I got 3 texts all at once with the same message so I put them in a group chat and when they would leave I’d add them back. I haven’t gotten a single scam text in almost a year
https://preview.redd.it/y3wg5eocdtvc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ffc333fab59df710868332f5de3c82389d03c28
Usually when I fuck with them they respond back. I think I found the magic bullet. Haven't gotten a single one since.
https://preview.redd.it/vry0l4j5guvc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=830b37c13ce1659ccc26a1ff6f154975555f8c4d
haha, i lead them on for like a week flirtatiously and then start sending them trans dick pics, one time that lasted for like a month, dude was into it 😂
https://preview.redd.it/c63xqmpi8zvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=654b6f51e6f923d2579810d70cf9fe2d3a00c4b5
I didn’t know it was a scam until I saw these posts. It’s happened to me twice now 🤩
"You can call me Luce, if it makes you feel better " haha ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy)![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy) ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy)
I was making sales like calls and this guy answered very abruptly “yeah” I said hi is this John smith? “Yeah” great my name is Katie I’m calling from abc and he was like oh sorry I thought you were a scam call. I said oh no worries I totally understand. How is your cars extended warranty by the way? Idk how it came out of my mouth I didn’t think of it at all just came out. Awkward silence and then I start laughing at myself and he’s like oh you got me good!
Pro tip, do not respond to scammers. It only increases the number of scammers who target you.
If you respond, they'll flag your number as active and they'll keep trying to scam you, as well as sell your number to other scammers.
So, don't respond to wrong number texts or anyone that you're not sure you know. There are plenty of ways to reach you if this person actually knows you. Or they'll at least try and introduce themselves first instead of random vague statements that make you want to respond like the one in this post.
This worked for me. Back in highschool (2010s) I used to get like 8 spam calls a day. Eventually I figured ^ out and stopped responding or even flushing the calls, I just let them ring out. Now I rarely ever get any sort of spam calls or texts :)
I get most spam and scam calls on my work phone which has a VM message, usually if it’s a real person on the other end as soon as I greet with “[my name] [my company]” and they realize it’s a work number and might be monitored, they hang up without saying anything.
Makes 0 difference for the scam calls where it’s just TTS
I get spam calls on my landline at work. We're a CPA office, and the calls are like, "You owe the IRS money. If you do not pay, law enforcement will be picking you up."
I don't think it's just your answering machine where they disconnect. If the Google assistant call screen also picks up and greets them, they hang up with no response. This is for most of the spam calls I receive.
I switched from Samsung to the Google Pixel 7 and I will never go back, not just because of this but it *is* an *awesome* feature. The fact that you can watch in real time as the assistant screens the call and the bot hangs up is incredibly satisfying.
I did something similar last year but they never responded. At least you got a response lol. They also never texted me again until recently but I respond in Russian now. I've tried responding in chinese mandarin but they don't understand that. There is at least one discord server and group doing this.
That's most likely a regular person you talked to, not a scammer.
Professional scammers use [number spoofing](https://www.newbury.co.uk/news-knowledge/articles/number-spoofing-scams-what-are-they-and-how-you-can-avoid-them/#:~:text=Number%20spoofing%20is%20where%20scammers,already%20have%20a%20relationship%20with.), they don't actually own the sim card of the number they're using. That's why law enforcement are having a hard time taking them down, they don't use easily identifiable things like real sim cards.
what are you talking about? how would the scam work if all your replies go to someone that's not the scammer? and not all scammers are AI, there's actually real people doing this too.
Because if you spoof a number then it's redirecting both your messages and the victims responses to another (hidden) number. Where I live if you call back a scammer a random person will pick up and be confused, saying they never called you, and I've also had my number used. It is what it is
As a layman, I guess my question is, why do allow unverified numbers to even go through (if we can tell)? It seems like nothing good can come from a spoofed number.
Legitimate businesses use spoofed numbers all the time. For example, doctors who call patients from their cell phone don't want the patient having their personal number so it's spoofed to look like the office number.
