22 March 2012

Time to hang up on scammers?

| johnboy
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hang up button

The Fair Trading Commissioner, Brett Phillips, is offering advice on what to do with phone scams:

“Whereas the trend in recent years has been for scams delivered online, in 2011 over 50 per cent of scams reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission were perpetrated by phone.

“Canberra consumers, however, need to remain vigilant to scams delivered by any means and not engage from the outset.

“With scammers now targeting consumers in a myriad of ways, it is more important than ever to stay alert to scam approaches. A phone call, SMS, mobile app, house visit, letter, email, fax, blog post, online chat or dating service – scammers will use any of these means to target victims.

“The key message for consumers and businesses is, if you receive a scam, slam it, press delete, throw it out, shut the door or just hang up!” Said Mr Phillips.

Apaprently this is part of Fraud Week.

Now here’s a question readers, how do you spot it’s a scam?

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damn scammers. Any unknown entity talking irrelevant stuff, hang up !

I know this isn’t an exact match for this thread, but it’s about fraud and I just had to share ‘Fiscal the Fraud Fighting Ferret’ who rivals that galah suit anti-drinking ad for superior achievement in the field of governmental incompetence in an animal based public service campaign.
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/security/police-to-cruise-streets-for-unsecured-wifi-20120322-1vmof.html
Scroll down to see Fiscal.

KaptnKaos said :

For “those” phone persons who constantly call (yes have placed our number on that useless don’t call list) – when they call, just put the phone down, then after half an hour or so, hang it up.

Also, receive by mobile and email (constantly since placing an ad on allclassifieds) gentlemen from africa who want paypal details. Also receive emails at home and work from those lonely eastern European women living in Liverpool who “look for man to relationship with” (their wording, not mine). Also won numerous Facebook, Nigerian, Italian etc lotteries. Don’t slam it or delete it, these are always a good laugh if you can string them along to a certain point, they get so angry when you fluff them around.

For ideas on how to scam the scammers well, check this site out: http://www.thescambaiter.com/

I am alsways amused at work when the work group email address has won millions of dollars/pounds from the lottery or a “friend” of the work group emil passes the address along to a lonly woman who is about to die and wants her millions to go towards helping charity by giving it to a stranger.

Duffbowl said :

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

sometimes we get a weird call that when is answered, it is silent then a automated voice says good bye, anyone know what that one is?

I think this serves a couple of purposes:
– Confirms that a number is legitimate. Any verbal response triggers the automated voice. Not so sure about this, as the silence can go on for some time.
– Name trawling. How many people answer with the family name, such as “Duffbowl residence”? Your response is recorded and added to the little bits of information the scammers will use to make the next call seem a little more legitimate.

Purely speculation on my part.

I have heard that this is done so you call them back. Something to do with the cost of the phone call doesn’t count if the hang up and confirmation of your number. I have also heard that they can please that you called them nit the other way around.

Meanwhile here are some interesting websites
http://www.tipshelp.com/resources/telephone-scams/
http://www.scambusters.org/cellphone.html

For “those” phone persons who constantly call (yes have placed our number on that useless don’t call list) – when they call, just put the phone down, then after half an hour or so, hang it up.

Also, receive by mobile and email (constantly since placing an ad on allclassifieds) gentlemen from africa who want paypal details. Also receive emails at home and work from those lonely eastern European women living in Liverpool who “look for man to relationship with” (their wording, not mine). Also won numerous Facebook, Nigerian, Italian etc lotteries. Don’t slam it or delete it, these are always a good laugh if you can string them along to a certain point, they get so angry when you fluff them around.

For ideas on how to scam the scammers well, check this site out: http://www.thescambaiter.com/

Alderney said :

I don’t get any of these; I feel cut off off from the world and unloved.

Why doesn’t anyone want to scam me?

If you ring through your credit card details to 0110 111 1111 I’ll be happy to tell you why no-one is scamming you. SMS if you are shy.

I don’t get any of these; I feel cut off off from the world and unloved.

Why doesn’t anyone want to scam me?

DarkLadyWolfMother9:12 am 23 Mar 12

Jivrashia said :

Anyone know about this bloke who works on an oil rig and wants to send an agent to purchase cars/bikes/caravans/whatever off you?

The housemate had fun toying with that one for a while. Selling a couch for $300, and he wanted $500 in fees for his agent (who works out of the UK for some reason)
I think he eventually got annoyed and gave up.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

sometimes we get a weird call that when is answered, it is silent then a automated voice says good bye, anyone know what that one is?

I think this serves a couple of purposes:
– Confirms that a number is legitimate. Any verbal response triggers the automated voice. Not so sure about this, as the silence can go on for some time.
– Name trawling. How many people answer with the family name, such as “Duffbowl residence”? Your response is recorded and added to the little bits of information the scammers will use to make the next call seem a little more legitimate.

Purely speculation on my part.

stonedwookie9:06 am 23 Mar 12

@comic yeh ive had the goodbye call it is weird and freaky anyone esle had it?

jonquil14 said :

Jivrashia said :

Anyone know about this bloke who works on an oil rig and wants to send an agent to purchase cars/bikes/caravans/whatever off you?

