Abusive telephone canvassing: the technique of this retiree scares away more than one

Who has never received phone calls from these sales people hiding behind the phone trying to sell their product at all costs? or downright the scammers who are looking for the fault to extract funds? Sometimes weary, some do not hesitate to let it ring or disconnect their line.

But for others like Georges Briand, for example, to play around with these invaders in a funny way to fight against this canvassing that annoys more than one. Retired from La Richardais, near Dinard (Ille-et-Vilaine), Georges has everything to be happy, but that’s without counting on the canvassers.

Numbers of all kinds

In May 2019, Georges Briand began to note all the numbers from which real commercial solicitations or attempted scams came. In just under three and a half years, he has identified no less than 1,700! This represents one to two calls per day. Numbers in 06, 04, 02, 09, reports Actu.fr.

A list that he has also decided to send to the deputy of Saint-Malo, Jean-Luc Bourgeaux, before the debates on the bill aimed at regulating telephone procedures.

He claims to sell drugs

Georges Briand got those kinds of phone calls, of course. “I replied that I was interested in training, that I was a salesperson… that I was crossing Spain to Algeciras and then going to Marrakech to get supplies. That I was selling drugs, what. So, of course, it hangs up…”

He takes his interlocutors at their word and plays the game. Drives them crazy through dialogues like this: – “You’ve already called me, I believe? “, he begins. – ” No, I do not think so. – “Yes, yes, a certain Sarah. » – « No, there is no Sarah here. » – « Yes, her name is Sarah Croche. »

Some laugh about it, some don’t. So much so that it can end in insults… even in threats such as, “we know where you live”, “we will come to see you”.

“I reverse the situation”

The retiree from La Richardais, who judges all these intrusive calls, says to himself in any case that by wasting his unfortunate correspondents’ time. “I save other people from being bothered. So it can last.

He does not hesitate to move the more insistent canvassers, “but I leave them outside”. “Once, someone asked me if I liked Italian products… I said yes. They wanted to deliver a package to me. I gave Combourg a false address. Failing to find me, the package went back to Italy. They sent him back to me, he went back to Italy. They sent it back to me a third time and this time La Poste ended up calling me to find out what the problem was. The package has definitely left. »

It also happens that the retiree is called to invite him to restaurants in Dinard, Granville or Saint-Malo. Objective: “Sell me mattresses, trips… with no obligation to buy, of course. »

“In that case, I tell them to send me the invitation by mail. When they call me back to ask me if I received it, I tell them no. Another shot from La Poste. I announce that I will come with five people and on the appointed day, I don’t come. »

Quarter to midnight

Insulation at 1€, mutual insurance, mattresses, solar panels, heat pump, clairvoyance, numerology… Georges Briand was treated to the full range of fashionable solicitations. Including gift offers supposedly worth hundreds of euros. “I was then given a special code, a privilege code, to give by calling a number myself. “A premium rate number, of course…

Georges Briand has not really noticed any improvement since the law of July 24, 2020, which regulates canvassing a little more closely.

There are fewer calls on Sundays, but they occur at all hours of the day. The latest, “it was a quarter to midnight, it came from Mauritius”. For once, this did not make Georges Briand laugh at all:

“I jumped as anyone would have jumped in my place. I was afraid that something had happened to my two daughters. »

The pensioner, who hopes for a much stronger supervision of cold calling, also rebels “against these companies, often abroad, which have no complex in exploiting these people to harass us”.

Let’s admit that we would not at all like to be in the place of those who fall on him…