to be "sassy" to these fraudsters?

[Feelingsolow12345]

I just had a phone call saying they are an accident company.
me: and what accident was I meant to be involved with?
scammers: (sheepishly) a car accident.
me: well I don't drive so when did this accident meant to have happened?
scammers:

did I upset him?

They aren't just trying to find genuine accident victims. I had one who told me they'd had info from my GP that I'd been injured in an accident. When I said I hadn't he was extremely insistent that I had and then asked if it might have been anyone else in the house. He wasn't taking no for an answer.

wow....erm...wow. how did you respond to that?

for one the Dr won't give out details like that they can have their title stripped from them. are they idiots?

I used to think it was funny to do this, until one day I ending by saying "there has got to be a better way to earn a living than preying on the most vulnerable"

He replied very sadly "you would have thought wouldn't you"

I didn't feel so clever then

Now I politely tell them to go away.

I cried as I was 38 weeks pregnant at the time. He hung up on me.

I love to play along with them too - asking them loads of questions and generally pissing them off until they end up swearing at me and hanging up. Until one day. I went through my usual script of 'No, YOU tell ME which vehicles were involved' etc etc .. and I got all the details (they usually state data protection and won't answer exactly which car I crashed, or when or where). This time it wasn't a scam, it was an insurance co with the wrong mobile no

I just said my doctor wouldn't give out confidential information, he was still very insistent that I had been in an accident & consulted my doctor. Most disconcerting!

I had Frank from Microsoft this morning....have to say he didn't catch me at the best time.
I called him a fucking cunt

I'm sorry he made you cry and feel the way you did wanna

toffee I always thought they knew what they was doing was wrong and they was happy to do it, obviously I was wrong

mycar bet you felt silly after the call.

storm "I know the doctor gave me your details. your name is mr doodle, you live on cloud cuckoo land, you have a pet unikitty and the accident involves the chosen one. where else am I meant to get this information..."

bet he loved you sava

He didn't call back. Was rather hoping he would

I did! Also apologised and we both had a laugh about it though!

what would have you done if he did sava?

mycar bet he was like "I get it all the time"

Toffee

Not talking about Microsoft ones but the accident ones, they come from call centres in India. I used to get cross and argue with them but my husband (who is Indian) said 'give them a break, they are just trying to earn a living and probably earn shit, especially if they don't get leads - blame the organisation, not the caller'

Since then I just say no thanks and hang up.

As for posters who put on speaker for their kids to laugh at , wow how to teach manners and courtesty for fellow human beings

Yeah that's what I think.

It pulled me up on my manners.

I didn't know where the call centres were. I thought they was in the uk and didn't know they was Indian. I thought they was British. I'm so silly.

we just had a other one for Windows but my DP answered the call. Apparently this is how the conversation went;
dp: hello
caller: hello sir. we are calling to let you know that your windows need replacing as they haven't been replaced since your house has been built (total lie, the house has had new windows but in a year ago by the last lord)
dp: oh I see
caller: so I am calling to see if you would like to replace them. I am selling them at a great offer.
dp: okay I'll have them. how much would you like to pay for them
caller: excuse me?
dp: how much would you like to pay for them?
caller: no sir, I am selling them you.
dp: I know and I'm going to sell you them back so I can make a profit. so how much would you pay for them?
caller:

I usually reply to the accident people with OMG did I have an accident, I must have had a head injury, I don't remember......getting shriller by the minute......can you get me out of here, do you know he door code, they seem to hang up

Cold callers aren't supposed to be calling me; so I won't be losing much sleep over them trying to make a honest living - because it isn't.

Equally the scammers (wherever they are from) don't deserve any courtesy - they aren't extending any to me and they are trying to perform criminal acts - stuff being polite to them. Would the people meekly advocating politeness feel the same about a handbag snatcher?

I wonder if they ever have all calls on record and play them back at the end of the day and laugh at all our responses.

We had a spate of cold callers about a year ago and I reached breaking point with them. Every day at 6pm the called, every day I told them some new outrageous nonsense like "Mrs F is dead, can I help?" or "Mrs F is on remand in prison, can I pass on a message?" or "Mrs F is being savaged by a dog in the garden, shall I get her to call you back when she's finished?". It was like being in battle because they just wouldn't quit. I ended it by handing the phone to DS2 who sat watching CBeebies bedtime hour with them and shouting "you listen to me, I'm telling you the story of The Singing Mermaid, Sam Sly has stolen her" until they got so fed up they never called again.

Another one I've used with the scamming ones who go on about having a problem with windows is 'oh, I'll just put my husband on. He works for the cyber fraud squad'. They tend to hang up very quickly.

I don't get any at the moment as I was so sick of automated messages and people asking me to complete a survey (dd used to work for a telephone survey company - minimum wage plus bonus) that I've unplugged the landline. We had 8 calls over the space of an hour one evening and I'd had enough.

this is the first one on our house phone we've had. our number isn't listed so I don't get how they got it.

I know the once, when I was a tad drunk, the phoned my mobile I answered it singing 'oops I did it again' I bet the guy on the phone was in stitches.

As for posters who put on speaker for their kids to laugh at shock, wow how to teach manners and courtesty for fellow human beings

Wow to jump to bad parenting conclusions.
That was me. Jeez. If only it was that easy to ruin my lovely children's good manners. They weren't laughing they were partaking in playing along with the call. We get these calls every single bloody day. I'm registered to not get them. I get tons. Normally we let it go to answerphone but today, being my son's birthday we answered all the calls. These accident calls are bullshit. I block them on my mobile but at home, ringing five or six times a night with the same bloody questions, they are disturbing my peace and I reserve the right to fuck with them. This wasn't a student doing a survey, it was a crappy fishing call.

did your son enjoy winding them up? also happy belated birthday to him :)