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ChatGPT is now a brilliant tool for winding up telemarketers and scammers

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Re: ChatGPT is now a brilliant tool for winding up telemarketers and scammers

#21

I suppose we'll soon see a good % of phone network usage being spent on AI callers talking to AI filters/receptionists. Like all the Internet packets dedicated to captchas and blocking email spam, bot traffic, etc, phone systems will evolve to better filter and handle automated vs. human calls as a tsunami of AI callers approaches. It's going to be a tough battle because it's really difficult to discern from voice tr…

I'm always quite surprised to hear that.

We had quite a bad phase here in Germany before mobile phones became popular, but I haven't got one of those scam calls on my landline for years now. There isn't even much spam SMS, but maybe it's because I don't give away my number to everybody.

Re: ChatGPT is now a brilliant tool for winding up telemarketers and scammers

#23

I suppose we'll soon see a good % of phone network usage being spent on AI callers talking to AI filters/receptionists. Like all the Internet packets dedicated to captchas and blocking email spam, bot traffic, etc, phone systems will evolve to better filter and handle automated vs. human calls as a tsunami of AI callers approaches. It's going to be a tough battle because it's really difficult to discern from voice tr…

We're finally reaching the 90's obsession with "agents" to act on our behalf.

Re: ChatGPT is now a brilliant tool for winding up telemarketers and scammers

#24
post #20

A couple years ago I committed to answering all phone calls and keeping spammers on the line as long as possible. Within a couple weeks it had real effect, and now I’m legitimately excited when the rare spammer calls me. Probably 2h net investment for the near-guarantee that calls to my phone are legit. Totally worth it. Steps: (1) If it’s a robot, punch numbers until you get to a human. (2) Act like you’re 120yrs ol…

Oh wow I didn't think of that. Very recently I've received multiple calls from unknown numbers. I'm going to try this next time.

Re: ChatGPT is now a brilliant tool for winding up telemarketers and scammers

#25
post #20

A couple years ago I committed to answering all phone calls and keeping spammers on the line as long as possible. Within a couple weeks it had real effect, and now I’m legitimately excited when the rare spammer calls me. Probably 2h net investment for the near-guarantee that calls to my phone are legit. Totally worth it. Steps: (1) If it’s a robot, punch numbers until you get to a human. (2) Act like you’re 120yrs ol…

“They hate hanging up, it messes up their stats or something.”

Could this be one reason why they often get really angry in scambaiting videos? To try to make the other person hang up?

Re: ChatGPT is now a brilliant tool for winding up telemarketers and scammers

#28
Even completely prerecorded scripts can keep them on the phone for over 10 minutes. There's a funny series on YouTube, "Lenny", where they just play a recording of an old man who keeps asking questions and going off track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSoOrlh5i1k

Re: ChatGPT is now a brilliant tool for winding up telemarketers and scammers

#29
post #20

A couple years ago I committed to answering all phone calls and keeping spammers on the line as long as possible. Within a couple weeks it had real effect, and now I’m legitimately excited when the rare spammer calls me. Probably 2h net investment for the near-guarantee that calls to my phone are legit. Totally worth it. Steps: (1) If it’s a robot, punch numbers until you get to a human. (2) Act like you’re 120yrs ol…

I'll do you one better: When they call, sincerely start asking them questions about the identity of their business: location, name, ownership, etc. Usually they'll hang up. Call them back over and over with these questions. Then after a few calls, explain that you know how to use "VOIP APIs" and that you will be happy to spend $100 to DOS attack their call center.

That would be illegal, but typically they're in no position to run to the law. Also, I don't know what a "VOIP API" is or if it's possible to use to DOS attack someone with it. But there's probably an API out there that you could use for that, so the threat seems to be enough.

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