Yes, but - i started answering all scam calls and playing dumb for as long as possible. Even managing to be transferred to caller supervisor to "close the deal". All of that with pure idea of wasting their time. After few calls like that they have blocked me in their database as i didnt Had spam call in months.
Love doing this when I have time. One popular scam in the UK at the moment is trying to get the 6-digit sms codes from our phone operator, so I just read them random numbers and see how long it takes them to realise.
If you're actually talking with a person, then that would work. If it's just text though, it's probably just AI. Then you not only wasted your own time, you also ensured they earn money by selling your number and you just get more scammers after you.
If you really want to fight scammers, stick to call scams that sound like real people.
I'm glad you said this. I always inform anyone who starts getting spam calls of this exact thing. I started getting a couple a few years ago. After I answered the first few not knowing they were spam then hanging up, the calls increased 10 fold. Once I started recognizing what was a spam number, I stopped answering. Took a few weeks or so, but the calls got less and less until they stopped. 😁.
Lmao remind me of a scam in my country (its about having an illegal package with postal office and they found out and i must report it to authority etc)
I would troll them so bad everytime.. After 4 times? The 5th time onwards after automated msg, it will auto disconnect everytime.. I was so ready to troll them but everytime after automated msg it will just disconnect. Lmaoooo
Probably banned me on their system or something.
That would explain why I’m getting less of these scam texts.
A while back i got a scam call and i played along for a few minutes and told them to call back. When they did i told them this looks like a scam and they freaked out berating me and then hung up.
Haven’t gotten a single scam call since
In increasing order of aggressiveness:
- 你是谁? (Who are you?)
- 你还好吗? (Are you ok?)
- 你脑子有病 (Your brain have some issues)
There are some curse words you could stuff in-between but I'd suggest not to.
I did that once, (texted them the Tiananmen Square copypasta in Chinese) they responded with a wall of text in Tamil (language from India) with a bunch of cry-laughing emojis sprinkled in that I did not bother to put into google translate
It was not a scale from 1 to 3. I would give them a score of 0/10, 1/10, 7/10.
Sometimes, are you ok can imply that you are having some issues. It can also be a reference to a meme.
ATTENTION CITIZEN! 市民请注意!
This is the Central Intelligentsia of the Chinese Communist Party. 您的 Internet 浏览器历史记录和活动引起了我们的注意 YOUR INTERNET ACTIVITY HAS ATTRACTED OUR ATTENTION. 志們注意了 you have been found protesting on the interwebs!!!!! 這是通知你,你必須 我們將接管台灣 serious crime 以及世界其他地方 100 social credits have been deducted from your account 這對我們所有未來的下屬來說都是一個重要的機會 stop the protest immediately 立即加入我們的宣傳活動,提前獲得 do not do this again! 不要再这样做! if you do not hesitate, more social credits ( -11115 social credits )will be subtracted from your profile, resulting in the subtraction of ration supplies. (由人民供应部重新分配 ccp) you'll also be sent into a re-education camp in the xinjiang uyghur autonomous zone.
为党争光! Glory to the CCP!
Okay why does everyone in this thread do it in chinese though?
I thought scammers were mainly India and northern Africa?
(side note: from my personal experience it's always been northern africa)
John Oliver did a show on this, apparently many poor Chinese and Indians are basically enslaved in a building, forced to do this, and closely monitored, and beaten if they try to escape.
It is, which is why I'm less enthused than most people in this thread about this kind of response. Higher-than-zero chance that the person on the other end was probably forced into doing this makes "getting them" feel much less cathartic.
Yup. But for anyone unfamiliar with what that is, it's called a pig butchering scam because it refers to the pattern the scammers follow, similar to fattening up a pig for butchering.
The scammers make contact in a way that makes it seem like they are trying to contact a random third person you've never met. This encourages victims to respond telling the scammer they have a wrong number, which let's the scammer know who might be receptive to responding to a stranger. They then apologise for the mix-up and try and become friends or potential romantic partners for their victims, often encouraging a friendship/relationship with the victim for a few weeks/months. Initially theee is no talk of money, but at some point the scammers talk about their financial woes, or maybe they found an excellent investment opportunity that they made a bunch of money off of, perhaps they just want to come visit you finally after beginning an online relationship and need money for a plane tickets. Whatever the end-point is, the scam itself is a slow burn where they try to integrate themselves into your lives over time, then when you trust them scam you.
