I figure they know it's a live number when they don't get the not in service message you hear when a number is disconnected. If I can make them think it's a complete waste of their time to call me, maybe they'll give up. After 15 minutes of me asking what they are having for dinner, what's the weather like in Mumbai, whether or not they have a sister, do they ever get lonely and just want to talk to someone, they usually catch on and hang up on me.
I recall that the bulk of the calls I had gotten when I used to answer them were robo calls. That is, it was a machine call and message, with no person behind it unless I had chosen one of their options. I don’t have the time or the patience to try and annoy the person behind the machine and I doubt that poor person hired to give the scam or sales pitch cares much whether I speak to them or not. The telecom companies could identify these calls at the source and I’m sure certain governments already do. So why don’t they do something about it? Hmmm....
Haaa, I do the same thing. They end up getting angry, after they figure it out. I went so far as to give them a bunch of random numbers, to the fake IRS agent, from India. He said it was not a good number, and I told him I was sorry, it must have been a cancelled card. I then did the same thing a few more times, before they said they were on their way to arrest me. . I love messing with them.
I had a few spams calls on the house phone, and when I get enough details about them and I told them you're speaking to the federal police and what is your choice....easy or hard...... They hang up straight away.
What I'm going to do for now is turn off the ringer and not answer any calls. I'll check in periodically to see if anyone I know called and call them back.
I'm getting SILLY with these calls. What do I mean by that? If I don't recognize the number, and have no friends/family/associates in the city where it's coming from, sometimes I'll just pick it up and say just anything... "YADEPHEDODASLEVOMINGMINGMING"(or a reasonable facsimile thereof), and hang up. Here's how you reply to the scammer you were just talkinabout(and I mentioned in here I do this myself at times): Just say anything...."YADEDOODEEEEDUMBBEBEBEBEBOOOOOOOMINGMINGMING". Then hang up. Me too, but if it's a number with which I am not familiar-it's voice-mail time. My aunt will say on occasion "Oh, you guys again?
And sometimes they will spoof a number you know. I got a call awhile ago. I happened to be sleeping at the time, rolled over stopped the ringing, and went back to sleep. When I got up and checked the number, it was familiar. So I Googled it. Just what I thought, my ex-inlaws number. I was concerned and called. Yeah, that was a very uncomfortable conversation with my ex-MIL. Their number isn't in my current contact list, but used to be years ago. And no, they're not pranksters.
I've had the scammers spoof /use my phone number to call people and had them "call me back". Not cool.
The first thing I do if I answer a call like this... "well, hello!" "What is your full name?" "Bama Samurai runs a consulting business. The fee for his time is a reasonable $100 per hour. I'd be more than happy to set up an account for you so that you can talk to him. We'll just need your home address and I am all set. Will that be paid by debit card, bank transfer or PayPal?" They hang up at this point. Then, I have a script on my computer that will dial their number (if available) repeatedly until they block my number. True story. I only hear from people once.
I use an Android app called Calls Blacklist. I set it up so that it blocks calls and texts from all unrecognized numbers. I keep my contacts list up to date, so I rarely miss a useful call. It works like a champ.
I got a call on my cell from my own home phone number. I knew there wasn't supposed to be anyone at home, so I answered it and in no time I was involved in a conversation with Raj Koothrapali's brother Sanjay.
I loaded a couple call blocker apps. Programmed them with the area codes and even prefixes (no one I actually know lives there so no real calls would come from there). So far, it's worked fine. The only problem is the occasional new area code/prefix combo that bypasses the ringer and goes straight to voicemail. But I haven't seen any of those since getting my new phone a few weeks ago. Fingers crossed.
Too complicated. I see no reason to let through any unknown caller since voicemail and messaging are things. I even blocked my mother until she accepted using caller ID. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Here's one I may do next time there's the famous "dead air" after my hello. Me: Hello Spammer: Hello Me:Yeah, I'd like to order a small cheese pizza with extras of garlic, onion, and spinach. How much time will that be, please? That's what I need...a call-blocker deal. awwwriight! Fight fire with fire . Charlie, I'm interested in your opinion of my "madman" plan.
