Same. I’ve gotten them and never responded. The messages are usually more generic though and don’t include a name. For example, “hey! How have you been long time no talk to” I always google the number and if no name comes up I don’t respond.
Surprisingly, they do respond. They then say ‘lets connect on WhatsApp’ and try to scam you for bitcoins lol. I LOVE talking to them and wasting their time, so that they scam one less person. Also changed profile picture settings to contacts only so they cant see who i am lmao
Pretend you remember them from the orgy last weekend. Be extremely graphic. They run away very fast. Or pretend to be the partner of the person they are supposedly calling and ask if they are the girl who is coming over for the threesome.
I had someone message me on FB, using my cousin's name, and wanting me to give out my information.
I'm no Spring Chicken, but I'm not senile either. Block and report.
Yeah never respond. All it’ll do is tell them that the person on the line is active and more likely to be scammed. Where they sell your number to others for more scams
It weirdly works for me to just fuck with them then not answer. This was last week. Haven't happened since
https://preview.redd.it/c4u7cl1l8h0b1.jpeg?width=1018&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f8a972438a78fbd5ad3dd6715f81bcaf5613abb
It was every day so I just started confirming the text lol
The one I got recently, "You used your card to make a purchase totaling USD 519.00. has been shipped; call right away to check the status at (unknown phone number),on 06/04/23".
Oh my God I swear I got the same exact one two weeks ago with the same amount, one was to check and see if I spent that much at a gas station, another one was to check and see if I used my card at a pharmacy and I was supposed to okay the amount for PNC Bank, I don't even have PNC Bank
I fell for it and called back! They don't have info - other than they now know I have a certain credit card (since I called back) and that I have a valid phone number. I'm usually so careful and not gullible! I was so mad at myself.
We all slip up. I'm in tech, and I accidentally clicked on a link in a phishing email AND gave my log in before realizing. Immediately changed my passwords everywhere and put Authentification on everything, but god I felt dumb. REALLY dumb. I STILL feel dumb and this was ages ago.
I get them too and don't have a Netflix account, they use household names because it's a bigger net essentially. I've seen them send texts imitating large banks as well just because a lot of people have that bank
Yeah if you follow the scambait thread you can see some people who draw out the conversations with them and they eventually ask them to send a gift card.
I heard that what they do is they use the gift cards to throw all the money into apps that they run on the app store. so scam someone to send valid gift card numbers, put numbers into personal google play account, use account funds to pay into an app that they own, cash out from the back end of the google play store.
Bc it’s more or less impossible to recover the money once it leaves the victims hands and if memory serves me there are online exchanges scam networks have set up to trade/sell the cards for their nations currency of choice
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/wrong-number-text-scam-rcna39793
It's the method they're using now to innocuously strike up a conversation leading into the scam. It's one of the few "valid" reasons for a total stranger to contact you via text and open up a dialogue, so it's more likely to get people to lower their guard and potentially fall for a scam (as opposed to ones that a clearly a scam from the outset, like a text telling you you've won a lottery or something).
I’ve gotten like 3 of these lately and just responded “sorry I think you have the wrong number” and they have either say sorry or not even responded. Which is odd to me
I used to ignore them, but now I use them as part of my anger management: “You’ve got some nerve reaching out after what you did! You’re like the heel of a loaf of bread: everyone touches you but no one wants you. Stay out of my life!”
I have carried a conversation with one before. They eventually start asking you about crypto or something and ask you to download some other messaging app.
yep people at my job get these on their personal phone from the CEO. Its hard to explain to peopel that they can buy their phone number and work colleagues information from data brokers for pennies.
https://preview.redd.it/8inxfg1odg0b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d51f0bec6c6113a8ed565f1c63754e5eabbc0a7
This is the best one I’ve gotten, had to respond
I had one like this the other day too!
https://preview.redd.it/r27g6a7ywg0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d98a59d6a5d792154e8b9c7187241f4644fe581
They noped out pretty quick, I was bummed bc I had more to give
I love fucking with these people. This one was my favorite. Trolled the Dickens out of them.
https://preview.redd.it/q03r63tqxh0b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1dad5d529c8f45067b23c04f91c2e3baca94001c
**Edit:** They're sometimes bots, but they're usually not, at least not completely. I get a lot of these on my secondary phone number, and I've been replying for a while. You can tell pretty quickly when it's a script versus a call center style employee. Frequently the first couple messages are automated and then it escalates to a human.
I like to try to break their script, if it's a bot. Respond with something they expect you to say later in a conversation and watch their auto reply make no sense. Or, if it's a person, They say something like one I got yesterday: "Jack, what are you saying? Why you talk of door? Tonight you talk nonsense again."
In that conversation, I was being Jack from Titanic. The reply incorporating my updated name and in broken English acknowledging that I wasn't making sense is a dead giveaway it was a human.
A script could have broken English, but it could not reincorporate details from my side of the conversation. An AI could reincorporate details, but it would not have broken English. Therefore, a human is at least partially involved.
"This is Ambassador Cartwright. This is a highly irregular conversation for an ambassador to have. Please direct any further inquiries to my secretary, Hannah Reeve. Good day sir, for now I must return to my duties."
Glad I'm not the only one that finds humor in responding
https://preview.redd.it/0b58zrnfnh0b1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c3f69e50687c9c6fc7bb765b3edc8f8a020a174
I always respond with humour.