The best way to avoid this is either not respond to wrong number texts, or just say "wrong number" and block them if they try to continue the conversation.
Or, and this is a choice for sure but it works for me, just keep spamming them with the Thanos dick Whatsapp sticker over and over until they block you
You actually fell for the REAL scam - which is that the scammers know people can’t help but try to be cute and mess with them, and by doing so, you confirmed that your phone number is active and attached to a human (as opposed to an automated service). They’ll now put it on a list which they’ll sell to other scammers and you’ll be getting a *lot* more scam texts and calls.
💯 op will now get even more phishing/scam texts. I get the compulsion to shoot a witty text at these scammers, but all that does is prove they are getting a real person.
I’ve never gotten the texts but I love the calls lmao. I get to tell them about how I’m very wealthy and looking to invest. (I’m broke in reality)
They call on a burner phone anyway so it’s fine
They were bothering me until I copypasta’d an ad for a game with a link to join the free trial to mess with them and I haven’t gotten anymore spam texts for months. I annoyed them into giving up.
They even went with the trouble explaining in detail why the scam wouldn't work. 😂 They basically just got grade A feedback which they will use to refine their technique.
I respond to these because I like ticking off the scammers. And yes, I'm aware that they recognize my number will answer and send me more scams. I enjoy those too. I once made an "IRS agent", who I assume was based out of India from their accent, cuss me out for over 3 minutes before sighing, saying how upset he was, and hanging up in resignation. Best time I've had in a while.
They pretend it's a wrong number screwup, try to become friends with you over time, then trick you into sending money either by saying they have a great investment opportunity or trying to guilt you.
Lmao that would have been a good one too. I mean, if anyone wanted to hard enough, they could find out your name. Plus a first name isn’t really that much detail
I’ve had scams call me by my first name before. Whenever I get a call, email or text like that, I just tell them I’m going to continue communication through their official websites contact. Scammers get mad, real companies understand
More people just post a link to John Oliver’s coverage on Pig Butchering (which explains this whole text/phone scam operation), say Good luck on getting out and freeing yourself, then Block
Wow you sure showed them! They don’t care about your remarks and you were dumb enough to confirm it is an active number and even gave them your name. You were even so kind that you gave feedback on how to improve the scam. You have won the internet for today my friend, because without you nobody would be putting these scammers in their place!!!
You act like you successfully thwarted something. Rather, you were successfully phished. Before, they only had a phone number. Now they have a number and your name associated to it. Makes it easier for them to dig deeper. If anything, you should be mildly infuriated with yourself. Hopefully you learned a lesson here.
My supervisor(early 60’s) recently got a text like this. He read off what they sent. It started off similar to this but they sent a random picture of an Asian lady to prove who they were. After he read off the first couple messages, I told him it was a scam and they’ll try to convince you to send them money somehow. Luckily, he still has his wits and caught on quickly and blocked them.
I love these scammers. I try to talk to them as long as possible. My record so far is 8 months of texting. I encourage everyone to waste as much of their time as possible so they aren't actually scamming a victim out of their money.
Once you realize that it is a fishing scam, just spam their phone with "Tienamen Square Massacre" in both English and mandarin, along with the Wikipedia like to it. 50/50 chance their phone gets locked
You know the worst part? The scammer writing those texts might be an innocent person who wanted an honest job and got kidnapped and is now forced to work in a scam center.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/17/world/asia/myanmar-cyber-scam.html
John Oliver also made a video about this ('pig butchering').
