I’m About to End This Man’s Whole Career

I made the mistake of picking up the phone for an unknown number because a family member recently got a new phone. It turned out to be a scam call. What proceeded was a bombardment of calls now that they knew my number was active, and it just kept going with seemingly no end in sight. 

I tried playing nice, then I tried playing mean, and then, finally, after one call too many where the person on the other end decided to get aggressive toward me, I decided to change tactics. 

Me: “Yes, fine, you win. I’ll listen to you. But this isn’t the best number for it. I’ll give you my work office number, and you can make that the preferred number in your system and call between 6:00 am and 8:00 pm.”

Scammer: “Perfect! I’ll start calling once you’re in.”

The number I gave him wasn’t exactly mine; it was my uncle’s work phone at his department. (I texted him beforehand to okay this.) My uncle told me about his interaction with the scammer afterward.

Uncle: *Imitating my voice* “This is Officer [Family Last Name] with [County Police Department]. Glad you took my advice and called my office.”

The scammer replied in a ton of panic described by my uncle as, “He sounded like he’d wet himself.”

Scammer: “OH, F***!” *Click*

Now under the impression they had been harassing a cop who had tricked them into calling a recorded and traceable police department line, all the scam calls suddenly stopped. I bought my uncle a burger the next time we met in person as thanks.