Terrific post!

Your ideas are great. Remember everyone...the more of these crooks time you waste, the less time they have to scam and steal. And you can have fun doing it...a new hobby!

You are wasting your time documenting the numbers that "call" you. These numbers are spoofed, and in some cases, they spoof working numbers of innocent people.

You need to get the name of the name of the scam company that his behind the calls, then report them. I posted lengthy instructions on how to do this, plus others have added their tips and experiences.

Remember everyone, these "fraud" numbers were spoofed by crooks to make it appear that someone else is performing the fraud. Even worse, you may have received a call from a non-working number, only to have it assigned to a person that is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Focus on the company performing the crime, and not the number. The "number" that calls you is irrelevant.

I like messing with these folks too. It is extremely entertaining. I act like I'm talking to someone else in the room, and use terrible expletives, like " will you PLEASE quit f-ing around and hand me my gd purse?!? This nice lady is trying to lower my interest rate, dumba**!!" Or I'll shout to some imaginary person in the room "Will you tell those dumb wetback landscapers to shut those gd mowers off? I'm on the phone!!" Then I get back on the phone with the scammer and act all nice and apologetic.  Hahaaaaaaa.... Usually the folks that call are not Caucasians, and they are highly offended by my use of slurs, but sometimes they don't react. Sometimes, I start to give them fake credit info, then stop mid sentence and say " I know you probably shouldn't be discussing this at work, but have you ever done any professional voice work?  You have the voice of an angel." Then I tell them I work at a recording studio in Orlando, and they should come audition. These people are nearly always calling from the Orlando area, so if  they take the bait, I give them the address of the Orange County sheriff's office. And they take the bait a lot, bc well, frankly they're just not all that bright, and they're desperately money hungry. I actually live 2500 miles away from Orlando, but I'd love to know if anybody actually ever went for an audition....LOL!!  

Also, in order to get off the phone with them without breaking character, I have a fire alarm sound effect that I blast right before I give them the last couple digits of the credit card and say "Omg, some idiot pulled the fire alarm again!! Listen I have to go but call me back in like 10 mins..."

I love the ideas others have posted about how to have fun with these guys. Keep them coming!

Good luck with that...  You'll be making their day!

If you really want to mess with them, ignore their scam message and instead tell them (with conviction) that you're so glad they called to give you this opportunity to remind them of God's dear love for them - that no matter how screwed up they think they are, no matter how many drugs they've done, no matter how many lies they've told or people they've screwed over, God still loves them!  Then ask how long it's been since they've spoken with their parents who also love them dearly.

If they ask, "What's it to you?" tell them you are actually an angel put in their path to remind them of how loved they are.

Please report back here what happened next.

Yep, the card service scammers know they have a live number when you answer, but they don't want to deal repeatedly with a disruptive person, so that number is not called again. It does work.

i don't think it will get your number off their list.  I think they will just sell it to other telemarketers because they know they have a live person on your end, or they just keep calling because they probably get paid by the number of calls. Either way, you lose.

Ah, but we can record these conversations. Sign up for a free Google Voice account www.google.com/voice and you can record up to 3 hours per incoming phone call. Once recorded, Google Voice provides an "embed code" so you can place your recording on Internet web pages just by COPYing and PASTEing the provided HTML code. It's all free, too.

The "card services" scammers aren't very bright--that's the reason they have the "jobs" that they do. It's easy to make bigger fools of them than they already are.

I try to mess with them too.  One guy asked for the 800 number on the back of the card.  I told him 800-555-5555....lol...and he didn't hang up.  I kept him on the phone for another 5 minutes.

Why aren't these people arrested?  Can the phone company really not tell where a call is coming from?  Certainly these guys have tried to scam someone in law enforcement, why haven't they followed up?

I wonder if the "card service" scammers are hired for the "job" because of their lack of morals and conscience, or if those "qualities" are acquired on the job, as this person (creature) you spoke with on the phone obviously totally lacks both, if he has been doing this for 20 years.

I got another one a last week. Went through all the steps, including the FBI number.