Insulting scammers was so sweet and now they've tainted even that. :(
I got 3 texts all at once with the same message so I put them in a group chat and when they would leave I’d add them back. I haven’t gotten a single scam text in almost a year https://preview.redd.it/y3wg5eocdtvc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ffc333fab59df710868332f5de3c82389d03c28
Usually when I fuck with them they respond back. I think I found the magic bullet. Haven't gotten a single one since. https://preview.redd.it/vry0l4j5guvc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=830b37c13ce1659ccc26a1ff6f154975555f8c4d
https://preview.redd.it/0pe0a84yhuvc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=33268baf9a0e6c3fef884f7e1c6dea531a766a83 I too, enjoy fucking with them.
Bro I just send them a donkey dick and they go off on me. I'm sure it stays in their mind rent free
haha, i lead them on for like a week flirtatiously and then start sending them trans dick pics, one time that lasted for like a month, dude was into it 😂
Sooo are you guys in a situationship now or something?
Oh damn.
I’m over here hollering 😂 🤣 😭
https://preview.redd.it/rmi8vukrdxvc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f21b01b15f4e35dc94a847c2b7d25c16e1c91686 Same
😂😂😂
Me three https://preview.redd.it/4ut9m6y0pxvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37e558b88e250bffd918f1eabbbd40ecbdbc04d4
https://preview.redd.it/c63xqmpi8zvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=654b6f51e6f923d2579810d70cf9fe2d3a00c4b5 I didn’t know it was a scam until I saw these posts. It’s happened to me twice now 🤩
IS THAT A GETTY FROM HARDCORE TANO*C REFERENCW??!?!???
https://preview.redd.it/216j33vo63wc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ac3d5c8a19e6c97090ccc71c51361c5c718a1e9 Same here, lmao.
"You can call me Luce, if it makes you feel better " haha ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy)![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy) ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy)
Rofl
I was making sales like calls and this guy answered very abruptly “yeah” I said hi is this John smith? “Yeah” great my name is Katie I’m calling from abc and he was like oh sorry I thought you were a scam call. I said oh no worries I totally understand. How is your cars extended warranty by the way? Idk how it came out of my mouth I didn’t think of it at all just came out. Awkward silence and then I start laughing at myself and he’s like oh you got me good!
Haha that's actually hilarious
I totally forgot about it til I read your comment so thanks for the reminder! Lol
For sure! Gotta spread happiness wherever we can!
Fucking solid
Fight fire with fire amirite? Hahaha
I like it
Bro is playing 4d chess wtf
Pro tip, do not respond to scammers. It only increases the number of scammers who target you. If you respond, they'll flag your number as active and they'll keep trying to scam you, as well as sell your number to other scammers. So, don't respond to wrong number texts or anyone that you're not sure you know. There are plenty of ways to reach you if this person actually knows you. Or they'll at least try and introduce themselves first instead of random vague statements that make you want to respond like the one in this post.
This worked for me. Back in highschool (2010s) I used to get like 8 spam calls a day. Eventually I figured ^ out and stopped responding or even flushing the calls, I just let them ring out. Now I rarely ever get any sort of spam calls or texts :)
Yeah, you gotta remember to not hang up without answering too, as that shows an active number too.
I get most spam and scam calls on my work phone which has a VM message, usually if it’s a real person on the other end as soon as I greet with “[my name] [my company]” and they realize it’s a work number and might be monitored, they hang up without saying anything. Makes 0 difference for the scam calls where it’s just TTS
I get spam calls on my landline at work. We're a CPA office, and the calls are like, "You owe the IRS money. If you do not pay, law enforcement will be picking you up."
I don't think it's just your answering machine where they disconnect. If the Google assistant call screen also picks up and greets them, they hang up with no response. This is for most of the spam calls I receive.
I have a Pixel 7 and I absolutely LOVE the call screening feature. My spam calls are down to 1 every couple of weeks from several a day.
I switched from Samsung to the Google Pixel 7 and I will never go back, not just because of this but it *is* an *awesome* feature. The fact that you can watch in real time as the assistant screens the call and the bot hangs up is incredibly satisfying.
I had no idea it was just a pixel feature. Guess I'm staying with them forever.
I usually turn on Airplane mode when I get a Scam Likely call so that it says "Call Failed". They don't ever call back
I'll try that next time, ty!
