Phone scams

Boa21

Pollycat said:

hugheskevi said:

Why would I want to speak to the scum that these people employ.  I equally have no wish to speak to anyone who wanted to steal my car or break into my house.  If you think engaging them in conversation is going to make then mend the error of their ways then I'm sorry but you are wrong.  I think engaging these scum encourages them to know they will get to speak to other humans who they can con.  Just block them.

I have no intention of trying to persuade them of the moral value of their ways. It is targeting the business model. 

Their business model solely works because the overwhelming majority of people either block them or disconnect as soon as they here the robotic nonsense that goes with these calls - the model wouldn't even work if it was individuals making outbound calls rather than machines - it requires individuals who will not fall for the scam to never interact with them. That ensures the call centre can focus on the small proportion of individuals, usually elderly and vulnerable, who get taken in by the calls. Even then, their success rate is tiny, but enough to turn a profit.

Sure, it is a waste of time at the individual level to spend just a few minutes interacting with the call, absolutely. But so is donating blood and voting, and I do that too, for the wider social benefit.

Donating blood and voting cannot be compared to wasting time talking to scam companies.

I'm surprised you even consider it is.

Oddly enough I was getting loads of the variations of calls (Amazon Prime, National Crime Agency, shutting down my broad band), but since I engaged with them for 20 minutes or so the calls have dried up (so far!). Having some numpty on the phone for 20 minutes while they think you're trying to give them access to your PC does not support their business model and they likely want you off the sucker list for the future.

Telling someone in an Indian call centre that what I can see on the screen is "tum ek bevakooph ho" generally results in a dropped call, sometimes a swear word from them first!

dinglebert

Call Guardian may be great for you, not so convenient for others, e.g. those who work for NHS.

I find the call guardian process takes too long and the standard message irritating.

 I have it and enjoy it.  I also work for the NHS.

xxxxxxxx

I ordered from Amazon last summer and I had a problem with delivery such that I had to use the My Hermes website and I used the chat bot to request a call back - stupidly gave my landline for a call back.   The call back never came  but the very next day I started getting Amazon scam callers and I still get them.  
"Hello this is Amazon confirming if the order for £1500 is a valid order" 
I wait for the human to come on the phone then he says about the £1500 order and is it valid.  I tell him yes it is wanted it is my order.   Then they ask if I want to renew my Prime membership , I say yes it is on automatic renewal, so it's all good thank you.  Then they have no more to say and say good bye.    

missile

dinglebert said:

Call Guardian may be great for you, not so convenient for others, e.g. those who work for NHS.

I find the call guardian process takes too long and the standard message irritating.

 I have it and enjoy it.  I also work for the NHS.

Does your position at NHS require you to phone patients? 

Korkyb

missile said:

dinglebert said:

Call Guardian may be great for you, not so convenient for others, e.g. those who work for NHS.

I find the call guardian process takes too long and the standard message irritating.

 I have it and enjoy it.  I also work for the NHS.

Does your position at NHS require you to phone patients? 

My position in the NHS does involve my staff phoning patients multiple times per day.

Call Guardian does take an extra 30 / 40 seconds or so to make contact with the patient & it can be fiddly when calling through a software application but its no biggie.

I have recommended the use of Call Guardian to vulnerable people as I believe it does protect them to a great extent from scam callers.

After getting up to 20 unwanted calls per day a few years ago I bought a TrueCall system for my home (much the same as Call Guardian) and the unwanted calls stopped immediately (probably get one or 2 sneaking past per year now).

dinglebert

missile said:

dinglebert said:

Call Guardian may be great for you, not so convenient for others, e.g. those who work for NHS.

I find the call guardian process takes too long and the standard message irritating.

 I have it and enjoy it.  I also work for the NHS.

Does your position at NHS require you to phone patients? 

Yes it does and its still not a problem.  I prefer my vulnerable patients to be safe.