Computer scam disappointment

[Don McKenzie]

Last night at around 18:00, I got a phone call from a Mike Johnson from a "muffled (not very clear)" computer company.
Sounded like an Indian accent. Unusual I thought.

He said I have a computer problem, and he would be able to help me fix it.

Well, so many have had this call in the past, and it was my first time, so I was pretty enthusiastic to play the game.

Perhaps too enthusiastic, he hung up before we got started.
What a bitter disappointment.

I assume they are still catching plenty of people out still.

Don...



--
Don McKenzie

$30 for an Olinuxino Linux PC:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html

The World's Cheapest Computer:
DuinoMite the PIC32 $25 Basic Computer-MicroController
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/the-maximite-computer.html
Add VGA Monitor/TV, and PS2 Keyboard, or use USB Terminal
Arduino Shield, Programmed in Basic, or C.

 

[Sylvia Else]

Last night at around 18:00, I got a phone call from a Mike Johnson from
a "muffled (not very clear)" computer company.
Sounded like an Indian accent. Unusual I thought.

He said I have a computer problem, and he would be able to help me fix it.

Well, so many have had this call in the past, and it was my first time,
so I was pretty enthusiastic to play the game.

Perhaps too enthusiastic, he hung up before we got started.
What a bitter disappointment.

The natural response of an ideal mark is to express concern or worry.
This is what you have to simulate.

Sylvia.

 

[Petzl]

The natural response of an ideal mark is to express concern or worry.
This is what you have to simulate.

Sylvia.

I'm with Telstra and HAVE to have a landline phone?
Get these calls all the time never hang up tell them I'm getting
someone to answer and leave the phone by the TV

Not sure but wonder if a Internet phone will stop charging caller when
I do this?

Used to be if I call "you" on a landline and didn't hang up it would
disable your phone till I did. Not other way around (Landline to me is
unimportant)

 

[felix_unger]

The natural response of an ideal mark is to express concern or worry.
This is what you have to simulate.

Sylvia.

I just blast them with 110db from a personal security alarm

 

[Petzl]

I just blast them with 110db from a personal security alarm

Talk quietly first

 

[Rod Speed]

I'm with Telstra and HAVE to have a landline phone?

But you don't have to even have a phone plugged into it.

Get these calls all the time never hang up tell them I'm
getting someone to answer and leave the phone by the TV

Not sure but wonder if a Internet phone
will stop charging caller when I do this?

They don't get charged for the length of the call at
all, just for the call itself, and only cents for that too.

Used to be if I call "you" on a landline and didn't
hang up it would disable your phone till I did.

Nope. You would always see a B party disconnect
rather later, usually after about a minute and a half.

It was done like that so that when you were called,
you could unplug the phone, move it to somewhere
else in the house, plug it into the socket there, and
continue with the call that had just come in.

Not other way around

Yes there is, don't even have a phone plugged in at all.

 

[Bob Milutinovic]

The natural response of an ideal mark is to express concern or worry. This
is what you have to simulate.

Sylvia.

Just think to yourself, "what would Winnie the Pooh say in a situation like
this?" ;-)

 

[Jeßus]

Last night at around 18:00, I got a phone call from a Mike Johnson from a "muffled (not very clear)" computer company.
Sounded like an Indian accent. Unusual I thought.

He said I have a computer problem, and he would be able to help me fix it.

Well, so many have had this call in the past, and it was my first time, so I was pretty enthusiastic to play the game.

Perhaps too enthusiastic, he hung up before we got started.
What a bitter disappointment.

I assume they are still catching plenty of people out still.

They called me last week while I was doing my home brew, straight off
I asked him what the **** he wanted (in those words), which he either
ignored or it went over his head.

I had the cordless handset so I thought why not string him along as it
wasn't slowing me down with the brewing. After about 25 minutes I got
a bit bored, so that's when I explained I was wasting his time.

He didn't like it... the discussion then got *very* interesting for
nearly another 20 minutes when I compared my lifestyle to his, being
in some cubicle in some sewer of a city in Africa before he finally
hung up.

He didn't believe I was an (retired) IT tech, because I couldn't
provide him with my 'I.D number'

 

[Sylvia Else]

Last night at around 18:00, I got a phone call from a Mike Johnson from
a "muffled (not very clear)" computer company.
Sounded like an Indian accent. Unusual I thought.

He said I have a computer problem, and he would be able to help me fix it.

Well, so many have had this call in the past, and it was my first time,
so I was pretty enthusiastic to play the game.

Perhaps too enthusiastic, he hung up before we got started.
What a bitter disappointment.

I assume they are still catching plenty of people out still.

Don...

I got to play today.

First we got to visit the event log, where the reported errors were
claimed to be evidence of virus attacks. Without being prompted I opened
a report and told him that it said "Time not set". He just told me not
to open them, and alleged that it was dangerous to do so.

Then we went off to a command prompt, where he got me to enter an assoc
command. He drew my attention to the

..ZFSendToTarget=CLSID{888DCA60-FC0A-11CF-8F0F-00C04FD7D062}

line and told me that it was my computer's serial number (it's actually
always the same number), and proceeded to get me to start checking it as
he read it out. When he got to the 11CF part, I insisted that it was
11CD. This should have been his first real clue that I wasn't really a
mark. He started again, and again, when we reached 11CF I insisted that
it as 11CD. He brushed that off on the basis that the preceeding part
was the serial number, and 11CD etc part was something else.

Then he got me to go to a web site, and click on a link that would
download some software. He asked what I saw, and I said there was a
window that said "You don't want to run this." He asked whether there
was a button marked along the lines of "run anway". I said there was, so
he asked me to press it. I told him that I had, and that it said "You
really don't want to run this."

Then we had some discussion about whether I had a virus checker
installed. I said (falsely, as it happens) that I didn't.

So he then directed me to a different web page, and again click to
download a program. I said that a window came up saying "You don't want
to run this either."


And finally, he twigged.

Sheesh, these people are slow. No wonder they're working for Indian scam
call centres.

Sylvia.

 

[Damian]

I got to play today.

How do you do that?!
Did you disclose your phone number to them?

 

[Sylvia Else]

How do you do that?! Did you disclose your phone number to them?

No. I think they just target numbers are random. You just have to wait,
and be ready.

I've had a number of such calls. Sometimes I've played, and sometimes
I've just hung up on them. Depends on my mood and other demands on my time.

Sylvia.

 

[Don McKenzie]

No. I think they just target numbers are random. You just have to wait, and be ready.

I've had a number of such calls. Sometimes I've played, and sometimes I've just hung up on them. Depends on my mood and
other demands on my time.

Sylvia.

Now getting a lot of "0011976000" numbers during the afternoon towards evening meal time.

Have answered with: "I bought a jeep", and "I have been waiting for you to call as I missed you", and they always hang
up, or no speaky.

Google 0011976000 brings up some interesting results.

for example:
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-001-197-6000

Don...


--
Don McKenzie

$30 for an Olinuxino Linux PC:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/olinuxino.html

The World's Cheapest Computer:
DuinoMite the PIC32 $25 Basic Computer-MicroController
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/the-maximite-computer.html
Add VGA Monitor/TV, and PS2 Keyboard, or use USB Terminal
Arduino Shield, Programmed in Basic, or C.