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Why can't we spam the spammers
(slrpnk.net)
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Search around for "scambaiting", there are people doing similar things ranging from tying up (figuratively, unfortunately) telephone scammers for hours with pointless conversations to more tech-based efforts. Kitboga on YouTube is a good place to start, he usually just sits on the phone with scammers and takes them through some wild scenarios but has some videos showing tests of an automated system that uses an LLM to interpret and respond.
I started doing this after my phone number got into some kind of crazy scam call database. At the height of it I was getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 calls a day, basically rendering the phone unusable.
So I started actually picking up and running these jokesters through the ringer. I'm talking 15+ minutes of pointless conversation, false info, tons of backtracking, and general bullshit. I refined my craft over a few months and would time how quickly I could make them scream at me for fucking with them. At the end of it my phone got taken off at least one of the bigger lists because the calls went to down only 10 or so a day. Now it's one or two a day at the most, probably from me not answering like I used to.
Favorite call was one guy who figured out I was messing with him and it turned into this general question and answer thing about life in the US. Dude wanted to know how easy it was to pick up chicks and whether or not I'd dated a lot/was married. Great guy, really into Counter-Strike.