Man, 28, Plagued by Spam Calls for a Year—Then Comes Up With a Plan – ryan

For more than one year, a 28-year-old man based in Denver, Colorado, was bombarded with spam calls—up to 15 a day—each one disrupting his work, his time with friends, and his sanity. On a recent afternoon, he decided to turn the tables on his digital harassers, and the calls finally stopped.

“I was searching the internet for a solution to this scam and found a Reddit post where someone claimed spamming them back got it to stop,” the man, who would prefer to remain anonymous, told Newsweek. “I was intrigued and asked if that really worked for them.

“They got back to me and I decided to go for it.”

He later chronicled his ordeal and subsequent triumph over the scammers in a Reddit post on April 13, under u/boopinmybop. The post, which summarized the barrage of scam calls that had become routine, has been upvoted 17,000 times.

The man shared that all the calls had U.S.-based number spoofing, a robotic voicemail from a so-called “Jennifer from the senior underwriting team,” and the ritual deletion of an overstuffed voicemail inbox multiple times per week.

“They were calling 10-15 times a day, each time spoofing a US-based location, and had the exact same voicemail,” the man said in the post. “Extremely frustrating.

“So many calls during work meetings, important moments with friends.”

Fed up and inspired by the Reddit user who claimed to have reversed the tactic, he decided to try it.

“I originally was gonna call like 30 times, but that went so fast I said screw it, I’m gonna go until they’re mad,” he said. “Really didn’t expect anything with the Reddit post but figured some people might find it funny.

“Turns out a lot of people could relate…Happy to get the word out about this horrible scam.”

In the post, he recounted placing 266 calls to the same number in just 35 minutes. He muted himself during each call, hung up after a few seconds, and dialed again.

What he heard on the other end was a revolving door of voices, accents and company names—sometimes a person would begin one script and then switch mid-sentence to another. At times, the scammers seemed to recognize him.

“Sometimes they’d start one script then mess up and start on another,” the man said. “Other times they’d just say ‘hello?’ The best was when they changed mid script what company they were claiming to be from. Then sometimes they’d say ‘hello Mr. boop.’”

It wasn’t long before the call center started pushing back.

“After about 150 calls, I started getting intermittently hung up on immediately after they answered the call. I knew I was getting to them.”

And then came what he described as his final boss moment—call number 260.

“In a deep, mob boss type voice, I hear, and I kid you not: ‘Mr. boop, you’ve gotta stop with these spam calls. I mean, seriously, you gotta have something better to do with your time,’” the man said.

Fortunately, he has not heard from the scammers since.

“This happened Thursday and I’m still riding the high,” he added in an update to the post.

Though the man’s solution was unconventional and undeniably time-consuming, it resonated with thousands of Reddit users who are similarly overwhelmed by spam calls—a modern nuisance that often evades simple blocking or reporting.

His DIY approach offered not just relief but a rare sense of revenge. Several viewers on Reddit have shared their own similar experiences with unwanted calls in the comments.

“How did you know what number to call? My scammers just take random local numbers,” one viewer said. “They call about Medicare and solar panels. I have gotten the Medicare people to switch to talking about solar panels mid-call.”

“I once got a phone call from my own number,” another added. “That’s the day I learned about spoofing.

“I put my phone numbers on the Do Not Call list. As soon as I get a spam call, I say ‘I’m on the do not call list and this is illegal so I am reporting this number,’ another viewer said. “They usually hang up before I even finish the sentence.”

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