Just got a call from "Microsoft"

[daughtersrus]

I'm guessing that they're banking on the fact that lots of folks received laptops and/or devices for Christmas, so the hackers are making their calls now. Be careful, folks.

My caller (who had an Indian accent) addressed himself as "a representative from the Microsoft Corporation", who detected a problem with my computer that required immediate attention. He said he could fix it, but needed me to log on and give him access.

Oh yeah, let me get right on that......

In my most professional voice, I informed him that he was absolutely, positively, in no way whatsoever, a representative from Microsoft. And hung up.

Those people suck.

A few months ago there were calling us every few days. I finally told the guy that I know that it's a scam and that he's wasting his time calling. He tried to convince me it was legit but I kept repeating that I knew it was a scam. The calls stopped for quite awhile but we got every other week in Dec. For those, I just answered and set the phone on the counter for about an hour. I'm not sure if that prevented him from calling anyone else or not but I thought it might annoy him like he annoys the people he calls.

 

[Mousemom234]

Don't most people screen calls? I don't answer any call where I don't know the caller. If it's legit they'll leave a message. We get lots of hang up calls.

I'm not always in the same room as the caller ID, and if I'm expecting a call, or it's travel time for my family, I'll usually answer the phone without looking.
And sometimes I answer just for the amusement value

<snip>...I think the next time, I'm going ask them for the MAC address of the computer that has the problem...

And when you ask, they'll keep saying - "Not Mac - Microsoft."

 

[goofinoff]

I got one of these calls a few months ago and in fact started a thread about it too!

At the time of the call my laptop was dead (needed a new motherboard) and I hadn't used it in months. It was actually being fixed when they called. The guy (also with a heavy Indian accent) told me he received a message from my computer that there was a FATAL error and he needed me to go ahead and long in. I kind of played along with it for a minute asking him how they knew that blah blah blah! I asked when did they receive that message and he said "today ma'am". REALLY???? I finally told him that I knew he wasn't who he said he was and he told me that he could assure me he was. I asked him "do you want to know how I know you're not?" He said again I can assure you ma'am that I am. I said "I know you're not because my computer hasn't worked in months and is currently being fixed and isn't even in my home......hello?" That's what I thought! Scum bags!!!!

 

[Mkrop]

I tell them that I think they are slime, to never call again and that they are pure scam artisits...I guess that doesnt work bc they keep calling. They scammed my mom.

The other day I got a call from "Michelle" at Card Services but the Caller ID said US Postal Service

 

[joanne7891]

They do it in the uk also. My brother got one and he kept the guy going for ages before telling him he had a mac.

 

[tinkerbellfan6880]

Yeah I got a phone call like that last year. Told the guy on the phone that I didn't own any type of computers because I don't believe in technology. When I do own a laptop. The guy actually fell for it and said okay and hung up the phone.

 

[tigercat]

I have been nice and then I have been abrupt and nothing seems to work. So now sometimes I have fun. One time I told the person that I thought that all electronics were the work of the devil and that I wouldn't have anything like that in my house. Other times I have my head IT guy answer the phone (my son) and he lets him have a lot of computer jargon. My son is a computer geek.
tigercat

 

[indygirl99]

The last time I got that call I said "Hey Dano we got another hacker on the line, Oh you mean you tracked his phone number that fast"

The line went dead and I haven't got that kind of phone call since.

 

[tigercat]

I forgot to mention that my friend got caught up in it. It fried her computer and she had to get another one. I never though of her as one to get fooled but it happened. At least she didn't give them her bank information, just about but then decided she should ask my husband first and then call them back. My husband looks after all her computer problems.
tigercat

 

[DawnM]

Yes, I have caller ID, I answer, especially if they call repeatedly, so that I can tell them to get me OFF their dang list.

I have talked to one of these guys before. I thought it was a marketer so I was ready for a battle, but he caught me off guard. I told him I didn't have a PC. He said, "any computer." I told him if I had a problem with my computer, I would call tech support, not the other way around. He still didn't hang up. I then asked who he worked for and he hung up.

Dawn

Don't most people screen calls? I don't answer any call where I don't know the caller. If it's legit they'll leave a message. We get lots of hang up calls.

 

[DawnM]

$250 for television only????

Sheesh! That would be $240 more than we currently pay as well.

However, you said speeds, so are you talking about internet as well......if so, then, yes, I would like to know how you spend only $10 on internet.

Our stupid cable company has gone from $40 to almost $70 in the last several years.

I enjoy playing with these callers too. We frequently get called from Dish network, Direct TV, etc wanting us to switch to the provider. One day I was feeling friendly, so I let the lady go through her entire song and dance, provided my own information on speeds and packages that we have, to compare the pricing she really thought she was getting me. She then proudly says, "Well, ma'ma I'm happy to say that by switching to us your services will cost just $250 per month. What do you think of that?" To which I replied, "Well, ma'am that's $240 more than what we currently pay." She laughed, asked how that pricing was possible, thanked me for not yelling at her and said she's take me off the calling list.

