Don’t you hate it when a telemarketer interrupts your day with a call that’s either an outright scam or some other BS you couldn’t care less about? Instead of getting annoyed with the useless call, you can take it as an opportunity to have some fun and provide the bugger with a taste of his own medicine. After reading this article you will have plenty of ammo for the next scammer that tries to bother you. Here are my three favorite ways to annoy a telemarketer:

#3 Answer the phone and immediately mute it

When you answer the call don’t say anything and instead mute yourself. While this isn’t quite a fun way, it’s the easiest way to get placed on a “dead phone” list and increase the chances of avoiding future calls. A dead phone list is a list of phone numbers that are “disconnected.” Telemarketers have a list of sorts which helps them avoid calling unresponsive lines.

#2 Try to waste as much time as possible

For telemarketers and scammers alike, time is money. So if you waste their time by going along with their script that will cause them much more frustration than calling them names or yelling at them. As a bonus, see if you can put them on hold and drag out the conversation even longer!

#1 Scare them a little

This is my favorite way to answer a spam or fraud risk call. Scare them by answering with something like: “You’ve reached the fraud and investigations department, how can I help?” This will make it seem like they reached some official department and will almost always guarantee an instant hang up on their end. Otherwise, enjoy them stuttering and trying to explain themselves. The key here is to make sure you aren’t pretending to be a police department or any government agency, as impersonating a police officer is a felony. Keeping it vague is the key.

Special Mention

If you’re not into playing games and wasting your time, you can get an app called Robokiller. It’s available on both for the iPhone and Android. The app essentially answers the spam calls for you and has pre-recorded responses that are used to waste the telemarketer’s time – hitting them where it hurts. Unfortunately the app isn’t free, but if you are constantly getting bombarded with calls that might be the solution for you.

Let me know your favorite ways of dealing with a telemarketer.