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by imoverclocked7 hours ago |
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upvoteby abirch7 hours ago|
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A few years back, I would talk with scammers for a while to waste their time. Now I don't.

LPT: Please have a codeword or phrase that you use with your loved ones so even if the scammers use your voice, they won't know the phrase.

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upvoteby Hackbraten6 hours ago|
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> LPT: Please have a codeword or phrase that you use with your loved ones

They keep refusing ideas like these on the grounds of them being “not stupid” and “able to see through such attempts immediately, 100% of the time” and “do you think we’re stupid?”

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upvoteby autoexec5 hours ago|
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They might actually be a bit stupid, but maybe they'll do it if you tell them it's because you are worried that you would fall for a scammer impersonating them. That at least would let them keep their stupid pride.
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upvoteby pmarreck5 hours ago|
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The article makes a point of explaining how the world-renowned expert on identifying deepfake scams can no longer pass his own tests.

If an expert can't distinguish, it has absolutely nothing to do with being "stupid" or not. So send them that, maybe.

If they are still stubborn about it, then thank them for contributing to the future funding of Scam the World With AI.

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upvoteby GolfPopper3 hours ago|
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Or maybe Deckard was a replicant the whole time.
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upvoteby madaxe_again1 hours ago|
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You don’t even need this. You just ask “what did we do last Tuesday”. A scammer will hang up, even if the actual answer is “I haven’t seen you in two years”.
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upvoteby TomK327 hours ago|
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I'm getting a lot of calls recently and don't give them more than a Hello and whatever music, radio show or Tour de France broadcast I'm listening to. Sometimes they hang in there for half a minute.
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upvoteby xp846 hours ago|
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Sometimes if I’m suspicious about the number now, I just answer and say nothing. A human will get confused after 5 seconds and say “Hello?Hello??” But the very shitty bots that usually call, just wait patiently for a long time for your hello, and don’t seem at all fazed by it.
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upvoteby pavel_lishin4 hours ago|
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You get actual humans calling you from unknown numbers? Lucky! I only ever get "Chase" from "Home Security Solutions" or whatever.
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upvoteby xp843 hours ago|
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Yeah, recently I've had quite a few legitimate ones, mostly having to do with home renovations or other transactions.

I like most am deeply unsatisfied with the archaic system though of a basically unchangeable 10-digit number granting permission for anyone to fill up my phone with messages and interrupt me with calls, and hate that I have to ever answer calls from a number I don't know.

I really would like a mutual opt-in system, where you have to pre-establish consent before it's even possible to message or call you, but it seems impossible to get there from here. We can't even get the stupid cell phone companies to strongly enforce that caller ID isn't spoofed!

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upvoteby butlike58 minutes ago|
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How do you meet people if it's pre-established consent. Eventually someone needs to say 'hi' without the consent of the other person. In all things.
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upvoteby pavel_lishin33 minutes ago|
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In person or online.

How often have you met people over the phone in the past decade?

I will say that blocking all unrecognized numbers, though, is an unworkable idea. Any parent or caregiver knows that they need to be able to occasionally receive calls from a number they've never heard of before.

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upvoteby iron_ball3 hours ago|
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The article mentions this strategy, and points out that when confronted with an emotional emergency situation, the victims simply might not remember to use the protocol.

Not a bad idea, but not a brick wall.

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upvoteby gilleain7 hours ago|
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The only solution? Answer the phone in an over the top comedy accent, such as Simpsons characters, or just whatever comes to mind.
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upvoteby matltc7 hours ago|
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A terse, altered "Hello" is all I say. Sometimes I don't say anything. Most humans would wait a few seconds then prompt with "...Hello?", whereas bots tend to hang up after ~2s silence
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upvoteby deepspace1 hours ago|
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That's my experience too. I mostly don't pick up calls from numbers that I don't recognize. On the very rare occasion that I am expecting such a call, I always stay silent after picking up. A real human will without fail start talking after a second or two.
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upvoteby zelphirkalt4 hours ago|
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When it is a human scam caller, what I sometimes do is to say "Hello" and then, when they start talking, and I can already guess they are full of shit, I act as if I am not hearing them properly and say "Hello?? Heeellooo? Hello?" Then they hang up lol.
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upvoteby lowbloodsugar6 hours ago|
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Don’t you guys have phones that screen calls?
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upvoteby matltc15 minutes ago|
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Yes, but false negatives fall through. I don't pay for the call screening; maybe a paid version would be more successful.

Mostly ignore unknown numbers, but if I'm expecting a call, I will pick up.

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upvoteby Symbiote3 hours ago|
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My colleagues regularly get calls from nurseries, daycare, parents at the after school club, friends of their children or their parents and so on.

They can probably ignore international calls, although only probably.

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upvoteby rationalist4 hours ago|
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Yep, if the number is not in my comtacts, it goes straight to voicemail.
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upvoteby amanaplanacanal6 hours ago|
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I just don't answer the phone. If it's important, they can leave a message.
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upvoteby andrepd7 hours ago|
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I actually fucking do this, and have done for a year or two. Sad state of affairs.
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upvoteby baxtr7 hours ago|
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I somewhere read about a service that would use AI generated voices to combat these scam calls, basically talking to the forever. Forgot the name though...
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upvoteby kerridge03 hours ago|
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It's Lenny
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upvoteby Nzen3 hours ago|
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Thank you [0]. I searched and all I could find was Virgin Media's Daisy [1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_(chatbot)

[1] https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/o2-unveils-daisy-the-ai-gra...

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