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A bit of extra content for my Silver+ Patons:

This is the reality of being an agent in a scam call center. You will spend most of your day getting abuse, mis-dials, responding robots and generally angry people.

This is a fairly unedited view of just what that experience is like.  By watching this and other similar groups, I can see that there will be 2-3,000 automated calls sent before they will be one victim to log into their bank whilst the scammer is connected remotely.

This is a sample of just 10 minutes in the life of one scam call center agent. Imagine doing this for an 8-hour shift...

Thank you again for sponsoring me - without you, understanding the life of an agent in one of these call centers just wouldn't be possible. 

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The reality of being an agent in a scam call center

A bit of extra content for my Silver+ Patons: This is the reality of being an agent in a scam call center. You will spend most of your day getting abuse, mis-dials, responding robots and generally angry people. This is a fairly unedited view of just what that experience is like. By watching this and other similar groups, I can see that there will be 2-3,000 automated calls sent before they will be one victim to log into their bank whilst the scammer is connected remotely. This is a sample of just 10 minutes in the life of one scam call center agent. Imagine doing this for an 8-hour shift... Thank you again for sponsoring me - without you, understanding the life of an agent in one of these call centers just wouldn't be possible.

Comments

Sarah Ratty Pipkin

I get so many of these automated calls and hang up as soon as I hear robo-voice. I'd love to string them along and occupy their time, but I worry that the call might be charged to my bill. Is it going to cost me to dangle the bait? 🤔🤨

Anonymous

You can hear the same scam going on in the background, and you see how annoying he's getting. keep up the good work Jim

Susansterlingg

Omg the heavy breathing. 🤣😂 Dialers are so frustrating when doing legitimate work, scamming this is grueling. I'm still trying to grasp why they commit to doing this.

Anonymous

Even he started to get fed up and couldn't be bothered to read his script

Rich ODrobinak

These people must be totally stupid. They can't find a legitimate job? Jim, I hope your quest for arresting these scammers prove to be very fruitful! I'm hoping for the best.

Craig Browning

Notice how he uses a sales technique of ending every statement with something hard for the victim to challenge. He doesn't say 'he's from so and so' and wait for a response, he ends with 'how are you doing'. He doesn't end with the claims about internet problems, he ends with a question 'are you in front of your computer'. That's trying to force the discussion, and prevent challenges.

Paula Hernandez

Good to hear their frustration. Being a thief shouldn't be easy. At 09:40, John Ripple (whatever) sounds as though he either fell asleep or gave up on life :)

Anonymous

It seems the scammer's headset gets the audio from the other end before the recording software does. Makes it seem like he's predicting what they're going to say, lol. Also, I swear he's having a crisis towards the end. I can physically feel his soul being crushed...

Anonymous

Jim, destroy them all!!

Anonymous

This guy really seems to hate his life and his job. Why doesn’t he just leave... these people obviously have other skills so why the hell did they scam... absolutely deplorable.

JimBrowning

Yes. I think they must have come across an apparent list of Virgin Media customers. This guy can't even pronounce 'Virgin' correctly and whoever spelled the name in the comments on VICIDial, can't spell it either!

Anonymous

He's English is not at good level.. most of the time it almost sounds like he is falling asleep..

Anonymous

Thank you, sir - yes - seems like a dismal and tedious way to steal a living.

Joseph Brzezinski

5:20 was awesome... Some dude just breathing... lol

Anonymous

While I have little sympathy for these guys, I don't think it's their stupidity that keeps them at the job. It's the pressure of being surrounded by bone crushing poverty, and the lack of any reasonable options and opportunities they see, and this being the only relatively safe way to earn enough money to keep a modest roof above their heads and food on their family table. Don't get me wrong, I am not condoning or excusing what they do for a living - which is morally bankrupt (and they know it). However, I doubt very much that stupidity is what drives them there.

Anonymous

These guys are from some place in North India - I recognize the accents and the language when they speak to each other - probably not too far from New Delhi (where I grew up). The short answer to your very legitimate question is: extreme poverty, and the likelihood that his other alternatives are even less palatable to him? Again, to be very clear, I am not seeking to excuse this criminal behaviour, but rather, to try and better understand it.

Anonymous

By the sound of him he has been working there for at least a couple of months and not had a payout, he's lethargic, uninterested and flicking through calls like he is looking for a golden egg ! There were a lot of people who knew exactly what the call was about and confronted him very quickly ! One guy near the end, sounded like he was in his later years and happily he knew exactly how to deal with the call ! It would have been good to hear a scambaiter or prankster get a call though, I'd love to have heard his reaction and see if he labelled the number with Do Not Call or Number Not in Use.

