What to Say to a Scammer to Scare Them: How to Fight Back

Cindy Ellis - February 9, 2024

Online scams continue to rise, and they’re even becoming more dangerous. While scammers often think they have the upper hand, there are some things you can say to them that will frighten them. For example, if you learn a scammer’s name or address, you can frighten them into not speaking with you again.

If you’re looking to strike a little fear into a scammer, you’re in the right place. Learn about what to say to a scammer to scare them.

How Do You Know You’re Talking to a Scammer?

Before you try and scare a scammer, you need to make sure you’re talking to one. You don’t just want to scare a stranger or an actual representative of a company, or else you’ll get into trouble. The good news is that it’s not too hard to verify someone’s identity with the right tools.

If you want to know whether the person you’re talking to is a scammer or genuine, simply run their information through our people search tool or phone lookup tool. These tools can help you verify the information you have from the scammer to see if it matches what they tell you.

You can view anything that’s public record, so if they lie about their name, phone number, or company affiliation, you’ll know.

The 5 Best Things to Say to a Scammer to Scare Them

There are many things you can say to a scammer to scare them, but some are better than others. If you want to win a decisive victory in record time, we have you covered. Learn about some of the best ways to scare a scammer below.

1. Ask for Their Identity

One of the best ways to scare a scammer is to ask for their identity. While this isn’t something that will outright frighten them, it’s enough to scare them off. This is because they won’t be able to prove anything unless they come up with a lie.

To take this one step further, make sure you look into information about the company they’re calling or emailing from so that you can verify this information. Once you start catching them in lies, the scammers will flee, freeze up, and likely stop contacting you.

2. Tell Them Their Personal Information

Want to beat a scammer at their own game? If the scammer has provided you with their name or email address, you can run it through a criminal records search tool, people search tool, or address lookup tool. All of these options can help you learn more information about the scammer as long as it’s a public record.

Once you have access to the information, you can casually bring it up in conversation for maximum shock factor. You can even have some fun with this and wait until they get angry at you for not complying with their demands. Then, you can drop their address on them to frighten them.

3. Bring up the Authorities

When you’re sure that someone is a scammer a surefire way to scare them is to bring up the authorities. You can bring up the police, FBI, IRS, or other federal agencies to scare a scammer.

Depending on what you say or what you’re talking about, this can get them off the phone immediately or get them to stop emailing you. Therefore, it’s one of the best methods to stop a scammer.

When bringing up the authorities, you don’t have to say anything fancy. Just say you’re calling the police, in contact with the authorities, or something else along those lines. That should be enough to make them run.

4. Mention Other People They Might Know 

While you can scare a scammer by commenting about their information, you can also bring up their friends, relatives, and information about other scammers. People tend to worry more when you have the complete picture, so including this information will take things a step further.

If you notice that the scammer doesn’t seem scared of your knowledge about their personal life, mentioning people close to them will likely shake them to their core. In an effort to keep the people they care about out of harm’s way, they will likely leave you alone.

Also, sharing information about their family and friends can help you even more. Threatening to tell people about their scamming ways is another way to prevent them from scamming you or other people. While it might be nice to make money, many scammers don’t actively tell their friends and family that scamming is their career path.

5. Say Nothing 

This is one of the easiest ways to scare a scammer. When you answer the phone, just say nothing. The lingering silence should be enough to make them end the call.

If the scammer calls back, continue to remain silent. Eventually, the scammer will be worried about who’s on the other line or too bored to deal with you anymore. 

Is Scaring a Scammer Worth It?

You might be wondering if it’s worth it to scare a scammer or if you should just ignore them. Depending on your situation, it’s better to scare them off so that they leave you alone. In fact, bringing up the topics that we covered should be enough to scare most scammers and make them leave you alone.

Scaring a scammer can also prevent them from scamming someone else, which can help you indirectly protect others. Plus, a scared scammer is more likely to leave you alone compared to one that’s angry or being ignored. 

Scare a Scammer Today

Knowing exactly what to say to a scammer to scare them is a powerful feeling. You can beat them at their own game, protect your assets, and send them running. We always recommend finding some personal information about them and grilling them with it; this way, they know not to mess with you.

That said, any of the topics we covered will help you scare a scammer and send them running. Next time you get a call or email, get ready to stop them dead in their tracks and shake them to their core.