Scam of the Day

[johnhh]

Phone call received on our house phone....

"Hi can I talk the technical person who looks after your computer"

Um thats me then... who are you ?

"<somecompany name > .. Microsoft ... Vista.."

Sorry can't hear you very well ( obviously on an IP phone )

"You have an internet problem, we have been monitoring your internet and there is a problem you need to go to our site and download a fix"

um .. really I'm the technical director here, what IP address do you have.

Guy puts phone down !

I picked up the local paper, turn to page 3.. Local police warning on people getting telephone calls about internet problem encouraging them to download a file which scans for passwords and bank details. Police suggest calls coming from India.

Ha times must be hard.. the problem is the guys office seemed very busy on the phones.

[Staffa]

The guys are indeed very busy.

Most days I get a similar call from a person from India with an accent as thick as molasses and who always has a western name.

If I feel inclined for a bit of a laugh I let them rumble on for a bit with my replies limited to 'huhu' and 'and...'
then I hang up.

I never get much of what they're saying because of the accent. By the time I translate the first sentence they are several sentences further in their one-way conversation.

Most calls I answer by hanging up the phone within the first three words.

[g1smd]

String 'em along for a while. Get them to repeat the instructions. Keep 'em on the line for ages so they miss out on calling a bunch of other people.

[tangor]

g1smd... that's what I do, chuckle for me, cuts into their "percentage chance" on how many calls per hour, and to make it worse, I don't hang up until I hear their side go dial tone when they give up in the middle of my next question. :)

[johnhh]

I had another one recently - which was legit

"how do you feel about the new sports centre being built in <somewhere> road"

Where is it, the road is 2 miles long...

"I do not know I don't have that info"

Well how can I comment if you don't know the location.

"Um I don't have the information"

Oh OK so I can't comment, sorry.

Next I expect to hear .. local residents support local sports centre.

Whilst in fact local sports centre is a price the developers are paying for building 100+ houses in a sports field.

What developers will do to get past Torridge planning committee ....

[engine]

Those calls about support for the PC have been coming to me for years now. I'm pretty sick of the tide of timewasters, all with an English name like Dave and calling with the same challenging accent from the same country on an IP phone.

I've tried all kinds of things to disrupt their activity. As I just want to get them off the phone, the excuse I use most often is that I don't have a computer. I did try appearing to be an official of the government and they had called a secret service phone number, or a policeman, or someone with Apple Mac and no PC. I even tried getting distraught with the person over the number of calls on this subject. My least favourite is being angry with them for calling. These reactions were all for my amusement.

I actually feel a little sorry for the people that have to make these calls as it's really an awful job. They are telling lies every time they call. How can that be good for their conscience!

It also makes me wonder how many fall for their tactics. There must be some suckers out there or, surely, they’d stop calling everyone they can.

[bhonda]

They are telling lies every time they call.

That just made me think...do the guys on the phone realise what it is they are doing? Maybe they think what they are doing is entirely legit - helping people with computer problems, by getting them to download their company's product. The guys on the floor may have no idea that the download is dodgy.

Just a thought! I honestly have no idea - but I don't suppose that would be too hard to arrange.

[Staffa]

If not all of them then certainly some know exactly what they are doing.

Yesterday I had a few minutes to spare so I let him talk, then told him I was tracing his IP to hand it to the police.

Without even blinking he said 'you may hand it to the police, the PM or the president, there's nothing they can do'

Bold as brass

[johnhh]

They called again today on the house phone, a John Michael. Said I was tracking the IP using trace route , oddly the phone went dead all of a sudden ! And I think they also called the company line but hung up , obviously don't like companies.

Getting a bit boring now, wish they would switch to prize draws.. or maybe not !

<rambling> Reminds me a bit of the films "Boiler Room" and "Wall street" Are you aware of the enormous opportunities in the overseas debt market </rambling>