How do you deal with telemarketing spam?

If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer.

I don’t get telemarketers on my cell phone.I got rid of my landline in big part because that’s mostly what I got .
I used to enjoy messing with them and wasting their time.

I have RoboKiller on my phone that nabs most of it.

However one day last year I was off and I got a call right from a guy that was a scammer. I had won the lucky day giveaway, lottery, or some crap. Well you know the drill… you have to go get a gift card with an amount to pay for the admin fees.

So I played along and held him on the phone. First I had to wait for my son to arrive because I had lost my drivers license. Dude sat and waited 20 minutes for him to “arrive”. I was watching TV with the cell on speaker confirming every 5 minutes or so that I was still there.

Then I had to go to Walmart to get a gift card… a certain gift card I had never even heard of. So guess what? Wal mart is another 30 mins away. Dude sat on the phone a waited again.

So I played like my son had to go in. Before he went in, we went around and around with me getting the name of the card wrong every time. Dude was starting to get pissed off but thought he had a sucker about to get him 200 bucks. Finally I told him to “write it down” and 10 minutes pass and he came back and said “his debit card was declined”. Indian dude nearly went off.

So I said no problem.. here is cash for it. Scammer was “why didn’t you give him money before?” So 15 minutes pass… I listen to him breathing on speaker phone like he is about to have a coronary.

I play again and my “son” comes back with the wrong gift card. Dude has an aneurysm. “I thought you wrote it down!! Write it down!!” “We” (I’m using two different voices now.. think two single tooth Bama fans) said to him “we did!! This is the card!!!” I reluctantly read what we “wrote” and claim I can’t read what I wrote down.

Dude says it 5 or 6 times.. ______ gift card… 200 dollars.. _____ gift card. 200 dollars.

I said we got it. “We ainnnt stooopid”.

15 - 20 minutes of more scammer breathing on the phone.

Son “comes back” and said they didn’t have it. He got another card instead. Said “it’ll work!” Dude went ballistic and I think threw his phone against the wall. It was probably a burner so I kept him on as long as I could to burn his minutes.

Sat there a good two hours or more watching Netflix while the guy steadily went into orbit.

quote:

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My phone screens every call from a number that's not in my contact list.

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I use that feature on my iPhone 13. It blocks all calls not on my contacts list but will allow calls through from a number to which I have recently placed a call.

I always said "no speak English" until one time the guy said he speaks Spanish.

Now, I just ignore and block the number.

got one from “customs service” the other day saying they tracked suspicious activity by me. I told him I ordered 16 kilos from Colombia and demanded they release the bill of lading

“click”

Don't answer them anymore. Back in the old landline days when you didn't know who was calling I would just start talking random nonsense. My favorite was to describe my morning dump in great detail.

I always convince them to sing a song for me while I go and get my credit card. Some have actually done it!

Answer the call, then put a pot lid over the phone and bang it with a spoon as hard as I can