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When they tell me I have a Windows problem, I reply that's quite possible since I haven't used a cleaner in months (or years). Then I ask for their opinion on what would work best, Windex, or Glass +, or Invisible Glass, etc.
The next time they call, I will use this ploy I just read about: I am so glad you called because now I have someone to talk to! I so want to tell you about how you can be saved by Jesus Christ (or Allah, or Buddha, or whatever deity you fancy)...
I knew it was a scam but figured I'd scare the hell out of him by putting a real MS guy on the line. Apparently it worked.
These scammers only need a few people to agree to the remote access out of the hundreds or even thousands they try every day/week and undoubtedly and sadly people still fall for it to this day!
caller: there is a problem on your computer!
Me: Which one?
caller: the one with Windows on it.
Me: OK, which one, they all have Windows.
caller: The one you use to connect to the internet
Me: OK, that cuts it down to 3 out of 5. Which one?
caller: The one that is currently connected to the internet
Me: None of them are currently connected. In fact, none of them are even turned on. Besides, my son is an IT professional, he builds and maintains my computers.
caller: hangs up
Caller: I'm from the IRS, and you owe back taxes. If you don't pay, you will go to jail.
Me: I can't pay
Caller: If you don't pay the police will come get you and put you in jail.
Me: OH, GOOD! I have a terminal illness, and the treatment is going to be very expensive. I will be waiting at the door for the cops. Once I am in jail, the state can pay the costs for my medical treatment. Thank you for saving my family from bankruptcy!
Caller: hangs up
Caller: I am calling about your Medicare Supplemental Insurance
I now have three health insurance plans: Medicare, Tricare, and a private company. Please explain to me why I need another one.
caller: hangs up
Caller: I am calling to let you know that you can renew the Extended Warranty on your 2006 Jeep Wrangler.
Me: I do not have a 2006 Jeep Wrangler
caller: hangs up
Actually, I have a 2005 Jeep Wrangler, but I won't tell them that!
Scam callers can be quite entertaining.
Political callers, including poll takers, are even more fun. It is often obvious the answers they want, so give them anything but. With a little creativity, you can skew their results.
Everyone I know just bs's with them. One dude said he was blind but could hear the numbers to help the tech. Another, as soon as they get to problem solving, says he'll be right back because of diarreah, etc... The sky is the limit, enjoy.
I get those calls several times a year. I used to hang up. The last time I played stupid. Ooooh, I don't have a computer. Then the guy goes through all the devices I could have (do you have a laptop? Noooo. Do you have a tablet? Noooo. Do you have a cell phone? Noooo). Then he gets frustrated asking if I have the internet. Nooooo, I say. He hung up on me, lol.
I out and out call them a liar. Repeatedly. It gets some of them so upset that it's quite entertaining.
First few times I got one of those calls, I asked the guy why he was calling because I only used Apple products. The next few times, after he said he was calling from Microsoft labs, or some such nonsense, I replied "No, You're Not" and started laughing. Now, I just tell him to go <commit an anatomically impossible act> and hang up.
If they're persistent, sometimes tell them I'm too busy to talk to them because their wife is visiting me.
Status:
"Made the Retirement Run in under 12 parsecs!!!"
(set 25 days ago)
Location: Cary, NC
43,178 posts, read 76,853,191 times
Reputation: 45534
Quote:
Originally Posted by cjseliga
These scammers only need a few people to agree to the remote access out of the hundreds or even thousands they try every day/week and undoubtedly and sadly people still fall for it to this day!
The ultimate "numbers game" in scams.
Actually, having a live person working thousands of calls to net one sucker.
I have an elderly friend who unfortunately fell for this scam...
Well my elderly friend was almost scammed again with the exact same scam. It got to the point of the scammer forcefully trying to get her to run out and buy some gift cards when she realized it had to be a scam.
This is my understanding of what happened...
- she gets a call from someone who says they are from her PC maintenance company. She has a contract with some company to remotely take care of the software side of her PC. They tell her they are going out of business and they have to close her account and give her a refund.
- they say they can't send a check, and they convince her to install some software so that she can fill out a form and get her refund
- they install 2 programs, one is a remote access program and the other is the fake refund form software
- they get her to fill out the refund form with her bank details for the refund. When this is done they tell her to check her bank to see the refund
- they add some theatre here like blacking out the screen to convince her they won't see her bank login/details
- she logs into her bank and sees that they actually have have made a deposit to her checking account, but instead of a credit of say $49 she sees a credit of $4999. What she didn't learn until later is that they accessed her bank account from her machine and transferred the $4999 from her own home equity account into her checking account, so it was her own money they used to make her think they gave her a refund.
- the scammer says "oops! I made a bad mistake", he convinces her he will lose his job unless she helps him fix this by refunding to him the extra $4950
- he starts pressuring her to help him, and to go buy gift cards to refund him. He even goes so far as to google search for her the nearest place she can buy the right gift cards
Finally as he is pressuring her to go out she wakes up and realizes this is what happened last time and she stops falling for it.
This was the exact same routine as the last time when she did lose several thousand dollars. They must have her on a list.
They sometimes also black out the screen, and then go into the HTML or source code (not a geek here) and change the numbers on the account page to make it look like there is more money. A simple page refresh would bring up the real amounts.
I remember seeing a documentary on scammers based in India. At one location it was just a building with nothing but rows and rows of tables with computers on them. The people who do the calling are just normal every day folks. They go in and that's their 9 to 5. Almost everyone there knows what they're doing is wrong but it's either that or go homeless.
Also saw the one on these bitcoin mining operations in china and it was pretty insane. Factories full of mining computers running 24/7 with maybe 1 or 2 guys on site for maintenance. They sleep on a mattress on the ground and their dining table is an end table with a stool. One location was racking up $30,000US in electricity a month but was mining $300k worth of bitcoins a month.
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