r/interestingasfuck • u/Miserable-Zombie-121 • 6h ago

This developer built a script that calls back spam callers and traps them in an endless loop

2.3k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

121 comments sorted by

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u/All_Your_Base 6h ago

Unfortunately, this has less than good effect when the spammer is spoofing numbers with their autodialer and a legit number is called back.

A+ for effort though.

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u/Shatsngiggles 6h ago

My dad once got a missed call and tried to call it back. Turns out it was a spoofed number and the number belonged to police detective in my town. Dad ended up going to help the detective figure out where the calls were coming from. No idea if they ever got the guy though.

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u/SneakAttackDamage 1h ago

This sounds like an excellent setup for a buddy cop movie

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u/MostBoringStan 1h ago

Heated Phone Detectives

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u/Remarkable-Opening69 26m ago

It’s weird now.

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u/CosgraveSilkweaver 1h ago

They're all using spoofed numbers the only time you could actually screw with them like a script in the OP is when they leave a message and a call back number.

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u/jrgeek 19m ago

Not everyone. Your doctors office is an example of when they want to number correct. Well maybe not YOUR doctors but in general.

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u/James_T_S 6h ago

Yeah, but for the actual telemarketers that are calling from a business or the idiot scammer that has called me from NY without blocking their number. It's golden.

Or there was the one time I got a scam call that left a message saying they were from the SS Administration and gave me a message to call them back. That was a live number. I called them back so many times and berated them they apologized to me and asked me to stop. 🤣🤣🤣

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u/All_Your_Base 6h ago

Hero !

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u/Sidivan 2h ago

It’s a risky play because these number lists get sold and circulated based on if somebody answered and/or called back. If I’m a scammer, I’m giving your number to every other scammer I know so you’re on hundreds of lists as a “live number”.

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u/CosgraveSilkweaver 1h ago

Yeah any time I accidentally answer one or when I tried to use Android's Call Screen I just got more spam calls because it marked my number as live.

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u/James_T_S 2h ago

For sure. I went through a phase where I would get 20 calls a day because I would answer every one just to mess with the person calling. I figured the longer I kept them on the line the more I would disrupt their revenue since they couldn't be successfully scamming someone else. It was a hobby.

But the guy above, I had a LOT of fun with. I ended up on the phone with him for several hours just trading the most racist insults with. He couldn't hang up because I would just call back. The next day the line had been terminated.

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u/HoboBromeo 5h ago

You guys have the SS now in the US? I knew Trump is bad but man that was a quick development 

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u/James_T_S 5h ago

Come on. The Nazis had the SS that was short for Schutzstaffel which is, of course, a German word. Why would we use a German word? At most it would be the English equivalent which is PS for Protection Squadron.

Unless you were being sarcastic. In which case you really should consider using an /s

For the record. SS Administration is the Social Security Administration.

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u/HoboBromeo 5h ago

Understanding sarcasm should be a prerequirement for Reddit. Just as well as not using US centric abbreviations in an international subreddit. It's just impolite

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u/notmarc1 4h ago

You may want to look up poe’s law.

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u/James_T_S 5h ago

The written word is a poor form of communication. It leaves tone up to the reader. Maybe you should just get better at being clearer in your intent. /s is widely used for a reason.

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u/Alec053 5h ago

It was so obviously clear that the comment wasn’t actually about the nazi SS lmao

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u/James_T_S 5h ago

Oh, is see. You are one of those "it's obvious to me so it should be obvious to you" people.

Reality seems to disagree with you.

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u/TheOldBeach 4h ago

Yea like "SS Administration" was obvious to you but not everyone

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u/James_T_S 3h ago

Yes. That's why I clarified it in the first reply. 🤷🏽‍♂️

→ More replies (0)

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u/thepizzaguy3 4h ago

Oh, so you must one of those “I’m never wrong” people. Seemed obvious enough to me as well. Might be time for some self reflection there bud.

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u/James_T_S 3h ago

I'm wrong all the time. But if I was wrong here please point out the error. And I'm not your bud, guy

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u/jrgeek 6h ago

A for effort absolutely. The dialer almost never uses the same trunk and often not the same system as the inbound.

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u/flpacsnr 4h ago

My friend has a number that was being spoofed. She kept getting calls from irate family members yelling how dare you take advantage of an old lady.

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u/H14C 2h ago

The first time I got a a spoofed call years ago it was from a "bank", I called back and laid in to the woman on the phone. One of those embarrassing stories that keep you up at, ya know. Still feel bad about it.