Anonymous

I'm with Werjin.

Iri

I heard Wojin and kept wondering wtf that was until I saw the subtitles.

Martha Taylor

I was smiling through the whole thing. Thank you!

Jimmy Sarmiento

Between my two landlines, I get my fair share of scam calls. Now I get more gratification when I prank them, now knowing how many calls they have to go through before landing a "live" fish. Except this one will string them along for as long as I can.

ghostdunk

This really illustrates why scambaiting works so well -- the agents are probably desperate to at least get through their script once that day.

Anonymous

Pathetic scammer. Even when he had a real person who was listening he lost all enthusiasm and butchered the call.

Steve Jones

I am actually surprised that they dont put people on the do not call list when they are OBVIOUSLY not falling for the scam. It doesn't make sense to call the same person back if they're not going to fall for it. On the otherhand, I'm happy to talk to them as much as they want to call me, since I figure for every minute they are talking to me, they aren't talking to someone who might fall for this!

Steve Jones

One question I have - WHY did they seem to hang up on people saying Hello? Are the ones they hung up on just recorded voices they have learned to recognize? From hearing this, it seemed they missed talking to real people, but maybe they recognize some of the voices used by anti-scam services?

rtamayo88

This brings a smile to my face as it means more and more people are aware of these scams.

Jay Ronnert

This dude just bothering people all day, left and right.. no conscience

Anonymous

Oh poor John Druple, phone me up, i'll talk to you, hahahaha. love it JB X.

Rob Fisher

Wow you can imagine how exciting it must be for them when someone starts to take the bait. This guy is particularly useless, though.

Anonymous

You’re the best Jim thank you for your work!

Anonymous

Hard to listen to. That an entire industry exists using poorly paid people as robots in a war of attrition, just to get one who will be scammed...it's bloody sad.

Jason Shultz

I find it interesting that he pushed the Answering Machine disposition option on so many of those calls where it wasn't an answering machine.

Anonymous

Thanks Jim! It’d be interesting to hear more about the automated responses and other measures telcos use to fight back on scammers.

Yvonne Clark

The many of genuine Virgin media call staff can't pronounce "Virgin" correctly either, when they give me a call back they don't like being asked to prove who they are, eather.

Yvonne Clark

The many of genuine Virgin media call staff can't pronounce "Virgin" correctly either, when they give me a call back they don't like being asked to prove who they are, eather.

Yvonne Clark

Sorry My App keeps double posting today.

Jessicah Jones

What a miserable existence. I hope you're not trying to make us feel bad for them though. They can all die in a fire as far as I'm concerned. The world would be a better place without them in it.

andy b

worgin media?

andy b

probably makes their view of life even more jaundiced

MetaleX music

It is so good to see there time being wasted. I often get calls on my cell phone from actual legitimate local numbers. So they are getting good at somehow spoofing numbers now. I am a technician for an ISP, so i often have to answer calls from numbers i do not recognize. Once i realize its a scam, i just waste time.

Anonymous

is this guy purposefully ignoring responses so they hang up, He has had leads but he just goes silent , another time it sounded like he fell asleep 9:40

Anonymous

I would say it was soul destroying work, but I don't think this crowd of bozo's have one.

Anonymous

I am curious that how hard it is to find a job for ordinary people with high school degree or lower degree in India? Why there are so many scam call centre there? I am truly intrigued by your work. Please keep it up.

Funhouse Mirror

I think a lot of people lost jobs when real call centers moved out of India again. Some then used their call center training to work for thieves.

Anonymous

Thank God for Jim Browning our true super hero. Thank you, for all the hard work you put into getting these low life scum bags caught and put behind bars where they belong.

Anonymous

I could tell towards the end and he was getting really bored, at the beginning, he was really following the script, but then towards the end, you can hear in the audio, that he is getting very bored, and very frustrated.

Anonymous

I like how the guy closest on the opening video is looking at a hand grenade then switches over to the PirateBay.

Atul Gupta

It’s a horrible life.

Anonymous

Scammer Payback says the best way to get them to actually remove your name from the list is to say you don’t have a computer...it’s got the best shot of them actually removing you if they think you don’t have a computer on which they can scam...🤷‍♂️🤷‍♀️

Leslie Brown

Yikes. That guy sounds frustrated. I would have quit after one day. It's one reason why I don't do Telemarketing here in the US

Kristan

Sounds like the 'agent' was starting to fall asleep towards the end...