A New Brunswick couple has been bombarded with phone calls from across the United States, all because they upset a telemarketing scam artist.

Sandy and Art Baxter say they rebuffed a fraudster looking for computer information, only to be swamped with phone calls afterwards.

"Art was talking to them and he said, 'I'm sorry, I don't have any windows, we don't have a computer,' and click, he hung right up," Sandy said.

Twenty minutes after the call, the couple received a call from Pennsylvania.

The Baxters say they called their telephone service provider's fraud department, only to be warned that angering a fraudster can lead the scammer to leak or use their number as revenge.

The couple has since received more than a dozen calls from people who were simply returning their phone call, which was planted by the scammers.

The method, known as "spoofing," is designed to up the ante of phone harassment.

"Really, there's not a whole lot you can do when someone starts spoofing your number," said David Shipley, the director of strategic initiatives with the University of New Brunswick's I.T. services department.

Shipley says that despite the temptation, people who receive phone calls from scammers shouldn't be argumentative or look to pick a fight.

"As tempting as it may be to give them a piece of your mind, remember that they can do a lot to ruin your day," he said.

The experience has been stressful for the Baxters, who say they have had to convince other callers that they're not the source of the spam calls.

The deluge of calls has eased, with the couple saying they hadn’t received any on Monday. But they understand the ordeal could start back up in a couple months.

With a report from CTV Atlantic's Mark Cameron