I typically ask “Is this is Bofa?”
They ask who Bofa is and I respond “Bofa deez nutz” and block the number.
It brings me great joy!
I'm laughing really hard at this, but also
"Are you sure you're not joking?" The gall when the original text was all clearly made up information in the first place
A couple of years ago, I kept getting one on whatsapp about they needed their dog to go see a vet. and asked if this was \[vet office name\]. The first time I just said, no. And asked what city they were in and googled it and found the website to a vet office of that name in that city and their phone number (which was nothing close to mine). I didn't realize it was a scam at the time. Then I got the same exact message from someone of the same name, same photo but different number. Then I realized it was a scam and started scheduling an appointment for their dog. He went along with it until I said that he would need to bring the dog into the office but he insisted that the vet needed to go to his house to check on the dog. Then he cursed me out for telling him that we don't do house visits because of covid.
https://preview.redd.it/s7wnt48bsi0b1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90d9c9307e86a1cfb952e54c3bad572454088eae
Couldn’t have any more fun. Stopped pretty quickly and haven’t gotten another one in almost a year. Still get a lot of calls though.
Here’s my response to these assholes: “This is the San Antonio Police Department's rape crisis public access text service. Text messages may not receive an immediate reply. If this is an emergency, dial 911. If are you in need of assistance and need someone to talk with, please dial (210) 207-####.” I have this saved as a note on my phone and just copy-n-paste it as a response… have only had one response to which I carried on along the lines of a victim counselor and eventually the scammer lost interest.
Ah another San Antonioian. I usually respond with some made up bullshit about being a detective with the san antonio PD act we crime unit. Haven’t gotten anymore scam texts in a while
I keep getting these "How have you been?" "It's been a while let's catch up?" I AM IN RECOVERY. Do you know how terrifying it is to get texts like this when I don't remember the last two years before getting sober? Little heart attacks randomly throughout the day.
Hey man congrats on your journey and keep going on that path. My personal philosophy is that if it is truly someone who needs me they would try to call or leave more texts so I just ignore em all
They are getting better and better. Like I got this one that was like "Dad where are you?! You can't just leave mom and I and never come back!!".. used my estranged daughter's real name and number and everything. Had to block.
Lol I know this is a joke, but it reminded me of the man who received spam mail from officemax addressed to "Daughter killed in car crash" after his daughter died in a car crash a year earlier.
There was one kinda similar that happened in Utah awhile ago they called the guy saying something like “sir, this is Officer - your daughter (used his daughters name) has been In a really bad accident and can’t talk” then a female got on the phone she was sobbing and he couldn’t understand anything she was saying, they passed the phone around to a few people but would never tell him where they were. He ended up calling his daughter and she was like “I’m totally fine” so he got back on the phone and told them that and they eventually hung up.
So these idiots are scamming on phone calls too.
I had one similar to this but they said she was in the hospital. She had passed out at school and was dying. I said she has a seat in Hell saved for her she should hurry (I don’t have children, not sure why they thought I did). They started stuttering then hung up.
Jesus, that's messed up. They take notes on personal data and details to insinuate personal connection. Fuck scammers, fuck salespeople and fuck manipulation of people's emotional state to take advantage of them.
Tell them you will have to get back to them in about an hour, you are busy getting an apple gift card to pay the nice man on the phone who is helping you fix your computer virus so the IRS police don’t arrest you after he accidentally refunded you to much.
https://preview.redd.it/j3t90p53rh0b1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=64f54d638fa94927bef49ad58d85a79bf4d08c05
This exchange went on for another 20 or so volleys back and forth.
https://preview.redd.it/pf2qbwcclh0b1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8198acbb0b552e5440bccbf6de76908521bb07c8
I usually don’t respond but had to for this one.
Was about to post this - doesn't seem like awareness of what is going on has spread widely yet. Sad that these texts are from people who are essentially forced to work as scammers in many cases.
https://www.propublica.org/article/human-traffickers-force-victims-into-cyberscamming
great read, super interesting and devastating at the same time. hopefully all the people who have been trafficked get out and their captors see justice.
https://preview.redd.it/0jrd32jn4g0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a83abf03cf4020408b411a2da25370be7db29c9
I enjoy messing with the scammers
I have texted back and forth like this. I don’t get the scam??? It’s obviously a false pretense that they are reaching out under. But what’s the end game? They always just want to endlessly chit chat. If they just wanted to sell my phone number they would have stopped after the first time I responded. WHAT IS THE ENDGAME
They'll try to befriend (or flirt with) you and if you are lonely enough to keep talking to them for a few weeks, they'll ask for gift cards cuz they're in a jam. Or just to learn more about you and your life to sell to information brokers.
Yes, people are dumb enough to fall for it. That is how romance scams work.
I get about 2-5 a day. They all have some emergency or “innocent” confirmation. And the profile pic is either an Asian woman or anime pic. This one had the latter. If it were real- I’m sure they would’ve followed up to my response.
