I wrote this article. I can’t take credit for the ‘yes’ idea, but some of these scammer’s reactions were funny. I feel like I caught a few of them at the end of a long day.
Yes is an excellent prog rock band. I don’t know why the scammers won’t appreciate it.
They get violent really quickly don’t they?
Some of them went from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye.
I’d like to think dnsl would handle them on a steep enough commission.
No.
I think no would work too.
You might choose another word to avoid they use your ‘yes’ to enter subscriptions or the like.
Maybe something like " Mmm… donuts!"
If they don’t have any payment info they can’t very well subscribe you to anything.
As soon as they have your address they can start billing you, then the burden is on you.
Is yes your address?
You have no idea about spammer databases, have you?
Yes
Mmm… donuts!
Good idea.
Yes
Why do they get so aggressive so suddenly?
This is purely my speculation, I don’t have data to back this up.
There’s an idea that these scammers are just working stiffs trying to make a living. While that is probably true for many, I think there is a sizable percentage who do their job with maliciousness. I think some of them enjoy the idea of scamming people.
If you have ever seen the streamer Kitboga, he plays elaborate, hours-long pranks on scammers. Many of the scammers who call him get pretty vicious when they lose their patience.
Anyway, to answer your question, I think they are caught off-guard when someone answers and is deliberately messing with them. They sense that the tables have turned, and the aggression comes out.
A lot of these scammers are actually just indentured servants in the modern era. There’s a ton of different media reports on just how awful the industry is for these “workers”.
These people are literally trafficked, enslaved, and tortured by the modern era mafia basically. Their families are threatened, they’re threatened. It’s not great.
So when they think someone’s on the hook but it’s just someone fucking with them, I would imagine they get a bit angry.
You can’t make me sympathize with them.
I can’t make you be a decent human either. All I can do is give you the facts. Do with them as you will.
You’ve convinced me. Next time a scammer calls me, I’ll willingly give them the money. They need it more than I do
I remember watching a YouTube video where someone tried the same thing with different strategies, like always replying “OK” or telling the scammer they already have the money.
Replying “yes” to questions that can’t be answered yes will always remind me of the guy in Pacifdlog Town in the Pokémon games who asks where we are from and we have the option to answer yes or no.
In the game Starship Titanic, the game asks you a series of questions at the beginning. The last of them is simply “Fish?” with the only options for answering being yes or no.
Without context, I’d understand that as asking whether I like to eat fish.
Since it’s based on a Douglas Adams work I would assume it’s asking if I want a babel fish.
Well, in this case, the lack of context is the joke. I agree that, if someone asked me this in real life, that is also how I would interpret it.
Unfortunately, I can’t find a video of the specific part I’m referencing, but this video claims to be a full walkthrough. I believe the interview part starts about eight minutes in.
This was great. Ty
Thank you as well!