Yep, I’ve seen this on except he’s in the Army on a posting.

He wanted to buy my granite outdoor setting! Didn’t even want to come look at it first…would have been nice sitting out with an ocean view..

ThatUniStudent7:03 am 23 Mar 12

Here’s a local dealing with a Department of Windows call….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ1wSabP9kM&list=UUYzMCXtXCf6eXpm5X76Ftyg&index=4&feature=plcp

Funny as.

The cat did it11:51 pm 22 Mar 12

String them along for as long as you feel like, so it cuts down their productivity. Ask them lots of questions , sound very grateful for bringing this terrible situation to your attention, and appear clueless, until the time you say ‘I can’t find that Start button, but I’ve got this small picture of an apple in the top corner of the screen …’

spiderinsider9:47 pm 22 Mar 12

The last time one called, Mr Spider proceeded to talk to them on the premise that they were operating a windows cleaning service. (‘Yes, our windows are dirty. When can you come around and clean them? etc). Worked like a charm.

PrinceOfAles9:47 pm 22 Mar 12

jonquil14 said :

Jivrashia said :

Anyone know about this bloke who works on an oil rig and wants to send an agent to purchase cars/bikes/caravans/whatever off you?

Yep, I’ve seen this on except he’s in the Army on a posting.

When selling a car about 3 years ago I had a guy saying he was a ships captain. He wanted ALL my paypal login details so he could send me some money. I politely told him to go and amuse himself elsewhere.

I just tell them that I’ll go turn on the computer, put the phone down and carry on with whatever i was doing. The little voice in the phone goes “Hello…hello?” for a while and they eventually hang up. Maximum expense for them with minimum effort from me.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd8:49 pm 22 Mar 12

often get the windows virus scam phone calls. tell them i am running linux and they hang up.
A few times a quarter i get the sms that i have won millions of pounds.

sometimes we get a weird call that when is answered, it is silent then a automated voice says good bye, anyone know what that one is?

My best response so far for the Microsoft call centre was asking them to call me back on the number of the local police station that I gave them.. They promptly hung up on me..

Duffbowl said :

– asked them what they were wearing and if they mind if I masturbate to their voice;

– talked to them about bestiality, particularly with cattle.

Oh the fun that can be had![/quote>

made me laugh, must remember those ones

Jivrashia said :

Anyone know about this bloke who works on an oil rig and wants to send an agent to purchase cars/bikes/caravans/whatever off you?

Yep, I’ve seen this on except he’s in the Army on a posting.

I had a good laugh at the expense of one of these scammers. She said she was from some computer company in Sydney. I asked which part of Sydney and she said George St. I asked which part of George St, down by Circular Quay or up by Central Station. She said she wasn’t allowed to roam during the day and then she hung up. Quite amusing.

Bosworth said :

I recently received a phonecall with the scam: “we are from microsoft, your computer is broken, please give us remote access”.

‘My compuer is in the other room’, so I came back to the phone every 5-10 mins, stringing them along for about 90 mins. Eventually they got annoyed with being polite, so they moved on to the impatient hard sell. I gave them my credit card number (http://www.fakenamegenerator.com), to which they charged $299 for anti-virus software. This improved their demeanour, so there was again lots of back and forth to the Computer In The Other Room, for 5-10 mins at a time. They gave up after 2 and a half hours!

good times.

Well done!

Holden Caulfield4:34 pm 22 Mar 12

These stories are good, but really, are they any more satisfactory than a forthright. “F@#K OFF!”?

Bosworth said :

I recently received a phonecall with the scam: “we are from microsoft, your computer is broken, please give us remote access”.

‘My compuer is in the other room’, so I came back to the phone every 5-10 mins, stringing them along for about 90 mins.

😀 You beat me. I got bored and told them to f*** off after only an hour.

I noticed recently that they are *slowly* learning. The call centres no longer claim to be Microsoft, but belong to an anti-malware company. So far, I’ve been told McAfee and Symantec, but I believe that I’ll eventually hear all the bigger companies.

In response to these calls, Mrs Duffbowl and Miss Duffbowl simply hang up. I’ve occasionally taken it further. I’ve:
– played the fragile person who panics when they get the news, and tell them that I’m suffering from what appears to be a heart attack;
– been naive, and had them step me through everything, only to say “Oh, I don’t have internet on this computer”;
– let them talk me through the instructions, then ask what to do if I’m operating Linux;
– told them I run a knock-off PC business and have about 30 machines connected to the internet;
– told them I run a botnet and have backtraced their call and will be launching an attack against their workstation;
– provided them with the credit card details for an account that was shut down about six years ago;
– spoken to them about finding Jesus (he was behind the couch all along);
– asked them what they were wearing and if they mind if I masturbate to their voice;
– suggested that their call was preventing me from completing the slaughter of my family for various honour crimes;
– talked to them about bestiality, particularly with cattle.