He came back on the line and call me a "funny guy". I asked him why since he was wasting my time I thought I'd return the favor. He laughed and told me he'd been doing this for 20 years. "So you've been ripping people off for twenty years". He proudly stated "yes". I told him he must be very good. Yes. Then we said goodbye...very polite.

I haven't received a call on that phone again. Now, I have to work on my other one.

Same in Virginia--one person.

You got them a good one! The decent people in society have a conscience, but we have no need to apply it to these scammers who have none.Their only purpose is to cheat people by deceiving them. I hope the poor soul stood out front your former residence until his legs got wobbly, fell to the ground, suffering a concussion, and then was robbed, spit on, reported as a drunk, picked up, and incarcerated, and had his car towed away and impounded! Your "method" would be ideal for any scammer wishing to make a visit, or delivery to a residence! Good work! Glad you also have a sense of humor.

I had a fun scam call last week you might like. It was a spoofed number with a solar company offering gov't rebates to home owners. I gave them all the fakes and the address for my old apartment. We set an appointment and they were to call a 1/2 before. They called 2 days before - no message. They call again the day before - no message. I waited until 11:30 P.M. to call him back and confirm. The next morning I forgot my phone in the car, but he called 7 times. Finally he left a message saying he was standing in front of my apartment.

I almost felt sad for him...almost.

Yep-I read that one recently also. No matter what kind of fake info a person uses, the goal is to keep the "card services" scammers on the line as long as possible--they will not be able to cheat as many people, and soon they will learn they have reached a "disruptive" number and that number will removed from their calling rotation--and yes it can be fun making bigger fools of them than they already are! If more people used this method there would be far fewer posts complaining of these perpetual pests.

I keep one on line for over 1/2 hour. "Great let me get a pen. I need some paper. Let me get my wallet. Oh, it's in the car." Etc. Etc.

Here's someone else suggestion:

After you give "her" a fake VISA card number 4627-0519-4328-7147
Fake bank "Bank of Wichita"
Fake balance "$8,500"
Fake interest rate "15%"
Fake expiration "07/14"
Fake "800" number for bank: "1-800-225-5324" (NATIONAL FBI TOLL-FREE LINE)

"She" tells you to hang-on while she verifies your balance.

Of course you hang up while she calls the FBI !!!   :)

If she's really Pi$$ed, you'll get a couple of calls back in short succession which you don't answer:

Yes, it is fun!

You're very welcome to try the idea--I've been encouraging it for quite some time, and it has worked for others. I'm really surprised your approach didn't work. I never thought of it, but then again I don't speak an language other than English, so it wouldn't have worked for me.

Sounds like you've got all the bases covered and ready to make fools out of the annoying "card services" scammers. Just sound sincere but a bit "slow" as in" "Slowitz" and it shouldn't take too many responses to them on your part before the calls slow down and stop. Just keep them on the line as long as possible, and if there's someone else in the room with you, tell them not to laugh! Let us know how it works out for you. And by the way, don't even consider changing your number--it won't help at all. The "card services" scammers use a robodialer, which dials numbers in a sequential order -all numbers will get to the top of their dialing order eventually.

I like that idea.   I think I will adopt a variation of your name since I am a female.... Maybe Ann U. Slowitz (sounds like "hey you slowits").   I like the idea of using the FBI office as a mailing address and phone number... I am doing that.   Also, I am using my mothers maiden name is Daft..... lets see if they figure out I am calling them senseless, stupid, or foolish. For the numbers, I did use the first 4 numbers for the company that I give them the REAL customer service number for.... so if they call they person on the phone can say that that 4 digit prefix really does belong to them.   The last 12 numbers I took from old expired cards.... not like it matters though.    I also like to pretend I stutter ( no offense to anyone who does).... as this makes them sometimes even a little more frustrated.  

