I get probably 10-15 scam calls a day. Fake Medicare/medicade, home improvement life alert, extended warranty…pretty much every scam under the sun all from spoofed numbers in my area with someone with a thick accent claiming to be John Smith or some name like that. These people are targeting vulnerable people usually elderly people and that pisses me off as it has affected people I know and care about. I’ve tried not picking up for months but the calls keep coming. I then decided that when I have the time while cooking dinner or doing some monotonous task, I’d work on my voice work as an elderly smoker to keep these (usually) guys on the line for as long as possible giving them a random string of numbers and alpha numeric codes as if they were my credit card#, social security#, Medicare card#…
I’ve been wanting to take a step further and instead of just trying to waste their time…creep them out and make them feel uncomfortable. Maybe even to the point where they’d think about different career paths. Nothing excessive…just things like “hey Johnny boy, tell me what youre wearing…ohh yeah I like that…” But as someone against sexual harassment and the like (yes im such a good person I deserve so much praise) it feels wrong even if they’re in the business of harming people and taking advantage of them.
Anyway, as this isn’t something I’d discuss with my normal circle, I was curious how random people on the internet would weigh in.
So, I like the idea of Esperanto. If everyone learned a second, easy to learn language, you’re meeting on equal ground. Unfortunately, I’ve only ever met a few people in my entire life who agree with that idea. But… If I don’t recognize the number? “Saluton? Kiel vi fartas?” If they start speaking English, wait a few seconds… “Domagxe, mi me parolas anglujon…” Not only do they hang up, but they tend not to call back. If it’s a real call, they usually ask for me by name and I can switch to English. Win-win.
Mi lernas Esperantan, mi ne parolas ĝin tre bona.
These are people in call centers running the same scam so every line it’s a different person. I assume every now and then I might hit the same person because they do hang up when they hear old smokey but I assume this will only get them to hang up quickly which isn’t specifically the goal. That being said doing what I’ve proposed doesn’t achieve the goal of keeping them on the line either. Amy other ideas to do more damage?
Also I already understand which calls are scams and which are just asshole cold calls for less than reputable businesses.