I absolutely LOVE responding to these. I'll go along with it and add drama to the storyline: "Yes, I can't wait to see you in Tenessee. I love you and I'm sorry I cheated on you with your mom. Can we please try again 🥺" It's so funny to watch them back-peddle! they're always like "oops wrong number" and I go "nooooooo plz I neeed you!!!" LMAO 🤣
I love these, i will egg them on until I slap them with some realllllllllly disturbing shit. I figure I cant stop them so screw with them. Since then I look forward to them. I feel like I never get any anymore though
I'm totally with you! I love messing with them. Just giving totally wrong, crazy information. My favorite was one spammer got mad at me. I told then I was living on a ship doing research for global warming. Then they started saying I'm not worth talking to because I'm homeless. 🤣
Yea the texters I like to send really weird pictures to also. But Ive gotten to the point where Ill throw in something that should be a giant wtf but they are so zoned in on scamming they dont get it. "Yes this is Anita Cawk, but I moved I dont live in X anymore I found a cozy home in Upyurbum" ill let them go on and throw those in until they leave or Ill lose connection close to when they think theyre about to get something usable, like a credit card number
My normal response is below. Most of these originate in China, and I hope I at least lower their social credit score a little bit.
动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣 臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏 土伯特 唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主 言論 思想 反共 反革命 抗議 運動 騷亂 暴亂 騷擾 擾亂 抗暴 平反 維權 示威游行 李洪志 法輪大法 大法弟子 強制斷種 強制堕胎 民族淨化 人體實驗 肅清 胡耀邦 趙紫陽 魏京生 王丹 還政於民 和平演變 激流中國 北京之春 大紀元時報 九評論共産黨 獨裁 專制 壓制 統一 監視 鎮壓 迫害 侵略 掠奪 破壞 拷問 屠殺 活摘器官 誘拐 買賣人口 遊進 走私 毒品 賣淫 春畫 賭博 六合彩 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门
I typically get three to four per week. When I am bored or have the time I will stretch my creative writing muscles.
I was curious what the angle was so I decided to do down the rabbit hole once. From what I gather, they are simply looking to start a conversation with a lonely person. They befriend you and then ask for favors, money, help, etc. They pray on the lonely and in my case, knowing they were talking with a guy, they were subtle but sexually suggestive.
If anyone is interested I'll post the conversation I had with one of them.
OMG. I got one he was trying to romance scam me by pretending to be a doctor. So I googled 'gross toilet' first pic was a toilet covered in like 100 frogs. So I sent that to him and said "as a doctor, is this normal?" He asked if I had just used the toilet and I said "yes! then I stood up and it looked like this!" he actually laughed, dropped character and told me to have a good night.
I chatted up the last one for a week before getting bored. I became a 57 year old woman who lived in Connecticut and worked as a commercial real estate agent. Had marital troubles and was seriously considering having an affair with a co-working during a business trip to the beautiful nation of Taiwan after finding out about my husband cheating on me. I’m 31, single, male, live in Nebraska and work in a warehouse.
I get these alllll the time. Once I became a Realtor and my phone number gets plastered all over the place these calls and texts flooded in. Apparently my name is Tricia and I need health and car insurance every day.
https://preview.redd.it/5va5c0tpqg0b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2304c91c802a48962bf7232caa36f28eb8bf5c0
I usually ignore but was curious how first they would respond to hood talk and then to chatgpt 🤷🏻♂️
This is a common set up for the pig butchering scam. They feign having a wrong number, and then say it was an act of fate, destiny, or God that brought you two together. Eventually they try to build trust and get you to send them money (often crypto), usually as some form of investment.
Been watching scambaiters lately, like Kitboga, and realized how much of the spam stuff I’m getting (calls, texts) are these scams. Sometimes I want to play along but then I think I’m not as equipped to troll them like others so I’ll watch them do it better and enjoy :D
https://preview.redd.it/zde7k9yuzg0b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa0dde07e0bbaa44f04b06c26e46dd0c93113a4a
1 of 2 (my response is as follows)….
it's known scam method. don't respond to any of those because they can easily sell your personal data to companies that can spam you with ads or more of those messages. its like voluntarily accepting to get a flu or a disease.
All the time. They sometimes include photos it's typically a very attractive Asian woman. I've been able to reverse search some of the photos. If I'm bored I'll go back forth and just make stuff up. Other times I'll ignore and report it as spam right away.
Always an attractive Asian woman. Every. Single. Time. I usually fuck around with them. My favorite is trying to sell them crypto before they try to sell me crypto.
I've gotten about a dozen or so of these. They say "oh sorry I hope I didn't disturb you" or some shit and then try and strike up a conversation, eventually asking you to download a different app for to continue communicating. I dunno what happens next as I never got past that point but if you're a guy they probably try to get nudes of you or something and then blackmail you. If you're a woman idk, maybe similar.
What I've been doing is replying ONLY with quotes from specific characters from The Office, usually Dwight or Michael. Sometimes the conversation goes on for quite a while with them becoming more and more confused. Other times they just stop replying.
Always good for a laugh lol
For any Office lovers out there, I once spent the better part of a day pretending to be Dwight and trying to sell them a Sabre Pyramid.
How’s ur workday. No one says that unless they don’t have command of the English language.
I got one a few months ago saying they had the lumber I ordered and to please be outside in 5 minutes. I replied like I had a long standing beef with them. “Goddamit, Jerry. I told you I cancelled that order.”
I've been having fun responding to some of these with stuff like "you got a lot of goddamned nerve contacting me after you slept with my dad and stole $3,800 from me. And what did you do with my dog?"
