No message just hangup.

I received multiple phone messages on my business phone from both a female and a male with identical scripts in very broken english with thick, almost unintelligble accents.

I wasn't born yesterday--and because these people are scam artists AND irritating me when I have real work to get done--I took a few moments out of my day to screw with them.

First, I called them back and asked them if they needed directions to the memorial service or the funeral showing.  The male on the other end said "I do not understand what you saying" (very broken english, thick accent).  I then asked, "Sir, what exactly was your relationship with the deceased?  Because the memorial is open to everyone, but the viewing of the body is for family only."  He started in with "you must relay a legal message to XXXXX XXXXXX" (my name X'd out for privacy purposes).  I told him that would be very difficult, considering XXXXX XXXXXX passed away six days ago, and my job was just to direct people on how to get to the memorial service.  He stuttered a bit, then said "sorry to bother you" and hung up.

Oh no, I wasn't done there.  I am just WAAAY too creative not to get even with these idiots even more.  I then went online and filled out every "have an agent contact me" scam I could find.  I entered their name (John Jackson, Mike Jones, or whatever name they gave me on that call) and their phone number (666-092-0300, 661-532-8529, 661-270-6412, 661-368-5263, 916-395-0000, or whichever phone number they gave me that time, and yes they all start with 661, 916 or 972 or just come up as 268-0005) for free insurance quotes, free daily horoscopes by phone, free debt relief help, free home improvement memberships, etc.  Hopefully that will cause THEIR phone to ring off the hook with telemarketing  scum and scammers.

But wait, there's more.  I couldn't just hope they would get lots of calls, I had to make sure of it.  So I signed into Craig's List for one of the biggest cities (most populated) that I know of.  I listed an ad stating that I was in search of a payday type of loan, and for anyone in that business to call me and help me through the process.  Again, I listed his name & number.

Then I went into my "spam" folder in my email and found any email that said something to the effect of "you inherited large sums of money from Nigeria" (as an example) and responded to those emails with his name and phone number as well.

Yes, it all is a little bit evil of me, but because these guys aren't in the U.S., I really don't think that our law enforcement is going to be able to do anything about it other than stick it in a file.  I have filed complaints with Law Enforcement, FBI, FTC, every government agency I could find that is supposed to handle these type of things.  I keep also finding out that a lot of these lines are issued by Pacific Bell Phone in California, and I wonder, has anyone considered going after the phone company that keeps issuing phone numbers for these terrorists to use to harrass all of us?  Maybe if there was a class action lawsuit against the phone companies, it could require them to do a little more research before they sell a phone line to just anyone.  (Such as requiring they be in the US legally, and having a physical location so that if the line is misused, law enforcement could find the guilty parties.)  If anyone has the means or informatin to start such a thing, please post a reply here.  I would very much like to participate in that.

If I come up with any more creative ideas to get even, I will definitely come back and post again so that you all might have some of the same fun!