Author Topic: Scam calls (Read 3603 times)

bluehillside Retd. · « **on:** September 15, 2015, 12:30:10 PM »

I'm getting plagued just now by "I'm calling from Windows technical department" scam calls. Other than telling them to eff off and putting the 'phone down, does anyone have suggestions about how better to reply - or better yet to get them stop altogether?

Ta

Nearly Sane · « **Reply #1 on:** September 15, 2015, 12:37:48 PM »

It's a bit geeky but this would work. Other than that I would suggest you tell them you are recording the call and any actions on the computer to ensure tha you can give an adequate description of how useful they are to any interested parties

http://www.howtogeek.com/180514/the-“tech-support”-scammers-called-htg-so-we-had-fun-with-them/

bluehillside Retd. · « **Reply #2 on:** September 15, 2015, 12:57:01 PM »

Thanks NS. I hate these scumbags - they prey on the naive and vulnerable, often pensioners. It'd be great to pass the details to Plod if they have a section that would do something about it. I think I'll look into that.

All best

Aruntraveller · « **Reply #3 on:** September 15, 2015, 12:59:23 PM »

Well - the swearing relieves frustration - but I prefer the string along method.

Sound very interested ask relevant questions, then tell them you've got to answer the door, come back after 5 minutes, sound interested again ask relevant questions, tell them you've got to turn the oven off, come back after 5 minutes, repeat for as long as necessary. You may be rewarded (as I have in the past) by irritating them enough for them to swear at you - which is infinitly more gratifying than swearing at them. And you seldom get a call back. Of course this involves an initial input of your time and patience - but hey no pain, no gain.

PS I appreciate the technical nature of NS's suggestion - but too difficult for me.

Rhiannon · « **Reply #4 on:** September 15, 2015, 01:00:43 PM »

My mum - a tech savvie businesswoman and not a vulnerable old lady - got one routed through a 'private' number in Norwich.

Do we have lists of scam numbers or a register of some kind? They exist in the States and Oz.

Humph Warden Bennett · « **Reply #5 on:** September 15, 2015, 01:22:11 PM »

Block all "Anonymous" and "Number Withheld" calls.

Rhiannon · « **Reply #6 on:** September 15, 2015, 01:27:02 PM »

People who do that block me as I'm not yet on a digital exchange.

Hope · « **Reply #7 on:** September 15, 2015, 02:10:13 PM »

I have had similar calls, and I often start off by asking which computer they are referring to - ie ask them for the consumer licence ID (though I wasn't aware that that was the information's name). They can't generally tell me this, so I then say that I have x computers in the house (currently, with my daughter's and son-in-law's, there are 5). Occasionally, I will start off by asking how they are able to 'see' this kind of information when the computer I have is not even switched on. One or other of those generally scares them off.

Sebastian Toe · « **Reply #8 on:** September 15, 2015, 02:11:22 PM »

This guy is good.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLFnJVeHfIk

bluehillside Retd. · « **Reply #9 on:** September 15, 2015, 03:10:40 PM »

Thanks all for the tips and ideas.

Rhiannon · « **Reply #10 on:** September 15, 2015, 03:12:22 PM »

Would it be really really awful to set off a rape alarm near the handset? I mean, this is robbery in your own home...

OH MY WORLD! · « **Reply #11 on:** September 15, 2015, 05:29:37 PM »

I have somebody,probably an overseas call centre, that starts calling me at 6am and continues to call throughout the day. They won't leave a message and I don't answer the phone if I don't recognize the number calling. I had one scammer call me a few years ago and tell me that dad had left a million dollars in the bank of Canada for me and that he has people that will come to the house in a half hour with the check. Well, I just let loose on the guy screaming at him, calling him what he is and that the police will be called, he hung up on me. If I was wrong then how dare dad hide some money from my mom! Actually the guy was a complete fail, he started out asking for my dad by name, and I replied, I doubt he can come to the phone right now being that he's dead. Too funny

Hope · « **Reply #12 on:** September 15, 2015, 05:36:14 PM »

A friend of mine got one of these calls once and decided to let the guy ramble on - not least because he had a Mac at the time!! Fortunately, he was also semi-expecting a different call and had put a mic & headphone set on so as to leave his hands free to be getting on with work on the machine whilst he talked to his friend. Apparently he kept the guy on the line for about 30 minutes (thus making it impossible for that line to used to scam anyone else for that period) saying that he was unable to find whatever folder/file/program the guy asked him to open. The guy at the other end of the phone (and in my experience it always is a guy) must have been so gullible to have taken what my mate said as true!!

Hope · « **Reply #13 on:** September 15, 2015, 05:37:16 PM »

On another tack, could there be anything that we could say to those calling that could get them to pass money over to us - anyone thought of that yet?