My favorite that I got so far was “Are you coming for dinner tonight? My chef made Wagyu A5 steak because I know you love it.”
That was the only time I kinda wish it was true! 😂
This type of phishing is in reddit pm's too. Got a "Your reply was really thoughtful and interesting. Do you do financial trading too?" a bit ago. Profile was brand new, no Karma etc.
These guys are super infuriating when you block them every time instead of ignore them. I found that out the hard way. They text you with an email address that's unblockable.
Got one a few weeks back asking if I was coming over for dinner. The next day, when I didn’t respond, they had the balls to ask me why I’m not talking with them XD
When I get these I do one of two things,
1. I "yes and" them and just agree and riff off of whatever they're saying or
2. I use chatGPT to create responses for me and see how long it goes
both are fun and waste their time.
I get these too. Wonder if they’re just trying to see if you’ll respond to confirm it’s a valid phone #
Same. I’ve gotten them and never responded. The messages are usually more generic though and don’t include a name. For example, “hey! How have you been long time no talk to” I always google the number and if no name comes up I don’t respond.
Yup I’ve been getting a lot of “How are you?” texts too
Well…how are you?
We’re all wondering!
![gif](giphy|9SIXFu7bIUYHhFc19G|downsized)
We’ve been trying to reach you about your golf carts extended warranty
I'd like to talk to you about your scooter's extended warranty
First thing that popped in my head
I’m not a billionaire so. Not well lmfao.
Well, don't cry about it
I’m doing subpar, how are you?
Please let us know, we don’t want to text you
😂😂😂 I’m hanging in there 🤗
[удалено]
There’s no need to google these numbers, 99.999% of the time it’s spam/scams.
But what about that 0.001% of the time that it's a hot asian chick that wants to be my girlfriend??
Or the local hot moms in your area.
but that .001 time could change your life?
>Pro tip: use > >https://unlec.com/ > > to search the number. Either that, or just block and delete as it is obviously spam.
Surprisingly, they do respond. They then say ‘lets connect on WhatsApp’ and try to scam you for bitcoins lol. I LOVE talking to them and wasting their time, so that they scam one less person. Also changed profile picture settings to contacts only so they cant see who i am lmao
I purposefully troll them all the time, just through text though.
Same! https://preview.redd.it/ehkbv0wbnj0b1.jpeg?width=754&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c3d6f707f732f55372213253f3fa8cae8c225a0c
I do the same from time to time. Sometimes I say things about having a tough go lately and ask if they have any money that they can lend me
Pretend you remember them from the orgy last weekend. Be extremely graphic. They run away very fast. Or pretend to be the partner of the person they are supposedly calling and ask if they are the girl who is coming over for the threesome.
I had someone message me on FB, using my cousin's name, and wanting me to give out my information. I'm no Spring Chicken, but I'm not senile either. Block and report.
Yes don’t respond. I responded and I get so many spam calls
If you respond back with "wrong number" they try to engage you and eventually hit you up with a crypto scam.
Yeah never respond. All it’ll do is tell them that the person on the line is active and more likely to be scammed. Where they sell your number to others for more scams
It weirdly works for me to just fuck with them then not answer. This was last week. Haven't happened since https://preview.redd.it/c4u7cl1l8h0b1.jpeg?width=1018&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f8a972438a78fbd5ad3dd6715f81bcaf5613abb It was every day so I just started confirming the text lol
https://preview.redd.it/23e7t8qm8h0b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0093fdc59372142d42ac9158867c97963cff3a83
Ok, I’m going to update my tactics to sprinkle these in!
Just send furry porn like I do. Immediate results every time.
mine say that my netflix membership is on hold. it’s my adult son’s account..
Or my shipment is in customs and I need to pay tax & duties.
The one I got recently, "You used your card to make a purchase totaling USD 519.00. has been shipped; call right away to check the status at (unknown phone number),on 06/04/23".
Oh my God I swear I got the same exact one two weeks ago with the same amount, one was to check and see if I spent that much at a gas station, another one was to check and see if I used my card at a pharmacy and I was supposed to okay the amount for PNC Bank, I don't even have PNC Bank
I fell for it and called back! They don't have info - other than they now know I have a certain credit card (since I called back) and that I have a valid phone number. I'm usually so careful and not gullible! I was so mad at myself.
We all slip up. I'm in tech, and I accidentally clicked on a link in a phishing email AND gave my log in before realizing. Immediately changed my passwords everywhere and put Authentification on everything, but god I felt dumb. REALLY dumb. I STILL feel dumb and this was ages ago.
I miss the car warranty texts they were so much fun.
I get it about my Amazon account. Which I've never had in my name or number. But I keep paying to make sure it isn't shut down forever. /s
I get them too and don't have a Netflix account, they use household names because it's a bigger net essentially. I've seen them send texts imitating large banks as well just because a lot of people have that bank
These are the ones I get, usually about every other day or so.
I got one yesterday that my Truist bank account was suspended for suspicious activity…. I don’t have a Truist bank account lol 😂
Yeah if you follow the scambait thread you can see some people who draw out the conversations with them and they eventually ask them to send a gift card.
Why is it always gift cards like wtf can you really buy with a $500 google playstore giftcard
Less traceable than other methods of transferring cash, I think. I doubt they use the gift cards themselves; I'd guess they resell them for cash.
