This particular call is from a "Lower your credit card rate" company. However, it appears that they don't work for a particular company, When I asked for the name of the company the agent said "your card member services." I asked again and got the same response. Then I asked, "Do you work for my bank?" He replied, "No, Your Card Member Services," so I have to guess that Your Card Member Services is the name of the company. I get so many of these crap calls that I have made it into a game, and it works no matter whether the caller is selling home security or time shares, cruises, credit card rate reductions, home security, or whatever...
Lovely female computer voice starts call. Ask her for a real person and she will tell you that she IS a real person, but is using a computer assistant. This step screens the call. Answer the qualifying questions - doesn't have to be truthful - and you will be connected with an "agent" who usually has a thick Indian or [***] accent. Sometimes it will be someone from the Philippines with much less of an accent. Play the game, keep them engaged for as long as you can. Let them do their sales pitch, but interrupt them often to ask stupid questions. Ask them to repeat what they just said because you couldn't understand them. Compliment their "lovely" / "exotic" accent; Ask where they are from. Respond with, something like, "Oh, I understand it is beautiful there. I have always wanted to visit there." Ask where they are calling from. Most likely they will answer that they are at a call center in Dallas (BS). Ask how the weather is there. Say something like, "I understand you are having bad/good weather there," just to see if they can give an accurate response. Ask what time it is where they are. Remember, keep them on the line. It is like fishing, you don't jerk the line when you get a nibble. They have to feel like there is a potential sale. Let them do their pitch. Just keep controlling the conversation. The longer you keep them occupied, the more it hurts their pocketbook. I pride myself on consistently getting 10 to 12 minutes, sometimes as much as 20. I particularly like hearing the frustration mounting in their voices. If they don't hang up on me, I will, depending on my mood, eventually either 1. thank them and say "I'm really not interested," and hang up, or 2. angrily tell them that I have kept them on the line long enough to trace their call, and accuse them of lying about their location, putting out false Caller ID information, violating federal law, and anything else that might come to mind.
Maybe my next gambit will be to have them send out an installer, but give them a bad address and name. If they already have a correct address, I will tell them that is the old address. It's a game, and the better you play it, the better you will feel about being as irritating to them as they are to you.
Wow - I am impressed by your response to crank calls. You sir/madam are very creative!
I bet I have only kept a scammer on the line for about 3 - 4 minutes and then my imagination dries up!
Such fun, though, right?