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Regulators Smash Global Phone Tech Support Scam Operation
SternisheFan sends this excerpt from ZDNet:
"Regulators from five countries joined together in an operation to crack down on a series of companies orchestrating one of the most widespread Internet scams of the decade. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other international regulatory authorities today said they shut down a global criminal network that bilked tens of thousands of consumers by pretending to be tech support providers. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, speaking during a press conference with a Microsoft executive and regulators from Australia and Canada, said 14 companies and 17 individuals were targeted in the investigation. In the course of the crackdown, U.S. authorities already have frozen $188,000 in assets, but Leibowitz said that would increase over time thanks to international efforts."
I helped a guy who got scammed by these guys but it turned out that he was so stubborn that he just wouldn't do what they wanted and just argued with them that they were wrong. So about all that got hurt was the home page on his browser.
Personally I just wasted their time and would thank them for calling and say my computer was acting up and all slow. I would tell them it was booting but to be patient as it would take a few minutes. Then I would say oh something says it installed something and I need to reboot again. I would do this over and over until they hung up. Didn't take my time as they were on speaker phone and I would only talk to them during compiles.
Also the phone conversational radio show Wiretap by CBC seemed to keep them on the line for a long while.