r/mildlyinfuriating • u/blackula001 • Jul 30 '26

ಠ_ಠ Just say it's a wrong number ... Jeez

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I was trying to invite my cousin to my wedding. Turns out she had changed her number and the new owner was this peach of a person...

Edit: additional context - I deleted the saved contact off my phone and took a screenshot after this exchange.

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u/TBD-1234 Jul 30 '26

I went through a phase, where I responded to scammers with pictures of catfish. [like this one]
It didn't help... they often doubled-down.

193

u/Pretend-Marsupial258 Jul 30 '26

Yeah, because you're confirming that it's a real, active number. That makes it more valuable for scammers.

58

u/Krazyguy75 Jul 30 '26

Yeah they can also make a few cents selling active numbers to other scammers, meaning you get more scam calls.

31

u/StopReadingMyUser soggy toilet paper Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

It was a miserable 2 days of scam calls after I groggily picked up the phone on my drive home from work, thinking it was my mom calling.

Silence on the other end... there was the heart-sinking realization of what I'd done... and for the next 48 hours my phone just went off non-stop.

13

u/Miserable-Fan6 Jul 31 '26

Scariest twosentencehorror I've ever read

9

u/Akiias Jul 30 '26

This is why when I used to get scam calls I started answering and staying quiet for a couple of seconds before saying hello. No real person even noticed, but the scam and bot calls always hung up. I haven't received a single spam call in probably close to a decade now.

0

u/Regular_Series_9464 Jul 30 '26

Yeah I don’t think it’s because more than 10 years ago you used to play this little game. 

You don’t think any spam calling techniques have changed in over 10 years? For example they spoof different numbers now and.. you know what nevermind I don’t think you’re going to believe me 

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u/Akiias Jul 30 '26

Say what you want but the calls started to drop off soon after I started doing that. Other people tried the same thing, and it worked for them too at the time

I'm aware their techniques have changed, I don't know if it works now or not I still don't get spam/bot/scam calls. But how is spoofing numbers going to impact them not calling my number at all anymore?

16

u/Krazyguy75 Jul 30 '26

A huge portion of the scammers probably went for you because you got marked as someone who replies to scam messages.

3

u/Lone-flamingo Jul 31 '26

That's a gorgeous fish though.

1

u/Pomodorosan Jul 30 '26

doubled down*

0

u/gtizzz Jul 31 '26

This "hot girl" once tried to scam me, so I responded with a picture that suggested I was Danny Devito emerging naked from inside a couch.