Stupid Microsoft OS Computer Scammers

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Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2014 11:55 pm

Yup--I got another one of those calls from India claming my computer is infected and they are going to help me fix it.

I've been getting these phone calls from an "unavailable" number the past few days and I usually don't pick those up (I screen my calls). Anyway, tonight I said the hell with it and picked up wondering who it was who was so insistent on talking to me.

And you guessed it--Some gal from India claiming to be from Microsoft.

For the first ten minutes I played along and answered her questions (such as was I the only user, was the computer turned on, was I accessed to the internet, etc.) When she asked about my C drive I then told her I was on a Macintosh and they didn't have such a thing as C drives. And that my operating system was OSX 10.8.

She then proceeded to call me a liar and insisted that I was running Windows XP. I said I wasn't and that she was a f***ing scammer. She called me a scammer and said I was lying to her. And insisted that I was using Windows XP.

I demanded to speak to her boss, though I did not expect that to happen. But lo and behold, some guy started talking to me and also insisted that I was using Windows XP. I shouted that I was not using Windows XP. He then demanded to know why they were receiving packets from my computer that showed the virus.

I politely explained that the packets were coming out of his ass and the virus he was talking about was the gonorrhea his boyfriend gave him.

We carried on back and forth for another ten minutes with him insisting that I was using Windows XP and my computer was infected.

I wish I could have taped the call, but it was my real-life phone number and doesn't have recording capabilities. I would have called him back on Skype, but the number was unavailable.

I guess I can't believe this gal and guy would spend that long insisting I was using Windows XP.

Oh well, I had fun Laughing

Anyone dealt with one of these calls recently? If so, how did you handle it?

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 12:15 am

Play with it or hang up. Personally I love these calls but I've only fielded two at home and was busy so I couldn't get more than a half hour of their time. I do have a few 'Friends' who have fallen for this and I take the calls for them whenever I can.

Put the phone in Speaker Mode and carry on with your life:

Me: Oh Thank you so Much!!!! My Computers have been acting up!!! Which one is the Problem?????

Them: It is Blah blah Blah….

Me: Okay thanks soooo Much!!!! Give me a Minute I’ll go get it.

Them: Hello Sir?

Them: Hello Sir?

Me: Just a Minute I’m Dusting it Off. Thanks soooo Much!!!!

Them: Hello Sir?

Me: Okay now what?

They will love you for your efforts. The Female Supervisor called me a Stoopid Mutha Fookah who needs to get a Job Ashole okay.

Or that's what it sounded like....

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 12:28 am

I had fun asking them to hold on while I took a piss. Or that I had to get a beer out of the fridge Smile

I loved your speaker phone idea. And what she called you Laughing

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 12:34 am

^^ Speaker phone and then let them run on and occasionally answer a question.
When I have had enough I start telling the computer blue screened and it is all their fault and I demand that they fix it now! For some reason the computer will not reboot and it is still his fault.
I managed to keep one of these on the phone for 45 minutes before he finally figured out he was not going to get a payday from me. Very Happy

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 3:33 am

About a year ago I played along with a guy who said I had a "malware virus problem." I told him I was talking to him on the only phone in the house and the computer was downstairs. I put the phone down for seven minutes, during which he thought I went down to boot the computer. I came back, he gave instructions, I went back "downstairs." We did that a few more times including a couple of times when I came back after five minutes to ask "what screen did you say I should load again?" This guy was a real trooper because he hung in there for about 45 minutes. He would have stayed on longer but I got tired of it. I finally came back and told him I ran a Google search that told me he was running a scam. He just said OK and hung up!

dwatina wrote:

When she asked about my C drive I then told her I was on a Macintosh and they didn't have such a thing as C drives. And that my operating system was OSX 10.8.

She then proceeded to call me a liar and insisted that I was running Windows XP.

That's interesting. Everybody else I know of who told them they have a Mac get "OK, have a good day" and a hang up.

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:02 am

I usually start with

A virus? Which computer, we have 7 running here

Followed by

Ok, be right back, I'll get them all running

Then, while the supposed computers are starting up

If it is a female

Hey you single?

what underwear do you have on?

Do you like bondage stuff? Like in ropes and being tied up?

I've not had one go past that yet, but I'm hopeful Wink

If it is a guy

Hey, you single?

You gay? You know, love men doing things to you?

Again, I've never had any get past that Crying or Very sad

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 5:17 am

I wish I got one of these calls, sometime when I had the time for it. "You mean the button with K and the gear?"

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 6:20 am

My husband got one of those calls one day while home on his lunch break. Unfortunately he just hung up on the guy.

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 3876

a few years back I read of someone from germany who dealt with one of those scammers.

he got the call, and while on phone, he set up a virtual machine running XP and gave access to it.

the scammer installed some scanning software (I guess, malware or scareware) and this software needed a reboot. well, this guy took a snapshot earlier, and reverted back to that snapshot, and after reboot, there was no scan-software anymore. took the scammer over 4 hours till he gave up.

I wouldn't advise anyone to give access to the computer via remote control but this guy knew what he was doing.

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:26 am

Usually do the "my pc is upstairs and phone downstairs" routine. Record for keeping them on phone is about 40 mins. Usually when we get to the log onto the remote viewer page part of the scam, I have to tell them after several attempts that the pc doesn't have internet connection.

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:41 am

As coincidence would have it, I had one of these calls this afternoon. The Indian sounding gent insisted he was calling from microsoft about my 'computer problem'.

Oh thanks for returning my call I replied, and proceeded to play the dumb computer illiterate elderly user for the next half hour. After supposedly turning the machine on and off multiple times, and unplugging and replugging all cables and even suffering a mild electric shock, my friend was unable to solve the blank screen problem.

