If you’re looking for tips on how to scare a phone scammer, you’re in luck. We’re here today to give some tips on how to scare a scammer and make him stop calling you. With so many different scammers taking advantage of people nowadays, it’s high time you learn to fight back and give them a taste of their own medicine.
For some time now, scammers have been benefiting from their antics over the phone. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported over $285 million in losses to scammers in November 2019. And as more scammers find ways to hit on innocent customers, what better way to fight back than pranking phone scammers in return.
Here are some of our tips on how you can fight back against these callers:
How To Deal With Phone Scammers?
You may have experienced one of the many scammer tricks that will try to lure you into sending over some cash. Or a phone call with someone pretending to be a government or bank employee and asking for your personal information. In either case, you mustn’t give them what they want.
No matter how urgent or demanding they become, you should avoid giving in to their requests. And if the caller on the other end of the line starts sounding more threatening, you are likely on a call with a scammer. These individuals are definitely up to no good and it’s time you learn how to scare a scammer through text or a phone call.
But what do you do when you accidentally answer their phone call? You can start by doing the following:
Just Hang Up
The easiest way you can deal with a phone scammer prank call is to hang up the phone right away. Even if it is a legit company giving you a call but is trying to sell you something you’re not interested in, you can simply hang up on them.
And if you receive a robocall, don’t listen to the menu options or press any numbers. You might just get more robocalls when you ask to speak to a live operator or even when you tell them to remove you from their call list.
Call Blocking or Call Labeling
One thing you have to know about scammers is that they have various tools to allow them to make calls from different parts of the world. So even if you are on the National Do Not Call Registry, it does not apply to them.
In such cases, the best way you can avoid getting a call from them is to set up call blocking or call labeling. Your phone carrier likely offers this service to block or label the calls you receive. You should get in touch with your network provider to learn about these services.
Don’t Trust Your Caller ID
While phones today are equipped with the Caller ID feature, it isn’t very reliable. Scammers can easily make a name or number appear on your Caller ID through a method called spoofing. So even if you receive a call that looks like it’s from the Social Security Administration or that it is a local number, the caller might be a scammer from another part of the world.
Report Phone Scams
If you are wondering how to scare a scammer online, you can do so by reporting them on DoNotCall.gov. You will need to report the phone number that shows up on your Caller ID, even if it was a spoofed number. Also, give them the number that you were told to call back. Each report received by the FTC is carefully analyzed to identify scammers based on their calling patterns.
And if you lost money to a phone scammer, you will need to report this to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
5 Ways How To Scare Scammer
No one is free from becoming a victim of a phone scammer. If you’ve never received such a call before, your number may have been a target too. And the worst part is if you know someone who was victimized into sending money to these scams.
So how do you deal with scammers? Do you get even with them at all?
Receiving such calls can be very frustrating. But don’t let them get to you. You can simply hang up the call and report the number they used to the FTC. But if you’ve got a lot of free time on your hands, you can take this as an opportunity to prank them instead.
If you’re wondering how to prank a scammer, here are some of our suggestions:
Offer Your Product
One of our tips on how to prank scammers is to act innocently and waste their time. Let them think that you are a clueless target who doesn’t know a thing about scam callers.
If you opt to use this trick, however, remember to use a fake profile instead of your identity. Each information you give them will lull them into a false sense of success. And thus, they will have wasted so much time on you that they can no longer call other potential targets.
Repeat Everything
Are you wondering what to say to a scammer to prank them? Easy– repeat everything they say. You can even imitate their accent.
It can get old quickly. They’ll even be the ones to hang up the phone on you since they are annoyed with what you’re doing. It’s petty and childish but they deserve to get that.
Confront Them
Another tip on how to scare a text scammer is to confront him. If you decide to use this technique, however, you have to be brave and truly know what you are talking about. That is why we recommend using a public phone number engine like Kiwi Searches to lookup any phone number and learn everything there is to know! Remember, these scammers get threatened by their victims every single day. They are probably used to all the threats and do not even get bothered by them anymore.
For you, however, it isn’t that easy. It can be a personal thing for you and you may get emotional about it. But if you wish to confront them, you have to be direct and knowledgeable of what to say to them. Otherwise, you’ll end up getting annoyed while they simply laugh off the call as another annoying customer (for them anyway).
Generic Deflection Techniques
It’s easy for a scammer to get under your skin. This is because they are used to all the negativity that is part of their job. You, on the other hand, are not wired to talk to people in this manner. You have a conscience and you hate it when people are trying to scam others.
But when you’re on a call with a scammer and you decide to engage with them in conversation, remember to deflect your emotions. This is because when scammers can notice your emotions, they can use that against you. They can extract the information they want and even try to get your personal details. If you can’t stop yourself, you should end the call right then and there.
If you decide to converse with a scammer, the best thing to have is a cool head. Detach yourself from the situation so that you can make informed and calculated decisions. This way, you’ll be able to calmly talk to them about what they are doing.
Is There a Law About Phone Scams?
There have been several passed laws that aim to put an end to robocalls. The earliest of these laws is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. And recently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has actively been pushing for the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED Act). Through the TRACED Act, the fine on robocalls has been increased from $1,500 to $10,000 per call.
TRACED Act also requires phone operators to make changes to their call authentication methods. This way, they can weed out scammers before a customers’ phone even rings.
Despite these efforts, however, there are still plenty of robocalls and scammers. The problem here is that these calls seem to originate overseas. And since the TRACED Act isn’t applicable in their countries, they can still continue to make such phone calls.
