Ooohhh, I love trolling scammers! Which scam was s/he trying to pull? The "your card has been charged $1000 dollars" one, or maybe Microsoft tech support, Amazon scam, "I'm your grandson and I need bail money"?
My folks still had a landline with the same number for donkeys years. Made it onto the scammer list a long time ago and received tons of scam calls. Luckily they didn't fall for them and would just say "No thank you" and hang up. But the lists get sold round the different scam operations, so despite never falling for it (and I kept them up to date on new scams, warned them about not sharing info etc), they still just kept getting calls. 4-5 times per week was pretty normal. They didn't want to change their phone number and weren't really phased.
But I know someone who's a scam-baiter, studied computer science so can deal with the internet scams, can use a virtual machine of his computer so he can lure them into running the whole scam without risking his real computer, and show people how these scam operations work. Can also use the scammer wanting access to his PC against them, by letting them connect, then sending them a virus. All the tech stuff is way over my head, but it's impressive. I've also seen a lot of scambaiting videos - Kitboga, Jim Browning and Hoax Hotel have to be the best! (YT channels, for anyone curious!).
But once I was spending a lot of time here caring for folks then moved back in as they needed more help, I'd usually be the one grabbing the phone, and sometimes waste their time by playing along, if I had the time and inclination. They expect old people, so I just acted an old lady voice and played old and confused, let them run through their scripts and think they might have landed some prey, until eventually reverting to my usual voice and revealing I'm well aware that it's a scam. Sometimes ask them if they ever feel guilty, making a living lying and stealing from vulnerable elderly people. Most hang up quickly to call the next number, but a lot of them hate that they're the ones who were fooled and get very angry. Their tactics can be so aggressive and vile, too.
I was only doing it for the kick of it at first. But mum had declining memory and age related cognitive decline in her final years. Used to be sharp as a tack, and would never entertain a scammer. But one day she called my name, sounding alarmed and upset and I found her white as a sheet, telling me her card had been charged hundreds of pounds on Amazon for a computer and watch, and they were asking her if she wanted a refund.
It was a typical refund scam, she'd called me because it had really frightened her, and she wanted me to handle it, I covered the handset and whispered to her it was a just another scam. Put on my polite phone voice and asked him what this was about, made him go through his script all over again, and yes, typical "amazon" refund scam. So tried to comfort mum while pointing out the holes in his logic where she could hear me and calm her down. He was a particularly nasty one. I went in another room and lit into him about being a scammer. Absolutely furious, because she was genuinely really shaken, and they do. not. care. In fact, that helps them exploit victims. When they're elderly, confused, and easily coaxed, bullied and tricked into giving scammers access to a computer.
So as often as I could after that, I'd play along and waste as much of their time as I could, enjoyed the ones who still stayed on the phone to trade insults once I revealed I was just toying with them, and they wouldn't be getting money from us. Most have no guilt or shame. The scam calls kept up for a while after parents passed, until the last one, who was doing a typical tech support scam, I scam-baited him for a while, he was furious and we cussed each other out in Hindi and English, and he started bombarding the house with calls 5-6 times a day for a few days.
By day 2-3 of this I switched it up and started being nice to him. Thanking him for calling to check up on me, I've just been doing some gardening, how has your day been, George?" (the fake scam name he gave). Threw him a little, but it make him laugh after a couple of times of acting like he was an old friend, wasting his time more by blathering on about my (fake, wild and weird) day, and treating him like on old friend calling for a catch up. Worked so well that he tried switching it up to a romance scam instead. Either that, or I'm so good, I made a scammer fall in love with me.
Haven't had a scam call since even though the landline's still connected.
@GaryE Remember Curious George the scammer? I know I posted about it here at the time.