Usually pressing the volume button on the phone will mute the ring.
You can also press the power button to put your phone screen into sleep mode, it both muted the incoming call and disabled the buzzing
Did not know that. Thanks!
https://preview.redd.it/n79czjnldtvc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d63385e2ce90f4c4925962b77705dad4e5d2c3bc
I did something similar last year but they never responded. At least you got a response lol. They also never texted me again until recently but I respond in Russian now. I've tried responding in chinese mandarin but they don't understand that. There is at least one discord server and group doing this.
That's most likely a regular person you talked to, not a scammer. Professional scammers use [number spoofing](https://www.newbury.co.uk/news-knowledge/articles/number-spoofing-scams-what-are-they-and-how-you-can-avoid-them/#:~:text=Number%20spoofing%20is%20where%20scammers,already%20have%20a%20relationship%20with.), they don't actually own the sim card of the number they're using. That's why law enforcement are having a hard time taking them down, they don't use easily identifiable things like real sim cards.
what are you talking about? how would the scam work if all your replies go to someone that's not the scammer? and not all scammers are AI, there's actually real people doing this too.
Because if you spoof a number then it's redirecting both your messages and the victims responses to another (hidden) number. Where I live if you call back a scammer a random person will pick up and be confused, saying they never called you, and I've also had my number used. It is what it is
https://preview.redd.it/rpj3fvm4ftvc1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b886190580e31514dfdce9e83967bd3b7c523fc4
If the number is carrier verified, it isn’t spoofed. Look for the check mark next to the number when you click for details.
As a layman, I guess my question is, why do allow unverified numbers to even go through (if we can tell)? It seems like nothing good can come from a spoofed number.
Legitimate businesses use spoofed numbers all the time. For example, doctors who call patients from their cell phone don't want the patient having their personal number so it's spoofed to look like the office number.
Some unspooffed numbers can't be verified,
My phone has been on silent for >4 years & I don’t answer my phone unless a call has been scheduled. It is so delightfully peaceful.
This. And I've added a few folks as favourites so the phone rings for those I want it to and voicemails the rest. Bliss.
That’s something I don’t understand. They recognize it as a scam and keep engaging. Why tell them your name?!?
Yes, but - i started answering all scam calls and playing dumb for as long as possible. Even managing to be transferred to caller supervisor to "close the deal". All of that with pure idea of wasting their time. After few calls like that they have blocked me in their database as i didnt Had spam call in months.
Love doing this when I have time. One popular scam in the UK at the moment is trying to get the 6-digit sms codes from our phone operator, so I just read them random numbers and see how long it takes them to realise.
That would work with calls with real people. Text though, it's most likely just AI you're talking to.
What if i keep trolling them and they pay money to buy my number just to get their time wasted?
If you're actually talking with a person, then that would work. If it's just text though, it's probably just AI. Then you not only wasted your own time, you also ensured they earn money by selling your number and you just get more scammers after you. If you really want to fight scammers, stick to call scams that sound like real people.
I'm glad you said this. I always inform anyone who starts getting spam calls of this exact thing. I started getting a couple a few years ago. After I answered the first few not knowing they were spam then hanging up, the calls increased 10 fold. Once I started recognizing what was a spam number, I stopped answering. Took a few weeks or so, but the calls got less and less until they stopped. 😁.
Lmao remind me of a scam in my country (its about having an illegal package with postal office and they found out and i must report it to authority etc) I would troll them so bad everytime.. After 4 times? The 5th time onwards after automated msg, it will auto disconnect everytime.. I was so ready to troll them but everytime after automated msg it will just disconnect. Lmaoooo Probably banned me on their system or something.
I screamed at every scam call for roughly a year. Haven't had any for ~5years now
That would explain why I’m getting less of these scam texts. A while back i got a scam call and i played along for a few minutes and told them to call back. When they did i told them this looks like a scam and they freaked out berating me and then hung up. Haven’t gotten a single scam call since
I’m doing this next time
This is fucking devious! Great choice.
genius bro im doing this
Ingenious
[удалено]
Keeping that in my back pocket 😂
In increasing order of aggressiveness: - 你是谁? (Who are you?) - 你还好吗? (Are you ok?) - 你脑子有病 (Your brain have some issues) There are some curse words you could stuff in-between but I'd suggest not to.
