My father has received three phone calls so far from someone claiming to be a Microsoft representative, with two different angles played thus far. The first was that our version of Windows is unregistered and that we need to register it somehow (presumably by providing credit card details). The most recent phone call it was actually a security flaw that we needed to rectify by purchasing some software for £200… Sad thing is, my father was suckered briefly and asked myself and my mother whether it was legitimate. I just told him to hang up, but he passed the phone to my mother. My mother was informed that he was going to infect our PC with a virus.
The most unfortunate aspect of this is anyone slightly more inept with computers than my father would presumably find such a line plausible.
I’ve received a few of those scam calls, too. They can sound VERY convincing, especially if you’ve reported problems to MS. However, they made a couple of mistakes…one of the mistakes being that they were under the impression that my phone number still belonged to Ernesto Santos, and another mistake was that they could bullshit me into believing that my computer and internet access was somehow connected to my phone number.
It’s time to get out the guillotine and poles again.
I’ve had a couple of those calls, too - my response was basically to laugh at him and hang up. I was tempted to say something like, “Really? REALLY? You seriously think I’m going to discuss my computer with some random asshole?” but I didn’t. Maybe next time.
Or maybe next time I’ll just tell them that all our computers are Macs.
I used to use such calls as a way of venting my frustrations. I’d cuss, scream, and totally let loose. But the wife says that scares the cats, so now I just take a page from Bill Watterson:
(ring, ring)(Caller ID says it isn’t local)
Me: “Hello there! I’d like to order a large anchovy pizza, please.”
Them: “?”
Me: “Oh, I’m sorry. I must have the wrong number.”
