Here is a suggestion that I did, with a warning:
If you press 1 they forward the call to a call center BUT they claim YOU called THEM, which is true since you pressed 1. They will then claim they have absolutely no idea what marketing company called you first and referred the call "since we get calls forwarded by so many". Of course they are doing it themselves, but newsflash, people lie. Also, if it was an outside company they would have to know so they would be able to pay that company for the referral.
All that said, I believe that having pressed "1" for one call puts you on the express hassle list so you'll get more of them.
I played along and make it sound like they hit a grand slam, telling them I had all kinds of cc debt. Then I told them I was at work and my boss just walked in and I needed their number so I could call them back. Once I got that I looked up who they were and filed a complaint with the FCC that bore some weight. When I called them back I told them not to bother hanging up because I had their number, and they did stay on and got me a supervisor. He referred me to the "owner" who did not call me back and that is when I filed the complaint.
BTW, they make money even if you don't answer because the "lookup" system for caller ID bills your local phone company for that local phone company accessing the databank so that it can display their number to you. The scammers have teamed up with a small telephone company out west so that telephone company will collect millions which they split with the scammers. One CC scammer can make 10 million calls a day, so even at a fraction of a cent per call they are making some serious jack. So they make money by scamming other phone companies, not just you. Now you know why they call so much.
CALLED.....NO MESSAGE.....CALLED IT BACK AND IT SAID THE NUMBER WAS NOT IN SERVICE! I HAVE BEEN GETTING 2 CALLS A DAY FROM THESE CREDIT CARD SCAMMERS. THEY MUST CHANGE THEIR NUMBER EVERY COUPLE OF DAYS. WISH I COULD STOP THEM.
Please consider it your CIVIC DUTY to waste these basturds' time. Keeping them on the line as long as possible runs interference for your fellow Americans and helps minimize those who get scammed. PLUS you can have FUN in the process!
Rachel of Credit Card Services (CCS) is the FTC's enemy number one: 200,000 fricken complaints each month. Probably costs us taxpayers millions per month to process. CCS has scammed your fellow citizens out of $30 million dollars. UNCLE SAME WANTS YOU to help slow down these harassing crooks.
Here's a protocal to get you started. (NOTE: four months of not ever answering calls from numbers I didn't recognize didn't stop this nuisance. If you're getting these calls, you have been DRAFTED.) So PLEASE DO YOUR PART:
PHASE I:
1. Play along, acting like an interested prospect. Give them fictitious data, including perhaps a combination of two different credit card numbers.
2. Be patient and respectful to reel them in. Speaking fairly slowly and clearly since these scammers will hang up on you for whatever reason (if you're chewing food, if you put them on speaker phone, if there's a slightly bad connection, etc.).
3. Upon request, I give them my credit card company's real telephone number so that they can waste their time calling while I hold.
Once they've put you on hold, YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES: a) Put them on hold to keep the line open and go on with your day or, what I love ... b) Wait to deploy the protocal's second phase.
Typically they come back on the line and want to review the info I've given them.
PHASE II:
4. Sometimes I give them the same credit card info with two of the numbers transposed, thus causing them to call my credit card company yet a second time. They often hang up right after calling the credit card company again. HowEVER, if they're dumb enough to come back on the line (tee hee) ...
5. Then I let 'em have it (and this is the FUN part). When they say that my info didn't work, I respond, "Well maybe that's because H-O-O-O-O-N-N-N-K-K-K [from my air horn; the best $6 I ever spent] maybe you've been PRANKED! So please (now in my Cookie Monster voice) call back tomorrow if you want more bullshot. Eat shot and die, you predatory human garbage!"
The purpose of this abrupt Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde transition is to enrage and demoralize the enemy, and boy does it ever work. Oh, how it pesses them off to realize you were laying in wait, setting a trap. And NOW, hardy-har, they're the butt of your joke rather than you being the victim of their harassment. Make it apparent that pranking them is your Number One idea of an uprorious good time, which is exactly why you're inviting them to call again (which they will regardless). This actually DOES become fun; trust me. In fact, I try NOT to miss their calls. : )
Incidentally, if you get really lucky you might even persuade them to give you a REAL number at which to call them back. Then please post it here so that the rest of us harassees can call them ad naseum. I was able to shut down their operation for a whole afternoon by calling from both lines of two cell phones and three lines from each of two office telephone stations. Ten calls at once, baby, for HOURS. Then they changed that number; boo hoo. So please try to get us a new number, SOLDIER!
EXCITING NEWS: Here's a number where you actually can call them back a time or two (or a hundred): 800-892-9533. Please enjoy while it lasts.
Hi boys and girls,if you are getting these scammer calls, I have some bad news for you,you are now and forever on "the list",no,I'm not referring to the silly,worthless,"Do Not Call"list,I'm talking about the "Mooch List",aka as the "Sucker List"or "Victim List".If your landline or cell phone has ever been called by a robo-dialer,and you answered "hello",your phone number was moved to the "mooch","sucker","victim"list.It is being sold,traded and otherwise shared by thousands of these low-life,bottom-feeding scammers all over the country and around the world.You can complain to the FTC,FCC,FBI,NSA,CIA,and even Hawaii 5-0 all you want,but these are lists you will never,ever be removed from.You are now and forever in our little club.By the way,I have been doing what Mr Air Horn above recommends for years,it's a blast for us old retired guys with time on our hands.Stay safe out there soldiers,and remember,those dirtbag scammers out there are reproducing faster than bunny rabbits.