Lenny, the bot that tricks telemarketers
Not all telemarketers are evil. It's the 99% give the 1% a bad name.
The 99% are the telemarketers who don't respect the Do Not Call List. Or they purchase a copy of it, and market specifically to it. Perhaps they're exempt from respecting the DNCL, and they call people who are listed just because they can. They run credit card or vacation scams. They spoof their Caller ID so you think it's your neighbour calling you. They call at 9PM and wake your kids up.
For those telemarketers, there is Lenny. Lenny is a hilarious set of very convincing recordings designed to fool telemarketers into thinking they've called a real person. Have a listen:
Want to talk to Lenny, or transfer/conference a telemarketer in with him? If you use VoIP and can call a SIP URI, he can be reached at sip:13475147296@in.callcentric.com. Or you can call him at 1-347-514-7296. (Prank calls to this number are not allowed. Lenny is for incoming, telemarketing calls only - not for annoying innocent people.)
For plenty more recordings, visit Lenny's YouTube channel.
Have you thought about creating a phone app that can do this real-time with millions of users? That would be hilarious.
Of course telemarketers would eventually catch on so you would need to a few different names. And it would be helpful if you could transfer a call to the app in mid-call so you would need scripts for a few different voices/accents so you could match the user well enough so the telemarketer wouldn't be alerted...
By all means write one, and post the results.
It would be nice if there was a few different versions of it, like a french one.
But this is hilarious, too bad that they won't get the message and stop calling...
If you make one, let me know!
You are brilliant!
You're my hero. Lenny does in 15 minutes what the DNC List can't do in 15 years. Please keep up the good work.
You should allow us to call lenny for when scammers call us. I get about 5 calls a day from scammers
We do.
I would like to be able to call more than twice a day. I save the scam call numbers and call them back. Also is there a way to share scam numbers with each other or directly to lenny to have lenny keep dialing and torturing scammers? [redacted] and [redacted] are active now doing bogus tech support.
Outgoing calls are strictly prohibited. Actually both of your numbers got permanently banned this morning for this.
I would love a telephone number that I could forward all of my scammers, and bogus telemarketers calls to. If added to distinctive call rings where my family and friends would call with, I'd actually pay for it. Someone needs to invent this.
Why do so many people not read?
Hi Mango, thanks for this, and especially for being so generous with the youtube posts. I listened to them pretty much non-stop during a two-hour drive a few days ago, and they made the time pass really quickly. Thanks for letting us call it too. It's too bad it has been misused, hopefully that will stop.
I'm glad we could make your drive a little more enjoyable. 🙂
I don't understand how to use this app. I don't know what "VoIP" or "SIP URI" means. Do you have a link to detailed instructions on how to get this app and how to use it? Are your instructions written to that the non-technical person can understand them?
The website says "you can call him at 1-347-514-7296".
If that is too technical I cannot help you.
Okay. I understand I can call Lenny at 1-347-514-7296. I've tried calling that number, and unfortunately I get a recording of an elderly (Australian?) man who doesn't seem to pay attention to what I'm asking for. Do you have any information on how I can contact his daughter Larissa or I think he has another daughter named Rachel. I asked him to tell me how to contact either of them and he just kept talking right over me. And he has a hearing problem too. I mean I think you should have someone else answering there because the man who answered has some problems hearing and I don't think it's fair either to the customer of your service or to the man himself in these days when elderly people are forced to make a buck by any means even if they aren't really able to work and don't understand todays modern technology. I just wanted to throw this out and maybe see if some other people have the same problem because I've had a lot of nuisance calls and a friend told me about your service and I thought - hey, what a great idea! - but then YOU, YOURSELVES seem to be using either an old man or, then I asked myself, is this a recording of an old man and I thought if it's a recording of an old man that is really like elder abuse, you know. And if it's an old man, then, well as I said it seems to me that we should be HONORING our elders, not giving them what is probably a low-paying minumum wage job. My grandfather is a perfect exampel. He worked hard all his life for a decent wage and then got laid off by his company just before he retired and had to work as a cabdriver and that was after he lost his foot because he had diabetes. So the cab company made HIM pay for the handicap adjustment to his cab and between that and everything else he was trying to afford he might as well have been doing no work at all. Not that people who are old shouldn't work if they want to, but... well. So, enough said, but I just thought I had a right to led you know. I'll stop my rant now. Okay. I understand I can call Lenny at 1-347-514-7296. I've tried calling that number, and unfortunately I get a recording of an elderly (Australian?) man who doesn't seem to pay attention to what I'm asking for. Do you have any information on how I can contact his daughter Larissa or I think he has another daughter named Rachel. I asked him to tell me how to contact either of them and he just kept talking right over me.
XD
I just conferenced Lenny in and he gave a telemarketer a hard time for over 3 minutes. I had the call on speaker so my co-workers could hear. We were all dying laughing the entire time. Thank you very much!