A new TikTok video shows an impressive and unique way to handle annoying phone calls from spammers and scammers.
Within 24 hours of being posted, the viral clip from Roy L. Baker Jr. aka @1roy_jr received 72,000 shares and was viewed more than 5 million times.
In the video, Baker receives a call marked "Spam Risk" from Mosier, Oregon. He also refers to them as potential scammers. Baker answers the phone with his booming voice, acting as if he is a recorded greeting for the CIA:
Hello. Thank you for calling the CIA. You've reached our scam and fraud division.
All of our agents are currently assisting other callers. To further assist you, please hold while we download your incoming and outgoing call logs to be analyzed against our database of known scam and fraud operations. An agent will be with you shortly.
At this point, the phone scammer could be heard hanging up the phone.
Baker, who also manages R. B. Design and Decor, often uses the hashtag #myroyvoice on his videos. His mellow bass voice might remind some readers of the quality of a television spokesperson or radio announcer.
"His voice is directly from heaven," one commenter said. Another responded: "Legend! Not all heroes wear capes!"
One commenter remarked: "I need this as my voicemail! Them darn auto warranty ppl won't stop!"
Readers might be all too familiar with "extended warranty" spam. At least one of Baker's past videos made fun of the warranty phone calls. The joke has also made it into countless TikTok videos, including a popular one with two cats.
In Snopes' more than 25 years of existence, we've seen our fair share of phone scammers and spammers. In fact, we've probably seen a little too much spam.
Check out our Fraud & Scams Archive as well as our newer reporting on Ad Scams and Arbitrage. "Arbitrage" refers to misleading internet ads that lead to seemingly endless slideshow articles.
We reached out to Baker to learn more about the way he's handled phone scammers and spam calls in the past, and will update this story should we receive a response.