Bad enough trying to understand audio; reading it in phonetics just gave me a headache.

Sure they had fun, though.

So you get their email too, eh Monk?

Glad I'm not the only victim. 

I actually suggest to my customers(note the majority of my customers are seniors) that if they get such calls,

(first make sure that their computers are NOT switched on),

then that they should play 'dumb' and not know WHAT a computer is ,

and get the caller to describe what it should look like,

and when the caller gets to the type of description of a 'screen' that the customer sits in front of and looks at,

I suggest that the customer says, 'but I call that a TV. Would you like me to turn on the TV?',

assuming the caller says yes(thinking that it is a computer that will be turned on) I suggest the customer turns on an ACTUAL television receiver,

then ask the caller what channel did they want the customer to switch to,

then change the tv channel to the one suggested,

and with a bit of luck the caller will realise that this is a total waste of their time at this point.

harpo

What's a 'computer'?

Hilarious.

The only part which isn't funny is that people fall for this rubbish.  Not my mum though.  She cuts them off saying she already has a computer expert to help her out.  Well hey, it's true.  Yesterday I even crawled into my boiler cupboard with a torch to help her get her new boiler working again (it's the same model, so that's the best way).  That's real technical support right there!

Holy crap Microsoft and Avast did that exact same thing to me they called me telling me they where receiving error codes and telling me I had an infection on my machine.I went along they did a remote went straight to my event log then reliability monitor then performance monitor . Well to make a long story short they tried to extort 189.99 from Avast tech and Microsoft tried to get 249.99 to fix my P.C needless to say I ripped them a new asshole to say the least Tech support does not exist none of them do anything to help at all. every time I have called they screw things up even worse then it started. I fix all problems myself they did not know that I am a Technician retired.

I can guarantee you they did not, but rather someone calling themselves those names instead.

^ Correct. Those were attempts to scam, and the elderly are targeted especially for this as they are rarely tech savvy.

It's unfortunate that these security companies and the AARP don't provide some form of online learning for them so they can avoid these scams.

Does it have to be AARP?

Oh believe me when I tell you I knew it was a scam.I just wanted to see how how annoying they would be wanted to have some fun with them I knew it was not Avast or Microsoft my best friend was here at the time and he got a hoot out of it. I ripped in to them big time. And the word is YES the elderly are targeted at every corner the AARP should be involved greatly !

How the hell do they get these numbers and is their a way to possibly stop it some way?

Execution without trial.

Quoting Daiwa, reply 11

Does it have to be AARP?

End of Daiwa's quote

Well, in your case...

I got the email too and promptly deleted it. Scam was written all over it.

How do they get these numbers?  People sell them to whoever wants to buy them (the "do not call" list is a joke).

Same with email addresses. They are bought and sold to the highest bidder.

Obviously people are falling for this crap, because it keeps on happening. If everyone would go out of their way to educate themselves about these kinds of scams i bet we would see far fewer incidents, and a lot less spam in our emails.

Call me paranoid, but if my Caller ID comes up "unknown", or a number i don't recognize then i just don't answer it. If it's that important they will leave a voice mail, and a return number.

Same with e-mail. If i don't know who sent it, i don't open it. It goes straight to the trash. I get a good laugh at my "spam" box with the tricks they use to try to get you to fall for their crap.

Like 10 spams of "Someone hacked your battle.net account". Please send us your personal info to repair your account..... Ummmmm, I never had a battle.net account!! (again the poorly spelled, and punctuated email was a dead giveaway).

My favorite was the cold call (which i answered against my better judgement, because i was waiting for an important call for a job interview). It was an automated voice message of "Your car warranty has expired. Please contact us, and provide the required information (obviously your personal information) to extend your warranty"...........ROFLMAO!!! There was just one "small" problem... I didn't own a vehicle at the time! Plus how would anyone know if i had a warranty, or not? Used car dealers sell pretty much "as is".  If i did have a warranty it would be through a legit dealership, and they most certainly would not cold call you to remind you to fix whatever is broken on your car. So they can lose money.

Like was said "How many people fall for this crap?" It has to be a lot, because the spam is relentless.