 

[KaLyn]

$250 for television only???? Sheesh! That would be $240 more than we currently pay as well. However, you said speeds, so are you talking about internet as well......if so, then, yes, I would like to know how you spend only $10 on internet. Our stupid cable company has gone from $40 to almost $70 in the last several years.

That $10 per month price includes cable, with everything channel wise to 4 TVs, 4 DVRs, high speed business internet, unlimited nationwide phone service.

DH works for the cable company, which also provides internet and phone service, so we get a bit of a discount.

 

[Syrreal]

When an unknown number calls me (usually from something like Palmdale??) I like to answer the phone with names of fake businesses that throw them off. My all time favorite that I've used a few times and always throws these scammers off guard is the Naked People Emporium. I just say, Thank you for calling NPE, we strip 'em, you buy 'em, how can I help you. They're never quite sure if they heard right so I repeat it. They ask if it is a business and I cheerily say "Yes, it's NPE" and repeat the tag line. I usually get a response that they have reached a wrong number. Once it was one of those computer guys and I said that we don't use computers, just au naturale labor. He hung up.

 

[tigercat]

"When an unknown number calls me (usually from something like Palmdale??) I like to answer the phone with names of fake businesses that throw them off. My all time favorite that I've used a few times and always throws these scammers off guard is the Naked People Emporium. I just say, Thank you for calling NPE, we strip 'em, you buy 'em, how can I help you. They're never quite sure if they heard right so I repeat it. They ask if it is a business and I cheerily say "Yes, it's NPE" and repeat the tag line. I usually get a response that they have reached a wrong number. Once it was one of those computer guys and I said that we don't use computers, just au naturale labor. He hung up."

I love that one, I'll have to use it. LOL
tigercat

 

[jfoofj]

We have a home phone- it was a part of the cable "bundle" of cable, internet and phone- that we got when we moved to our new house almost two years ago, but it there isn't even a phone plugged into it right now. I work nights, and I kept the ringer off all the time when there was a phone plugged into it, but after it stopped holding a charge we tossed the home phone. I think we only ever used it to order pizza once. No one calls us on it except telemarketers, bill collectors for the previous owners of the phone number, and scammers. Everyone in my house has a cell phone. If you don't have my cell phone number, I don't want to talk to you. When our bundle renews this spring we will probably get rid of the home phone number.

Prior to us not using the home phone, however, I used to enjoy messing around with the telemarketers and scammers. The first time they called I would nicely say "no thanks" because, hey, its their job and they probably aren't working as a telemarketer because they want to... they need the job and get hung up on a lot. Repeated calls would get handed off to my 3 year old niece to talk to, would get handed off for my son to practice his German, I would speak pig latin to them (one answered me back in pig latin). My brother, however, was famous for really messing with them. One time he told the person he was locked in the closet and being held in white slavery. I was so pissed. I was waiting for the FBI to show up at my house. Luckily that didn't happen. His other trick is to pretend that he is the police and they are working a "crime scene" at the house and ask the caller for their info and tell them they will probably have to "come downtown for questioning."

 

[disneykidatheart]

I've received those calls twice. Once this past week from a female and the other just before Christmas from a male. I can hear noise and voices in the background of other people scamming others. When they speak they end every sentence with OKAY? I think I will try to have a little fun with them next time.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

I was getting these same phone calls constantly--thick Indian accent, from Microsoft, got a report of something wrong with my computer and would help me fix it. I just hung up on them. But the calls kept coming.

So one day, I had a little extra time on my hands. Oh, you found something? Really? What do I need to do? Okay, done. What next? Okay, hold on. I'm getting there. Give me a sec. Okay, got it. Now what?

Let him talk me through it for a few minutes. Then I asked, "So, do you get paid by how many of these calls you do?" "What do you mean, ma'am?" "Well, if you spend a lot of time on the phone with me, you're making fewer calls, right? So that probably means you get paid less, right? And, of course, you realize I'm never going to actually do anything you've told me since you're just a scam artist." Dial tone...

Haven't had another call....

Now, if the recording that says, "This is your second and final notice about lowering your credit card rates..." would follow through and make it my final notice, I'd be all set!

 

[Syrreal]

I also used to have a really difficult last name (VERY ethnic) and when telemarketers would call the house they would completely butcher the last name so we would just say that there was no one there by that name and hang up. One day, after I had gotten married, change my name, and moved out of my parent's house, DH answers the phone and it's a telemarketer who asked to speak to Mr. "Syrreal's old last name" with getting as close to pronouncing it correctly as you could without actually saying it right. But, DH's last name has never been that and I didn't hyphenate (WAY too long) and now have a very generic sounding last name so really when he told them there was no one there by that name, it was true.

 

[yulie]

Reminds of the a similar call I got last week. Caller claimed he was from Microsoft tech support and that their company detected a virus in my computer. But I knew it was a bluff right away. There's no way my computer would send an alert or a message to Microsoft. First of all, computers don't communicate with each other on their own. Second, what I have is a Mac. Surely, Microsoft doesn't handle that.

 

[yulie]

However, while I found the call very funny, I'm afraid that the scammers might just find a few who are not so savvy with computers and victimize them. That's why I reported the phone number to Callercenter.com right away and shared how the scam was perpetrated.