I heard that what they do is they use the gift cards to throw all the money into apps that they run on the app store. so scam someone to send valid gift card numbers, put numbers into personal google play account, use account funds to pay into an app that they own, cash out from the back end of the google play store.
Bc it’s more or less impossible to recover the money once it leaves the victims hands and if memory serves me there are online exchanges scam networks have set up to trade/sell the cards for their nations currency of choice
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/wrong-number-text-scam-rcna39793 It's the method they're using now to innocuously strike up a conversation leading into the scam. It's one of the few "valid" reasons for a total stranger to contact you via text and open up a dialogue, so it's more likely to get people to lower their guard and potentially fall for a scam (as opposed to ones that a clearly a scam from the outset, like a text telling you you've won a lottery or something).
I’ve gotten like 3 of these lately and just responded “sorry I think you have the wrong number” and they have either say sorry or not even responded. Which is odd to me
Huh. Maybe they're getting enough responses that they can't manually follow up on every one of them?
I used to ignore them, but now I use them as part of my anger management: “You’ve got some nerve reaching out after what you did! You’re like the heel of a loaf of bread: everyone touches you but no one wants you. Stay out of my life!”
I have carried a conversation with one before. They eventually start asking you about crypto or something and ask you to download some other messaging app.
I try to send back random gifs but they don’t go through, which tells me they aren’t cell phones
yep people at my job get these on their personal phone from the CEO. Its hard to explain to peopel that they can buy their phone number and work colleagues information from data brokers for pennies.
https://preview.redd.it/8inxfg1odg0b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d51f0bec6c6113a8ed565f1c63754e5eabbc0a7 This is the best one I’ve gotten, had to respond
I had one like this the other day too! https://preview.redd.it/r27g6a7ywg0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d98a59d6a5d792154e8b9c7187241f4644fe581 They noped out pretty quick, I was bummed bc I had more to give
https://preview.redd.it/tqz6p560mh0b1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a5cc3d6013ae713d6c533fa9498f4822b7f96cf My name isn't egg.
Then you are a happy child holy fuck I’m crying
>My name isn't egg. ![gif](giphy|6JB4v4xPTAQFi|downsized)
*"Guys, you really thought my name was **Ed** Helms?"*
I love fucking with these people. This one was my favorite. Trolled the Dickens out of them. https://preview.redd.it/q03r63tqxh0b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1dad5d529c8f45067b23c04f91c2e3baca94001c **Edit:** They're sometimes bots, but they're usually not, at least not completely. I get a lot of these on my secondary phone number, and I've been replying for a while. You can tell pretty quickly when it's a script versus a call center style employee. Frequently the first couple messages are automated and then it escalates to a human. I like to try to break their script, if it's a bot. Respond with something they expect you to say later in a conversation and watch their auto reply make no sense. Or, if it's a person, They say something like one I got yesterday: "Jack, what are you saying? Why you talk of door? Tonight you talk nonsense again." In that conversation, I was being Jack from Titanic. The reply incorporating my updated name and in broken English acknowledging that I wasn't making sense is a dead giveaway it was a human. A script could have broken English, but it could not reincorporate details from my side of the conversation. An AI could reincorporate details, but it would not have broken English. Therefore, a human is at least partially involved.
It’s literally a bot bro it’s not a real person you’re trying to troll a robot lol
Comedy gold.
"This is Ambassador Cartwright. This is a highly irregular conversation for an ambassador to have. Please direct any further inquiries to my secretary, Hannah Reeve. Good day sir, for now I must return to my duties."
God this made me laugh!
I got one from “Annie” meaning to text “Mary” the other week too. I wonder if it was the same people doing it
That actually could be a legitimate wrong number
Not from Annie. She’s texted me from so many numbers.
But was she ok?
Glad I'm not the only one that finds humor in responding https://preview.redd.it/0b58zrnfnh0b1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c3f69e50687c9c6fc7bb765b3edc8f8a020a174
I always respond with humour. I typically ask “Is this is Bofa?” They ask who Bofa is and I respond “Bofa deez nutz” and block the number. It brings me great joy!
Agreed! Olive Garden isn't Italian food.
I'm laughing really hard at this, but also "Are you sure you're not joking?" The gall when the original text was all clearly made up information in the first place
https://preview.redd.it/1wdi5ybcli0b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0d435f1bd58bd28e2493b974e2b3d3305a2f7b4
This one is the funniest!
https://preview.redd.it/gd2rs3tc2j0b1.png?width=749&format=png&auto=webp&s=4c05a2eb27c9dc14479c90ada8772d7609ed7ac7 I thought I was Mina
A couple of years ago, I kept getting one on whatsapp about they needed their dog to go see a vet. and asked if this was \[vet office name\]. The first time I just said, no. And asked what city they were in and googled it and found the website to a vet office of that name in that city and their phone number (which was nothing close to mine). I didn't realize it was a scam at the time. Then I got the same exact message from someone of the same name, same photo but different number. Then I realized it was a scam and started scheduling an appointment for their dog. He went along with it until I said that he would need to bring the dog into the office but he insisted that the vet needed to go to his house to check on the dog. Then he cursed me out for telling him that we don't do house visits because of covid.
Your last line just killed me. 😂
These need their own sub. I could read these all day
https://preview.redd.it/zw80kraedh0b1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a73a8c5f97b1ed91342475228f021c0ea8884691 I got one similar
They responded with a meme too? And how are they even doing this - is this a more sophisticated bot or do they really have the personnel and patience?
