Fraudulent Microsoft Engineer, it makes you laugh

[zacklaws]

As a rule I never answer the phone unless I am expecting a call, at the moment I am waiting for the LBS to call me about my bike being ready for collection so today when the phone rang I answered it.

It was so funny too, instead of the usual double glazing, insurance kelter etc, they announced themselves as "I am Mr abbu dhabi (sounded like that) and I am a Microsoft engineer calling from Kenya, we are receiveing a lot of error messages from your computer and I would like to sort it out for you, are you in front of the computer now" so I said "No" and they replied "Ohhhhhh, well if you don't mind going and turning it on I can have a look at it and sort it out".

Anyway, I thought it was funny and at that point I told him to "f*** off" and put the phone down.

He rung back twice more in quick succession and still had the same dribble as if he had not rung me before.

The sad thing though is some people do get caught out by these scams and from what I can gather its been going since 2008 so it must be profitable for the thieving scammers

 

[Andy_R]

You can have a lot of fun with these guys if you know what you're doing. For instance:

"Switch your computer on for me please."

"O.k., I've done that."

"What's happening?"

"nothing yet"

"Anything happening yet?"

"No. Ooh, I remember now, it's switched off at the wall. Hang on. No, still nothing. Is it the button on the telly bit you want me to press?"

etc.,etc.,etc.


Another one:

"Can you click on the start button please?"

"Which one's that then?"

Or:

"Click Start for me please"

"OK...S....t....a....r....t.....(sounds of keyboard)....nothing's happening"


There are so many ways to amuse yourself at their expense.

 

[ohnovino]

Someone in work had a friend who got one of those calls. She fell for it, but she was so useless on computers that she inadvertently responded a bit like Andy_R's example. In the end the scammer got really worked up, shouted at her to "****ing hurry up" and eventually he got so frustrated he hung up

 

[ianrauk]

One called the mother in law.. but she is pretty wise about these things.

I would love to get one of these calls. It would be so much fun.

 

[zacklaws]

The trouble with having a bit of fun with them is, it was only a short while ago that the scams involved somehow getting you to pay for the phone call yourself unknowingly at a very high rate, so the longer you was on the phone, the more you got dicked for, and you never knew till you got the bill, so in principle its best just to tell them to f*** off and put the phone down ASP just in case.

I cannot recall how it worked when they rang you and spoke to you, but the other way was to just ring a couple of times and ring off, then when the phone owner rang that missed call they got dicked as it was very high rate phone number that they had dialled

 

[TwickenhamCyclist]

These chaps make a hobby of scamming the scammers back – well worth a read http://www.ebolamonkeyman.com/

 

[Theseus]

These chaps make a hobby of scamming the scammers back – well worth a read http://www.ebolamonkeyman.com/

Another good site for doing that is 419eater.

For advice and help if you have been a victim, there is a sister site ScamWarners

 

[roadrash]

on the few occasions ive had phone calls from double glazing or kitchen companys,I allways say the same thing .....im sorry im busy right now but if you give me your personal home number i will call you back later,i usually get the same reply .... i cant give you my home number , my immediate response being WELL YOUVE FACKIN GOT MINE...

 

[growingvegetables]

I had the same a few days back - had a bit of fun with them. Wanted me to log on to www.ammyy.com ----- ahem, no lads, no way, not ever!

 

[Andy_R]

I had the same a few days back - had a bit of fun with them. Wanted me to log on to www.ammyy.com ----- ahem, no lads, no way, not ever!

hehe...why on earth would I want to join the american army?......doh....my typing is terrible...www.army.com.....

 

[Dora]

We had one of those calls at work t'other week. I answered it, and just for fun passed it over to the IT manager. We both use macs at work.

Best fun I've had at work for a long time!!

 

[mr_cellophane]

I had one of those a couple of weeks ago. I asked them which computer was giving the errors (I have a small network). I asked for the IP address of the one that was giving errors as how else would they know it was my computer. I asked when it gave these errors. He said when it started up which is odd as I never turn my computers off. I asked which OS it was coming from as all mine have different ones.
I must have been talking to him for over 15 minutes and he remained calm all the time.

 

[TwickenhamCyclist]

When my mobile contract is up for renewal every year or so I get inundated with calls from resellers pretending to be from Orange… “As a valued and extra special Orange customer we would like to offer you a fantastic deal…. Could you confirm your name and dob” etc – always makes me laugh. I started telling them that I worked for the legal department at Orange and could they confirm that they were actually from Orange – which stopped some of them dead in their tracks.

I asked Orange why I was getting calls from companies that were obviously not part of their company and they said that under competition rules they legally had to publish which number’s contracts were up for renewal. The girl I spoke to said when she gets such calls (on her mobile) she simply tells them she doesn’t have a mobile phone. I tried this and it doesn’t half confuse the salesman

 

[Michaelt]

Two hours!!!! two whole hours it took to read the entire first episode, Mr Bo Jangles et al......

Funny though.

 

[mr_cellophane]

I used to get cold calls about upgrading my phone when I had a company one. I'd let them go through all the talk and then ask who in my firm had authorised it.