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I got a call today from someone with a heavy Asian accent saying he’s from Microsoft, calling from Texas. He claimed my computer is sending Microsoft a message that it’s been attacked by hackers. They registered all my information when I bought the computer, and therefore they want me to correct the problem by going to a certain site… (I’ll wait on the line till you open your computer…)
Is someone stalking me out??? Someone here blew my ID?
Kidding. Anyways I told him I have no connection (oh really), he apologized, he said he must have mixed up the number..
I really should have given him his money’s worth by playing dumb, for half an hour. “Computer? What’s that?…” I really didn’t have the time.
Warning: Follow him and you’re sure to have your computer infected. (Then for $300 he’ll “fix” it.)
If you want, I can infect then fix your computer for $150. That’s a 50% discount over Microsoft!
How he got your number? Probably from the RFID on your Chase credit card. ^_^
Everything you do and post from a computer can be traced….these days anyone can find out your phone number, they just look in the phone book! They might have taken a random number from any phone book or something..
Shopping613 [$]613 The Awarder, President, and founder of SUC (Single Username Certificates) contact me to join.
Current members: Me ShtickyGuy Aurora7
The kindest thing you can do for the world in this situation is keep on the line.
“Oh, a virus/hacking/whatever. That’s terrrible, thank you so much! Let me turn on my computer, hold on please”
<Put line on mute, carry on with life for 2 mins>
“That’s it it’s on. What should I do now”
<Don’t listen for answer, carry on with your life for 30 secs>
“Ok, I’ve got it. Just hang on let me find where to that”
<Put line on mute, carry on with life for 2 mins>
And keep them hanging while not actually investing much time if stringing them along. That way they’ll have less time to scam some other person.
42: ^_^
I got the same call (going on all over). He said something about my Windows program and I started talking to him about my windows- they weren’t dirty and didn’t need to be cleaned.
It’s a scam- watch out!
I’ve gotten a few calls from these guys. They are worse than the regular “Rachel from card member services” scammers because they call and ask for you by name. (I have no idea where they got that info.)
Its a well known scam, (see http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/avoid-phone-scams.aspx) where they basically tell you that your computer is sending them signals that there is a problem and then they direct you to the windows error log (which ALWAYS will show errors). They then either tell you to install software that gives them access to your computer or ask you for money (credit card #) to fix it.
Of course, I am on the Do Not Call Registry and have asked them not to call me again, however, they continue to call and have even cursed at me when I asked to be removed from their calling list.
The best bet is to not answer the calls if they call back, or just hang up as soon as you realize it’s them.
If you gave out any personal information, call you bank immediately and report your credit card compromised.
Good luck!
I got a call, “about your Con Edison bill”. If I want to lower my rates, I just have to let him know.
They try that it should sound like they are Con Edison calling, while it is carefully enough worded that they are saying the truth: they are merely an anonymouss company calling about my Con Ed bill.
Some hang up when I insist that they tell me their company’s name. The other one asked me for my account number. I said, “You called me. Tell me my account number.”
I once got a call from ‘Verizon’ that they have a new service which would reduce my long distance charge.
The guy stated that its a mandatory change, only that since this new law just passed verizon did not have time to mail out notices..
At first I said OK, so they then transferred me to a verizon rep which told me that this company had nothing to do with Verizon and is a private company.
I told him that I am not interested, they then transferred me back to this ‘company’ I told him that this sounds like a scam. He called his supervisor, she repeated this entire nonsense. about this mandatory stuff.
I told her that if this is the case, than why call me, if its mandatory then do it without my consent, if not than have a great day. she started talking about fines and fees if I dont consent, I just told her to have a great day.
if you do have time, you can have great fun with these scammers. when they called me last week, i feigned distress and he didnt know how to reply and hung up on ME! “Oh no, that’s terrible! Warning messages? Errors? oh oh oh! Oh. Wait. Is that my web cam giving you issues again? oh, its not? oh no, more errors! Which error is it showing you know? whats the problem?? Whats it say??”
He probobly looked in the phone book, DUH
Shopping613 [$]613 The Awarder, President, and founder of SUC (Single Username Certificates) contact me to join.