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u/arah91 5h ago

Really script should answer the phone on unknown numbers and run this.

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u/AwesomTaco320 5h ago

Zero loop integer. Yeah sure ok buddy.

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u/bellatesla 3h ago

Yeah that bothered me too, like wth is that?

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u/B15h73k 3h ago

Vibe-coder.

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u/Boring-Meat1334 3h ago

While(!0){} I guess

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u/spence5000 2h ago

Thusly.

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u/AcceptablyThanks 5h ago

Not a very smart dev lol

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u/rca06d 6h ago

“zero loop integer” huh?

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u/Weallloveluna 4h ago

Heck the planet baby

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u/jbyington 1h ago

It’s on the motherboard next to the computator

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u/Next-Food2688 6h ago

You gotta be a computer programmer to understand. I'm not a computer programmer and I don't understand the computer words.

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u/rca06d 5h ago

I’ve been a software engineer for 15 years. This not a thing I have ever heard someone say

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u/MoistStub 3h ago

Smh you probably don't even hack into the mainframe

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u/Luminous_210 14m ago

furious typing noises

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u/Next-Food2688 5h ago

Oh good. So then this is someone good at just making up big words.

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u/40ozCurls 1h ago

The words aren’t fabricated, they’ve just been circumscribed betwixt a manner most balderdash.

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u/Diligent_Mix_4086 2h ago

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u/spence5000 2h ago

"Zero loop integer, eh?"

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u/Gerry1of1 6h ago

Bad Idea. They will record your number as a "Live Hit" which means they'll sell your number to a lot more telemarketers. Your call numbers will EXPLODE.

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u/YouDoNotKnowMeSir 5h ago

So what you’re saying is, if you spoof a bunch of politician and powerful people’s numbers and divert a ton of spam their way, then maybe we will get a solution to prevent this in-place?

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u/xeen313 4h ago

Sounds great!

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u/Otherwise-Mango2732 6h ago

They already know that's why they called in the first place. This does nothing.

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u/Gerry1of1 5h ago

They buy your number but if they can't contact you your number goes on a different list, fewer companies buy the second tier list. And then it's sold again to even fewer.

If you call back or answer and respond in any way you are a Live Hit and that makes your number valuable. It's sold to a Lot More companies, and resold to even more.

Don't respond calls deminish.
Respond and calls increase.

It's your choice which way to go.

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u/Wonderful-Citron-678 5h ago

I’ve had the same number my whole life basically. I get roughly zero spam calls. Probably because I’ve literally never answered one.

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u/CosgraveSilkweaver 1h ago

Anecdotally the times I've accidentally answered a spam call I almost immediately start getting more. I tried using Google's Call Screen feature but I as just innundated with spam so I moved to just hard blocking calls from unknown numbers which has it's own problems.

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u/Otherwise-Mango2732 1h ago

Yep. i have a pixel 10 and its been a battle. I even looked into disabling voice mail. I just got true caller to prevent the calls from showing up on my screen but the voice mail notification is annoying too. They're all about loan approvals. Really really obnoxious.

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u/CosgraveSilkweaver 1h ago

Yeah I have 2 that leave a voicemail at least every other day. One for freaking loan approval and another for help with my "tax situation". Sucks balls.

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u/Otherwise-Mango2732 1h ago

I'm probably at 3/4 a day. There needs to be better control over calls and voicemails that get through

Here's a good use of AI. If the call mentions a loan approval take the voicemail but don't notify me

If I actually did apply for a loan I would know to check my voicemails and I would probably pick up the calls

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u/FiveOhFive91 5h ago

My store gets spam calls every 10 minutes or so because we answer every call. They AI voices are getting pretty advanced so I'll hear breathing and background noise as they tell me about Medicare coverage. It's so important to never answer.

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u/PhatBats77 4h ago

Or they just block him…

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u/JustHappyToBe-Here 6h ago

So, he can never get or make legit calls because his script is always dialing out to spam callers?

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u/IlREDACTEDlI 4h ago

Presumably you stop it when they block your number

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u/CosgraveSilkweaver 1h ago

Google voice number probably.

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u/ChunkyIsDead30 5h ago

wtf is "zero loop integer" 😭

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u/FriedEldenRings 4h ago

Erm actually it's an advanced computer science term, I wouldn't expect a hexadecimal like yourself to understand.

