A long time ago, when my father was still alive. A salesman was trying to sell newspaper subscriptions to my father, and he was very persistent that my father purchase one. Final he asked my father why he wouldn't buy one and he told the salesman it was because he couldn't read. That was the end of the call.
I get calls almost every day from job recruiters in India using US numbers. This is a disadvantage of our highly developed and cheap telecommunications networks. Long distance calls are virtually free, and if using Indian or Filipino employees the labor only costs a few hundred dollars per month.
My phone is a business phone so I always answer. I have one fellow who calls me about once a month and always opens with: "I have goodly talk to make at you.....". lol
Any call that I get now that says Scam Likely (I love my newest phone which actually id's these these ways) generally gets the decline option if I am near my phone and if not it is just not answered. Occasionally from an area code I might think that an important to me call would come from that could possibly be marked as that inadvertently gets answered as 'Hello'. Many times I don't hear anything and then just hang up. Other times I get a message that is garbage to me so I just hang up then. I grew up in the late 50s through 60s and into the 70s and it was always drilled into a person to be polite, answer 'yes' and if someone asked if it was you to say, 'yes, speaking' or something like that (unless it was a pervert call, then it was ok to blow a whistle into the phone or something before hanging up). But in the 80s into the 90s, everything changed. Robo calls and nuisance debt collection calls, not only at home but at work, and other nuisance sell calls. Calls that got your long distance phone service switched to some no-name type of 'provider' who would then send you hundreds of dollars in bills all because they got you to say 'yes' to something (not switching), recorded that and said it was you authorizing it (slamming a person). I no longer think that being 'polite' on the phone is anything to aim for with people who are using it to just take advantage of you or bother you within your own home or during the time you might be relaxing. My phone is so I can be in contact with my children or other family members as necessary, a few friends, medical or utilities contacting, emergency use (either 911 or perhaps needing roadside assistance), having gps maps for me, having a camera to record things if I want, being able to access the internet at times, etc. It is not to be bothered by people I don't want to hear from. Flat out, that's my stance. And if someone I don't want to hear from is contacting me, especially scam calls, I have not one bit of obligation to them to be nice in any way, shape, or form. And never (really, do get out of the habit) say the word "yes" in the phone unless you are talking to someone you know, bonafide, is not a scam artist or similar. It is a really bad word. Get in the habit of just hanging up. Your telling them that them using a local number to try to do this would never get them your business was (IMO) more info than they needed to hear. It got you listening to them and interacting with them, which in many ways is a validation that their calling actually works. You may reject them, but they are finding out that doing it that way gets the phone answered. So you helped them.
I hunt telemarketers. In the last 15 years, I've collected (via court judgment and settlement) a healthy 6-figures from telemarketers that has mostly gone back into my coin collection. Recently, I got an unsolicited series of calls from an outfit with a generic / misleading name offering wildly overpriced rolls of Franklin half dollars "in original US mint rolls". I heard them out, sounded out what they were offering, and tried to gather as much information about the caller as possible. No dice. Generic name, led nowhere. I got 3 or 4 of those calls, all from different folks in what sounded like a boiler room. Number was spoofed (not a returnable call). But, I recorded them and kept records. Last week, 2 more calls. They've moved on from 1963 halfs to 1896 Morgans (still in "US Mint bank rolls"). $3500 for a roll of 20, which they claim are comparable to MS-65 slabbed coins offered through overpriced outfits like... well, their name starts with an L and I think we all know who they are. Anyway, I'm waiting on an order that was supposed to be at my PO Box on monday. I've got a company name and number via the credit card charge (on a burner card), and shortly I'll inspect the coins. At 6 + calls x $1500 of TCPA damages & 6 x $10,000 of TRACED Act damages (which I'm unlikely to recover, but the caselaw isn't well established yet), I think I'll end up well ahead on this, especially with a free ounce of silver bullion thrown in for me to keep even if I decide to return the coins within the 30 day return window. Will name and shame if they don't come to the negotiating table after I have the physical evidence in my hands. Wish me luck.
I personally rarely answer the phone if it's a call from someone I don't know. (If it's actually important, they'll leave a message, and I can determine from that message if it's actually someone I need and/or want to talk to.) If it's labeled "potential spam" or the rare "potential scam" I don't even have to think about it. I generally have the attitude towards anyone selling anything that if I want to buy your product or service, I'll find you. You don't need to find me, and you bothering me will make me less likely to want to buy from you, not more.
Once in a while I'll answer a spam call and jerk them around: Brown County Sheriff department this is fraud investigator Mary Doe how may I help you? Miss Maggie's brothel we don't give a **** for nothing. Riggermortice Mortuary and Crematorium you kill 'em we chill or fry 'em your choice.
All well and good. But, if you've got the time and the inclination to play detective / reel them in, it's a lot more lucrative to give the SoBs enough rope to hang themselves. The roll of 1896 Morgans arrived today. "MS65" or even BU condition, my ah.... hem. Probably 2 or 3 that would grade about MS62. The rest range from AU55 to MS61, with the bulk of them at the lower end. I'm going to check for any VAMs they missed (there are about 4 in 1896 worth the candle, even in AU grade). We'll see. Maybe they missed something.