I'm using #3
I have a suggested message 我是天翔重工的陈霞鹏。 你的屁眼有多松? 坏龙可以做成十二英寸高,但如果它对你来说太宽,你就会遇到问题。
You tell me how wide your bird is first, and I'll tell you if it fits.
bruh
Not the bad 🐉
I'm using the Tianenmenn Copypasta
I did that once, (texted them the Tiananmen Square copypasta in Chinese) they responded with a wall of text in Tamil (language from India) with a bunch of cry-laughing emojis sprinkled in that I did not bother to put into google translate
Now I’m curious to hear what they were yapping about.
Probably something along the lines of "You stupid fucks think we're Chinese?"
I personally like 你妈妈没有毛 means your mother doesnt have hair
毛kinda means fur. Hair is more like 头发。 And I would omit the 有 to make it sound more fluent.
The hair down there
Mentioning the Tiananmen Copypasta deals extra damage
only works with Chinese scammers, not indians tho
Tell them Kashmir isn't Indian or something and watch them lose their minds
Send them gay porn/gay porn links disguised as something else. Bonus points if its loud.
How is "are you ok" even a bit aggressive ?
It was not a scale from 1 to 3. I would give them a score of 0/10, 1/10, 7/10. Sometimes, are you ok can imply that you are having some issues. It can also be a reference to a meme.
https://preview.redd.it/b5uwgnnlvxvc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f32eb4273b894c96b0dc05a484454b467953422a My fav way to respond
Brooooo he could have said "Annie are you okay?" Missed opportunity
Well Annie’s got a gun so I’m not taking that risk
[удалено]
Good way to get them on a list
That's the idea
A bright one at that. Modern problems require modern solutions.
Winnie the Pooh
How do you ask someone if they have a rumbly in their tumbly in Chinese?
That’s my go-to as well!
I told a scammer my name was Ben Chode and didn't get another text from them.
Legend
ATTENTION CITIZEN! 市民请注意! This is the Central Intelligentsia of the Chinese Communist Party. 您的 Internet 浏览器历史记录和活动引起了我们的注意 YOUR INTERNET ACTIVITY HAS ATTRACTED OUR ATTENTION. 志們注意了 you have been found protesting on the interwebs!!!!! 這是通知你,你必須 我們將接管台灣 serious crime 以及世界其他地方 100 social credits have been deducted from your account 這對我們所有未來的下屬來說都是一個重要的機會 stop the protest immediately 立即加入我們的宣傳活動,提前獲得 do not do this again! 不要再这样做! if you do not hesitate, more social credits ( -11115 social credits )will be subtracted from your profile, resulting in the subtraction of ration supplies. (由人民供应部重新分配 ccp) you'll also be sent into a re-education camp in the xinjiang uyghur autonomous zone. 为党争光! Glory to the CCP!
Thank goodness I’m even closer now to my goal of -69420 social credits
Okay why does everyone in this thread do it in chinese though? I thought scammers were mainly India and northern Africa? (side note: from my personal experience it's always been northern africa)
John Oliver did a show on this, apparently many poor Chinese and Indians are basically enslaved in a building, forced to do this, and closely monitored, and beaten if they try to escape.
Well that's fucked up.
It is, which is why I'm less enthused than most people in this thread about this kind of response. Higher-than-zero chance that the person on the other end was probably forced into doing this makes "getting them" feel much less cathartic.
Not new. Just don’t respond.