BTW The messing with the scammer was nicely done

Nice diversion.  Thank you.  Hope it educates folks about scams...

I don't receive scam emails of this nature but I have had a few calls from 'Microsoft Support', and somebody with an Indian accent telling me that my PC has been detected as having xxxxx amount of errors and potential flaws that would allow external attacks, etc. 

I'm fully aware that Microsoft does not phone customers [unless it's in response to a query, as I have had happen] so I'm on the ball as soon as the purport to be from Redmond... or Sydney in the case of Australia. 

Anyway. my first thing is to say "please just wait a moment" and then I sort of muffle the speaker so it can still be heard at the other end and say to some non-existent person [not that they know that]: "Okay, we got another one on the line, put a trace on it."  Hehe, they hang up faster than a rat up a drainpipe when a mean and hungry tomcat's after it.

It's the quickest way to get rid of them, though I suppose I could have some fun and lead them up the garden path... as in before I 'politely' tell them to eff off. However I'm usually busy or otherwise disinterested and just can't be bothered.

My one and only personal experience with one of these "Microsoft Techie Spammers" goes something like this.

I come home from a particularly long day at work.

<wife greets me at the door phone in hand>

"some guy on the phone saying our computer is sending error messages?"

<I take the phone and being in no particular mood to chat with anyone least of all some asshat I say>

"You must have the wrong number sir, I don't have a computer"

<***then for the first time in my life I experience being cursed at with expletive after expletive by a spammer......it actually leaves me speechless>

"you think I piece of s####?"

<after taking a second to regain my composure>

"excuse me?!?"

"you think I'm piece of #### you moth######!?"

<again I pause to take a breath>

"what did you say?!?"

"I say you think I piece of F#### s#### you moth######?"

"why would you say that to me?"

"you don't have a computer?  you think I'm stupid?  for sure you have a computer......"

"like I said,  I don't have a computer!"

"f#### you you piece of s####, mothe##### son of b#####"

<click>

<I stare at the phone in my hand for a full 3 seconds before handing it back to my wife>

"what did he say?"

"I don't even have the words to explain what happened on that phone call right now"

Prior to this experience (call came in about a month and half ago) I had never been cursed at by a spammer of any kind.  Truly surprised me how angry/aggressive he got.  So far it hasn't happened again.....

Talk about fraudulent phone calls. I've gotten several from a company that says it is investigating fraudulent use of my credit cards and it gives me a number to call back. Funny thing is...I don't have any credit cards or even debit cards.  

Quoting Uvah, reply 22

Talk about fraudulent phone calls. I've gotten several from a company that says it is investigating fraudulent use of my credit cards and it gives me a number to call back. Funny thing is...I don't have any credit cards or even debit cards.  

End of Uvah's quote

Yup, 'my' bank has rung me several times to update my account details.... and in most cases I don't bank with 'my' bank, so I just ask they send me a sizeable cheque so's I can open an account with them... NOT!

I must admit that I also use the 'request a large value cheque so that I can open an account  with them' method for all the very few 'finance' mobs that actually do get to talk to me.

as far as phone calls go the levels of defence aginst them are

1 is that the landline is unlisted,

2 is on the do not call lists at each level of 'government' in the country,

3 has a phone/fax answering machine set up with the message "you have reached the '(name)' fax machine. if you want to send a fax, press send now, if you want to speak to a member of the household please call the mobile number (note NO phone number given)" and no there are no instructions for leaving messages,

4 IF I receive such a call on my mobile, I usually start by telling the caller that they are in breach of the national and state communications acts as they have broke the 'do not call lists' as well as their corperate do not call list, and that it is a $1000 dollar compensation and $1000 dollar fine for EACH breach of the do not call lists, and they now OWE me $3000  and each level of government $1000 that they MUST PAY or face jail time. by this time the scammer is usually backpeddling and very appologetic, but so far I have not received a cent from the scammers (btw I am NOT a lawyer, just a computer tech that has some lawyers as customers, and can NOT stand any form of scamming)

harpo

OR... "You have reached the number of Detective Inspector Trigger, you do not need to leave your name or number as I have recorded your details for future contact."