talkmagic.co.uk

Just had one of these phone calls,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/ju ... ll-centres

Just a heads up, that if you get a phone call from someone claiming to have got your phone number because your computer is sending it to them because you have a virus (sometimes they say they are from microsoft too).
It's a scam, put the phone down.
Goodbye.

The companies that make these calls are absolute scum.

I've been getting these calls on and off for a rather long time now.
If I'm not working on a particularly difficult job I keep them on the line for as long as possible on the basis that the longer they are failing to scam someone who knows it is a scam, the less time they can spend scamming those who might fall for it.

Threads about them pop up once in a while and to be honest, I think it's great. The more people discuss the scam, the more people should be aware of it and not fall for it.

The most important things to remember though - if your computer is running slowly that doesn't mean the cold-call is genuine or that they can help you... and if you've seen a long list of "errors and warnings" that they showed you - it means nothing.
(For the benefit of those who might still be tempted to entertain the scammers.)

I'm still waiting for mine... I have a fresh tape in the interview recorder waiting. It'll be a hell of a scoop!

I trust you'll be posting it up here when the time comes, Tomo?

I feel quite upset, as the scammers seem to have stopped calling me! It was probably the bit when I started reading three word story out (pretending to not know I was doing it) that scared them off...

They phone us all the time, posing as Microsoft staff with a warning about "our trackers indicate viruses on your system". They could be just plausible enough to someone who knows nothing about computers. If you go along with them, they'll talk you through opening the Events Manager log (which is always shocking to look at) and then go on to talk you through getting online and downloading some software. After which, of course, you will have viruses on your system.

We have an extremely discouraging message on our answering machine, which has discouraged various sales callers but not these scum. Surely they must get tired of it sooner or later.

I've just found the useful website Who Calls Me, where you can input the number of an unwanted call and (with luck) find out who's behind it or at least where it's coming from.

By discourageing, do you mean in an "AAAAAAARRRRRGGGHGHHGHHH!!!!! The orange is out of the egg! GET AWWWAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!" way or a "stop calling please" way? I feel the first type always works.

BigShot wrote:I trust you'll be posting it up here when the time comes, Tomo?

Sorry, but as a freelance writer on computing security matters, I'll be pitching it to an editor.

spooneythegoon wrote:By discourageing, do you mean in an "AAAAAAARRRRRGGGHGHHGHHH!!!!! The orange is out of the egg! GET AWWWAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!" way or a "stop calling please" way? I feel the first type always works.

The first type sounds good, and all the editors I work with already know I'm nuts. Not sure about hospital appointment calls, though. They may start making appointments for a different kind of hospital.

It's just a blunt, "This phone is registered with the Telephone Preference Service. Sales and survey calls will NOT be answered."

I've just found out I can arrange blocking of all "number withheld" calls for about £2.50 a month. It won't stop these particular scammers, though, since they don't withhold their number.

Maybe I'll keep an airhorn and/or police whistle by the phone.

Let them go through their pantomime of pretending to fix the computer, then at the end say: "There's just one thing I don't understand about all this; the computer isn't switched on..."

Tomo - understandable. Maybe after the pitch/article though... if you intend on having fun that is.

As for the joke punchline to the calls... I'm starting to know the steps off by heart now so I'll eventually be able to do nothing but keep working, tag them along for a couple of hours (a lot of "it's running really slowly, you'll have to hold on a minute" type comments really drag the conversation out - just leave them sitting on a quiet line for as long as possible - low input, great results) and finish with "I don't own a computer" or "but this is a Mac" or some other equally stupid line.

I think next time they ask "how many errors are there?" I'm going to start counting out loud from 1 - and when they interrupt I'll "lose count" and start again.

It is running slow, yes. Do you think I should upgrade to dos 3.3 ?

Discombobulator wrote:It is running slow, yes. Do you think I should upgrade to dos 3.3 ?

Robbie wrote:I've just found out I can arrange blocking of all "number withheld" calls for about £2.50 a month. It won't stop these particular scammers, though, since they don't withhold their number.

..... depends which company provides your phone service.
I'm with Virgin and we get "anonymous call barring" for free.
If anyone rings and witholds their number, they get the message, "sorry your call has not been accepted, anonymous call barring is in operation."

Hmf. I'm with Virgin too, and their website says £2.55 a month. Maybe they like you better!

But the point is, it still wouldn't stop most of the annoyance calls we get because they're not withholding their numbers.