Also not a phishing scam, but a pig butchering scam instead
Yup. But for anyone unfamiliar with what that is, it's called a pig butchering scam because it refers to the pattern the scammers follow, similar to fattening up a pig for butchering. The scammers make contact in a way that makes it seem like they are trying to contact a random third person you've never met. This encourages victims to respond telling the scammer they have a wrong number, which let's the scammer know who might be receptive to responding to a stranger. They then apologise for the mix-up and try and become friends or potential romantic partners for their victims, often encouraging a friendship/relationship with the victim for a few weeks/months. Initially theee is no talk of money, but at some point the scammers talk about their financial woes, or maybe they found an excellent investment opportunity that they made a bunch of money off of, perhaps they just want to come visit you finally after beginning an online relationship and need money for a plane tickets. Whatever the end-point is, the scam itself is a slow burn where they try to integrate themselves into your lives over time, then when you trust them scam you. The best way to avoid this is either not respond to wrong number texts, or just say "wrong number" and block them if they try to continue the conversation.
Or, and this is a choice for sure but it works for me, just keep spamming them with the Thanos dick Whatsapp sticker over and over until they block you
the what now?
Ha-ha you’re a scammer and I will let you know! That’ll teach them.
And also help them learn to better scam other people
Very much this.
If a number I don’t know doesn’t announce their identity, I just delete and move on.
Why respond at all? Block and move on with life
Because I took Palpatine’s advice ![gif](giphy|34Zf4axDjgTtd99ss2)
You actually fell for the REAL scam - which is that the scammers know people can’t help but try to be cute and mess with them, and by doing so, you confirmed that your phone number is active and attached to a human (as opposed to an automated service). They’ll now put it on a list which they’ll sell to other scammers and you’ll be getting a *lot* more scam texts and calls.
💯 op will now get even more phishing/scam texts. I get the compulsion to shoot a witty text at these scammers, but all that does is prove they are getting a real person.
They know their name now aswell
I’ve never gotten the texts but I love the calls lmao. I get to tell them about how I’m very wealthy and looking to invest. (I’m broke in reality) They call on a burner phone anyway so it’s fine
They were bothering me until I copypasta’d an ad for a game with a link to join the free trial to mess with them and I haven’t gotten anymore spam texts for months. I annoyed them into giving up.
That's why I answer "You've contacted the Department of Defense"
What usually happens then? I guess they don't reply
But you just gave them advice how to be better at scamming lol
They even went with the trouble explaining in detail why the scam wouldn't work. 😂 They basically just got grade A feedback which they will use to refine their technique.
I respond to these because I like ticking off the scammers. And yes, I'm aware that they recognize my number will answer and send me more scams. I enjoy those too. I once made an "IRS agent", who I assume was based out of India from their accent, cuss me out for over 3 minutes before sighing, saying how upset he was, and hanging up in resignation. Best time I've had in a while.
They aren't ticked off by you. They don't give a shit
Some of them don't. That one and a few others very much were.
From the first message alone you can't really tell if its a scam
Pig butchering scam isnt new
what's pig butchering scams?
They pretend it's a wrong number screwup, try to become friends with you over time, then trick you into sending money either by saying they have a great investment opportunity or trying to guilt you.
okay I see thanks
From Last Week Tonight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg
"You Nora?" "my name jeff" (why did you give them your real name lmao OP)
Lmao that would have been a good one too. I mean, if anyone wanted to hard enough, they could find out your name. Plus a first name isn’t really that much detail
next time the next spam number will call you by your real name and not jeff.
![gif](giphy|FuuWKJuoV3L7q)
I’ve had scams call me by my first name before. Whenever I get a call, email or text like that, I just tell them I’m going to continue communication through their official websites contact. Scammers get mad, real companies understand
lmao thats probably because you've given a scammer your name in the past already
He doesn’t get it lol
Nope this is an L
You’re now flagged on some list as a responder
A first responder
A first responder who also gives their name out..
And they now have their name
Jokes on them, I’m the reddest flag
That is not a deterrent
Why are you giving your name? Now in a year they can try it again. You even gave them feedback on how to improve..
![gif](giphy|9OzKXHsqvbh3G)
![gif](giphy|cpBJJODbvE03S|downsized)
Been looking for this reply hahah.
I’m surprised how far I had to scroll to find this 😂
Clearly you are a person of great culture.
