I just got a really strange phone call… showed up on my caller ID as ‘Unassignes’, the # is 206-456-0661. It was a guy with a thick Middle Eastern accent who said it was a call from ‘Microcell’. He said his name was Mike… no wait, my name is Roger, at which point I interrupted and said wait… you don’t know your own name? He just laughed and said his name isn’t important, was I the main usert of the computer? I said yes. He started in saying they had information that my computer was going to crash completely soon, at which point I interrupted again, said this is bull shit, put me on your do not call list.
Anyone ever heard of anything like this before? What the hell kind of call did I just take?
This is a fairly common scam. They persuade rubes to give them remote access to the computer to fix an invented problem, and then load it up with trojans with identity theft in mind.
No need for even the identity theft problem, they are working in a remote call center on commission only. Charge $49-$79 to correct the invented problem, and call it a day. Get 2-3 a day get 20% commission and its a decent income in the phillipines or vietnam. Even a 1% sucker rate can be good money.
As I understand it, those tones in the message are what autodialers look for to avoid connecting telemarketers to disconnected numbers. IANA phone guy so I may be wrong.
Those of us who know them, know to wait for the beep, and leave a message.
We get several of these every week - absurdly implausible - the last one I picked up sounded like this guy - claiming something along the lines of being “from The Department of Fixing Computer Problems” - I played along with him for a while, and it was clear he was going to get me to install some bit of malware on my computer.
I pushed him for the name of the company he worked for and he kept on implying that he was something to do with Microsoft, but curiously, carefully and strenuously avoided actually claiming it explicitly (trying to fly below the radar of Microsoft’s attention maybe?)
I’ve received a couple of calls that claim that my computer is sending in some sort of virus alerts. The thing is, they keep thinking that I’m Ernesto Santos, who apparently had this phone number before we did. And they keep insisting that Ernesto’s computer is linked to my phone number. I keep telling them that this is impossible, as Ernesto has never lived here.
I’ve had similar calls a couple times recently, though mine claimed to be from Microsoft itself. I played along for a while the second time because I was curious what the scam was. He had me go to the computer and asked me to type a url into the address bar of my browser (which I typed into google instead), and it came up as a web-based vnc-type deal.
The caller that time was really quite good. I was argumentative the whole time, and he had this longsuffering resigned air about him, how he was only concerned about helping me with the viruses on my computer in spite of my bad attitude.
Next time I’m going to play the breathless rube and fake going along further. I’ll read him out the connection code or however the vnc-dealie works (though not the right one of course) and then make up all kinds of shit about what happens next. Every minute of his time I waste is a minute he’s not scamming grandma.
Or you could claim that you typed in the URL and got a message that “This Domain name has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigations pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by the US District Court” (similar to what you see at pokerstars.com). That could be fun too.
They’ve called me a couple of times. IIRC, the call originates somewhere in Pakistan and is relayed through Seattle, WA…
I’ve had lots of fun with them either trying to get them to give me more information about them (to include on the report I file) or just playing stupid with them. For extra kicks, sometimes I’ll put my 2 year old daughter on, who can talk a mile a minute, especially if you mention Dora or Diego. It can be extremely entertaining.
I know that these people will most likely never be prosecuted but I feel that the longer I keep them on the line must cost them in long-distance charges, salaries(?), and hopefully other potential victims.
Dangerous, perhaps, but fun, as long as you know enough to not cross the line. I wonder what these dudes ask for? Your IP? If so, I’d just give them another one and see how long I could waste their time.
I don’t mean this in an accusatory way—more curiosity—why do you (the OP and others who do it) answer the phone for numbers you don’t recognize? I stopped doing so years ago, due to the 99%+ likelihood that it’ll be telemarketer, scammer, robo-call pollster, collections agency looking for someone I’ve never heard of, or garden-variety wrong number.
On the minuscule chance it’s a legit call, I figure they’ll leave a message and I’ll call right back. The other morons don’t get an opportunity to waste my time.
Normally I answer just to tell them to put me on their internal do not call list. That is the LEGAL way to stop them from calling. If, after 24 hours, that company calls again, you can turn them into the FCC and they will get slapped with an $11,000 fine.
I just had another customer call last night about this, he let them in and they started “working” they were offering “lifetime” virus cleanup for $390 after “detecting” a problem remotely before he allowed them in.