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And I kept them busy for a few minutes... Playing dumb, I even got transfered to "Charlie" when I said my imaginary computer had no keyboard, I think Charlie must be the go to fella for diddling old people with iPads...
He called me a mother****er and hung up when I said I had just had a warning screen come up telling me "some scamming ****ers have just called you"...
Shocking that a Microsoft employee would talk to a customer like that...
Ahhh it's the weekend...
I can't wait for my first windows security phone call - ima have so much fun!
I'm (a) shocked that this happened to you
(b) that you could actually be bothered to waste your time on them
And (c) then post about your triumph
Just hang up or better still get rid of the landlines
Fun though.
HAve to say if they ever call me i will do as the OP did - might not post on here but every second of their time you waste protects someone vulnerable
[quote=mikewsmith ](b) that you could actually be bothered to waste your time on them
It's amusing and you waste their time, which they might otherwise spend scamming somebody more naive. I wish they'd call me again - though I wonder if I've been blacklisted after spending half an hour trying to get the chap to explain how he knew my computer has problems, what data he has on me and whether he's registered for data protection (I don't think he got further than about a minute into his script 🙂 ) I've now got a VM waiting for them, which I plan to really screw their minds with - I'm hoping I can manage to get a snapshot after they've connected but before they've installed anything dodgy, so I can keep reverting every time they do install anything else, but they'll still be connected! "Oh, I've already got something which fixes that - look it's not broken any more"
I kept one on the hook for about fifteen minutes. She told me to use the windows key. I told her I couldn't find it, and hadn't used it since we went on holiday, as that's the only time we bother locking the windows, but thought it might be in the cloakroom. I must say she was very patient, I took three trips around the house trying to find it as she tried to explain what she meant.
I was quite proud of some of my responses actually, when asked if my computer had windows I said "well I suppose it looks like a window, it's the same shape and there's glass"... I thought they'd rumble me then, but nope.
that you could actually be bothered to waste your time on them
I was at a loose end for a few minutes and of course any time they waste on me is time they won't be spending defrauding someone else...
I've now got a VM waiting for them,
Now that's proper commitment to the act of ****ing with the scammers ...
I found it very telling that they now try to identify if you are using a tablet, and I actually got transfered to "Charlie" who deals with such things, it's interesting to me because my parents, in their 60s are amongst the silver surfing, late adopters starting to use tablets more and prime demographic for these scams.
They wouldn't fall for it, but I am sure others would, and so far as I am aware it's a shift in tactics, they've called before but I haven't been transferred to a tablet specific scammer before... Know your market and all I suppose...
[quote=cookeaa ]Now that's proper commitment to the act of **** with the scammers ...
Well I have a basic W7 VM for testing purposes anyway, so I guess I spent about 5 minutes cloning that and navigating IE to the MS page about phone scammers before snapshotting it. This is on my VM server which is running full time anyway. I might get round to making some wallpapers with messages on (maybe a police wallpaper?) to drop in if I can be bothered.
I had a W10 beta VM ready and waiting for a while, back before that was released - was curious what they'd make of that, but sadly they never called. Typically the only time I did get a call recently I was busy re-installing my server so had nothing ready.
My mum rang the other day, very upset that someone claiming to be from TalkTalk had rung them and tried to scam them. She dealt with it properly but it really unnerved her, not what a 74 year old should be having to worry about.
I managed 45 minutes and a callback a couple of days later from a worried manager thinking I was going to sue them 🙂
if i don't know the number I don't answer the call, if it's important they'll leave a message. simple, easy way to avoid the hassle
I've had loads of these on my ex directory Vurgin landline.
At first it annoyed me but now its more fun just to string them along and make them mad... its hilarious how quickly they start swearing at you.
That seems a new trend too, I've had a few accident claims calls and they get really absuive really quickly now.
mikewsmith - Member
I'm (a) shocked that this happened to you
(b) that you could actually be bothered to waste your time on them
And (c) then post about your triumphJust hang up or better still get rid of the landlines
Why is this an issue for you? Why, exactly, do you care?
The last one I had was at 7.30 in the morning, as I was getting ready for work! Worried that it was a family issue, I rushed to the phone, to get some jackass telling me it was an important call as there was a problem with my computer.
At that time of the morning, I'm in no mood for assholes trying to scam me, so I was blunt ant to the point, I told him to **** off.
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Cheers CZ love the banker smiley...
More that does this still get people excited?
At that time of the morning, I'm in no mood for assholes trying to scam me, so I was blunt ant to the point, I told him to **** off.
For me they are lucky if they get a word before I hang up.
My uncle has a very good way of dealing with these calls. It's not very PC so I'm not going to describe it buy if I can ever emulate it without immediately laughing it'll make my whole weak.
My parents neighbour got conned, they wanted £350 to sort it. My 74yo father fixed after 5 mins searching on google unfortunately his neighbours now think he's a computer genius.
Older folk are terribly trusting; they grew up in an era when a person's word generally meant something.
Was reading this thread a few minutes ago when the phone rang. since it was quite early for anyone to call I just picked up without checking the number and it was talktalk calling about computer security. I used to be with talktalk for phone and broadband so either they knew that or just use a random company name and sometimes will get it correct. What worried me slighlty was they asked for me by name. Messed them about a bit because this thread was in my mind but feeling a little uneasy that they asked for me by name.
Didn't talk talk get a good chunk of their customer database nicked a few months ago.
Yeah, they've obviously worked their way down to the D's in their list.
yeah, wasn't sure if that was related but as luck would have it not long after that by coincidence I moved banks so even if the bank details were taken they would be for an account that doesn't exit now.
I had the windows security people phone on our virgin landline Luckily my 3 year old son is adamant on answering the phone when it rings. I left him to it!
I had the windows security people phone on our virgin landline Luckily my 3 year old son is adamant on answering the phone when it rings. I left him to it!
I employ a similar strategy. My 2-year old thinks (with some justification) that only her grandparents ring the landline, so the Windows scammers must get terribly confused when she keeps repeating "hello nanny".
I got the Dyson Maintenance scam call a while ago. Kept her on the line for about 10 mins before giving a piece of my mind, she actually called me back to berate me for being rude to her!
It made me wonder if in some of these cases the person on the phone actually realises they are facilitating a scam.