Recording of Recently Shut-Down Telemarketers In Action

All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

There are no exceptions.

Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:12 · Score: 1

Except those great guys from "card member" services who want to re-finiance my non-existant credit cards, they are so leguit they call me on my cell phone even though I am on a do not call list, that is how totally valid and legitimate they are.
So I always give them a credit card number off a VISA prepaid card i paid for with cash.
They are so not totally scammers....
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Sarten-X · 2012-10-04 08:22 · Score: 2, Insightful

Except for the ones who actually do the job right, of course (which requires managers who allow it).
Telemarketers as a group get a lot of shit for doing a pretty benign job. At my last IT admin job, I got a few telemarketing calls a month, mostly from vendors we already work with telling me about their new products. Pretty benign, and sometimes actually useful.
The bad ones are just the ones who cold-call people they have no relationship with already, press sales, and lie.

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You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by sycodon · 2012-10-04 08:23 · Score: 1

Besides, who buys anti-virus software anymore?

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When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by gl4ss · 2012-10-04 08:27 · Score: 4, Insightful

usually telemarketing refers to cold calling.
What I mean, is that usually if it's an ongoing business relationship - like you had with your vendors - then it's no longer telemarketing - emphasized by the fact that even if you were on a some national do not call list(in any western nation) they can call you because they have an already established business relationship with you.
in that context all telemarketers are scammers.

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Re:All telemarketers are scammers by mr1911 · 2012-10-04 08:32 · Score: 2

So I shouldn't have told them my social security number, bank card number & pin, and mother's maiden name?

Oh well, at least they didn't get the combination to my luggage. 1234 will be safe forever!

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Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:41 · Score: 0

Amen. This is why I refuse to answer any call from anybody other than a friend or relative w/caller ID. This should be SOP for everybody, and businesses should know better than the call customers with anything other than a "please call our main line and ask for..." message for emergency uses.
If this protocol were followed by everybody, nobody would get scammed over the phone. Yes, you might actually have to be "rude"; but it's utter insanity for the "server" to initiate a "connection" with the "client".
I'm quoting those words, but it really is a direct analogy. If you surf to a web-site through an otherwise uncompromised system, you're fine. Now, if a browser window suddenly popped up on your computer and asked for information you'd immediately see it as suspicious. Yet, people get disarmed by phone calls that say things like, "I'm from Progressive insurance, please verify your account...". It's the same thing, just using a phone instead of a computer.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by bobcat7677 · 2012-10-04 08:52 · Score: 3, Funny

My parents.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:58 · Score: 0, Insightful

reputable marketing companies
won't lie
have proper QA and audit trails
don;t want to waste anyone's time re something that would not be a match
all marketing time is expensive
think long term relationship build
but yeah there are crooked people in every profession - banks anyone? ever talked to an IT recruitment agency?
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by sycodon · 2012-10-04 09:00 · Score: 4, Funny

The lifetime subscription?
I guess my Mom would have too if I hadn't stopped her.
My ex did. I didn't stop her. :-)

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When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by monkeyhybrid · 2012-10-04 09:04 · Score: 4, Insightful

If a telemarketer calls to try and sell me a service or product that I don't already have, then in it is generally a safe bet that I don't want or need it. If it happens to be for something that I would quite like, I am sure I can find a better price by myself rather than accept what a salesman is offering me over a phone line. I will never pay for something from a telemarketer and I detest the whole idea of sales people phoning strangers in an attempt to talk them into buying a product.
I'm not saying all telemarketers are bad, just that telemarketing as a whole is bad!
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Sarten-X · 2012-10-04 09:05 · Score: 2

Well, since we're redefining telemarketing, why not cut the definition down to those who are "selling" only items that don't exist, or touting services that they know the target has no need for? While we're at it, let's restrict "developers" to be only people who write programs using C#, "gamers" to be only those who first played Pac-Man at exactly age 19, and "unemployed" to mean only those who have received no income from anywhere in the past 23 years. Suddenly all our discussions are much simpler.
That's the point of my post. Telemarketing as a field has been stereotyped until the word implies only cold-calling scammers, despite the fact that they make up only a tiny minority of the field.

