Scammer's Olympics

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 21 Feb 2014 Posts: 2

So, this didn't start as a game at the time until I was about ten minutes in, so first? A story...

About an hour ago now, I got a phonecall. I'm sure everyone here will know the kind of calls I'm talking about when I start with the scammer's opening...

Quote:

Good evening sir, my name is Sean and I am calling to inform you of illegal software and hacking being downloaded to your computer, are you aware of it being downloaded sir?

First problem, evening? At 2pm? Second, I know this scam all too well, but I'm bored and decide to play around with him. Every second he's talking to me is a second he's not getting someone else who might not be as aware.

Quote:

Oh, no, I'm not. I would've thought my firewall would stop that.

Immediately, the scammer jumps in with explaining to me that the firewall can break down with repeated downloads (wut?) and explains that he can help me fix it. Great! All I have to do is mess with him for a while until he gets upset, right?

But then an idea hits me...

Quote:

Oh, that's great news! What do I ha-oh, wait, hold on... Sorry, can I pop you on hold for a minute? Someone's at the door.

And this is where my plan begins. He agrees to be popped on hold, so I mute my mouthpiece, put on speakerphone and grab a stopwatch. He can't hear a thing, and I can do other things while I time him. Time him for what? Why, until he hangs up, of course! And it's in this time that it dawns on me I should make a scoreboard of sorts of the various phone scammers.

Anyway, exactly 24 minutes and 28 seconds later, he hangs up. As I'm telling the tale to my friends (one of which suggested I bring it here), guess who calls back! It's 'Sean'! I decide this is the time to let him know of his achievement...

Quote:

Sir, I apologize, I was on hold for 25 minutes and the line got cut off.

Quote:

24 minutes and 28 seconds exactly, actually. I'll tell you what it is, I'm aware these types of calls are scams, and I can tell you're reading from a script. I timed how long you stayed with me and I'm glad to inform you that you've won the gold medal in the Scammer's Olympics! How do you feel?

Quote:

Not at all, sir.

Quote:

'Not at all'? You don't feel anything? You're not proud of your achievement?

Of course, it's at this point that the scammer hung up for good, so I'm afraid we don't get to hear his winning speech. Sadly, I lack recording equipment, so there's no audio file...

But this is where a friend chips in with the best idea... Why not bring it here and set up a leaderboard with everyone else's entries? And that's the nature of this post! I invite you all to join in on the Scammer's Olympics! Any kind of telephone scam, time how long it takes for them to hang up while being on hold! PM me your times and I'll add them to the scoreboard here and let's see how long they'll hold the line if they thing they've got prey on the hook!

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:52 pm

First off, bravo on using up his time and thereby taking it away from his actual time scamming.

It is always fun to let a cold caller working this scam to waste time.

On a cautionary note, I would advise you against "burning" the lad, unless he's called you on a phone line that cannot be traced back to you--even then burning is rarely as useful as keeping the lad in the dark.

Regarding traceable phones: bear in mind that scammers of any sort are criminals. They do not play nice. Some do have connections in other parts the wold. They use them to collect money or partner with them for any number of reasons.

Is it likely he would trace you and then do you some revenge harm? It's not very likely, but it's not impossible either. Your caller lad will be too busy tring to make up for lost time, but you do not know for sure. One should avoid baiting anyone who has any bit of your real-life information.

Another good thing about not buringing a cold-call even if he's calling you at a non-traceable number is that you could have kept him wasting even more time if you felt like it.

Have fun. Keep up with lad time wasting--and please bait safely, whatever the medium.

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:01 pm

I don’t usually put them on hold. For instance, I talk with the scammers pretending to be from Microsoft who call me. Last week I kept the girl and her “boss” on the phone for over a half hour.

For my Skype number (used for baiting only), I enjoy it when a lad calls and forgets to hang up his phone properly. I had a ladette who had tried to call and never hung up. She stayed connected to my Skype number for over a little over an hour before she realized it. I listened to the call, and for the entire hour you could hear people talking in the background, pots and pans clanging, etc. Then a lot of cursing when her boyfriend (or whoever it was) found the phone and realized it was on.

Just recently, a lad called my Skype number and forgot to hang up, and he was connected for approximately 9 minutes.

Elite Baiter Joined: 10 Mar 2013 Posts: 1482

^^^

As others have mentioned and others propably will: Don't tell him that you know about him! Just let him presume that you are just a stupid/difficult victim. This way he may contact you again and you can waste more of his time. Just imagine how much time you could have wasted his time on this time around or the next time. Also, you don't need to stay on a phone with him if it is inconvenient time just tell him that you can't talk to him right now and ask him to call again.

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:37 pm

^^Don't worry, I never burn lads that I am baiting. I know what I'm doing Smile

So far as the Microsoft scammers--I just keep wasting their time until I finally tell them I'm on a Mac. I don't let them know I know they are scammers. Of course, that means they won't call back--but that's no big deal for me. Just to hear them stuttering and stammering is pure joy for me.

And I know I can ask them to call back if it's inconvenient. I normally don't even answer those calls with unknown numbers, but I was feeling bored and decided to answer.

Elite Baiter Joined: 10 Mar 2013 Posts: 1482

Sorry about that. My message wasn't intended for you as you propably quessed. I'm just used to putting ^^^^ :s on every message.

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:41 pm

^^no need to be sorry. And if I came across the wrong way, I apologize.

I thought you were addressing me directly when you used the ^^^.

Happy baiting Smile