Lenny is a chatbot that trolls telemarketers

[Cal Jeffrey]

In context: The only thing that seems to dissuade solicitors is if you waste their time, but with thousands of legitimate and scam firms out there and dozens dialing you daily, who has the time to lead these clowns along until they finally hang up? Enter Lenny.

Unless you happen to be very lucky, you probably receive multiple calls per day from telemarketers. Just in April of this year, more than 3 billion robocalls were placed in the United States. Efforts to block the numbers of these firms are usually ineffective as most use spoofing to trick you into answering, so blocking just prompts their systems to spawn a different number. Personally, my list of blocked numbers is now into the hundreds.

Relief is only a forward away. According to Motherboard, Lenny is a chatbot that was created almost a decade ago by an anonymous IT professional who was sick of fielding these tiresome calls day after day. So he set about designing an automated message system to troll telemarketers and scam callers.

According to a Reddit post by someone claiming to have recorded the voice for Lenny, the bot is designed to simulate a “telemarketer’s worst nightmare.” That is to say that it replicates an elderly man who is a bit senile and slightly hard of hearing.

The system consists of 16 pre-recorded phrases, so the voice is authentic sounding and not synthesized. The first four phrases are used to hook the caller into throwing their sales pitch. The other 12 messages are scripted to keep the telemarketer on the line without committing to anything. After each recording, a voice-detection algorithm listens for 1.5-second pauses in the conversation to start the next message. These 12 interactions will then continue looping until the caller finally hangs up.

Lenny’s personality is such that the when he starts to repeat himself, it is easily confused with him just being a forgetful old man. The call above has him stringing on a Microsoft scammer for over 11 minutes. According to research into Lenny's effectiveness, most telemarketers (about 75%) figure out they have been duped after about two minutes. However, some calls have reportedly gone as long as an hour.

Although it has been around for almost 10 years, I had never heard of Lenny until now. The chatbot resides on a publicly accessible server maintained by a programmer who goes by Mango on Reddit. To use Lenny simply forward, transfer, or initiate a conference call with the number (347) 514-7296. If you use the conference call and mute your mic, you can record the hilarity. Some restrictions apply, so check out the r/itslenny subreddit for more information.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/77583-lenny-chatbot-trolls-telemarketers.html

 

[Dyson Parkes]

Now we just need to be able to use him internationally.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Once you’re using it, it means you already received the call.... so why not just troll the telemarketers yourself? Depending on my mood, I’ve strung some along for ages....

 

[Jyrkz]

Once you’re using it, it means you already received the call.... so why not just troll the telemarketers yourself? Depending on my mood, I’ve strung some along for ages....

but if its a bot then whats the point, its still wasting your time

 

[Squid Surprise]

but if its a bot then whats the point, its still wasting your time

If it’s a bot, then Lenny is also useless... just hang up... my point is to use Lenny, you still have to answer the phone - so your time has already been wasted...

 

[Steveb8189]

Once you’re using it, it means you already received the call.... so why not just troll the telemarketers yourself? Depending on my mood, I’ve strung some along for ages....

because "your voice is your password". I used to play around with these bots and people a lot until I realised they could just be recording my voice and/or trying to get me to say certain phrases - completely unrelated to the conversation - so they could use my voice ID elsewhere.

Maybe I'm just paranoid but it's not worth it

 

[ShagnWagn]

I used to work at a telemarketing company. One thing I learned is if the call is answered, the company calling is charged a connection fee (such as a minute or more). A telemarketer or robocaller starts talking and I set the phone down. Rack up their costs.

 

[mbrowne5061]

The best thing you can do to stop getting calls like this is in the first place is to stop answering numbers that are not in your contacts list already. If you aren't expecting a call from a new or unknown number, don't answer. Simple as that. When you answer, the system automatically marks your number as belonging to a real person. In fact those 'answer, followed by silence, then hanging up' calls are done just to confirm there is a person on the other end.

If you stop answering, the auto-dialers used by the telemarketers assumes that the number is either not in use or belongs to a system were only out-going calls are made (like another telemarketer). After a week or two of not answering, the number of calls will drop of significantly.

 

[Uncle Al]

Give me a version what I can input what name to use and a list of obnoxious comments I can make and it will be a perfect replacement!

 

[Underdog]

I use a BT call blocker. Simply an answering machine that intercepts incoming calls with a message. It invites the caller to identify himself. An automated dialler won't do this so the call blocker doesn't ring to get my attention. If there's a person on the other end and they do identify themselves the call blocker will ring and ask me if I want to take the call or not. I can dump the call without having to listen to any bullsh!t. I can whitelist or blacklist any number or even area or country codes. Before using this device I was getting up to a dozen calls a day, most of them were autodiallers. The rest were just plain scammers.

