Just had one of those ‘hi mum’ scam messages and wondering whether to reply and string them along for fun.

[Shefliesonherownwings]

Just had one of those ‘hi mum, I’ve broken my phone, can you text me on this number, I’m texting from a friends phone’. Given the fact that my existing children are 2.5 years and 3 weeks I know it’s not them lol.

I know I should just block and report the number, which I will, but in the meantime i’m bored, stuck under a sleeping baby whilst the toddler naps and wondering whether to reply and play along for a bit, at the least it might stop them bothering someone else for a bit. Should I?

'Gerald, is that you? I'm so glad you messaged, I'm out and I think I left the oven on, could you pop round and check?'

That sort of thing?

Absolutely string them along!

Some people would say don't because it lets "them" know your number is working. But if you don't care about that then go for it. I replied a few months ago, as I knew it wasn't my 4yo, with "Tom, is that you?" and they never replied. I guess they didn't know whether to respond yes or no so didn't bother! I've not had another spam message since.

You might be stringing someone along who has a lot of information about you and is vindictive? I understand the temptation but I would be inclined to just leave it 😬

Honestly - it's just your own time you'd be wasting really isn't it.

These days it's a high probability that it's just some automated rolled out message or even worse, a person being forced to participate in criminal activities.

I'd just block, report and get on with your own day doing something more entertaining than this would surely be.

I did. It amused me and hopefully wasted their time.

My friend did this, and got spammed by thousands of emails in retaliation,every time she blocked one address another would start so go steady!

I had one of those. I replied with "great glad you've text, I've been meaning to ask about that loan I gave you. Now you have my bank details when can I expect the first £250 to go in? Love you.x" Strangely they never got back to me.

Well.... put it this way

You have no idea who these people are or what they know about you
You have confirmed that your number is live and that you will engage so expect a lot more scam messages
They are getting paid to try and scam you. You, OTOH, will just be wasting your time.

I got one the other day. Decided it wasn't worth confirming to them that the number was live.

Also I once strung someone along once and then got constant abusive phone calls until my husband answered.

Honestly? Block the number. Don’t let them know that your number works and that you’ll respond.

It isn’t one individual scammer, it’s a whole team working in a sweatshop.

If you have nothing better to do and you're bored why not? But ultimately it's a waste of your own time too.

Absolutely do not reply, they will know your number is active and will spam you even more.

"How dare you message me. I'll never forgive you for what you did to your step father and me. The cats never been the same and now YOU want money?! I'll think about giving it you when you return the butt plug and mannequin you stole."

I did this!

"Jessica is that you? You've got a bloody nerve contacting me after the way you behaved at Christmas! I won't lift a finger to help you until you apologise to your brother, and you owe Betty a new carpet!"

Sadly they didn't respond further.

I saw a response the other day that had gone viral:

Scammer: Hi mum, I broke my phone so this is my temporary number.

Mum: Piss off you scamming bastard. There's no way my son could spell temporary correctly.

Thanks for the replies, as it happened the baby woke up screaming so all thoughts of replying went out of my head. We’re at the park now and to be honest I haven’t got the energy now. I do like a lot of the replies here though so the thank you for sending them through. If I get bored again during the night feeds I might reply after all.