Work / Scambaiting
Scambaiting
We keep phone scammers on the line so they are not calling someone else, and we report everything they give us to the companies and authorities that can shut it down.
Got a scam call? Here’s what to doHold Please on YouTube
- What
- Live scam baiting, and a report for everything collected
- Channel
- Hold Please, on YouTube. New, so not much is on it yet.
- Community
- scammer.info. New User of the Month, November 2026.
- Rule
- We only report. Nobody’s personal details are published.
Why we do it
A scam call centre works through a list. Every caller dials until somebody believes the pop-up, the fake invoice or the “bank security” call. That person is often older, often on their own, and often loses money they needed.
An hour a scammer spends with us is an hour they are not spending with one of those people. That is what scambaiting is: answer the call, play along, and waste as much of their time as we can.
Wasting time is half of it. A scam also needs a phone number, a remote-access account, a website and a way to get paid. While they are busy with us, we write all of those down and report them.
What we do
Every bait follows the same path, from the first call to the last report.
The call
A scammer makes contactA pop-up with a phone number, a fake invoice, a refund call or a “bank security” callThe bait
A disposable virtual machineThey connect to a computer that exists only for the call. Nothing real is on itLive, start to finishWe play a customer who is polite, slow and very easy to keep on the phoneThe evidence
What they hand overPhone numbers, remote-access IDs, websites, and the gift card, bank or crypto details they want paidThe reports
To whoever controls itEach detail goes to the company or authority that can act on itThe decision
Theirs, not oursThey review the report and decide what to shut down
No real money is sent in a bait, and no real account, card or personal detail is used.
Our own tools
Building software is the day job, so we built the parts of baiting that were slow or easy to get wrong. They are described in general terms on purpose: the details would only help a scammer spot a bait.
A custom fake bank
Scammers want to see a balance before they commit to a long call. Ours is a made-up online bank that we built and run ourselves. It behaves like online banking, the money in it does not exist, and it holds nobody’s real details.
A case file for every call
During a bait, each number, remote-access ID, website and payment detail is logged with the time it came up. After the call, everything is in one place and not spread over notes and screenshots.
A report builder
One click turns a case file into a report for each recipient, with what that recipient asks for: the ID and session time for a remote-access company, the number and call time for a carrier, the card details for a gift card company.
A checked list of where reports go
Every reporting form, address and phone number we use is checked against the organisation’s own website and dated. The same list is behind our guide for victims.
Where the reports go
- Remote-access companies
- AnyDesk, TeamViewer and the other tools scammers ask people to install. They get the ID that connected and the time of the session, and can close the account behind it.
- Phone carriers
- The carrier behind a scam number, or the toll-free administrator that passes reports on to it. The carrier can disconnect the number.
- Internet providers and hosts
- The network or hosting company behind a connection or a scam website, through its published abuse contact.
- Registrars and browser blocklists
- Scam websites go to the domain registrar and to the blocklists browsers use to show a warning.
- Gift card companies
- The brand on the card a scammer asked for, with the details of the request.
- Federal Trade Commission
- ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the United States fraud report database.
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center
- IC3, for the operation as a whole and the payment details it uses.
A report is a request. Each company or agency decides what happens next, and we often never hear the outcome.
What we don’t do
- We don’t break into anything. Not scammers’ computers, accounts or networks. Everything we report is something a scammer showed or told us during a call.
- We don’t publish personal details. No names, faces or home addresses, of anyone. Our warnings list the numbers and websites a scam uses, never people.
- We don’t recover money. Nobody honest will offer to for a fee. If you lost money, the guide for victims lists the people who can really help.
- We don’t contact victims or ask for anything. We will never call you, and we will never ask you for money or personal information.
Protect someone before the call comes
Most of the scams we see need the victim to install a remote-access program so the scammer can take over the computer. If you look after the computer of a parent, grandparent or anyone who is not confident with technology, install Seraph Secure on it.
It is made by Kitboga, one of the best-known scambaiters. It removes the remote-access programs scammers use and blocks them from being installed or connecting, even when the person at the keyboard is being talked through it step by step. The basic protection is free, for Windows 10, 11 and Mac. Get it only from seraphsecure.com.
For other scambaiters
We are part of the community at scammer.info, where baiters share active numbers and what is working.
If you bait, report what you collect. The wasted hour ends when the call does. A report can take away the number or the remote-access account the scam depends on, and the companies listed above take reports from the public.
Hold Please is our channel for the calls themselves. It is new and has no upload schedule.
If it happened to you
Got a scam call? Here’s what to do
If you paid a scammer, gave out information or let someone connect to your computer, act now. The guide is ten plain steps, with the phone numbers to call and what to say.
Protect a computer before it happens: Seraph Secure blocks the remote-access programs scammers use. Free for Windows and Mac.