If you own a cell phone in the United States, you’re probably used to receiving a flood of scam phone calls and text messages on a near-daily basis.


Whether it’s someone who has been “trying to reach you concerning your vehicle's extended warranty” or a random number asking you to check out their dating profile on a site you’ve never heard of, these bizarre scams have become a peculiar staple of everyday life — all happening with the implicit approval of the U.S. government.


Recently, one bold netizen decided to strike back against these scammers. His method? Weaponizing the haunting image from classic shock site Goatse.


Discovered by Twitter user @hilare_belloc, SomethingAwful poster stoopidmunkey initially revealed his plan on July 15th.



“I just got my first gift card scam text so I decided to play along,” stoopidmunkey explained. “I sent them goatse when they asked for photos of the cards. I know it’s an old reference but drat it was satisfying.”



For those who are unaware, a “gift card scam” is when someone calls pretending to be the IRS or another official organization. Through social engineering and other methods, they will try to get you to fork over your money in the form of gift cards, with the scam usually ending with the scammer asking you to take a picture of the physical cards.



And for those who are unaware of Goatse… well, let’s just say you’re lucky.


stoopidmunkey later updated the thread, boasting that he had utilized his Goatse weapon yet again. “gift card scammers hit me again so they got goatse’d. think I found a new, horribly stupid way to try to ruin a scammers day,” he stated. “is this goatsec?”



Unfortunately, though, it seems that this time around, it wasn’t actually a gift-card scammer. “So it turns out that they were part of security awareness training,” stoopidmunkey admitted. “I passed but have to talk to hr.”


In a follow-up, stoopidmunkey said he did not get in trouble for his actions but was “asked kindly to not do that again.”



“It was performed by a third party and apparently I made someone cry,” he wrote. “My boss thinks it’s hilarious.”