This is a very brief call, but in my mind very powerful. It shows how brazen these scammers are. They hide behind fake caller-ids and robodialers and are completely invulnerable to retribution from the public, telecommunications carriers, or even the government / law enforcement.

This call was transferred in from my Pirate Crew (and thanks for alerting me – this was such a short call that I would have missed it’s importance).

Now, as you faithful listeners know, my robot is designed to respond to a “pitch” from telemarketers. This call came from “Cardholder Services”, although you cannot hear that since the real recipient added me after that announcement. I don’t know why this agent was (1) eating, and (2) simply asked “how can I help you?” Hey lady, YOU called ME. Pitch me something!

Anyway, she thought I was just a human messing around with her so what does she do? She PUNISHES ME by “recycling” me on the call list so that I will get more calls from her. Then taunts me a little bit, then hangs up.

And she is completely untouchable. There is absolutely nothing any of us can do about this. I know it’s ambitious, but I am hoping to deploy enough bots answering enough phones so this call center goes out of business. It’ll be a tough fight because her costs are very low. She’s using an open-source telephone system. But if her robodialer started patching her through to bots, she might eventually give up.

Some of you have accused me of being mean. Sometimes I actually feel for the agent. But not this time. Does anyone have any sympathy for this woman?

Thanks for listening.

Roger