For small business owners, spam calls aren’t just a nuisance — they’re a full-time distraction that costs time and money.

After dozens of daily interruptions, one business owner decided if spammers were going to waste his time, he might as well return the favor.

Read on for the full story!

Spam the spammers

So I have a service business in the US and have to answer all of my calls.

But not all of these calls are worth answering.

Over the years in business though, I’ve learned that some specific cities that pop up on caller ID under the number are 99% spam, so I don’t answer.

During the summer months, I will get upwards of 50+ spam calls a day.

I counted one day and literally had 53 spam calls between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

He’s gained lots of experience understanding the techniques these spammers often use.

During my slower times, I get bored and sometimes I’ll play with the spammers.

I’ve found out these spammers are from a call center cold-calling people, spoofing from local numbers to make you think they’re local.

Anyways, these cold callers from the call centers usually have a script with a couple of specific questions to see if you fit the lead they can sell to these companies who employ their services, whether it be for Medicare, Medicaid, solar, etc.

If you follow the chain of command, you usually find out who’s in charge.

Sometimes the first caller transfers you up to another person with an accent for further screening, and sometimes you get sent directly to the company who’s using the cold-calling company.

The company who actually pays for these leads is the end game.

So the business owner sometimes played along.

When I’m slow with work and bored, I’ll play along with an old person voice until I get to this company.

One time, after playing along with the spammer, I was transferred to a company in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Somehow I managed to play along far enough without setting off their alarm bells to hang up (as so often happens when I try to get any specific company info) to get their company name and the name of a single individual.

Finally, the gloves came off.

At that point, I dropped the old person voice and proceeded to inform the lady of my plight.

How many calls I received in a day.

How much time these calls waste.

How many potential customers I’m potentially losing because my phone doesn’t stop ringing with spam calls and REAL customers can’t get through.

I then informed her that for every spam call I received, I would call them and specifically ask for her.

Finally, he had begun to break the spammer down.

By the 5th call that half hour to her, I could feel the frustration and helplessness in her voice when she pleaded with me: “We’ve already emailed them to remove your number, sir! What more do you want me to do?!”

“I want you and every company that uses these spammers to STOP. USING. THEM!” Then I hung up.

After that, he decided to show that particular spammer mercy, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to harass the people who harassed him.

Maybe it was the fact I was finally able to return my frustration to a company making my life a nightmare.

Or maybe I felt bad for an office person who likely had no control over the fact her company was utilizing these companies.

But I stopped asking to be transferred to her directly.

I did, however, continue to call and hang up every time I received a spam call for the next several days.

Spam calls unite us all, and now everyone has an idea on how to fight back!

What did Reddit make of all this?

This user has an idea of how to make these companies pay for their shady practices.

Sometimes you just have to waste the scammer’s time as much as they’re wasting yours.

Some users take a more direct approach.

He may not have gotten an apology, but he got something even better: A moment of control.

For once, the cold callers were the ones pulling their hair out.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.