Answering unknown number calls on my cell phone like a receptionist really confuses scammers.

"Good afternoon, thanks for calling!"

"Hello."

"Hi, who's calling please?"

"This is Experian Security Services calling to discuss an urgent issue with your account."

"Who are you trying to reach?"

"I am looking to talk to the owner of this phone number."

"I'm sorry, I'll need a name to help you."

30 seconds of silence.

Call hangs up.

@vees If you say "This call is being monitored and recorded for quality assurance" you can cut your call times down to 10 seconds.
@rasterweb @vees I have found that to be the case too. "Please acknowledge that you understand this call is being recorded." Always speeds things along.
@cigitalgem @rasterweb @vees Il have to try that receptionist thing! My way of dealing with known scammers so far was to just leave my phone on mute and continue with my work. Most calls I receive don't connect the scammer until I press a key, so I'm certain it's a scam and every second they wait for an answer is a second they're not trying to scam someone else...

I've found answering the phone "ahoy" tends to end things fairly rapidly.

@dermoth @cigitalgem @rasterweb @vees

@Printdevil @dermoth @cigitalgem @vees Ha! That’s great. Sometimes I go with “Thank you for calling Pete. This is Pete. How can Pete assist you today?”