First let me apologize, because this is going to be a long post.

I’m really, Really, REALLY tired of robo-calls. Most are merely irritating, but some are outright infuriating, namely the blatantly obvious financial scams. Then it happened. I don’t know what, but suddenly my Sadistic Inner Self was released. The thought came to me, waste as much of their time as possible so they have less to annoy other people. Irritate them to the maximum extent possible. Entertain yourself at their expense! I’m old and retired so I have the time to spare. This may not be as practical for younger folks.

Here’s an example robo-call:
Them: Congratulations! Due to your excellent credit history you have qualified for a new lower interest credit card. Press 1 to talk to a representative or 3 to be removed from our list. (Note: I pressed 3 the first few times I got this call and it became obvious this wasn’t working)
Me: Press 1
Them: (Person with heavy oriental accent comes on) Congratulations! Our records show you have an excellent credit history. Would you like a new lower interest card?
Me: The first time I told them I had tried to opt out before, but that didn’t work and that was why I was talking to him. They hung up. The second time I said Sure!
Them: OK, what is your credit card number? (Obvious scam, they shouldn’t need that to issue a new credit card)
Me: Gee, I’ll have to look it up. Hang on.
Then set the phone down, preferably near the TV for some background noise, and leave it until they get the idea and hang up.

See part 2 for the one that really set me off and motivated this post.

Albert

Continued from Part 1

This is absolutely, above and beyond, the most obnoxious robo-call I have ever gotten and the motivation for this post. I don’t remember the exact words, but this should give you the idea.

Them:(in robotic voice) Our records show you have serious financial discrepancies so we are issuing orders to cancel you Social Security. Press 1 to talk to an agent or 3 to cancel.
Me: Press 1
Them: (Person with heavy oriental accent comes on) You are in serious trouble! If you do not respond we will cancel your Social Security! What is your name?
Me: Verborg Snarfblat. (I kid you not, that is the name I gave)
Them: (short pause) Uh, could you spell that?
Me: Sure. Vee-E-Bee-Oh-Are-Gee Ess-En-Are-Eff-Bee-Ell-A-Tee
Them: What is the last four numbers of your Social Security number?
Me: Some random number
Them: Long tirade. We will issue orders to the Federal Marshals for your arrest. Long tirade.
Me: I didn’t understand that. Could you repeat it?
Them: Repeats long tirade.
Me: I still didn’t understand it. Could you repeat it again?
Them: Repeats long tirade.
Me: You know, you have really heavy accent. I’m having trouble understanding you. Could you run that by me again?
Them: (Huff sound, clears throat) Repeats long tirade.
Me: That was a little better, but I still don’t understand. Try again.
Them: (In obviously distressed voice) I’m turning you over to my supervisor. (Line goes silent).

So I hung up. I would have played that game all day, but I think they caught on.

I think my attitude about robo-calls is evolving, from an obnoxious irritant to a new form of entertainment! Annoy the annoyers, irritate the irritaters, waste the time of the time wasters!

If anybody has any good ideas I’d sure like to hear them.

Albert

I love it! Nice job Albert. Asking them to repeat over and over is a great way to handle them! I remember a few years ago I saw a woman on the news who decided to play along with a "Robo Call". The person asked her for her Bank name and account number. She told the robo caller her bank name was Piggy Bank and her account number was 12345678910! The caller actually asked how to spell "Piggy"!

I don't answer them at all. I block them on my cell phone and if the same number calls more than once, I report them to the Attorney General's Office. But I can definitely see the entertainment value!

What really irks me is being interrupted by calls asking if I want to be opted out of receiving any more calls. Since my cell is primary; land line for cell phone problems, I wait a while, then delete the whole call list, which can be 50-100 calls. Once, while flipping thru cable channels, I landed on a congressional hearing (c-span?) about robocalls. They mentioned a couple of companies they had caught, stopped and fined. What got me laughing was that two of them had recently gotten calls from their parents about a call they had received, and were told 'we're working on it.'

Albert, I read your posts out of order. Find it interesting and funny that one call talks about your 'excellent' credit and the next about your poor credit.

Bravo Albert.

i get some from a insurance company. i have blocked the numbers even used the number saying i didn't want it. also i even pressed the the number to talk to someone and told them to quit calling . whats funny is you try to call the number back and its disconnected

Thanks for the replies guys. I was really agitated when I made this post. Never ever before had anybody made THREATS to do stuff like cut off my social security and have me arrested. That’s going over the edge from annoying to Criminal.

Yes, I used to just ignore robo-calls too. But they just kept calling. Then I figured out once you get into their computer data base, their computer will just keep calling until you’re removed. And I’m beginning to suspect these data bases are traded/sold among the call marketers. So I started answering them, and the number does seem to have significantly decreased. Short term pain but long term gain. And let me hasten to add I don’t advocate aggravating most of them. A lot of them seem to be decent people taking the only job they can get and trying to earn a living as best they can. I can’t fault them for that. But some of them can be pushy and just won’t take No for an answer. I don’t have any sympathy for them and just hang up. Rude? Yes! I hope they get the point.

I have called the FCC about some of these calls. I could just feel the groan radiating through the telephone line. They’re getting bombarded by this mess too. They basically said there wasn’t much, if anything they could do. A lot of these calls are coming from outside this country, and outside their jurisdiction. Note how I mentioned the callers had a heavy oriental accent. Red Flag!!! I suspect they’re either Chinese or North Korean. I don’t know how much international calls cost, but I hope its a Lot. The whole motivation is money. If it starts costing more than they make, the motivation goes away. It has become my new passion in life to cost them as much money as I possibly can.

Albert

Albert, please don't mistake the genuine but pesty marketers with the scammers. Most of the robo-calls these days seem to be actual scammers trying to get your personal information and steal your money.

Yup... what oldbroad said. As long as there are enough suckers who fall for this, they will keep doing in. Once you press 3 or 1 or whatever, they know there is a live human on the end and will only reinvigorate their pestiness. Reporting to your state AGO may have and effect, but they can't keep up with them either. They change numbers and even are spoofing legitimate numbers. I had one from my hairdresser a couple of months ago.... didn't answer. That's what answering machines are for. Same with one from my bank...

Albert, I have over a dozen call in one day over the SS scam. They will leave a message. I block them as soon as I know they are scammers.

Draclvr I have gotten calls on my landline that display our name and phone number on the caller ID!! About once a month I will get several of "our phone number" calling us and have to block our own number from calling! Crazy!

The only problem with a lot of these spammers/scammers is they can spoof a phone number. So you don't know from your caller ID if that's the real number they called from or a fake one. That's why it's so hard for the "authorities" to get these idiots.

One of my brothers will once in a while answer the call with " ________ police department". They tend to hang up real fast.

I know... if it wasn't so aggravating to see my own name and number on the caller ID, I'd laugh! I like that one jboliver!

It isn't just residents who get those calls either. A coworker told someone trying to sell hosier that the number called belonged to a college, and any further attempts would be reported to BBB. Years ago, I got a pledge request call from a Make A Wish type of foundation. Told them to send me $ disbursement info. I had barely hung up the phone when another call came from the same place to find out how much I had just pledged; seemingly unaware of previous phone call. I hung up.

Phone calls aren't the only scams to watch out for and recognize. I've gotten letters requiring info or demanding I owed $ or saying I need to do something or miss out on an opportunity to get some extra cash. When I leased my car, had to call the company several times to double check if a letter I'd received was legit or not. I was always assured to discard it. I've learned to look for the name of a company that I might recognize. If I don't see one, I discard it. Also learned to pay attention to the wording. The word 'may' means its questionable and gets discarded.

what a pain!!