughts and experiences.
One person said: “‘Good morning, I’m with Microsoft security –’ ‘No you’re not.’ He got sooooo mad!”
Another shared: “I used to do tech support and got a call once from a call centre and the guy said, ‘Hello! It’s your computer tech support guy!’ so I responded, ‘Buddy I am the tech support guy’ and he went quiet and I laughed loudly before hanging up”.
A third commented: “I had a guy calling from Amazon saying my account had charges that looked suspicious.
“I asked him to just verify who the CEO of Amazon was to prove he actually worked there. He responded with Elon Musk lol”.
And another added: “Me: ‘Does your mum know you scam people for a living? Or do you just tell her you work in a call centre?’
“They either just hang up or swear at me and hang up. They should feel shame and I’m bringing it.”