Say hello to my little friend
On telemarketers and empathy — and turning the tables.
We finally got rid of the landline at my house. It was bundled with everything else, but we cut the cord — and in truth we hadn’t had a phone plugged into the wall for years.
There was no point. The few times we tried, our Caller ID and voicemail filled with nothing but scammers and telemarketers.
Kind of the same thing on cell phones now, too, actually.
Perhaps you’ve wondered who’s behind all of these calls, offering you a “free trip to the Bahamas” or telling you that “the federal criminal division of the IRS” wants you to pay overdue taxes or they’ll send the police to your house.
There was an interesting story in the NYT Magazine a while back about some of this.
It starts with “an elderly grandmother who lives by herself in Crossville, Tenn.”
She gets a very aggressive scam call; long story short, it leads to the caller taking over her computer remotely, and convincing her to access an online bank account.
It’s a detective story. Writer Yudhijit Bhattacharjee worked with a sort of “hacker with a heart of gold” to figure out where the scam caller was located.
Bhattacharjee traveled there—Kolkata, India—to try to track him down.
It’s not clear he found “that” scammer, but Bhattacharjee did uncover one of his peers: a 20-something man named Shahbaz who ran scam after scam like this, making maybe a thousand dollars a month:
“The more we spoke, the more I recognized that Shahbaz was a small figure in this gigantic criminal ecosystem that constitutes the phone-scam industry, the equivalent of a pickpocket on a Kolkata bus who is unlucky enough to get caught in the act.
I asked if he ever felt guilty. He didn’t answer directly but said there had been times when he had let victims go after learning that they were struggling to pay bills or needed the money for medical expenses. But for most victims, his rationale seemed to be that they could afford to part with the few hundred dollars he was stealing."
It’s a well-reported story. There’s some complexity. I wound up feeling pity for a lot of people involved in it.
But I also still want to be able to use my phone, you know?
So before I wrap this up with a tidy bow, let’s take the opportunity to share one of my favorite scamming-the-phone-scammer tricks.
It’s called “Lenny.” As in, a “recording-slash-chatbot program” that entices telemarketers and worse to have long, meandering, no-destination calls with a friendly but befuddled elderly Australian man named Lenny, who doesn’t actually exist.
There’s a whole YouTube channel, of course, hour after hour after hour of scammers and telemarketers wasting their time. And there are other options, for example, the Jolly Roger Telephone Company gives you a whole array of recordings to choose from.
It feels good, but also a little guilty. Because there’s a big difference between being a telemarketer and a scammer. And, times are tough for some people, right? They probably didn’t grow up wanting to be telemarketers.
They’re trying to make a living. Maybe they’re parents trying to support a family.
Maybe they’re college kids working a second job over the summer before heading off on a study abroad program in the early 1990s.
Oh yeah. Right.
I’ve had so many jobs in my life that I forgot about that one for a minute.
Apropos of nothing, let me end this by saying that if you lived in Rhode Island a few decades ago, and you remember a really persistent guy calling at dinnertime and trying to get you to consider “replacing your drafty old windows” with new ones “at a truly affordable price …”
Um, sorry about that.
7 other things worth knowing today
A ceasefire deal was reached Wednesday to end 15 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip. The hard-won agreement will also free dozens of hostages held in Gaza, as well as Palestinians in Israeli jails. The deal will take effect Sunday, according to Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, whose country hosted weeks of intense negotiations. (NBC News)
President’s Biden’s final address to the nation last night struck an ominous tone as he warned of the growing power of America’s ultra-wealthy. “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said. (The Guardian)
Apropos of nothing: Elon Musk (416.2 billion), Jeff Bezos ($236 billion) and Mark Zuckerberg ($211 billion) will be seated together at Trump's inauguration Monday on the platform with other prominent guests. The three tech titans have all made attempts to earn favor with Trump in the past year, led by Musk spending at least $250 million to help elect Trump. (NBC News, Fox News)
TikTok plans to shut its app for U.S. users starting Sunday, when a federal ban on the social media app could come into effect. Of all things, some U.S. TikTok users are flocking to another Chinese social app called Xiaohongshu (now the #1 app on Apple), which means “Little Red Book,” in reference to a red-covered book of quotations from the founding father of Communist China, Mao Zedong. (Reuters, CNN)
Jeffrey Epstein’s once vast estate was meant to be drained by settlements to his sexual abuse victims. But now a $111.6 million IRS tax refund that is coming in after all claims have already been settled could be distributed to his coexecutors and other beneficiaries chosen by Mr. Epstein before his death, most of whose identities remain largely shrouded in secrecy. (New York Times)
In the still-smoldering neighborhoods of Altadena, where fires destroyed more than 2,700 structures, about 80 people have defied orders to evacuate, staying behind to protect what is left of their properties after losing faith in authorities — living in a Hobbesian world without electricity or clean drinking water. Some are armed. “We do feel like we’re in the Wild West,” said Aaron Lubeley, a 53-year-old lawyer who is one of the holdouts and serves as an unofficial emissary with police and fire representatives. (WSJ)
What threats lurk in the smoke and ash of L.A. area fires? New health warnings. (Los Angeles Times)
I rarely get a real telemarketer now, if it’s any consolation
My phone has a screening option that I use for any number I don't recognize. Although I also use my personal phone for work so it makes it a little tricky. I almost got caught in a computer scam a couple of years ago, it was like an out of body experience. Was rescued at the last minute by a police officer. Funny, once he identified himself, the people didn't want to talk any more.
I don't think it's just the US where the rich are taking over, it's happening around the world in most democracies, if you can still call them that. I don't know what the answer is but feel for those at the bottom of the pile. Having been there, it's a terrible place to be. Canada has talked a bit about a guaranteed income for all, but I don't think that really solves much. It's been my experience that people don't value what they don't work for, so would we end up with a generation content to live in their parent's basement playing video games all day knowing they are going to get paid every month for doing nothing? Oh wait, we are almost there already.
I will say the quality of politicians has gone down dramatically over the years. Now it's more hold your nose and vote for the least worst choice rather than get involved and vote for the best one. There are so many special interest groups and behind door confabulations these days that the average person is just a bank for government whims.