How do robo callers even make money when people just hang up on them when they realize they are scammers?

Yes, there are people who still fall for these scams and that it why they still do them. if they can get just a handful of people for a thousand dollars, they are successful. these scammers are based in India and Pakistan and a few thousand dollars will go a long way

They wouldn't be spending the time and money making these calls if it didn't pay off. Not many people fall for their scams but enough do.

Some people get scammed. You may not but some do.

i have spoken to a few people at work that have been scammed. If they can get bank details and empty an account from one person out of 1000 it is worthwhile to them.

Not everyone hangs up on them.

Don't doubt for a minute that they make money ---

if they didn't get enough out of the endeavour, they would stop.

See here's the part you're missing..."when people just hang up...." People, some of them, don't just hang up. They listen and then get hooked by whatever scam the robo is selling at that moment. We see/hear in the news almost weekly of some little old lady in tennis shoes getting her life's savings ripped off by some robo started scheme.

Same deal with the phishing expeditions via email. Those are the ones I see daily. And they are so obvious because the English is clearly a second language and quite foreign sounding. Yet, the little old man in flip-flops will fall for it every time thinking he's on to some get rich scheme.

As Barnum is quoted saying, "There's a sucker born every minute."

Air horns used at football games REALLY jack up the speakers on their end.

There are people who believe them. I know, it's hard to believe, but that is how scam remain. "I'm a prince from Nigeria" is a good example. So are those TV programmes in which they sell junk for hundreds (and even thousands) of dollars.

They annoy 1,000 people in order to scam one. Computers and auto-dialers allow them to do it quickly. There's always someone who will give them what they want. It's not ethical but it has to be profitable or it wouldn't happen. I agree that they should give it up and get legitimate jobs and do you know what, I almost always say that to the telemarketer when they call (but are they even human and does telling them that they should do a more honest job get through to them?).