Maeght · « **Reply #14 on:** September 15, 2015, 06:39:27 PM »

I've answered with these in various ways, sometimes saying 'Do you think I'm stupid?' and the like - but I also once asked the guy if there really weren't any other jobs where he was (I believe they all come from a call centre in India) that he could do which didn't involve trying to rip people off. It went quiet for a while then with a rather said voice said 'No' and put the phone down. I tried the same with a female caller and sh, rather distressed, said 'we're not allowed to argue' and again hung up. Made me wonder about the situation of the people doing the actual calling ..... but perhaps i was being scammed on that too! I think the rape alarm wouldn't be a good idea Rhiannon - comes from someone who suffers from Tinnitus.

trippymonkey · « **Reply #15 on:** September 15, 2015, 08:34:40 PM »

Here's what I DO !!!
Always these people don't talk straight away. There's a second or 2 gap before it all 'kicks in'. THEN i know it's THEM !!!!
When a voice asks if I'm - insert name- I say, IN A WEST INDIAN ACCENT, sorry no it's not N P. I did it once & it was AGES before I got any more calls like it.
I still do get an odd, very odd, few but nowhere near what I used to.

NOW if you can't 'change your personailty' as I did, maybe just saying sorry this is not, in your 'normal' voice & see what happens.
Try NOT to ask who it is until after you've denied yourself.

Nick

Maeght · « **Reply #16 on:** September 15, 2015, 09:02:29 PM »

Quote from: trippymonkey on September 15, 2015, 08:34:40 PM

Here's what I DO !!!
Always these people don't talk straight away. There's a second or 2 gap before it all 'kicks in'. THEN i know it's THEM !!!!
When a voice asks if I'm - insert name- I say, IN A WEST INDIAN ACCENT, sorry no it's not N P. I

N P. I ?

I am simple · « **Reply #17 on:** September 16, 2015, 07:39:20 AM »

I always answer
I haven't got a computer.
They always put the phone down.

Harrowby Hall · « **Reply #18 on:** September 16, 2015, 08:34:37 AM »

How about:

Interrupting them when they are part way into their spiel (they will be concentrating on completing their message) with "How did you get this number?"

Then, with the telephone held away from the face "Sergeant, is the trace on? it's another of those calls."

trippymonkey · « **Reply #19 on:** September 16, 2015, 09:07:59 AM »

OH YES Brilliant.

Certainly try that one next time !!!!

floo · « **Reply #20 on:** September 16, 2015, 09:17:38 AM »

Quote from: Harrowby Hall on September 16, 2015, 08:34:37 AM

How about:

Interrupting them when they are part way into their spiel (they will be concentrating on completing their message) with "How did you get this number?"

Then, with the telephone held away from the face "Sergeant, is the trace on? it's another of those calls."

Good one!

However, that wouldn't work for the automated ones!

Gordon · « **Reply #21 on:** September 16, 2015, 11:19:24 AM »

I've not had any calls about PC stuff but have had some wanting me to buy things, such as mobile phones.

If I can be bothered I let them ramble for a while and then casually ask 'does it matter that I've just been made bankrupt?' - that usually does the trick. If it is mobile phones I usually ask ''will a new phone improve the quality of my conversations?', which usually results in silence from the other end.

A friend of mine delights in excusing herself by making daft reasons for hanging up - a couple examples that I remember her saying she used are: ' You'll have to excuse me, I have especially restless teddy bear to attend to right now' and 'can't stop - there is a giraffe loose in my kitchen'.

Sometimes I just hang up

Harrowby Hall · « **Reply #22 on:** September 16, 2015, 12:07:59 PM »

OK

How about (for female respondents):

Breathlessly "(Gasp) This isn't the (gasp) best time to call me (gasp).

I'm a little (gasp) busy just ..." Drop phone - breathless shout "Oh Henry, you are the king ....."

It could be adapted for male respondents.

Maeght · « **Reply #23 on:** September 16, 2015, 01:19:25 PM »

Quote from: Harrowby Hall on September 16, 2015, 08:34:37 AM

How about:

Interrupting them when they are part way into their spiel (they will be concentrating on completing their message) with "How did you get this number?"

Then, with the telephone held away from the face "Sergeant, is the trace on? it's another of those calls."

Don't think that'll make any difference to people in a call centre in India though.

floo · « **Reply #24 on:** September 16, 2015, 02:31:44 PM »

Quote from: Maeght on September 16, 2015, 01:19:25 PM

Quote from: Harrowby Hall on September 16, 2015, 08:34:37 AM
How about:

Interrupting them when they are part way into their spiel (they will be concentrating on completing their message) with "How did you get this number?"

Then, with the telephone held away from the face "Sergeant, is the trace on? it's another of those calls."

Don't think that'll make any difference to people in a call centre in India though.

Probably not!

News:

Author Topic: Scam calls (Read 3603 times)

Rhiannon

Rhiannon

Rhiannon

floo

floo