Eventually he offered to send a technician around to solve the problem for the princely sum of $25 dollars. Of course the payment would have to be made online, and could he please have my credit card details? My assertion that I don't trust those newfangled things and keep all my money in a shoebox under the bed was met with stony silence...

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 3:32 pm

Good stuff, gang!

@lakeside77: I was surprised she didn't hang up when I told her I had a Mac. That's what I would have expected. But for some reason she was insistent that I was lying to her.

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 8:33 pm

^^Oh, I believe you. It just seems counterproductive for her to insist you are lying. What makes it stranger is that Microsoft will end support of Window XP in April.

Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:00 pm

I expect we'll see more and more of these types of scams when they do because lots of people are still running XP....

Not quite a Newb Joined: 29 Dec 2013 Posts: 50

I use a virtual machine and let them screw around. What's in a virtual machine stays there, so it's mostly safe to do that.

Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 5:27 am

As long as you understand the technical implications behind it, it could be a great way to waste their time. I personally wouldn't, because I don't. Laughing

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 1300

Yeah, I love handling these calls too. I do technical IT work so know what I'm doing with these people. Giving them a virtual PC seems a bit dodgy to me and would rather not give them any kind of interactive remote access.

My own pet ploy is to enable the 'No remote keyboard or mouse option' in the check boxes of the access site/software before giving them remote access. That way they can see the screen but can't actually do anything useful (that is after misquoting the access number). That often drives them barmy as they feel so close to getting whatever it is they are after - normally registering for a highly inflated anti virus software package and fake service deal.

I actually had 2 guys from India (one being the supervisor) occupied for the best part of 3 hours whilst they thought they were dealing with a non literate IT user. Unfortunately these con men rely on the fact that people just want to use their computer and (quite rightly) aren't too bothered about the technicalities of it all.

Lad huggers will often point to the "greed" of the victim being a mitigating factor in lad's scams, here it is a bunch of crooks preying upon people (often elderly) who don't know too much about computers.

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 2:50 pm

im jealous, ive only had one of these calls and the line was so bad i couldnt hear what the dude was saying.

i live in hope..... Twisted Evil

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 1300

What is really interesting is how they get your phone number in the first place. All the calls I get are on my RL land phone which is ex directory - in addition I've only lived there a year or so. My only assumption is that the phone number is being passed on after doing a legit transaction. My own (at this moment unfounded) suspicions are with a company I recently bought computer components from I hope I'm wrong.

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:15 pm

I've had the same cell phone number for almost 20 years so I get the plethora of crazy calls. It's now turned into my back up phone. I get the computer fix calls, the online pharmacy re-order calls, the credit card services calls. If I have time I will do anything to keep them on the line: keep asking questions, act confused, tell them I have an important call coming on call waiting etc etc.

After I waste their time I always end with the same thing. I start to whisper and say that my allergies are flaring up and it's hard to talk. I then load my 150db ear piercing sonic blaster noise (which I have on pro-tools) ready to go. The more I whisper the more frustrated they get. I usually do this at the point where I am giving them the credit card info. I ask them to please turn up the volume on the phone.

You can guess what happens next. I put in my ear plugs and blast the 150db high pitched squeal into the phone. I've had calm, nice salespeople start calling me every name in the book. Not sure how bad it hurts their ears over the phone. It's probably compressed a bit but it can't be fun for them. It is FUN for me. Smile

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 4:56 pm

pete515 wrote:

whatever it is they are after - normally registering for a highly inflated anti virus software package and fake service deal.

Going by several videos of recorded virtual machine sessions, what they often do once they get control, is navigate a web-browser to a payment page and demand you send payment. If you don't, they start deleting the hard drive, folder by folder, starting with the contents of the user documents folder and finally ending with deleting Windows...

Just the thought of that behavior gets me doing the whole giant green rage monster thing...

pete515 wrote:

What is really interesting is how they get your phone number in the first place. All the calls I get are on my RL land phone which is ex directory - in addition I've only lived there a year or so. My only assumption is that the phone number is being passed on after doing a legit transaction.

- Nope. It's just dialers. Every cold caller uses them, however ones that follow the rules of ex-directory must check the randomly generated phone number doesn't match one on the ex-directory list before calling it.
Obviously though, scammers don't give a damn about the laws, so do no such checks...

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:30 pm

MANY businesses sell lists of customer information to marketing firms. Scammers can purchase these lists as easily as anyone else. If you willingly provided your number the directory regulations don't apply for the most part. Check the privacy policy regarding customer info of the company you suspect.

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:36 pm

Quote:

phone number doesn't match one on the ex-directory list

Thought the whole point of being ex-directory was that you weren't on any (legal) list Confused

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:57 pm

What basinga was talking about is a machine that randomly generates numbers. It's not a list. Phone numbers have a specified format; randomly generate numbers fitting that format and most will be valid numbers.

Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:59 pm

I've had the same cell phone number for almost 20 years so I get the plethora of crazy calls. It's now turned into my back up phone. I get the computer fix calls, the online pharmacy re-order calls, the credit card services calls. If I have time I will do anything to keep them on the line: keep asking questions, act confused, tell them I have an important call coming on call waiting etc etc.

After I waste their time I always end with the same thing. I start to whisper and say that my allergies are flaring up and it's hard to talk. I then load my 150db ear piercing sonic blaster noise (which I have on pro-tools) ready to go. The more I whisper the more frustrated they get. I usually do this at the point where I am giving them the credit card info. I ask them to please turn up the volume on the phone.

You can guess what happens next. I put in my ear plugs and blast the 150db high pitched squeal into the phone. I've had calm, nice salespeople start calling me every name in the book. Not sure how bad it hurts their ears over the phone. It's probably compressed a bit but it can't be fun for them. It is FUN for me. Smile

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