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You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 09:18 · Score: 0

Companies that resell in communications drive me nuts. I get at least one or two calls a week from random companies trying to get me to sign on for their t1's service.
The best are the toner ones. We actually tried one once, with a virtual card, just to see what would happen. The scam was they send you a really cheap toner cart, under the premise that you'll pay them a very low price and try it.
So they call you back after you've gotten and started using the one they sent you, and say they're ready to ship you ten more. They insist that was the original deal (it never gets mentioned), and that they've already, "broken the pack for you".
If you firmly point out that you've made no such contractual obligations and will not be purchasing any more. They'll say they've already shipped. You say, "anything you ship me unsolicited becomes mine without payment". Unsurprisingly, you'll never get the other 10 and they won't call you again... but you get the one super-cheap teaser cart. ;)
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by gl4ss · 2012-10-04 09:23 · Score: 2

well,
we we're referring to even legit magazine salesmen as scammers and people selling legit socks for price of "shipping & handling". because it's all the same bullshit - if their product depends on the on the call pressure factor in order to make a sale it's bullshit and that's what a lot of telemarketing depends on. if it's a business relationship call then it's not telemarketing, if it's soliciting you to buy some bullshit it's telemarketing, like adverts on tv are marketing. this is not redefining the word unless you use the definition that any business related call with the end aim of making more business is telemarketing, in which case ceo's are telemarketers.
"Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales,[1] or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call. Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be played over the phone via automatic dialing. Telemarketing has come under fire in recent years, being viewed as an annoyance by many."

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world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Charliemopps · 2012-10-04 09:41 · Score: 4, Insightful

Let me fix that for you: All SALESMEN and MARKETING reps are scammers. There are no exceptions. Telemarketers are just slightly more annoying.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 10:13 · Score: 1

The telemarketing calls I get at work have typically been vastly different from residential ones, at least in the last 20 years (there did seem a time where the residential ones were trying to sell an actual, possibly decent product, just at maybe not the best price). And it can vary depending on what work you do, even with laboratory work in my case, I've seen a lot of variety at different jobs.
I've had plenty of calls from equipment venders, mostly follow up calls to quote requests, although some cold calls, where they did offer information I had not seen yet on yet to release products. Some of these were at least helpful, in that they would ask if we had any questions about previously purchased products, had any problems, or even asking if we wanted to give input on designing their next product. At least they would quickly go away if I said not interested or was busy, and would not just call back the next day (they would call back a 1-3 months later though). And frequently they would offer to send us loaner equipment for free to try out, or to send out someone to educate new employees or demo the products. Other times they would just be offering free white papers or booklets to teach about a subject (and they would actually be pretty brand neutral and informative for the most part). That last bit trailed off in the last 5 years or so in favor of distributing such things via the internet, although a few still have hard print stuff for those that want it. And even one company, that we only bought a relatively small amount of stuff from once every couple years would send us donuts quarterly. Just watch out for Tektronics... they are very polite, friendly, and helpful, but can be borderline stalking at times...
At one point though, I had a job that had a few keywords overlapping with medical research, in which case I got a lot of annoying cold calls, some of which sounded bad even for infomercial quality marketing. I imagine due to the amount of money involved in medical research there are some companies with more sense in marketing, and what I saw was biased toward those too stupid to figure out I didn't do medical research. Or worse, some of them didn't care. "Yeah, I don't do any work related to any of that equipment or application fields," would occasionally get responses like, "But the brochure is free anyways," or, "We don't care, just answer some questions for us first." Among other things, some of the less legit stuff called about made me wonder how much money I could make by sending some unsolicited BS trade magazine to academic offices and sending a bill to department secretaries to see if some fraction would just pay it...
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 11:13 · Score: 0

I do, not because I have to, but because I want to support the company that makes it.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by hairyfeet · 2012-10-04 12:35 · Score: 0

