One day I got a call from a foreign number claiming to be Publisher's Clearing House with my prize of 3.5 million dollars and a 2015 Mercedes Benz. I played along for a little bit to see how the scam worked. Within the first 5 minutes, I asked the rep to confirm something for me.
The rep immediately groaned loudly in frustration, muted me for a moment and then hung up. Disappointed that I couldn't keep the conversation going, I went back to what I was doing before.
But then I got a call back from the original rep's supervisor. The supervisor asked what had happened during the first call, and I described in vivid detail all that had happened. I took 5 minutes to explain a 5 minute phone call. We talked about how to claim the prize, and he gave me several numbers that I would need later. I wrote them all down, then repeated them incorrectly. The supervisor confirmed that I had the numbers correct.
I told the supervisor that he wasn't very good at running a scam. "If you are going to give information, at least make it consistent. Otherwise your credibility is garbage."
He became irate and started yelling at me about how I was so stupid, and how he couldn't believe I was wasting his valuable time when all he was trying to do was give me money.
Ok, game on...
I kept him on the phone for 45 minutes getting him to explain what a birth certificate looks like, how to apply for a federal ID, how to take a bus to a Walmart in a random town I don't live in, how to fill out the transfer documentation, acceptable forms of payment, etc. etc.
I would often have him explain things over and over until he was yelling at me, then I would change the subject and get the conversation back "on course."
After 45 minutes, he told me he needed to do some paperwork and call me back in 30 minutes.
To my complete surprise, he called me 30 minutes later. He detailed the process for sending a payment, the information to give, etc. I kept repeating all the things I needed to do, getting at least one thing wrong each time. He would correct me, explain the process again, and then ask me to tell him what I was going to do. We did this for 20 minutes.
At this time, I started getting bored with the conversation about the transfer, and tried to change the subject to various other topics. I started asking about where he was calling from, what religion he was, etc. He told me that he was not a Christian, but he believed in God and attended a Baptist Church with his mom.
I started making ridiculous claims about how Baptists weren't Christians, but that I was glad he was one. He got really pissed off and started yelling at me. I calmed him down again by talking about the steps to the transfer.
Finally, I told him, "I don't really know how anyone who believes in God would believe that what you are doing is acceptable. You are defrauding people. You are literally stealing money from vulnerable people. I don't know how you can possibly justify that."
He began screaming "F*** you!" over and over at the top of his lungs for about 30 seconds, and then hung up the phone.
That was the most fun I've had all week.