ULPT: How to properly use your keychain alarm when answering Spam calls
Posted by Own-Image-6894@reddit | UnethicalLifeProTips | View on Reddit | 19 comments
So today has been non-stop with the spam calls. I actually got tricked into picking one up, as I use my phone about 16 hours of the day for business. So I was fucking pissed, and instinctually reached for my keychain, which has a panic button thing on it, put it up to the phone and blasted this shit wad with an ear-piercing squelching sound. Immediately, I hear them hang up. I did this again for the next caller, only saying "hello" to ensure that it wasn't a client. Now I am going to pick up every single one of these calls until they stop.
InevitableCraftsLab@reddit
all you told them is that the number they randomly called is a real person and tends tonpick up the phone.
calraith@reddit
There's a service for this, the Jolly Roger Telephone Company. Check out their YouTube videos.
Personally, I just ask the caller to hold and let them listen to our hold music for as long as they care to stay on the line. Some seem to get the hint after only a couple minutes. Some it takes a bit longer. Some seem to use the opportunity for a smoke break. But all tend to find a different number to call to try to reach a sucker, and the end result is they leave me the hell alone.
CttCJim@reddit
I once asked one to hold for a minute, out my phone down, and quietly continued playing video games. Wasting their time is better than punishing the wage slave.
Darkrose50@reddit
Put yourself on the national do not call list.
warm_melody@reddit
The do not call list is a list of live phone numbers who will pickup the phone at least once. Putting yourself on the list will get you called more often.
HaldenNic@reddit
Unfortunately won't help for overseas scammers, or even domestic ones that are scamming. That only helps for primarily legit business and organizations (well annoying as hell, not technically a scam)
Eastern-Astronomer-6@reddit
They won't stop. Your flawed thinking is that you don't realize there are call centers with hundreds, if not thousands, of seats making these dials.
BRtIK@reddit
Okay but I answer most of the spam calls I get but I immediately start out hostile telling them that they're criminals that cold calling like this is a crime that they're breaking the law that they deserve to go to jail and prison and then I don't get a call for like 2 weeks.
Maybe there's a list that you can get put on if you are hostile or uncooperative but the list is only temporary?
Willing_Tax3561@reddit
They will leave a note on your number and eventually will call then hang up themselves once they read the note. It happened to me when I would have fun at their expense and / or say outlandish stuff to every telemarketer that called me.
Eastern-Astronomer-6@reddit
The people overseas you are threatening don't care. They are trained that way.
BRtIK@reddit
You say that but again it seems to work fairly well.
BartletMcGarry2020@reddit
Yup by answering all you're doing is getting yourself marked as a live number and will receive more calls as your information is sold around
Goodgoditsgrowing@reddit
This is what I try to explain to my parents. My dad gets it but is too incensed to not take the bait sometimes just to fuck with the caller….. and honestly while I get it, I also empathize with the fact that no one WANTS to work at a call center, they do it because they need money to live, and it’s only hurting my dad in the end….
AbsurdNameNumber56@reddit
I don't answer spam calls, but I answered one by mistake (dynata was spamming me but I was expecting a call from a contact named Dayna and picked up by mistake) and the spam call volume went through the roof for months. So finally I picked up and just spammed the turd audio emoji like a 13 year old with a brand new fart machine. I have not gotten a dynata call in 2 months.
JJHall_ID@reddit
When I worked in (legit) call centers back in the late 90s/early 00s, the headsets we used automatically adjusted the volume down for loud noises like that. I'd be incredibly surprised if even the foreign scam call centers aren't using similar technology baked into the hardware, or whatever soft phone software they're using. Using the loud noise on the phone might make you feel a little better, but you're not causing any trouble on the remote end. If anything, answering is confirming they have a live number and will just result in you getting more calls. Either ignore them so they don't get flagged as live, or use scambaiting tactics to keep leading them on and keeping them on the phone as long as possible. That won't reduce the calls, but the longer you can keep them speaking with you, where they have zero chance of completing their scam, the less potential victims they will actually speak with that could end up giving them a payday.
SugarInvestigator@reddit
Yep, I keep a whistle with me, and if they call while I'm outdoors i deafen the fuckers
Popular-Drummer-7989@reddit
Use this instead https://www.popsci.com/technology/ai-grandma-scammers/
Letters_to_Dionysus@reddit
I recommend interrupting them and then just launching into a deeply personal story and using them as a therapist
Eastern-Astronomer-6@reddit
I did this with one whose caller id said they were from Washington DC. This was years ago. I called them Obama because who else could it be? Obama is the only person I knew in dc. When I went on for a bit and realized they weren’t going to end it, I hung up. They called me right back with “hey, it’s me, Obama.”
Last time I did that.