A guest post by Susan
My response to cold callers and scammers varies depending on my mood… Sometimes I just put the phone down.  If I stay on the line, I always ask their name and I never confirm my name.

I never swear at them because it’s pointless – they’re just trying to earn money.

Once I had a guy ring me up telling me I had won some prize and all I had to do to get the prize was answer a simple question. It was obviously a scam so I played along.

Caller: What is the capital of France?

Me: Louisiana – that’s French.

Caller: No, the capital of France.

Me: Oh a city – New Orleans.

Caller: No. Try again. What’s the capital of France?

Me: Luxembourg – that’s in Europe. Right?

I answered Egypt, New York – anything that came to mind.

In the end, even he was laughing.

Of course I didn’t get the non-existent prize, but I did waste ten minutes of his time.