I had kind of tried that in the past, but I was more argumentative and it didn't seem to help. When I asked them if they were card services with one of my current credit card companies they said yes.   Yet they ask you first what kind of card it is.... so I would argue that if they were calling from the credit card company that I am already with... that they have most of the information that they are requesting.  They always tell you that it is to "confirm" that they are speaking with the right person.   But I will try this.  Cant hurt.... right?   And when they call me on my cell phone... I have 700 minutes a month and I might use currently 100 a month.  I text more.  :)    

I tried the "dont answer a phone call you dont recognize the number for" and right now, I have a string of about 150-200 phone numbers under the "telemarketer" name on my cell phone.  I dont want to turn my phone on silent and miss calls I WANT to recieve.   So if I can get them to stop calling me... that would be better.    

I have found another way to deal with EVERYONE now.   I bought a Majic Jack ( and I am not advertising it... you can use what ever program you wish).   I give everyone... and I mean everyone this number.   The utility companies have it... anything that I sign up for online has it...everyone.   Only if you are a close personal friend or a family member do you get my cell phone number now because I know they are not selling it.    I dont turn the ringer on at the house for the magic jack.    So, I never know if anyone calls.   If there is a message on my phone, I listen to the message.  Because if it really is important they will leave a message.    But otherwise, I never even know they call.   I wish I had done this when I first got my cell phone number.  Maybe I would not be having these problems as I do think some of them are robo-dialers... but I bet a majority of the solicitation calls I get are from things I have signed up for (freebies, contests etc) online and those sites were merely number collectors.  

If killing their time and costing them money does not stop or at least slow it down, I will probably change my phone number and see if that helps.

Actually... depends on what state you are in regarding the laws on recording phone calls.  In Texas, the state that I live in, only one party on a phone call needs to be aware that it is being recorded..... in my case, that would be me.   So since I am aware I am recording my own phone call... it is perfectly legal.  Just look up the laws in your state.

I answer the call every time with a hearty "Si, Bueno". Then, when they stumble but ask me anyway, I say "Lo siento, no habla Engles". (I'm sorry, I don't speak English). But I think I'm going to try Anthony H. Slowitz's approach. Muy gracioso!

Sounds like you had some fun with the people that bothered you--and I bet you never heard from them again either! You beat me, with giving them the FBI office's number and address--the best I could think of was the local sheriff's office. A person has to have a sense of humor to succeed at this game!

There ARE a couple of humorous recordings that have been made of the "card services" scammers!  Google card service scam and you should find them--they're good.

It is to bad we can not record the calls while we are playing mind games with the scammers but, that would be illegal. It would be fun to post the calls on youtube or facebook but, that would probably give away the secret.

With the Nigeria scams, I kept one fellow e-mailing me for about three months.  I acted very slow-witted and asked him stupid questions every time he e-mailed me. He said he was sending me a check, and I was to cash it and then send some of the money on to someone else. When he insisted that I give him my address, I gave him the address of the nearest FBI office. I guess he sent the check there... they thought it was funny, too.  I finally blocked him from e-mailing me, but I think he maybe popped a gasket first!

If the "card services" scammers do call again, waste their time again, and it won't be long before their annoying calls stop.

Add 201-243-3365 to the list.  They called my cell phone (grrr.....).  Just "dead air" after pressing 1.

I kind of look forward to getting a live person on the phone as I have no issues at all with killing their time.  

The last time someone called and actually picked up the phone after I pressed *1*, they had this wonderful offer to lower my interest rate.  I was polite, asked several questions, and finally told her that, "all of my outstanding balances are on a 0% introductory rate for the next year.  If you want to beat 0% I'll gladly let you pay me to hold my balances for a while".  She got a little huffy and told me that they didn't pay to keep balances, but it obviously through her off her game as she next asked some confusing question.  I just replied that "Since you obviously don't mind wasting my time, I certainly don't mind wasting yours.  What rate are you going to pay me again?".

Click.

Until today, I hadn't gotten a call since then....

The scam calls have started again. I LOVE these calls. I will press whatever number they say to talk to a live person. When that person answers I have a whole list of nasty dirty comments I say before they can hang up on me. I will say things like, "I had sex with your mother last night and boy was she good". Hey these people took these jobs knowing they were part of a scam to get your credit card number they deserve whatever I say to them. If they don't like it don't scam people.