How many scam calls do you get in a day? Personally I get between five and ten. Most of these are very easy to identify, and show up as a “Spam Risk” on my AT&T phone. A few get through, though and they are almost always from one particular call center. I have to imagine this call center is constantly spoofing new phone numbers so as to keep you answering. I wish I could send a big flaming bag of poop to the offices of the owners. I know you won’t judge me because if you get a lot of scam phone calls, you probably feel the same.
Someone is doing something about it
Check out YouTuber “Scammer Payback.” They’re the very definition of “white hat hackers.” Using pretty complex hacking tools, they not only find illegal call centers, they hack into their systems, find out what’s going on, and sometimes play harmless pranks to help these call centers stop operating.
I’m not completely sure of the legality of what they are doing but it sure is fun to watch them work. Check out a few samples of what they do to some of these call centers:
Look, I have no sympathy for these folks
Illegal scam phone calls have literally ruined the phone experience for me and probably for you too. In my youth, getting a phone call was exciting. It meant someone wanted to talk to you. Now, practically no one makes voice calls anymore because everyone groans when the phone rings. Why? Scammers have made it hard to like being on the phone. Cellular telephones, especially the internet-connected ones, are hands down the most important physical inventions of our day. And yet their core function is something no one wants to use because of a few bad actors.
I have been trying to track down the people who scam me the most and send the folks at “Scammer Payback” their way. I’m not that good of a hacker, but I’m determined.
