• I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    For people who think they’re winning by fucking with scammers, unless you are tying up hours of their time, you are doing the opposite by engaging with them. And even if you tie up hours, they aren’t really losing.

    Obviously, falling for the scam is their ideal outcome, but ANY engagement beyond silence, a generic VM, or a disconnected/fax line marks your number as ‘active’ which can then be sold to other scammers.

    So they still get a profit, and your number winds up on more scamming lists.

    We are also getting close to the point where it won’t even be an actual human you’re talking to, it’ll just be some AI, making engagement even more useless.

    If you get a call from an unknown number and you don’t have call screening, answer and SAY NOTHING! Not hello, not “may I ask whose calling”, mute your phone so they don’t even get background noise. The only numbers they can’t get anything out of are the ones that are brick walls.

    • draco_aeneus@mander.xyz
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      19 hours ago

      Surely, if they’re selling your numbers to other scammers, other scammers are losing that same amount of money?

      • piranhaconda@mander.xyz
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        15 hours ago

        As scummy as it is, it’s still how they make their living. Not at all taking their side, but I get pissed when someone wastes my time at work too. No idea how their pay structure is, but if it’s commission based, yea, more anger for having time wasted make sense

      • hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works
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        16 hours ago

        Just because tying them up doesn’t hurt or stop the overall operation, you still wasted that one guys time and probably hurt his metrics 🤷‍♂️

        Still not worth it to me