Current members: Me ShtickyGuy Aurora77
I got a call asking for my mother (she’s the name on the bills and stuff) and I pretended to be her husband, started yelling at the guy “oh are you the one she’s been cheating on me with?! How dare you have the audacity to call her on the house phone! What are you insane?!” When he started mumbling that he’s just from some company etc. I yelled “oh yeah great cover-up as if I’m going to believe that!” to which he replied you can check your caller-id sir and of course I said “wow! So she’s cheating on me with some low-life who can’t even get a real job!! I hope you know I installed a caller-tracking device on this line, and now I’ve located you and coming after you!!!” haha. That guy didn’t call again 🙂
Lol! That’s something I totally would of done if I was old enough…
Shopping613 [$]613 The Awarder, President, and founder of SUC (Single Username Certificates) contact me to join.
Members:
Shopping613 (ME)
Rabbi Perfect
ShtickyGuy
Aurora77
Moskidoodle
Zeeskeit
I also got the Microsoft call. We had some fun with guy before laughing him onto the hook. “I’m not online, so how did you get the error?” “Which computer?” “What version of Windows do I have?”
Rabbi Perfect: We had a similar situation a couple of years ago. Some woman called asking for my husband and I gave the same shpiel you did. “Oh so your the woman my husband’s cheating with?….”
I must say, I really had a good time with that! Of course my husband was standing right next to me and laughing the whole time.
I love having fun with these people.
I got a call, “about your Con Edison bill”. If I want to lower my rates, I just have to let him know.”
That happens to me fairly frequently and we do not HAVE Con Ed, though I live in a part of Queens. I have come to learn recently that as annoying as these calls are, there are things in life that can happen to us, that are REAL problems. This ain’t one of them.
Are cthese 1-800 numbers? Cuz when we see when either we’ll answer to make a joke out of it or we’ll press talk then immediately hang up and the other guy must be like “what just happened?”
Shopping613 [$]613 The Awarder, President, and founder of SUC (Single Username Certificates) contact me to join.
Members:
Shopping613 (ME)
Rabbi Perfect
ShtickyGuy
Aurora77
Moskidoodle
Zeeskeit
I also got the computer call a while back. The guy had an Indian accent so I started bugging him about where in India he’s from, with him not understanding and arguing that he’s calling from Texas… I tried getting on his nerves, but I think he was more successful at annoying me. His comprehension was zero, and he was way too dumb to realize he’s being played.
I also pulled a Jerry Seinfeld once, “I’m busy now, how about you give me your house number, and I’ll call you at around 6ish, you can’t do that? You probably don’t want people calling you at home bothering you? Now you know how I feel!” and hang up! Of course I also do a lot of different accents with them, and sometimes just speak a different language, and if they transfer me (which once actually happened) I change to a completely different language. I’ve gone from English to Russian to Hebrew, it’s hilarious!
shouldn’t these callers be reported to some authority? they are attempting theft
You’re studying this problem for over 8 months?!?
I once had a lot of fun flirting with the scammer girl. I told her that she had such a pretty name. It was something like Jane Miller, so bland LOL. I told her that I wanted to go out with her.
That is so not like me, but I wanted to turn the tables. I think it worked. That was the last time they called.
BTW, I did report to the bank that someone was using their name to try to scam.
(not so eidel)
Rule number 1. Your bank, electric company etc. will never call and ask you for your account number. If they dont know it nobody does!
Rule number 2. Once your account is opened, they will NEVER ask you to verify anything, certainly not your name, social security number and banking information. The most they might ask you to verify every so often, IF, you are signed up for online communication is to verify your email address, and even then, they will make it clear the communication came from them.
Rule number 3. If you are unsure about communication supposedly from a financial institution, ask them to verify that they are who they claim they are. If is not to your satisfaction, hang up on them, you are not obligated to speak to them. If you are unsure, go into a local branch and ask them if there are issues with your account that require them to reach out to you.
Rule number 4. And this really should be rule number 1, if you dont know who is calling, pull a “Tom Mabe” on them.
Rule number 1. Your bank, electric company etc. will never call and ask you for your account number. If they dont know it nobody does!”
That’s exactly what I told the scammer who called me, telling me there was a problem with my credit card account and they needed my information. When they asked for my name, address and phone number, I told them, “You called ME, you should already have that info.” Then I was put on hold for a “supervisor” who then proceeded to curse at me. I hung up quickly.
These are ALL scams, and the best thing to do is hang up and call that credit card company, utility, store, etc. and verify that they in fact were trying to contact you. Sometimes they ARE.
Years ago, when the whole AIDS thing was just starting, my mom got a call from some telemarketer. He made the mistake of asking her, “How are you doing today?” She answered back, “Not so good – I just found out I have AIDS.” The guy hung up on her and never called back.
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