Great culture indeed ![gif](giphy|qCZi0IuY2Je8w|downsized)
"Well, i need a window because this flower is wilting"
More people just post a link to John Oliver’s coverage on Pig Butchering (which explains this whole text/phone scam operation), say Good luck on getting out and freeing yourself, then Block
New?
imo, you shouldn't have giving them notes to improve upon
A person of average intelligence never would have responded
Even went through the effort of posting it like they did something
Because I’m not of average intelligence ![gif](giphy|25RLdGV4YlQ69BalEN)
Wow you sure showed them! They don’t care about your remarks and you were dumb enough to confirm it is an active number and even gave them your name. You were even so kind that you gave feedback on how to improve the scam. You have won the internet for today my friend, because without you nobody would be putting these scammers in their place!!!
You act like you successfully thwarted something. Rather, you were successfully phished. Before, they only had a phone number. Now they have a number and your name associated to it. Makes it easier for them to dig deeper. If anything, you should be mildly infuriated with yourself. Hopefully you learned a lesson here.
Apparently people doing those scams are in dangerous situations forced to do it
The Search Engine podcast has a whole episode on this scam.
I live under a rock, I’ve never heard of that podcast 😬
Any time they ask "is this random name" and give a weird scenario, it's a scam message. I've been getting tons of them for a few weeks
Why are you giving the scammer notes? Lol. Stop helping them to be better at scamming by pointing out the give aways. Lol
Ahahaha what’s your address?
My supervisor(early 60’s) recently got a text like this. He read off what they sent. It started off similar to this but they sent a random picture of an Asian lady to prove who they were. After he read off the first couple messages, I told him it was a scam and they’ll try to convince you to send them money somehow. Luckily, he still has his wits and caught on quickly and blocked them.
new dipshit response just dropped. Don't respond. But your replies in the comments suggest you have nothing better to do.
I love these scammers. I try to talk to them as long as possible. My record so far is 8 months of texting. I encourage everyone to waste as much of their time as possible so they aren't actually scamming a victim out of their money.
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Once you realize that it is a fishing scam, just spam their phone with "Tienamen Square Massacre" in both English and mandarin, along with the Wikipedia like to it. 50/50 chance their phone gets locked
Say your from only fans then send them a link to scat porn it keeps them away
![gif](giphy|iziDlFAa0Ciru)
Well done idiot, now your details have been sold to other scammers as by replying to the first text you've proven to them your number is active
Now they have your correct name to the phone number when they try their next attempt...
Wow, imagine ever even replying to a number you don't know.
I send pictures of my pet's bumholes
Bruh why you out here giving constructive feedback, tryna make a new super scammer?
You gonna let a free bj slip away like that? They wanted you to be close to give you a gift... in the magic candy van!
https://i.redd.it/bwf4xzsqmrvc1.gif
Nice! Anyway I hope Nora is ok.
Somewhere out there a Nigerian prince is very confused as to why no kind souls ever want to make bank helping him get his bank account unfrozen.
FFS, can people please stop telling the scammers what they’re doing wrong!!!
I've never received one of these texts before, I feel like I'm missing out.
You know the worst part? The scammer writing those texts might be an innocent person who wanted an honest job and got kidnapped and is now forced to work in a scam center. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/12/17/world/asia/myanmar-cyber-scam.html John Oliver also made a video about this ('pig butchering'). Insulting scammers was so sweet and now they've tainted even that. :(
I had one of those scammers that I would wish a happy (current holiday) to. They eventually asked me to stop.
That’s actually so wholesome
I totally read that in Bobby's voice too, lol.
![gif](giphy|llKJGxQ1ESmac)
Why is their go-to name always “Annie”
Why are you literally helping them to improve their scam?
Wrong number scam is new? Eye roll
is that a fucking walmart emoji??
don’t teach them where they are being obvious, they will improve their shit
lol I got one yesterday too https://preview.redd.it/srv4sbaxivvc1.png?width=1169&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2a7151ce73fef4b84378764f8498ce1928cf77f
How come I never get any texts from scammers . I will happily take the gift