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Scam by phone

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:19 pm
by everettdavis
I talked to a former co-worker who lives in California.

He received a call from Microsoft from a gentleman with a pronounced Indian accent telling him that his computer was producing errors.

He asked if he could take remote control to fix the errors.

My friend asked him what he needed to do.

He told the caller, I don’t understand.

The caller repeated the instructions and told him exactly what keys to press.

He responded with “I’m having trouble following your instructions.”

The caller asked what was on his screen at the moment.

He replied “Three Floors”

The caller said “did you say three fours?”

He asked him to repeat that again which he did. He then said “go ahead and backspace over the three fours.”

He replied, “I can’t do that.”

The caller said “Just take your keyboard and backspace over the fours.”

He replied “I can not get that to work”

The caller said “The backspace key is not working?”

He replied “no, I cannot find my keyboard”

The caller said go to the backside of your computer and find the two smaller wires and follow them. At the other end of one of them you will find the keyboard “

He replied “I cannot. My keyboard and mouse are wireless”

The caller said “lift up some things around your computer until you find the keyboard”

He said “I cannot. It is too heavy”

The caller said “I do not understand why you cannot perform this task”

He replied “That makes us equal. I cannot understand why my computer is producing the errors you are seeing. Are you still seeing them?”

The caller replied “Yes we are. And we need to fix them before you bring down your neighbors”

He said “My neighbors are already down. You see the fire two weeks ago brought down all four floors of my apparent complex.”

The caller said “You’re neighbors are all down?”

He said “Yes those are the three floors that came down on top of my floor and why I can’t lift things up to find my keyboard.

I am amazed you can see stuff coming off my computer still, because after that fire I can’t even see my apartment.”

CLICK, dial tone...

Everett

Re: Scam by phone

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:08 am
by garys
Usually I just tell the "Microsoft guy" that he must have called the wrong number because I don't have a computer. He hangs up.



Although one day I decided to play his game and did this:


Sonjay from Brooklyn called me.

Sonjay: Your computer is sending errors. You go to computer?
Gary: OK, I'm at the computer.
Sonjay: Click on "Start" button at the bottom left hand corner of your screen.
Gary: I don't have a Start button.
Sonjay: What you have at lower left corner?
Gary: I have a footprint.
Sonjay: Click on that. What you see?
Gary: I have a menu.
Sonjay: What is in menu?
Gary: Graphics, Internet, Office.
Sonjay: Click on My Computer.
Gary: I don't have My Computer.
Sonjay: You have Windows 7,8,XP?
Gary: No, I have Linux.
Sonjay: Open Internet Explorer.
Gary: I don't have Internet Explorer. It is for Windows.
Sonjay: You have Mac?
Gary, No, I have Linux.
Sonjay: Is this tablet or desktop.
Gary: Desktop with Linux.
Sonjay: CLICK................................dial tone.


I guess I said something wrong to Sonjay.

Re: Scam by phone

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:15 am
by dusty
It does seem like all of this scamming should be against the law and that someone should be working to put them out of business.

Then there is this call I keep getting. Someone wants to lower my interest rate. Interest on what? I deal almost entirely in cash and pay off my one credit account monthly. That account is used for my day to day consumables.

Re: Scam by phone

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:55 am
by Ed in Tampa
I got NOMOROBO for free from my phone company. So far it has cut down nearly all the robo calls and about 90% on all other junk calls. Love it! It is not perfect some calls slip through but you then report the number to them and it is blocked. It has been a life saver doing this election period.

Go to Nomorobo and see if you phone company is listed, if so install it and on your phone system.

Re: Scam by phone

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 4:25 pm
by john_001
+1 for nomorobo. The free version works with VoIP (cable) phones like Comcast or FIOS that allow call-forwarding to two numbers. There's a paid version for cell phones. I haven't tried that.