Getting nuisance callers cross!

I have had hours of fun with these fellows. I've done the singing, the dotty old lady ( again, too easy!) the deafness, the " I'm sorry, she's dead", and many more. My favourite now is that I can't have a computer, because that's how the aliens get into your house.
What they are trying to do is talk you through a process which will give them remote access to your pc.

If it's a sales call I turn it around and try to sell them something and this can be quite amusing if I'm feeling a bit bored.

If it's the computer call I just say I don't have one.

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Just say 'yes' to everything they say.......it drives them round the bend!
I've even done it when we've had guests with us, put the phone on loudspeaker and all listened to them losing the plot!
I can get huge amounts of amusement by winding them up, they're making unsolicited calls, I'm not being rude to them, but I'm wasting their time and money

I have been getting calls about the government scheme for replacing your boiler. I usually say that it is very kind for them to offer to replace my boiler for free but explain that I have an Rayburn which works as my boiler and as they cost around £10,000 to replace I don't think the government would replace it. Of course what they want is for you to take out a loan to replace the boiler!

I have caller ID on my phone and never answer if it's a number I don't recognise. Haven't spoken to a cold caller in years!

We have number display and didn't pick up if it was a 'foreign' number or withheld, but that always doesn't help now as it can be changed to a local number and doctors and hospital are withheld numbers. So now I just pick up and immediately hang up if it's a recording which it usually is. Not answering or hanging up immediately without speaking if they don't sound kosha seems to have got us taken off most lists.
What annoys me is coming back to several messages on the phone and finding the first two are lengthy recorded messages. Our answering machine doesn't have a 'skip' facility.

Recently I have had a number of calls when the caller asks for someone with another surname but always starting with the first two letters of ours. I suppose they have poorly programmed databases.

More worrying is that I have had, over the past few months about one call a week where I say Hello, there is a pause and then a female voice with a local accent says 'Goodbye' and hangs up. The 'Goodbye' sounds identical each time so I reckon it is a recording. I have found these calls quite unsettling but hope that it is simply something that happens when they ring multiple numbers and more than one answers. Anyone else had this?

We had a call yesterday from what looked like a legitimate number but also said international. Checked on Google and it was Microsoft scammers.
DH has taken to entering those with numbers into our phone list and he names them rude words prefixed with scam

Granny23, I have had that long silence followed by Goodbye on numerous occasions so it has been around a while.

I agree with NfkDumpling that it is annoying to come back to numerous recorded messages from these people. I don't think the family understood how often these calls occur until they heard the messages when they visited. Of course, they are somewhat truncated as the recording starts before the Beep!

The most amusement I have had recently was a call where there was clearly a lot of banter going on in the background and it was some time before the caller realised the call had been answered. His mind was clearly on what was going on around him though. I left him to it with the phone off the hok until he hung up.

Buddie am so glad to see that you have had these calls too. Not that I would wish them on anyone but it sets my mind at rest to know that it is not just me that gets them. Thank You.

This thread has been both upsetting and hilarious at the same time.
I also have had many of these calls and have used a lot of the things that people have said.!
The scammers hate it and eventually do stop for a while.
I have also been told i am stupid and another call told me to F-Off, when i said they were not kosher and i would report them.
I do not have caller ID or an answerphone as i am a BT low user.
So i do answer my landline as i am that nosy and also frightened of missing any calls from my family who live abroad.

I get at least seven of these calls a day,even though I am ex directory and on the preferential list. What I don't understand is how these people get your details.They have my name and number but glad to say wrong house number.Most of the time I hang up on them now.