People Hire Phone Bots to Torture Telemarketers

Eventually it's just going to be bots calling bots, wasting nothing but computing cycles. Who even answers calls from unknown numbers these days?

One time I received a call from my mobile provider, offering me a free upgrade. I thought I was very smart and sophisticated, and rudely demanded information - &quot;oh yeah? what&#x27;s your name mr SCAM CALLER!&quot; I also wanted a session ID so I could call back the official number and be reconnected. He was quite baffled and said &quot;errr... we don&#x27;t do that&quot;. I immediately felt like Kitboga - I&#x27;m onto you, scammer!!<p>Turned out it was legitimate and I just looked like a jackass. Got my free upgrade though.<p>While I didn&#x27;t need to be so arrogant, I think companies should make it easier to prove their identity. When I call my bank, they ask for information like DOB etc to prove it&#x27;s me. Fair enough. But it never works in reverse if they call me, like a push message via their app, or an ID number I can call back with. I feel a bit silly asking.

Telemarketing is just a subset of the greater evil of marketing in general. It is an industry of invading your attention in an effort to manipulate you into doing something you otherwise wouldn&#x27;t.<p>We should take every opportunity to worsen their lives as they have employed themselves to worsen ours.

I&#x27;ve gotten pretty good at finding ways to get them to immediately disconnect. For example, ask where they&#x27;re physically located. Or ask for their name, job title, and supervisor. I&#x27;m not as good as keeping them on the line though. Sometimes I just put them on silent hold awhile.<p>That reminds me: if you ever receive a call from a legit collection agency, be prepared in advance. You have the right to ask them specific questions that they need to answer, according to regulation, if they have a legitimate debt to collect. Your second opportunity to ask the questions will be more difficult, so take advantage of them reaching out. Have a list by your phone or on your Favorites.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.consumerfinance.gov&#x2F;ask-cfpb&#x2F;how-can-i-verify-whether-or-not-a-debt-collector-is-legitimate-en-1699&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.consumerfinance.gov&#x2F;ask-cfpb&#x2F;how-can-i-verify-wh...</a>

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;oOoVD" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;oOoVD</a>

Reminds me of Lenny<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lenny_(bot)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Lenny_(bot)</a>

When dealing with these types of calls, my approach is to inform the callers that I am a member of their software development team. I explain that I inadvertently generated a lead from my personal number, and typically they hang up and remove my number from their list.

This is brilliant- he took the Abe Simpson &quot;tell people stories that don&#x27;t go anywhere&quot; and ran with it.

I wish this kind of behavior was more condoned and encouraged in society.<p>Let&#x27;s brainstorm some similar techniques that we could do to similarly unscrupulous people.

You&#x27;d think the phone companies would care about this. It erodes people&#x27;s need for a phone number. Why even bother any more?

This is the first legitimate use of chatGPT that I’ve heard of.

Torture? More like &#x27;returning the favor&#x27;.