Told him to PISS OFF!!

[Aprilsinparis]

Had yet another phone call telling me that my internet had been hacked by someone in America, and if I hand over my computer access to this person, they could "fix it". I told him I am sick to death of these scams, he told me to shut up, and I told him to PISS OFF! AIBU to think they will probably keep ringing all the time because I lost my temper.

The cyber security guy in my work place recommends keeping them online as long as possible, obviously without giving away any details! That way they have less time to contact more, possibly more vulnerable, people. But I never have the patience!

not unreasonable!

One time I played along with them and pretended to be typing in their bullshit commands and eventually one of them asked if I was a virgin! Told the cheeky fucker where to go

Ooh. xposts princesstiasmum.

Thinking about it, you wouldn't get sued, would you, because that would mean the scum calling you would have to admit what they were doing. But nothing surprises me any more.

I had one and I played along a a bit and then asked the guy how much of an idiot did he think I was. He told me I was a big fucking idiot and hung up on me! The cheek.

I did have a car accident that wasn’t my fault so keep getting those calls. Had one yesterday from a very polite and well spoken girl. I just said I wasn’t interested, thank you, bye bye.

My elderly folks have got this call monitor thing after some VERY aggressive cold calls, minor inconvenience for genuine callers first time they ring but sorted out the cold call problem.

After reading another thread here on MN I now tell the accident ones that "the judge told me that if I hadn't had five pints the accident would never have happened". One instant hang-up and one confused mumbling so far!

@aprilsinparis

One of the best stories I read on here was when a company called with the laptop scam. The OP said she would get her laptop and switch it on etc, she went all through the call playing along, saying oh its coming on, its a bit slow, hang on, then she would leave it 5 mins, then come back and say its on now. Then she was saying she could see a sheep on her screen then a cow, then a pig etc. Then she started pressing the buttons the guy on the phone told her to press and it started playing nursery rhymes, it was only then that he cottoned on that it was a Vtech my first laptop. . I don't think he found it as funny as the OP did.

I signed up to TP, but still get these calls. I've been told there is nothing can be done if they are calls from abroad. I have also tried telling them to give me details of who is trying to hack my computer, as my husband works for CID fraud squad,they soon bugger off.

Yesterday, they phoned about three times in half an hour, and I was fed up of looking at caller ID before I answered, hence the piss off. They phoned again about about ten minutes ago, I ignored it.

Me “I am a very powerful witch”
Scammer “What?”
Me “I am an immensely powerful witch. I can tell that you are lying and trying to do harm. I have cursed you. Bad luck will follow you wherever you go.”
Click. And relax.

I've now got a call guardian phone (BT) and no longer get these calls. I used to be plagued with them!

I really don't miss having a landline!

We have moved into a new house and not yet connected to the exchange so no phone line (and no blinking broadband but that's another story!). But the upside is no cold calls.

Once we get the landline connected I'm not going to plug the phone in unless I need it to make an outbound call. Our mobile signal is surprisingly good considering we are rural so I can't see the need for the landline phone now. Much easier to screen calls on my mobile and can easily block numbers.

Unless you really need a landline I'd just unplug it.

I love that one Mabel

I had to unplug my landline and haven't used it for five years or more. Still have the pleasure of paying for the bastard though

I get the BT ones where you're going to get free calls because you're such a loyal customer.

I've dragged that along to them wanting my credit card details, so I've given them a fictitious one. And they still keep going. Then I have to be rude. That's such a shame as 'Gerald' is such a nice chap.

Another vote for a phone with BT Call Guardian. Stops them dead as the diallers just can't cope with it at all.

We just go along with them, my husband is brilliant at it! If they ring saying about an accident he'll go 'an accident? Who's had an accident? Are they ok? Oh I've had an accident? When is my car ok? Oh god what am i going to do I need my car?' Or he'll just completely make it up as he goes along about some accident that never happened

Adult ds got the car accident one, kept them going nearly half an hour with a very descriptive tale of the car accident he had had until the person the other end sussed he was talking about a computer game!

A friend of mine has two cats with "human" names; when she was told that someone in her household had been in a car accident, she said, "Well I can't drive, so it must have been X or Y" "X?" hazarded the cold caller; "well I knew he was a clever cat, but I didn't know he could drive." Hang up.
Another friend was told his computer needed fixing; he wound him up for ages before admitting that he didn't have a computer (old one dead, waiting for replacement), whereupon the irate cold caller accused him of being a cross dresser; he's still slightly baffled by that insult.

I'm getting on average 5 a day at the moment, despite being on the TPS. The quickest way to get rid of them is to say: No thank you and please remove me from your data base'. You'll find they hang up before you've barely got the words out. DH works in telecoms and told me this trick.

I highly recommend you all listen to this.

Yes, it’s real!

itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/reply-all/id941907967?mt=2&i=1000418794305

I have call blocking phones now, I get absolutely zero dodgy calls and only the odd one from a mis-dialling customer of the local NatWest that has a similar number to me. I just divert those calls to the answering machine message which says "Hi this is Edison, sorry I'm not here right now...." and they realise they dialled wrong and hang up.

Unfortunately my mobile gets all the PPI, customer survey, RTA calls now and you can block one STD number but they call the next day from another one. So now I don't answer those either.

One woman said how sorry she was that I was stuck doing such a nasty job in a horrible place whilst she was sitting in her garden drinking wine. It made me cry! I hung up on her! Actually, I think that’s brilliant. I’m sorry you were upset, but you’ve no idea what people are doing or going through, themselves, when you call.

I’m going to do that next time, in a really slow, relaxed voice.

I had one yesterday about claiming PP, so I told them I was in an IVA. He said their was nothing he could do for me and would take me off the cold list.

There*

I'm obviously quite pedestrian about these calls and just talk over the caller and say I don't accept cold calls and hang up. Some numbers, the pretend UK ones, I do ignore and they have been less persistent recently.

Ha, I've actually given them fake account details before. The women was so desperate to end the call after that but I kept rabbiting on about the new fridge I had in my truck and the perfect temperature to chill an iced coffee. I've also had an Indian caller hang up on me after several minutes of my explaining why he needed pork scratchings in his life.

I clearly have too much time on the road.

princesstiasmum I don't have a whistle, but I've got a whoopee cushion, or I've got a very windy son who would take great pleasure in farting his version of The William Tell Overture, down the phone.

I really don't miss having a landline!

I get accident ones on my mobile.