"Tell me more about your fascinating useless product ..."

[Fairportfan]

How one man turns annoying cold calls into cash
 

A man targeted by marketing companies is making money from cold calls with his own higher-rate phone number.

In November 2011 Lee Beaumont paid £10 plus VAT to set up his personal 0871 line - so to call him now costs 10p, from which he receives 7p.

The Leeds businessman told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme that the line had so far made £300.

<full story>Joe Kent/BBC News

[Jabberwonky]

Beautiful, I hope he continues to make at least beer money on that idea...

[Dave]

I'd say "You would think that telemarketers would at least be smart enough to filter out the standard 'Caller pays a premium' exchanges from their cold-calling lists", but... nah.

Almost nobody in the modern world would really think that.

[MerchManDan]

Apparently, the number of unwanted calls he'd been getting has gone down by about half, so some of these companies must be learning. Of course, that places this bloke in the unlikely position of wanting cold calls so he can keep the cash rolling in.