To stop a telemarscammer

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

In the US, my normal reaction would be "Use the Do Not Call list" -- But, if they're illegal, that won't stop them, and it doesn't apply to business numbers anyway, for some inexplicable reason. x.x

Which is why the Do Not Call list is a joke.

[EricKei]

Well...I look at it this way. Signing up for it (nearly a decade ago) reduced the incoming bullshit call volume to my phone by over 90%. Well worth the five minutes it took to sign up. Scammers/other illegal ones won't be stopped by little things like laws anyway, so I simply stopped answering the few remaining non-local calls from numbers I didn't know, and set up a VM message saying that I won't pick up if I don't know the number.

[Aria]

I work for a phone company but not Bell... we have a way to trace calls. Basically, right after a customer gets a call, they hang up then dial a * number to log a trace. Then, after a certain number of traces are logged, the police can be contacted and they can pull the records. It's something not all agents know about, though... you might want to ask Bell if they have anything like that. Or the police. They'd likely know what to do.

Of course, if these calls are coming from overseas you're probably SOL. I'd ask them why the hell they're bothering at this point...

Edited to add: Someone linked the Bell website with call trace info. Need to read all the posts before I reply...

[Monterey Jack]

When you get those calls, and know for sure they are the scammers, just answer as follows: "One moment, please." And then hang up.

I just hang up, without saying anything after, "Hello...?"

[eltf177]

For the first time I've been getting large numbers of the IRS "you owe us and we're going to arrest you if you don't pay immediately" scam.

Yesterday was the best, there were two different messages on my answering machine. The first was pleasant and left an area code 213 number, the second was much nastier and left an area code 761 number.

So the IRS doesn't have a toll-free number, and the agent doesn't leave a name or case number? And of top of that two offices in different areas of the country are saying I owe back taxes?

Yeah, I'll cut you a check right away...

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Do you check the phone number before answering? Maybe if you get a call from a suspected scam number, say something like "This call is being recorded for quality assurance" while you answer.

[Mikkel]

They ended up hanging up on him! Unfortunately for them, they were dumb enough to give him a callback number at the start of the call, and he kept calling them back. They actually had the nerve to get upset and tell him to stop calling them!

That'll learn them .
I can't be bothered to do that. I usually pretend I don't speak English. After a few tries, they hang up and I won't be called for some time.
Just so that I don't seem ignorant I'll try them in Swedish, Norwegian and German too .

[Marmalady]

That'll learn them .
I can't be bothered to do that. I usually pretend I don't speak English. After a few tries, they hang up and I won't be called for some time.
Just so that I don't seem ignorant I'll try them in Swedish, Norwegian and German too .

I had one only the other day, one of the 'Microsoft Windows Centre' type of calls. I swore at them in Turkish - they sounded very confused - and hung up.

[mjr]

I actually remembered something about this.

There was a story I read a couple of years back about a guy who actually tracked down the telemarketer/scammer, and sued them in court -- and won.

In fact, there are a couple of reports of this happening:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=7532224

https://www.yahoo.com/news/blogs/sid...23.html?ref=gs

http://www.businessinsider.com/man-s...g-time-2012-10

[freeatlast]

When the Windows scammers call I say everything I can think of to offend them, starting with calling them Hadji. I often succeed in having them hang up on me

[Deserted]

I don't even bother with the Windows scammers. I just tell them I know they're scamming, if they call me back I'll forward their information to the police, click.

[taxguykarl]

I don't even take calls on my home landline (no bars in my neck of the woods) during election season--let them leave voice mails.

[Deserted]

I've been thinking about disabling voicemail until after the election. I'm getting really tired of political calls.

[mjr]

I've been thinking about disabling voicemail until after the election. I'm getting really tired of political calls.

Did you know Candidate A likes to kick puppies when nobody's looking?

So vote for Candidate B, unless you like puppy kickers...

[Nunavut Pants]

I'm getting robocalls for the IRS lawsuit scam. Except this time they're using a synthesized voice. They don't even have a human making the calls!!

Boy, they sure are getting lazy these days...