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I got a call like that from and Indian guy a couple years ago, microsoft....wanting me to give over control of computer.
I strung them along as if I were trying to help but was inept.
About 15 minutes in they got frustrated and asked if there was anyone there that could help me follow thier instructions and that's when I said, "Yeah, your mom is right here under my desk".
A torrent of broken english swear words erupted but I was laughing so hard I thought I might have a heart attack.
It was awesome.
I've never gotten Microsoft but " Windows Computer ".
The last time was two or three years ago. I asked for the caller's name and asked that he arrange a time to come down to the " station" so I could interview him about his relationship with the deceased, who had been found in his home that morning, an apparent victim of foul play. I then told him I was sure he could account for his whereabouts earlier in the day.
Dead silence, then click. Haven't been called about my "Windows Computer" since.
I have to admit that the minute I hear the Indian accent, I just hang up. I can't understand them. I also hang up on ANYONE who calls me at home to sell anything.
I have to admit that the minute I hear the Indian accent, I just hang up. I can't understand them. I also hang up on ANYONE who calls me at home to sell anything.
Might have mentioned in another thread, Google Pixel (phones) have started to rollout something new and interesting called (I do believe) "call screen".
When it rings, if the number is unknown to me, I hit that button vs. either Accept or Decline. The party then hears a spiel like, "this call is being screened by a Google service. Please state name and business." (it's listed on the screen what the eVoice says). They do, hopefully, and you can watch the voice-to-text real time in Google Assistant. If it's some foreigner ___ole, Google can't really recognize the speech well and what comes through is semi-legible gibberish. I decline the call, red button, adios.
Someone I want to hear from, in contrast, invariably follows instructions and says (in the Queen's English), "Hi this is Debbie from Shinola, curious if you know our product from ___" or whatever. I then select "accept" and answer. There are other options, that's as far as I've gotten so far.
It's quite clever. I wish I'd had it 10 years ago, but such is the nature of technology and AI. I've blown off maybe five calls with this feature, and accepted one, in the ten days or so since it hit my Android Pixel (updated itself). I really hope just about everyone gets this, sooner vs. later, as my aggravation level is enormously reduced.
Says AndroidCentral:
"One of the most interesting and useful new features of the (Pixel 3) is Call Screening, which uses automated prompts and Google Assistant to ask unknown callers why they're calling. You get a real-time transcription of the conversation, and can choose from a handful of follow-up questions to get more information out of the caller before answering or hanging up. Luckily, using it is dead simple."
Many years ago I was taken in by Microsoft Tech Support scammers who I allowed into my PC by activating my remote access setting. I realized afterward what I had done and took steps to sweep my computer clean and used my screen keyboard for a time to prevent key-logging hacks. I closed my bank accounts and credit cards and got new ones. I changed my on-line banking codes and warned the bank about possible fraud against me.
For the past 3 years or so robo CRA (same as IRA) impostors have been calling seniors about their delinquent tax payments and that if the caller did not receive a sum of blah blah a police officer will be dispatched to the seniors home to arrest them.
For years we have been getting robo calls about getting a better credit card rate of interest. It is a scam and the calls are never-ending.
Report to authorities when you get such calls. There is a federal website that you can report the phone numbers and scam details. Do this before you call police non-emergency phone line.
1) Police won't do crap. These out foreign outfits.
2) Reporting them to the feds doesn't even help.
Trust me on this, I've been getting various scam calls for a long time ever since some dumb english major racked up 6-figs of college debt getting an english major on way to being a professional barista....and made up a phone number (that happened to match mine) to inquire about student loan debt forgiveness.
I now get about 4-5 calls a week from various scams including insurance, loan forgiveness, student loans and more.
That's because the scammers sell their phone lists to other scammers.
These are criminals. Asking to be taken off the call list won't work. Blocking numbers won't work (they spoof those so the number they appear to be calling from isn't actually correct.)
All you can do is just never answer the phone if it's not a contact you've set up in your phone. If it's important, they'll leave a message.
I've never gotten Microsoft but " Windows Computer ".
The last time was two or three years ago. I asked for the caller's name and asked that he arrange a time to come down to the " station" so I could interview him about his relationship with the deceased, who had been found in his home that morning, an apparent victim of foul play. I then told him I was sure he could account for his whereabouts earlier in the day.
Dead silence, then click. Haven't been called about my "Windows Computer" since.
Depending upon my mood I've actually mentioned to one caller that I thought it was brave of them to work such a horrible job as a thief to get their mom out of working as a prostitute.
They deserve it. One old lady in my home town with dementia had her life savings stolen by nigerian prince scheme.
This was years ago though. Now I just screen everything. Never answer the phone if it's someone not in my call list.
On a bright note, one Russian hacker that was key to selling data lists with soc. sec. numbers etc. around the dark web got caught a while back by interpol.
I got a new one today. A robocall telling me my Microsoft license had expired and I should call them back on their toll free number to remove it.
Remove it? What are they doing? Removing people's operating systems and then selling the licence number to others along with bootlegged copies of the software?
The call I mentioned before that I got from the foreign guy about my computer was a long time ago when I sometimes picked up the phone without remembering to look at my caller ID. I haven’t done that in ages. I never answer unless I recognize the number. If it’s important they can leave a message.
Sometimes people tell me they pick up and answer just to give a smart remark either to a robo call or a person. I don’t think that’s a good idea because the caller knows there is a live number and they can try again.
Whenever I get a call from Microsoft Support I yell at them.
Like this: "What ! I can't hear you !"
Caller repeats the same, but louder now.
I yell back, a bit louder: "Can you please speak up ! Please !"
Caller is yelling by now : "THIS IS MICROSOFT SUPPORT CALLING."
Me : "I can't hear anything !!"
Remember, there are two dozen spammers in the same room, and they are all looking at my guy, wondering, why is he yelling into the phone?
Oh, how much I hate it when they hang up on me. Oh well. They'll call again next week.
When my "grandson" Sergio called from Mexico I had entertainment for three days until I had to tell them finally that a nice young lady from the Ukraine just drained our bank accounts.
Last edited by mgforshort; 01-05-2019 at 10:46 PM..
What is something new is that they are using local area code phone numbers rather than toll free or weird area codes.
I'm fortunate in that I never have to deal with this problem. Even though I haven't lived in Maryland for 10 years now, I still have my 301 area code phone number, so that's the area code that all the scammers and spammers use when trying to reach me. Whenever I get a phone call from that area code, I know it is either a scammer or a just plane junk phone call and I just automatically reject it. The best thing I ever did was not change phone numbers when I moved to Las Vegas or Miami.
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