Transcript of my call with an Indian Microsoft Support scammer.

[JtB]

Unfortunately my dad got caught with this a couple of years ago. He gave them access and they wiped a lot of system files rendering the laptop unusable then took £149 (I think) from him. Seeing him in tears when it was explained made me want to throttle anyone involved in this scam.

That's very sad. My Dad was almost caught by a similar scam but had the presence of mind to pull out the Ethernet cable before any real damage could be done. I had stern words with him when I found out and left strict instructions that I'm the only person he should ever allow to remote log onto his computer.

 

[ufkacbln]

I received a similar call (to the OP) yesterday from 005415634613. The woman on the other end said she was from Microsoft and they had detected a bad signal from my computer indicating that it had downloaded a virus from the internet. Firstly I asked what she meant by a "computer", I had never heard of such a thing before and then I asked her what this "internet thingy" was she was talking about. After finally giving up she told me to "go to hell" and then hung up.

I Pulled the "Major Cartwright" ploy this morning

When I asked him to stay on the line as we had almost pinpointed his location, he called me a Barsteward and hung up

 

[glenn forger]

Mum's 93 and gets these calls. Boils my piss. Once I ripped off The Jerky Boys and asked the caller is Dylan was there. When they said there was nobody called Dylan there I accused them of murdering Dylan.

 

[TVC]

My last one a few days ago I played along, but ended every sentence of my replies with the C word, said quickly as punctuation. He kept pausing and thinking about it, because he knew I had given the response he wanted to hear, but wasn't sure whether he heard the word he thought he heard. He got the message eventually.

 

[ufkacbln]

Mum's 93 and gets these calls. Boils my piss. Once I ripped off The Jerky Boys and asked the caller is Dylan was there. When they said there was nobody called Dylan there I accused them of murdering Dylan.

Been posted before, but did someone mention a murder?

 

[gbb]

There's almost always a pause after you pick the phone up. That gives their game away. I wait for them to introduce themselves, then put the phone down without saying anything.

I was once abusive down the phone to a Brit who cold called, and he plagued me for several days by ringing back and being abusive. Unfortunately his number was withheld so I could not take it further. But I was pleased to waste his time.

My favoured method...the second I realise its a cold call......click. Just hang up, don't explain, don't say a word, just hang up.

My wife has taken to screening my calls as well now....she answers the phone, I guess by her response it's someone asking for me, she asks..
'Can i ask who's calling ?
'Muffled response'
Click......she just hangs up.
'

 

[Andrew_Culture]

The number of unwanted calls I was getting was so bad I considered ditching my landline. But I run a business from home and only having a mobile number for a business looks hooky in my opinion. I considered getting a forwarding number but it would work out a lot more expensive.

In the end I bought a hardware call blocker, which is surprisingly effective http://lawsie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/how-to-stop-nuisance-calls-really-easy.html