How the hell do they get past the issue of identifying the one computer out of four that has the problem? It has never failed for me.
j
“The one you are using”
“Oh, you mean my cell phone?”
“No, the Windows computer you are using”
It could take a while.
“I’m not using a computer at the moment”.
Then - ?
j
Before I silenced my ringer in favor of dedicated voice messages only, I used to ask 1 question
of the “your computer is corrupted, we can fix it now”, caller(s).
“I have several computers, what is the IP of the unit you’re referencing”? - crickets - great fun.
Sometimes they’ll just hang up. You would be surprised how many times I’m transferred to one
of their supervisors/bosses. Like that’s gonna’ help.
There ya go - you have the technical skills that I lack. The term is now memorized.
j
As others have said, it depends how busy I am.
I have in the past denied having:
- a car (when they were calling about a road accident)
- a computer
- a telephone (“How are you talking to me? I don’t have a phone!”)
My best was when a caller said “This is Amazon Customer Support. There is a problem on your account.”
I noted the number and asked them to call back as I was busy.
When they rang back a few hours later, I answered the phone with “Amazon Customer Support - how may I help you?”
After a pause the scammer said nervously “No, I’m Amazon Customer Support.”
I continued “Would you like me to transfer you to Amazon Customer Support?”
They hung up.
Yes, well, the scammers are busy calling and telling us to download it. Joke’s on them; our computers are so locked down I can’t get to any outside website.
For a little while I started answer scam calls with “[pick a city] 911, where’s your emergency”. They’d start into their spiel and I’d cut them off “-sir…sir, sir, this is 911, what’s the nature of your emergency” and over and over. While a few would get noticeably rattled by it, most of them, for whatever reason would just keep pushing through whatever they had to say. If I could hear them getting annoyed I’d usually end it by saying “Sir, I have your location pulled up in my system, I’m sending emergency vehicles, please watch for them” and maybe add in a “can you stay on the line with me until they arrive”.
And if anyone wants to tell me that ‘impersonating a 911 dispatcher’ is illegal (maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, I have no idea), who’s going to report me to the police, the scammer? Kinda doubt it. I figure, at best, they’ll delete my number on the off chance that they may have accidentally called a police station and at worst, what, they’ll call me 10 times a day instead of 8. Doesn’t really matter at this point.
The one you used recently.
Honestly, I’ve had this exact conversation. And yes, they eventually went away.
I’d guess most of them are in India and have no idea what you were talking about.
When we used to get the (technically legit, but still scammy) “we can lower your phone bill” calls, I usually just told them we don’t use phones here and hang up while they were audibly confused.
I’m sure that’s true for quite a number of them. But some of them I do think are US Based. Especially when (before even answering) I can google the number and see that’s it’s a “real” business. Maybe running scams, maybe not, but still based in the US and cold calling my phone.
Even if they are based in India, it’s not like I owe them story that holds up in their country.
However, in the interest of, I don’t know, my own curiosity, their equivalent would be either 100, 108 or 112 depending on where they are. Suppose I could try that if I really wanted to.
My phone reads out the caller id number, so I don’t even have to get up to check. NoMoRobo handles 90% of them, 90% of the rest hang up when it goes to voice mail. The car warranty scam sometimes leaves a message.
I don’t get these any more, but when I did I sometimes asked them what operating system I use. They hung up, I guess because anyone who knows what an OS is is not going to fall for their scam. I did suggest that one guy did obscene things with his mother, and that got him really mad.
If they ever call back I’m going to ask if they sell double pane or single pane windows, and absolutely act unaware that there is any other type.
Y’all get better quality scammers than I do.
The two times I tried to mess with them (your computer is corrupting the internet! or whatever) their English was so bad we couldn’t even communicate. I practically had to do all the work. It’s a piss-poor scammer than can’t even run his own scam.
There’s some YouTube guy who makes videos showing himself scamming the scammers, somehow sniffing out their system while they’re using something like TeamViewer to sniff his. He talks in funny voices and pretends to be a confused, elderly lady. My favorite title is “Scammer BEGS For His Deleted Files As I Drink His Tears”
And, it’s actually worth the watch. Not including a link cuz I don’t love YT but I do really love that vid.
Same. I don’t even answer calls from known numbers if it’s not convenient for me, so why in the world would I answer a call from an unknown number*?
*unless I’m expecting someone, like a service person.
I can’t remember the last time I answered a spam call, because like others here I almost always ignore unknown callers, particularly those from outside my area code.
If it’s something vital like my nephew losing his wallet in Ankara and needing me to wire him $$$ immediately to pay for an emergency blood transfusion, he’ll leave a message.
Don’t answer unknown numbers.
Only use my phone for my medic alert system. Otherwise the ringer is turned off (I happy-danced when I learned how to turn it off).
I get so few real calls, sometimes I chat with them. I was once called by a woman whose estranged father had been one of my best friends a decade earlier.