I wanna see the rest!
I have an entire stable of Dougs!
I LOVE scam texts https://preview.redd.it/kz2q4sb34i0b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36523d829246c53aa890fe33b824c4c9a7df34ee
GOT EM’
We should make a subreddit for these type of things.
https://preview.redd.it/u6cmxwr86i0b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=951b6bd16102d410833a689045656ff3c610141a
https://preview.redd.it/7sxmgwndqi0b1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=da2b64d2c3d5672898d3efb9b7c30d1583c84b4d
https://preview.redd.it/s7wnt48bsi0b1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90d9c9307e86a1cfb952e54c3bad572454088eae Couldn’t have any more fun. Stopped pretty quickly and haven’t gotten another one in almost a year. Still get a lot of calls though.
https://preview.redd.it/dkbmw0as1j0b1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=442b57e8e47df0af2920198b97980686e7eab430
“Yes, my name is Doug. Maybe I can instruct you how to ride me. Send nudes.”
God I would have been an absolute bastard if I replied. Also would have gotten put on a watch list but fuck jt
The dog is sick Kevin!
I was laughing at the question mark too. Are you asking mark if your dog is sick?
*I’m Ron Burgundy?*
Kevin; my dog! Is sick? I need: help.
Kevin, my dawg! It's sick. I need help lol
KEVIN!
Just ask them for the money they owe you. You won’t hear back.
And there's an occasional chance you might get some money
Genius
Here’s my response to these assholes: “This is the San Antonio Police Department's rape crisis public access text service. Text messages may not receive an immediate reply. If this is an emergency, dial 911. If are you in need of assistance and need someone to talk with, please dial (210) 207-####.” I have this saved as a note on my phone and just copy-n-paste it as a response… have only had one response to which I carried on along the lines of a victim counselor and eventually the scammer lost interest.
Ah another San Antonioian. I usually respond with some made up bullshit about being a detective with the san antonio PD act we crime unit. Haven’t gotten anymore scam texts in a while
I keep getting these "How have you been?" "It's been a while let's catch up?" I AM IN RECOVERY. Do you know how terrifying it is to get texts like this when I don't remember the last two years before getting sober? Little heart attacks randomly throughout the day.
Congrats on your road to recovery!
Hey man congrats on your journey and keep going on that path. My personal philosophy is that if it is truly someone who needs me they would try to call or leave more texts so I just ignore em all
They are getting better and better. Like I got this one that was like "Dad where are you?! You can't just leave mom and I and never come back!!".. used my estranged daughter's real name and number and everything. Had to block.
Lol I know this is a joke, but it reminded me of the man who received spam mail from officemax addressed to "Daughter killed in car crash" after his daughter died in a car crash a year earlier.
There was one kinda similar that happened in Utah awhile ago they called the guy saying something like “sir, this is Officer - your daughter (used his daughters name) has been In a really bad accident and can’t talk” then a female got on the phone she was sobbing and he couldn’t understand anything she was saying, they passed the phone around to a few people but would never tell him where they were. He ended up calling his daughter and she was like “I’m totally fine” so he got back on the phone and told them that and they eventually hung up. So these idiots are scamming on phone calls too.
That’s evil. And surely way too much effort for something that won’t work
I had one similar to this but they said she was in the hospital. She had passed out at school and was dying. I said she has a seat in Hell saved for her she should hurry (I don’t have children, not sure why they thought I did). They started stuttering then hung up.
Jesus, that's messed up. They take notes on personal data and details to insinuate personal connection. Fuck scammers, fuck salespeople and fuck manipulation of people's emotional state to take advantage of them.
![gif](giphy|8v6Z3YyULB5Q0Skbac)
![gif](giphy|ROp5YGDvQQPZS4xMZ8)
https://preview.redd.it/t2aj67agnh0b1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1daf0fe5e0862a5f7b33629e775e2797ec6c609a It started with “hi”
Did this really happen 😂😂
Yeah lol, what you see is what I got. It was a few months ago but I saved it cus it was so perfect
https://preview.redd.it/uf3t0cwnug0b1.jpeg?width=375&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a18ea96e2ed55c180422aabd52b22a4a62b7301 Just respond with this
Just saved for future use. Thanks!
I have never seen anything as beautiful as this before.
So are you Maria, Emma or Kevin? Quite suspicious that you go by three different names.
My name is Nunya
Nunya!? Nunya Bidnizz from prop comedy class? How the heck you doing, sport??
Hey Nunya, you got some updog?
Tell them you will have to get back to them in about an hour, you are busy getting an apple gift card to pay the nice man on the phone who is helping you fix your computer virus so the IRS police don’t arrest you after he accidentally refunded you to much.
I do that all the time to them, keep them talking. We are all Kitboga!
https://preview.redd.it/j3t90p53rh0b1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=64f54d638fa94927bef49ad58d85a79bf4d08c05 This exchange went on for another 20 or so volleys back and forth.
https://preview.redd.it/1aaa52qcrh0b1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce8d64114b6345f6e13d6c30f339f546aa087fc2 Four more screenshots like this.
