Arrests Made over Fraudulent Computer Error Calls to Consumers

[engine]

You know those calls, "we've detected some errors on your computer."

It seems there's been some collaboration between Microsoft and the authorities resulting in some arrests.

Yesterday four people were arrested as the result of two years of work from Microsoft and the City of London Police into the global problem of computer software service fraud. Arrests Made over Fraudulent Computer Error Calls to Consumers [actionfraud.police.uk]

[keyplyr]

Were the arrests made before or after they fixed the errors?

[engine]

hehehe

What I don't understand is how this type of scam has gone on for such a long time. Surely, everyone must have heard of it and to be aware it's a scam. Clearly not, and the scammers must still be making money out of it.

I can't count the number of times i've been called with this - it must be in the hundreds if not thousands over the many years its been going on.

[Marshall]

While this quote is erroneously created to PT Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute." The scammers who call about "You owe the IRS" or claim to be from the "US Department of Grants" (which does not exist and you can find more about on hhs.gov website) continue and people fall for them despite all the news reports. So again, There's a sucker born every minute.

[buckworks]

My 85+ year-old neighbour amused herself one day by telling one such caller over and over, "Nothing is coming up for me." Of course not ... she doesn't have a computer.

She kept it up until the fellow accused her of wasting his time!

Arresting such folks is a good thing ... convicting them would be even better.

[lucy24]

Here's the part I like: The people who are physically on the phone are located in low-budget places like India where you can't touch them ... but most of the time, the person pulling the strings is in North America or western Europe where you can get to them. I find that satisfying.

Couple days ago, I got sidetracked into watching YouTube videos by a cozy-looking woman whose name I have forgotten, dealing with “Technical Support” scammers. In the longest one I watched, she kept them on the phone for over an hour ... and by the end of that hour, it was glaringly and painfully obvious that the front-end scammer knew absolutely nothing about computers. (Interestingly, his “supervisor” did, and was therefore able to utter some slightly more plausible lines. Not plausible enough, though.)

[engine]

The wife had a typical scammer call the other day and successfully kept them on the call for 22-minutes.

[keyplyr]

I've never recieved phone calls of that type, and my phone number is all over the internet.

[lucy24]

Everyone knows about the Do Not Call registry. What's less well known is the Do Not Approach With A Ten-Foot Pole registry. Possibly there is only one name on it.

Last time I got one of these calls I was just walking out the door--only picked up the phone in case it was the person I was going to meet--and then I had no time to say more than “Oh, ### you” and slam down the phone. Darn. I would have really liked to play. How long would it have taken them to figure out why I'm not seeing the icon they’ve instructed me to look for in a particular location?

[ken_b]

I've never received one of these calls.

[iamlost]

What I used to get were several calls a week at a charity where I volunteer telling me that 'Google' was calling to ask me to claim my Google Business Listing. As the initial 'voice' was always a computer I'd just hang up. One day they called right back and then a third time... so I waited until a human came on and spoke... then used my 'serious' tone to say: please stay on the line, your call is being forwarded to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, where you may speak to an RCMP officer about your offer... at which point the call suddenly disconnected... oh, and apparently 'Google' is no longer is interested in calling me to claim my Google Business Listing...

[not2easy]

I've never been called by a computer error caller or any other scams. But I got one last week telling me this was my last chance to take care of my past due college loan blah blah, I just laughed and hung up. Obviously a wrong number.

[keyplyr]

As a kid I would call the local market and ask the lady who answered "Do you have pickled pigs feet?"

She would say "Yes" then I'd reply "Well wear shoes and nobody will notice" and quickly hang up. I thought that was really funny.

[piatkow]

I use caller display to screen calls but this is becoming less useful with numbers being spoofed.

Most calls that aren't from numbers in my addres book (which display by name) are for the community arts group that I help run for so I answer with the group name. When they ask for me (usually mispronounced in an Indian accent) I just keep asking which of our services they want.

[engine]

Yeah, those pesky spoofed numbers: It's the only way I may answer.

[mack]

I get these calls fairly regularly. Sometimes the people making the calls take it way too far. Two examples that spring to mind are the guy calling back after I hung up to ask why I hung up. I also had one threaten to shoot me. That guy ended up hanging up on me after getting a full metal jacket style reply lol.

Mack.