I know either answer is controversial, but shutting down a number is very important. It costs the scammer money if they sent out an email campaign… It stops the current campaign. If you bait them, and they have 10 other people answering, there is possibly 9 victims being scammed… I do both… Ill bait, and get the number out immediately to be shut down.
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Sane.
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Came in late on this one; I was looking for opinions on why some say flooding doesn’t work.
I agree that whatever causes scammers some heartburn is good, but I wonder how effective flooding is when so many numbers get answered by a robovoice and/or an AI “screener.”
Once I get a scammer on the line, I can waste their time by just playing dumb, but those more versed than I am in VMs, reversing connections, etc. can turn a bait call into an opportunity to delete the scammer’s files. Capturing a victim list can do a lot of good, I think.
[Edited for a typo. My OCD working overtime.]
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I am not a purist. If John Smith only knows how to make one phone call at a time, he is helping the cause by calling the scammer, wasting his time, and undermining the scammer’s morale by making him think he has a “sale” until the last second. If Jane Doe has a B.S. in Computer Science, has software that can make 400 calls per minute, and knows how to use it, she is helping the cause as well. I like to compare it to World War II. Some people thought the war against Germany could be won by strategic bombing. alone. Other people thought it could only be won by boots on the ground on the continent. It took both methods to work and to win.
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Both methods, plus other approaches are needed to put up a full fight.
Call flooding does prevent people from becoming victims but don’t believe for an instant that it destroys a call center: because simply does not. Even if I overwhelm a Vicidial Linux server, it will just abend and work fine after rebooting. Call flooding hardware PBXs can damage them however, but I’m sure very few if any of the scammers use that aged technology.
When I do my 2-3 hour AutoBot stream I claim to “disable” the number and it’s because within an hour or so after I stop (because I cannot monitor micro-flooding while I am doing my job) the numbers start working again. But, during that 2-3 hour period a good number of potential victims are spared.
Plus it’s entertaining: I don’t do mass call flooding, but send calls out 1,3,5, sometimes 10 or 20 at a time and we can hear the scammers reacting to the crazy sound effects being blasted into their headphones while we listen to electronic music… After 1-5 minutes the scammers usually park the number, I claim victory, then move on to another number.
Lots of fun and it’s for a good cause.
–Ray
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Yep you are right, my man: a common complaint heard by scambaiters is how it pains them to hear victims being scammed in the background while they scambait a scammer. Call flooding comes to the rescue in this case because those scammers are picking up the phone from a robotic dialer and they cannot scam that caller…
–Ray
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Completely agree. I don’t think there is one single thing that we can do. The multi-prong approach forces scammers to deal with more than one thing at a time working against them. I’m not an expert by any means, but I think throwing many things at them as opposed to just doing one thing only is the way to go. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary.
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I enjoy your bot streams as well as your evening streams. Keep up the great work!
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Shutting down a number is actually a lot of work. Especially when they want so many items for a report now. Even sound G.722 Orginination number receiving number even the hashtag for Traceback. Make sure you keep everything recorded in a CRM setting for scammers. Scam hunters would be the classification of this type of profession. Good luck, If you need help with reporting. Message me anytime for good vibes and some number TKO
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I sit silently watch observe and gather what I can. Report to the carriers and Traceback.
All the good stuff. Flooding doesn’t work… Well sometimes. But they just dig up a new number. Never ends…
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I’m working on some exciting bots right now for our pbx… lol all custom from calls over the years. It’s pretty funny and the best thing about it we made it all original.
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Totally with you on this! I can only hold up one scammer at a time, but my passion is also raising awareness amongst my friends, family and followers. If one single person can be saved from being scammed as a result of what I do, I consider that a big win in and of itself. In the same vein those with the techie knowledge to hammer down on the call centers have my utmost respect and appreciation!
An army marches on it’s stomach as they say, and during the war those not in active duty were playing their part by farming to produce food for the soldiers, or working to make bandages, knitting warm clothing. It was truly a combined effort!
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I like what you say there about raising awareness. If I had a really good opportunity to do so, I’d love to offer education to the public on this subject. I work at a small college (IT department) and I think I could eventually set something up there. Just so many things to work on that this idea keeps getting pushed back. Eventually I hope to do something though.
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