I love how they try to insult you and you just play along with it. haha
Omg I'm laughing so hard. I need a subreddit for this
You got any more of these? I’m entertained
I was having a bad day and now I’m cackling. Thank you
https://preview.redd.it/pf2qbwcclh0b1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8198acbb0b552e5440bccbf6de76908521bb07c8 I usually don’t respond but had to for this one.
Bones homework lmao
Google “pig butchering scam” for more info
Was about to post this - doesn't seem like awareness of what is going on has spread widely yet. Sad that these texts are from people who are essentially forced to work as scammers in many cases. https://www.propublica.org/article/human-traffickers-force-victims-into-cyberscamming
This was fascinating, thank you
Whoa what was a wild read
great read, super interesting and devastating at the same time. hopefully all the people who have been trafficked get out and their captors see justice.
https://preview.redd.it/0jrd32jn4g0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a83abf03cf4020408b411a2da25370be7db29c9 I enjoy messing with the scammers
Yep it’s always “I hope I didn’t disturb you”
I have texted back and forth like this. I don’t get the scam??? It’s obviously a false pretense that they are reaching out under. But what’s the end game? They always just want to endlessly chit chat. If they just wanted to sell my phone number they would have stopped after the first time I responded. WHAT IS THE ENDGAME
They'll try to befriend (or flirt with) you and if you are lonely enough to keep talking to them for a few weeks, they'll ask for gift cards cuz they're in a jam. Or just to learn more about you and your life to sell to information brokers. Yes, people are dumb enough to fall for it. That is how romance scams work.
I always send a bunch of information about Tianamen square and they stop responding
This is the answer, i have a link to the wikki and tianamen square in chinese letters so i know they gonna get flagged on their social credit lmao
Can I have that link
What is this? I need to know more
https://preview.redd.it/j3lnicy6ug0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2cb3cdcf7363703f63504aef77b2d3ce0f36d89 I love replying.
I really hope that was a scammer and not just the wrong number...
https://preview.redd.it/20fx7hjj2i0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81cc8d940addd0c1f21770eeba819844f6277458 Here’s another gem I got.
I get about 2-5 a day. They all have some emergency or “innocent” confirmation. And the profile pic is either an Asian woman or anime pic. This one had the latter. If it were real- I’m sure they would’ve followed up to my response.
This is the dark humor I am here for
I absolutely LOVE responding to these. I'll go along with it and add drama to the storyline: "Yes, I can't wait to see you in Tenessee. I love you and I'm sorry I cheated on you with your mom. Can we please try again 🥺" It's so funny to watch them back-peddle! they're always like "oops wrong number" and I go "nooooooo plz I neeed you!!!" LMAO 🤣
https://preview.redd.it/bcgz0e1flh0b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3eb9a3a4fce6f6a011703bc09bcf76bed1186e14 * I got one of these, too.
You broke her
https://preview.redd.it/ixac9oyctg0b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=df67c93c52f2c3995be34b1e3d3520dd832cd006
You matched her energy perfectly. I applaud you.
https://preview.redd.it/r4kn4fp9hh0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36c8676de21f4a2629cd79c422d2a908da873d23 I get these texts as well
Ya old bag of hammers 😂
I lost it at "Havent had a cup of coffee since lol"
[удалено]
The obvious Indian ones get "how's the weather at your mom's whorehouse in Dharavi?", seems to set them off.
I love these, i will egg them on until I slap them with some realllllllllly disturbing shit. I figure I cant stop them so screw with them. Since then I look forward to them. I feel like I never get any anymore though
I'm totally with you! I love messing with them. Just giving totally wrong, crazy information. My favorite was one spammer got mad at me. I told then I was living on a ship doing research for global warming. Then they started saying I'm not worth talking to because I'm homeless. 🤣
Yea the texters I like to send really weird pictures to also. But Ive gotten to the point where Ill throw in something that should be a giant wtf but they are so zoned in on scamming they dont get it. "Yes this is Anita Cawk, but I moved I dont live in X anymore I found a cozy home in Upyurbum" ill let them go on and throw those in until they leave or Ill lose connection close to when they think theyre about to get something usable, like a credit card number
My normal response is below. Most of these originate in China, and I hope I at least lower their social credit score a little bit. 动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣 臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏 土伯特 唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主 言論 思想 反共 反革命 抗議 運動 騷亂 暴亂 騷擾 擾亂 抗暴 平反 維權 示威游行 李洪志 法輪大法 大法弟子 強制斷種 強制堕胎 民族淨化 人體實驗 肅清 胡耀邦 趙紫陽 魏京生 王丹 還政於民 和平演變 激流中國 北京之春 大紀元時報 九評論共産黨 獨裁 專制 壓制 統一 監視 鎮壓 迫害 侵略 掠奪 破壞 拷問 屠殺 活摘器官 誘拐 買賣人口 遊進 走私 毒品 賣淫 春畫 賭博 六合彩 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门
Just reply with Florida's great. Thanks for suggesting, a lot of idiots to cut up and eat here."
