But viscerally, I can understand why we do this; my impulse, when on the receiving end of an unsolicited inbound call, would be to do the same.
Those who steal are often not in the best of financial straights. Yet we still punish them. Those who commit even worse crimes are often meeting some unmet need or desire, one which may only exist because they are mentally ill, and yet this means we see them as a danger to society. We may pity them, but we will still punish them.
So, shouldn't the same logic apply even when the wrong being committed is much milder? The punishment will be milder (get yelled at, have time wasted) since the wrong is milder, but they still deserve the social repercussion of their actions.
To put it another way, being extreme mean, rude, and condescending to and wasting the time of telemarketers isn't illegal either. Yet some are trying to say doing such is wrong, to which I say that the telemarketers have already committed a greater wrong of the same nature.
The basic idea is that they call you up and offer you something for free or at a steep discount. They explain that they need a small holding fee which will be returned to you, then they run off with your money and you never hear from them again. Free solar panels, vacation cruises, driveway sealing, and discount home repairs/weatherization seem to be the common flavors.
This definitely works - https://www.donotcall.gov/ not always though
... so... it doesn't work?
"They've done studies you know. 60% of the time, it works every time"