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Comment by reitanqild | Hacker News Reader

I do the same to "Microsoft representatives" that call me because I have "lots of malware on my computer".

Keep them on line by being a very dumb customer until they start cursing and hang up on me. : - )

1-347-514-7296 is a phone number that automates this. Add it to a conference call, and frustrate the caller with no additional work. http://Reddit.com/r/itslenny is the closest thing it has to an official site.

There's also this person https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzedMdx6QG4, counter call-flooding the scammers' phone lines.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of Lenny before. Jolly Roger is similar thing - creator gave a Ted talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXVJ4JQ3SUw

It just rang forever when I tried it...

Ah, apparently you need to be whitelisted, my bad. There’s more information in the Reddit link.

EDIT: Nope, apparently the person who runs it takes it down at night for some reason. Maybe to minimize people using it as a prank call?

You do have to get whitelisted though, last I checked. I was able to use it one time and now if I call it I get a message about whitelisting. Same for JollyRoger.

Doesn't that burn up a lot of time? I just cut straight to the hanging-up part, with optional cursing to taste.

Yes, it burns their time. I just put them on speaker phone and continue working as usual on my computer, occasionally uttering a "yes" or "what's that?" when they tell me for the hundredth time to go to some phishing site. It's astonishing how long it takes for them to give up.

When working from home this is one of the few joys/social interactions if the day :D

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