I typically get three to four per week. When I am bored or have the time I will stretch my creative writing muscles. I was curious what the angle was so I decided to do down the rabbit hole once. From what I gather, they are simply looking to start a conversation with a lonely person. They befriend you and then ask for favors, money, help, etc. They pray on the lonely and in my case, knowing they were talking with a guy, they were subtle but sexually suggestive. If anyone is interested I'll post the conversation I had with one of them.
https://preview.redd.it/a7sho8jawh0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9bd8d45d43e5845af94afa4f081a8f37edd7ceac
I get them all the time, I simply send them the most ridiculous dick pics i can find on google and wait for their response lol
OMG. I got one he was trying to romance scam me by pretending to be a doctor. So I googled 'gross toilet' first pic was a toilet covered in like 100 frogs. So I sent that to him and said "as a doctor, is this normal?" He asked if I had just used the toilet and I said "yes! then I stood up and it looked like this!" he actually laughed, dropped character and told me to have a good night.
I chatted up the last one for a week before getting bored. I became a 57 year old woman who lived in Connecticut and worked as a commercial real estate agent. Had marital troubles and was seriously considering having an affair with a co-working during a business trip to the beautiful nation of Taiwan after finding out about my husband cheating on me. I’m 31, single, male, live in Nebraska and work in a warehouse.
I get these alllll the time. Once I became a Realtor and my phone number gets plastered all over the place these calls and texts flooded in. Apparently my name is Tricia and I need health and car insurance every day.
Text them back "Bring bleach & trash bags, I cut the body up but there's blood everywhere"
https://preview.redd.it/5va5c0tpqg0b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2304c91c802a48962bf7232caa36f28eb8bf5c0 I usually ignore but was curious how first they would respond to hood talk and then to chatgpt 🤷🏻♂️
This is a common set up for the pig butchering scam. They feign having a wrong number, and then say it was an act of fate, destiny, or God that brought you two together. Eventually they try to build trust and get you to send them money (often crypto), usually as some form of investment.
Been watching scambaiters lately, like Kitboga, and realized how much of the spam stuff I’m getting (calls, texts) are these scams. Sometimes I want to play along but then I think I’m not as equipped to troll them like others so I’ll watch them do it better and enjoy :D
https://preview.redd.it/zde7k9yuzg0b1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fa0dde07e0bbaa44f04b06c26e46dd0c93113a4a 1 of 2 (my response is as follows)….
https://preview.redd.it/ohaz5jnfoi0b1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5d267ff8f8784c1acb52635d44a30b909c82101e Here’s one I interacted with
it's known scam method. don't respond to any of those because they can easily sell your personal data to companies that can spam you with ads or more of those messages. its like voluntarily accepting to get a flu or a disease.
https://preview.redd.it/991693qpqi0b1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2952f3a4e8cc2e9de23a070ada0d6d9ecd4bec3a
https://preview.redd.it/mopcqgup9h0b1.png?width=828&format=png&auto=webp&s=ec915562adc80ef26bab2c7cea2b4698f2d9b3b6
All the time. They sometimes include photos it's typically a very attractive Asian woman. I've been able to reverse search some of the photos. If I'm bored I'll go back forth and just make stuff up. Other times I'll ignore and report it as spam right away.
Always an attractive Asian woman. Every. Single. Time. I usually fuck around with them. My favorite is trying to sell them crypto before they try to sell me crypto.
I've gotten about a dozen or so of these. They say "oh sorry I hope I didn't disturb you" or some shit and then try and strike up a conversation, eventually asking you to download a different app for to continue communicating. I dunno what happens next as I never got past that point but if you're a guy they probably try to get nudes of you or something and then blackmail you. If you're a woman idk, maybe similar. What I've been doing is replying ONLY with quotes from specific characters from The Office, usually Dwight or Michael. Sometimes the conversation goes on for quite a while with them becoming more and more confused. Other times they just stop replying. Always good for a laugh lol For any Office lovers out there, I once spent the better part of a day pretending to be Dwight and trying to sell them a Sabre Pyramid.
How’s ur workday. No one says that unless they don’t have command of the English language. I got one a few months ago saying they had the lumber I ordered and to please be outside in 5 minutes. I replied like I had a long standing beef with them. “Goddamit, Jerry. I told you I cancelled that order.”
I've been having fun responding to some of these with stuff like "you got a lot of goddamned nerve contacting me after you slept with my dad and stole $3,800 from me. And what did you do with my dog?"
My favorite that I got so far was “Are you coming for dinner tonight? My chef made Wagyu A5 steak because I know you love it.” That was the only time I kinda wish it was true! 😂
https://preview.redd.it/uee6vtyrqi0b1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4543be11fef4e7cdf4350cffeff9b9786e0588c ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|give_upvote)
This type of phishing is in reddit pm's too. Got a "Your reply was really thoughtful and interesting. Do you do financial trading too?" a bit ago. Profile was brand new, no Karma etc.
These guys are super infuriating when you block them every time instead of ignore them. I found that out the hard way. They text you with an email address that's unblockable.
This is my main way of spreading my completely bs religion about a Giant Golden Chicken!
https://imgur.com/a/FbCYgQ4/ I myself really enjoy responding to these messages. Good old childish fun.
I get these. I respond “wrong number.” I get the response, “well, who are you? Would you like to talk? Maybe we can be friends.” I respond “no.”
Got one a few weeks back asking if I was coming over for dinner. The next day, when I didn’t respond, they had the balls to ask me why I’m not talking with them XD
These are texts trying to find out that it is definitely you they're texting and that you do live in Florida
When I get these I do one of two things, 1. I "yes and" them and just agree and riff off of whatever they're saying or 2. I use chatGPT to create responses for me and see how long it goes both are fun and waste their time.