 

[TheBigT42]

One time I told them I had to get connected to the Internet. Then I played a phone dialing and a modem connect sound. They hung up

 

[OutlawCecil]

I use a BT call blocker. Simply an answering machine that intercepts incoming calls with a message. It invites the caller to identify himself. An automated dialler won't do this so the call blocker doesn't ring to get my attention. If there's a person on the other end and they do identify themselves the call blocker will ring and ask me if I want to take the call or not. I can dump the call without having to listen to any bullsh!t. I can whitelist or blacklist any number or even area or country codes. Before using this device I was getting up to a dozen calls a day, most of them were autodiallers. The rest were just plain scammers.

Google Voice will do the same type of thing. It's helpful.

 

[captaincranky]

I have found the simply not answering the phone is the best solution. Most robo-callers won't initiate their spiel, until the hear a human voice.

If they do, I just walk over, pick up the receiver, and then hang it up immediately.

I'm usually tactically capable of getting rid of Jehovah's Witnesses at the door within about 30 seconds as well. (If you just shut up and take their promo material, they believe "the word", will speak for itself).

As far as electricity salesmen(*) go, I just tell then if they don't get off my porch, I'm calling the police.

(*) These people are a true plague in a state with so called "freedom of choice" utilities.

 

[Badelhas]

I use a BT call blocker. Simply an answering machine that intercepts incoming calls with a message. It invites the caller to identify himself. An automated dialler won't do this so the call blocker doesn't ring to get my attention. If there's a person on the other end and they do identify themselves the call blocker will ring and ask me if I want to take the call or not. I can dump the call without having to listen to any bullsh!t. I can whitelist or blacklist any number or even area or country codes. Before using this device I was getting up to a dozen calls a day, most of them were autodiallers. The rest were just plain scammers.

Sounds great ! How can I use that? What´s the name and how to get it? Cheers

 

[captaincranky]

Sounds great ! How can I use that? What´s the name and how to get it? Cheers

To try reading the entire article a bit more carefully would be a good start:

Although it has been around for almost 10 years, I had never heard of Lenny until now. The chatbot resides on a publicly accessible server maintained by a programmer who goes by Mango on Reddit. To use Lenny simply forward, transfer, or initiate a conference call with the number (347) 514-7296. If you use the conference call and mute your mic, you can record the hilarity. Some restrictions apply, so check out the r/itslenny subreddit for more information. <(Note the link).

 

[Badelhas]

To try reading the entire article a bit more carefully would be a good start:

Although it has been around for almost 10 years, I had never heard of Lenny until now. The chatbot resides on a publicly accessible server maintained by a programmer who goes by Mango on Reddit. To use Lenny simply forward, transfer, or initiate a conference call with the number (347) 514-7296. If you use the conference call and mute your mic, you can record the hilarity. Some restrictions apply, so check out the r/itslenny subreddit for more information. <(Note the link).

And if you have fully read my post you would have understand that I was asking underdog user which BT Call Blocker he uses... Not how to use Lenny.

 

[captaincranky]

And if you have fully read my post you would have understand that I was asking underdog user which BT Call Blocker he uses... Not how to use Lenny.

I can't read, I used to work for the post office.

 

[Groovy Gravy]

Now YOU are wasting our time. (347) 514-7296 does not work!

 

[Groovy Gravy]

I use a BT call blocker. Simply an answering machine that intercepts incoming calls with a message. It invites the caller to identify himself. An automated dialler won't do this so the call blocker doesn't ring to get my attention. If there's a person on the other end and they do identify themselves the call blocker will ring and ask me if I want to take the call or not. I can dump the call without having to listen to any bullsh!t. I can whitelist or blacklist any number or even area or country codes. Before using this device I was getting up to a dozen calls a day, most of them were autodiallers. The rest were just plain scammers.

Sounds great ! How can I use that? What´s the name and how to get it? Cheers

I have found the simply not answering the phone is the best solution. Most robo-callers won't initiate their spiel, until the hear a human voice.

If they do, I just walk over, pick up the receiver, and then hang it up immediately.

I'm usually tactically capable of getting rid of Jehovah's Witnesses at the door within about 30 seconds as well. (If you just shut up and take their promo material, they believe "the word", will speak for itself).

As far as electricity salesmen(*) go, I just tell then if they don't get off my porch, I'm calling the police.

(*) These people are a true plague in a state with so called "freedom of choice" utilities.

If Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door I talk about Islam. That putrid, toxic **** is enough to make them scurry back out to the street.

 

[OutlawCecil]

Now YOU are wasting our time. (347) 514-7296 does not work!

It was working before, but yes, now looks like it's down.

 

[Freonpsandoz]

In some areas, you may need to inform callers that they may be recorded. Configure an auto-attendant to play the message, "calls may be recorded for comedy assurance purposes" before transferring the caller to Lenny.

 

[Freonpsandoz]

It was working before, but yes, now looks like it's down.

Due to people using Lenny to prank their friends, I think he now only answers calls that appear to come from telemarketers or from numbers that have been specially authorized to engage him in a conference call.