Oh the fun that can be had!

patrick_keogh said :

Wasting their time is the important thing.

Absolutely. Hanging up on them does nothing, they get that a lot. Stringing the call out with the empty promise of getting money out of you… that really annoys them. It throws out the stats of whoever calls and is money wasted by whatever sweat shop it is.

It’s more fun stringing them along with the Microsoft virus by telling them after about 15 mins that you own a Mac or don’t even own a computer. I even told them I had a laptop once and that I don’t even have the Internet. Then they hang up on you 🙂

At one stage I had Superannuation companies calling me doing their ‘annual surveys’ to confirm contact details, such as address, phone numbers
. As they called from private numbers I refused to give ANY details. Their first question was always please confirm your DOB so we know we are talking to the right person. Then they would ask for my phone number.. Apparently telling them the “number they called me on” wasn’t good enough.
I’d pester them for a number I could call them back on which they wouldn’t give so I would hang up.

Still to this day I don’t know if it was a scam or a genuine call

VYBerlinaV8_is_back3:30 pm 22 Mar 12

Bosworth said :

I recently received a phonecall with the scam: “we are from microsoft, your computer is broken, please give us remote access”.

‘My compuer is in the other room’, so I came back to the phone every 5-10 mins, stringing them along for about 90 mins. Eventually they got annoyed with being polite, so they moved on to the impatient hard sell. I gave them my credit card number (http://www.fakenamegenerator.com), to which they charged $299 for anti-virus software. This improved their demeanour, so there was again lots of back and forth to the Computer In The Other Room, for 5-10 mins at a time. They gave up after 2 and a half hours!

good times.

I too take a perverse pleasure in jerking them around. Sometimes I say random strings of words, then deny saying anything, burp loudly, flush the toilet, etc.

As you said, good times.

patrick_keogh3:21 pm 22 Mar 12

Bosworth said :

I recently received a phonecall with the scam: “we are from microsoft, your computer is broken, please give us remote access”.

‘My compuer is in the other room’, so I came back to the phone every 5-10 mins, stringing them along for about 90 mins. Eventually they got annoyed with being polite, so they moved on to the impatient hard sell. I gave them my credit card number (http://www.fakenamegenerator.com), to which they charged $299 for anti-virus software. This improved their demeanour, so there was again lots of back and forth to the Computer In The Other Room, for 5-10 mins at a time. They gave up after 2 and a half hours!

good times.

Wasting their time is the important thing. They stay in business so long as the dollars per hour that they spend for their sweatshop call centre and IP telephony system is less than the dollars they make from the scam. So “qualifying out” by hanging up fast does not hurt them, they just go on to the next mark. I have had about a dozen of these “Microsoft computer has a virus” calls. My strategy is to just waste some time, typically about 10-15 minutes but at the same time establish a conversation with the agent about family, cricket or whatever. Then when I have had enough I switch to “How do you feel about working in a job where you have to lie and cheat? How does your family feel about it? Are there other call centre jobs that you could try for that don’t need you to lie and cheat?”. Often they say “it was the only job I could get” in which case I sympathise.

At the end of the day eroding their business model is all we can do.

I recently received a phonecall with the scam: “we are from microsoft, your computer is broken, please give us remote access”.

‘My compuer is in the other room’, so I came back to the phone every 5-10 mins, stringing them along for about 90 mins. Eventually they got annoyed with being polite, so they moved on to the impatient hard sell. I gave them my credit card number (http://www.fakenamegenerator.com), to which they charged $299 for anti-virus software. This improved their demeanour, so there was again lots of back and forth to the Computer In The Other Room, for 5-10 mins at a time. They gave up after 2 and a half hours!

good times.

I just have a rule that I never act on any phone call from a total stranger. I don’t buy anything, I don’t sign up for anything, I don’t donate anything and I sure as hell won’t give them any information about me.

Fortunately signing up with a pretty small VOIP service provider seems to have made me invisible to most organisations who are in the habit of harassing people, including the chuggers.

Ways to detect a scam:

1. Research and extrapolation – A large proportion of scams use one of three or four basic models. Reading others’ stories of being scammed/nearly scammed will mean that you’re alert to these immediately, and will also be able to spot common signs of a scam (e.g. asking for a payment through Western Union, which seems very popular right now). FBrowsing through Scamwatch (linked in the article above) is a pretty good start.

2. Common sense – if something doesn’t seem quite right, it’s probably not. Based on own unscientific research, 99% of threads on Whirlpool that ask the question “Is this a scam?” are answered in the positive.

Anyone know about this bloke who works on an oil rig and wants to send an agent to purchase cars/bikes/caravans/whatever off you?

screaming banshee2:41 pm 22 Mar 12

30 minutes ago I received a call where they opened with “This is a very important call” and something about google. That combined with the call-centre noises in the background resulted in immediate hangup.

Woo Hoo my mobile number just won £900,000 GBP the other day…all I have to do is email my personal details to…..

If it sounds to good to be true then in all probability it is.

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