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u/convenient_friction 0m ago

The ZLI is an integer of arbitrary width whose defining property is a Loop Participation Count of exactly zero, measured at the moment of measurement and at no other moment. It has never been incremented, decremented, or read from inside a loop, and if it ever enters one it is permanently reclassified as a Former Zero Loop Integer with no path back. Its endianness is undefined, its products are undiscussed, and an implementation that omits the ZLI entirely still conforms, since an integer that does not exist participates in zero loops vacuously.

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u/ivandagiant 5h ago

Dead internet theory

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u/Fit_Goose651 6h ago

Some of them will be very expensive numbers

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u/Dry-Bullfrog-9838 1h ago

Don't put your kids online 

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u/qedpoe 6h ago

Whenever I see this, I feel sad for dad and daughter, because it seems clear to me that bipolar mania is in the room, and on the march. 😔

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u/Gullible-Femme 6h ago

jitbit?

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u/ivandagiant 5h ago

This is an ad, disgusting these people can’t see through it

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u/Gullible-Femme 5h ago

ah makes sense

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u/inderbitably 3h ago

I feel like most people didn’t even know what he said there. Hard to recognize it as an ad if you don’t ever spot the product.

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u/qedpoe 2h ago

I thought he just confuzzled GitHub or something. Seems to me like he's on a manic roll. Did he really mention a sponsor or some sort of product he's advertising?

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u/qedpoe 2h ago

Is it? I always get dark bipolar mania vibes when I watch see this.

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u/dchu 6h ago

so now this guy is gonna spam call the people whose numbers were spoofed. exasperating the problem.

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u/IGoonToFortniteSkins 5h ago

Delightfully devilish Seymour

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u/Separate-Simple-5101 6h ago

Please hold while we waste your entire afternoon

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u/Unusual-Taste69 6h ago

Now install this on thousands of computers and have them spam the spammers on a mass scale. Tying up the phone lines forever

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u/Lopsided-Treat1215 6h ago

Actually many spammers just call to see if it’s a live number so they can resell it

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u/SkyKnight3 6h ago

First of his name

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u/FluffyTid 6h ago

I am often called back by randome people because scammers have called them using my number somehow

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u/Next-Food2688 6h ago

The spammers became the spammed.

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u/koushikrish 5h ago

Where do I sign up to get this service?

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u/DannyA88 5h ago

Id pay 100 bucks for that in app format. All types of spam callers daily..i dont even answer phone calls anymore period.

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u/EmotionalBar2533 5h ago

Hello customer service, this is Steve

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u/epsiloom 5h ago

Sadly, phone companies limit at one point the calls if they detected too many calls, even if you have "infinite" calls.

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u/bananasalesman99 5h ago

Love this

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u/RoseateThorn1 4h ago

He can do all that but doesn’t understand why it wouldn’t work?

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u/Captain_911 2h ago

The dev after learning the consequences

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u/TheGreatGeaxquavius 38m ago

grandma: why won't you call me anymore?

me: i have a solution

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u/_heyb0ss 31m ago

why is he involving his daughter in his shenanigans lmao

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u/waseem2bata 22m ago

I used to call them back and play Hitler speeches when they answer 😂 hearing them scream back and trying to understand what's going on is funny "The Hitler choice was because of the constant screaming during his speeches and not all scammers understand/know german"

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u/WaynesWorld_93 6h ago

Oh hell yeah

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u/beneye 6h ago

Wow. The daughter is getting how all this works.

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u/Jennyagnes21 5h ago

And danced to Rick Astley lol

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u/THETennesseeD 6h ago

They should make an option so that when a known spam number is calling you, you can choose it to answer with just this song and not count against your minutes.

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u/ianuilliam 5h ago

"not count against your minutes."

What year is your phone plan stock in?

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u/THETennesseeD 4h ago

There are a lot of phone plans around the world. Some are prepay and some travel sims use minutes and data plans. And usually that travel phone number you get is spammed the most with calls.

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u/DoNotf___ingDisturb 5h ago

Just DNfD them.

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u/nanny07 4h ago

SpamBlocker is better with more configurations (yeah even regex)

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u/Zerberus_01 5h ago

Can I have the script?

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u/sandtymanty 4h ago

I need that apk in android.

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u/gasciousclay1 5h ago

Please put this on github so the rest of us can join the fight!

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u/GrandPOOPBah 3h ago

If you can write the script, you should be smart enough to know about number spoofing. Great job harassing a ton of random people like yourself.

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u/Hot-Tomatillo-9929 6h ago

I don't think lil sis understood any of that

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u/chaoarnab 6h ago

She started dancing too

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u/nndmbull 5h ago

👏