Telemarketers think they are invincible and can just keep pushing you, but all it takes is one mistake to bring the whole thing crashing down.

So, what would you do if a scammy call center kept harassing you for years, ignoring do-not-call lists and spoofing numbers to cover their tracks? Would you keep blocking them and moving on? Or would you dig in and make sure they finally pay the price?

In today’s story, one fed-up phone owner finds himself in this exact scenario and opts for the latter. Here’s what he did.

Oh, you slipped up while doing something obnoxious and technically illegal?

So, I have a special relationship with telemarketers. I’ve had the same number for maybe decades now, at least one decade.

Way back in the day, some dude in Russia (I’ve spent some time in questionable corners of the internet. I pirated the source list and tracked it to the guy who created it) managed to put a couple data points together and sell my phone number/name as part of a list for scams.

I’m on both the US and Indian do-not-call lists. Every call violates this. I’m pretty sure that most Indian telemarketing firms actually source the do-not-call list for numbers. Ridiculous.

Annoyed, he noticed something off about the call.

One of the groups that got a hold of this list has been a thorn in my side for years.

They have called, sometimes daily, much less these days, though for reasons you’ll soon know, for years. I’m fairly certain that it is a group of groups; they all use the same name for the front (“US Pharmacy”), but sometimes their MO will change up a bit. Sometimes they mess up.

This happened as a result of a particularly aggressive month of harassment, and their messing up.

So, over the course of this month, I am getting daily calls, multiple calls in a day. I’ve grown tired of talking with them over the phone, messing up their KPIs with dead leads, straining their sanity with my “ignorance.” I’m just done. Then I noticed the caller ID on the latest call wasn’t populated, just the number.

Already knowing the law really helped him.

This is significant because most of these guys spoof their return number on the caller ID. They make it look like a local number and simultaneously obfuscate attempts to track the call back to them specifically.

When the number is local and on the same cell carrier, the caller ID returns the name registered to the number. The fact that this one didn’t implied the possibility that the number wasn’t being properly spoofed.

Fun fact: It was a very recent development at this time that the courts determined that phone carriers on US soil were liable for their clients’ misuse of their system, regardless of the origin of the client activity. Violations of the do-not-call list are misuse.

He got to work doing research.

I did a carrier lookup on the number and found it was registered to a California-based VoIP provider. Jackpot! I checked the last few calls, and sure enough, the same provider was involved. Yes, royal flush.

I’m still being irrationally decent to these folks, so I decide I’m going to give the US carrier an opportunity to do right. I go through my call history for the month, and record every number and timestamp that doesn’t have a populated ID.

I compile the list in a text file in tab-separated value format. It’s still just a basic text file, though. I added a column for the carrier lookup data as well that points straight at them. They have no ground to stand on, and they can either step up or get smacked down.

I look up the contact details for the US carrier, and I write them a polite email that essentially tells them:

Feeling proud, he handed the evidence over to the phone provider, gift-wrapped.

“Here’s data representing my substantial call history for the last month, just from your client, in a text file that absolutely shows you are enabling circumvention of the United States Federal do not call list, as well as the do not call list for India, by your client, US Pharmacy based in India.”

He continued, “Here are the court documents detailing the precedent of your liability for this violation by your clients. I’m giving you a chance to remedy this situation before I go to the FCC with my findings. Either you provide evidence that you have dropped them as a client per your customer agreement policies, and the calls stop, or I drop the nuke.”

They responded, saying they couldn’t open the text file. Bad move.

You know who was able to open the file? The FCC. I did the math on the fines that these calls would have generated against the carrier: $43 million, give or take.

The calls stopped that week.

Wow! He put a lot of effort into catching them!

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit relate to these types of situations.

Tell someone you’re a scammer without telling them.

This person wishes they could do the same thing.

According to this comment, it’s not petty revenge.

Interesting point.

He’s definitely a hero! Wonder how many people he saved from getting scammed.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.