every now and then it is so that those what provide services, and those what regulate such, get it right. actually it's more frequent than that, look you see. when things run as normal, or as they should, no one notices, but then you wouldn't be expected to. instances of it not going right are always going to be more overt. we, the people, like to complain much more than we like to congratulate.
i make such a statement on the basis of a (fairly) recent experience. several years ago here in the UK it was so that them in control of such came down quite hard on the subject of nuisance calls. for a while it got to be that one received unsolicited calls from all sorts of people, with the overwhelming majority being of a con artist or spam nature. not entirely sure who did what to bring an end to such, but for the most part it decidedly worked, as such calls are a rarity now.
yet it is so that, of course, the odd one sneaks in. hence this post. i recently had one of these (or those) unusual and annoying calls. well, slightly annoying, as overall i was somewhat amused by the content of it. perhaps you can kind of guess the details of the call from the subject or title of this post, but i would like to think you picked up on it being a quote off of The Young Ones. as in the anarchic television show and not the Sir Cliff Richard thing.
so there i was, enjoying some brief time off, when my phone rang. generally it would be reasonably rare for anyone to call me. one or two friends do, certainly, but in this great era of random communication i would normally expect a text or text based message. the number, what you can see below (and this is the first of many encouragements for you not to dial it), wasn't saved as a "contact" of mine, but also it just happens to be that i wouldn't have been surprised to get a call from one or two people. so, indeed, i answered it.
upon answering i was greeted by that sound which i can only describe as a "blank silence", followed by the tell-tale "click" of the call being transferred to either a scam operative somewhere or, as was the case in this instance, a recording on a computer. actually, perhaps this was one of the first of all that "AI" business scam calls for me to get. with some curiosity if not interest i listened on to see what, exactly, the angle of the scam was in this instance.
above is one of them "screenshot" things of the number what called. please don't ring it or message it, but also you are your own person, so do as you like i guess. but back to it.
the voice on the end of the line was a kind of generic American sounding lady. possibly a real person making a recording, but could just as easily have been a computer generated (as i mentioned "AI") sort of thing. quite a fascinating message. using mostly American terminology the call was all about how they had documents or warrants for my arrest, and that they were on their way to come and detain me. oh dear, that's not good. apparently it would have been possible to discuss avoiding this, so long as i pressed 1 to talk to them. so yes, i just hung up.
not really sure how effective they hope this scam shall be, for i am assuming that if one did indeed press a button to speak then you (or one) would get asked to pay some sort of fine, which is likely you handing them your bank details or making a transfer to one of those "magic internet money" crypto things. such relies on the person being called being (exceptionally) prone to paranoia and having a panic attack prompting them to pay whatever to avoid prison.
whilst i am no expert in such matters it's my basic understanding that the constabulary do not call to let you know they are popping by to arrest you. maybe they do in cases involving the rich and shameless, but not for us ordinary types. how lovely a society we would be in if the coppers made appointments to make sure it was convenient to come and take you into custody, though.
my favourite scam call (not that i miss them) was that one where they called to discuss a major car or similar vehicle accident you had been in. those were some fun, as i used to like seeing how long i could keep them on the phone, with me discussing how yes, they must be calling about that rather unfortunate incident where i got decapitated. it generally took them longer than you might think to clock that i wasn't being entirely accurate with the information being handed over.
determined scam artists are always (and forever) going to find ways to get through any barriers put in their way to target people. this is an unfortunate truth. but, as i mentioned, fair play and well done to just who(m)ever it is tasked with minimalizing how many get through and contact people. with some good fortune may it be so that all take my approach of listening for a bit for the novelty value and then hang up.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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