66
Who else likes to mess with spammers? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Great news everyone! I've just been offered a position to remotely train an AI and I can make up to $6000 a day!

Yeah, right.

I'm in the middle of a conversation with someone who randomly instant messaged me. I like to play dumb with these people and then occasionally throw some obscure questions at them and watch them squirm, or just toss subtle insults in my replies.

Anyone else get a kick out of messing with these scammers? Any particular shenanigans you like to throw at them, out any good stories that have come from it?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 26 points 1 year ago* (13 children)

Honestly I'm too worried about my voice/image being AI spoofed to bother answering any calls I'm not expecting.

While I know I'm not rich enough to be a target I lack the cybersecurity skills to chew what I might bite off if I made it personal by trolling them.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 13 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    It’s not necessarily about being rich. You have an identity that can be abused to get stuff like credit and loans and open up accounts depending on what they can get. Obviously they’re not going to get THAT far with just a single recording of you saying “hello”, but I want to dispel the myth that only the rich are targeted by scammers

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    You have an identity that can be abused to get stuff like credit and loans

    I have grandparents. Don't want them getting scammed.

    And hello isn't enough but a 10 word sentence is plenty.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] [S] 5 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    I try not to mess around with ANY voice calls, so I usually just hang up shortly after I realize what's happening.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    Yea I won't even speak until I hear someone on the other end. Even then I disguise my voice until I'm certain it's a legit caller.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    You purposely pick up and sit in silence? Not even a "Yo", "Sup", or "Aye"?

    I wondered why people have been doing that when I call them at work. Sucks to be them, they've been waiting 2 weeks to 2 months for an appointment. I just hang up and move on to the next. If they didn't want to talk they should have let it go to voicemail.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I do because in general one of the following scenarios happen:

    1. A person is on the other side and when they notice the call went through they say hello (at which point I always reply regaedless of being scam/unexpected call/etc)
    2. A robot is on the other side and automatically starts blabbering gibberish (usually it is instant hang-up when I hear this)
    3. A robot is on the other side and waits for a signal, hanging up in around 3-5 seconds (since I was silent)

    But to be fair if it was ever a human in scenario 3 and I missed an important call, I wouldn't know (however I don't think that ever happened)

    Also, the burden of initiating conversation should be on the active caller side, not on the passice receiver

    And lastly, I heard thar if you answer the robots, your number gets flagged as real (instead of other robot), making the scammers call you more often (I'm agnostic in regards to this statement)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Also, the burden of initiating conversation should be on the active caller side, not on the passice receiver

    As an active caller, unless there is a ton of background noise, I may or may not get any indication that the person I'm calling has actually picked up. So I'm just going to sit there until they say something or hang up.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Ahh, fair enough, I always can tell when somebody picked up because the timely beeps stop (and also somehow I know that the silence from the background is different from the silence before it)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    You purposely pick up and sit in silence? Not even a "Yo", "Sup", or "Aye"?

    Yup. AI spam calls generally hang up within 3 seconds if they don't hear a voice on the other end. It's when they detect a voice that the auto dialer connects you with the scammer.

    Meanwhile 99% of the people I want to talk to are contacts in my phone or businesses with caller id.

    I don't answer calls from random numbers anyways so it's largely irrelevant unless I'm expecting calls for some reason.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    Meanwhile 99% of the people I want to talk to are contacts in my phone or businesses with caller id.

    And that's why I don't feel too bad moving on to the next. If I'm calling someone, they had to have called me at least once already. If they're too lazy to save the number and want to play silly games, I have better uses of my time. I was just curious of the thought process.

    It's when they detect a voice that the auto dialer connects you with the scammer.

    I just hang up as soon as I hear that little "bloop" sound and that cuts out 90% of them.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    Now that you mention it, I think I've noticed that too. Is it like the phone version of the Gen Z stare?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    the Gen Z stare

    That's just an effective tactic. I'm way older than gen z and figured out a long time ago that unless a reply is absolutely necessary, just staying quiet and staring will get a transactional conversation to it's point and over much quicker.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Actually I think the few seconds might be caused by people taking calls on their ear buds.

    I use a shitty android and JBLs so maybe airpods don't have that slight delay when they connect.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent