Scammers never give up

even when you when tell them you know they are scammers.

The phone rang yesterday. It was about the time the Senior Cat's cousin calls me from the neighbouring state and I answered it. No, it was not M... (who is 96 and lives alone). No, the voice at the other end claimed he was from the National Broadband Network's "technical department". 

I said, "You're a scammer."  I hung up. A moment later the phone rang again. I thought it must be M.... this time. No. It was the same voice as before saying,

    "Madam I am not a scammer. Will you give me two minutes of your time."

There followed a little altercation between me and the scammer. I threatened to call the police - unfortunately not possible because such calls are generally rerouted through several countries and the  mildly accented voice could actually have come from anywhere. I told him not to call me again and hung up.

Then the phone rang again. It had to be M.... this time! No. It was the same voice. I asked to speak to his supervisor. I was told that was not possible so I said,

    "If I can't speak to your supervisor then you can't speak to me. You are a scammer. "

I hung up. The fourth phone call was M....  She was feeling a little anxious as she had lost control of her walker that afternoon and it had "run off down the path" leaving her clinging to the fence. We discussed the need to make the sure the brake was engaged before she let go to pull out a weed from a pot. We discussed the man from the "NBN technical department".  She had also had a call that day but hers was from Telstra's "technical department" about her computer. As she doesn't have a computer she let them carry on with their scamming for a moment and, when she felt they thought she had been hooked, told them she did not have one.

But I really am fed up with these calls. It was blissfully quiet during the worst of the pandemic situation in this state. The call centres were not operating. It meant that at least some of the scammers were not at work.

I won't say I will never get caught by a scammer. They are getting smarter and smarter but thankfully I was not caught out by that one.

What worries me is the people who are caught out by such thieves.