My GF isn't, but then again her company is VERY precisely targeting their potential customers, no cold calling allowed, and the people that sign up for the contests they have are interested in the kinds of things they sell vacation packages for, and the contests are tied into specific packages so they can target the demographic that likes that sort of thing, like a bass boat for their fishing vacation package, a nice set of golf clubs and lessons with a pro for the golfing vacation, things like that.
What i find funny is that none of the other telemarketers can figure out why she is able to sell so many packages to the coasts and up north...its the accent. My little Cherokee princess has a thick classical southern belle accent and the coasters and northerners just find it adorable. I don't know how many times she has come home and told me she ended up staying on the line for an extra 20 minutes plus with a sale because they were like "Hey Joey, i gotta put this girl on the speakerphone and let you hear her, its like something outta "Gone With The Wind" I shit you not!". I guess they just don't get to hear southern belles where they are, but if it gets her more sales my princess will happily play along.

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Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 13:51 · Score: 2, Insightful

Nope. ALL telemarketers are scamming scumbags. The only time someone should ever call me to try to sell me something is if I specifically asked them to.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 14:53 · Score: 0

I don't know about that. Is it possible to scam somebody without trying to deceive them in any way? Not all telemarketers are necessarily going to lie to you.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 15:01 · Score: 0, Redundant

Of course there are exceptions. Not many, and I wouldn't suggest not assuming that any given one is a scammer until proven otherwise, but "scamming" does necessitate a certain amount of deception. Simply asking somebody if they would like to buy something and respecting the supplied answer does not.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Sarten-X · 2012-10-04 15:04 · Score: 1

if their product depends on the on the call pressure factor in order to make a sale it's bullshit and that's what a lot of telemarketing depends on.
So how is that different from any other form of marketing? If the salesman doesn't helpfully offer a test drive, you're probably not going to buy the car. If the new meal-in-a-box doesn't have flashy packaging that looks different from every other meal-in-a-box, how will you learn the product exists?
Every form of marketing relies on the strength of its medium to make a sale.

if it's a business relationship call then it's not telemarketing, if it's soliciting you to buy some bullshit it's telemarketing, like adverts on tv are marketing. this is not redefining the word unless you use the definition that any business related call with the end aim of making more business is telemarketing, in which case ceo's are telemarketers.
I'll use the definition I linked to:

The marketing of goods or services by means of telephone calls, typically unsolicited, to potential customers.
"Marketing of goods or services by means of telephones calls" means just that, and nothing more. Not "marketing calls that relies on pressure" or "marketing that I wasn't expecting". Yes, this means CEOs will be telemarketing on occasion, if they're in a position where it'd be appropriate for them to be doing marketing at all (such as to a potential VIP customer).

"Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales,[1] or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call. Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be played over the phone via automatic dialing. Telemarketing has come under fire in recent years, being viewed as an annoyance by many."
I can't help but notice that there's no mention of telemarketing necessarily using pressure tactics, unsolicited calls, or scams in that definition. In fact it implies that the call could just set up a later meeting for other marketing strategies.

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You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers by Inda · 2012-10-04 23:47 · Score: 1

I had an out-of-the-blue phone call the other day. The guy knew my name and spoke clearly in a friendly manner.

I'd signed up to a website and he was phoning me to see if I'd found my way around properly. He was offering to stay on the line and talk me through the online videos, he was telling me Google search terms to help me out and offered to email me links to YouTube videos. Twenty minutes I chatted to him. It was all very pleasant.

I've never had a phone call like that. I've never had Google, Amazon, PayPal or Ebay phone me to ask if everything's OK. It was kind of shocking; here was a faceless company, that I may or may not continue to use after the initial transaction, phoning me up offering decent help.

Some of these call centre workers are nice people who do a good job and should be treated with respect.

The company was BetFair. I continue to use them.

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A lifetime contract for AV software! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:00 · Score: 0

That's better than owning it, man. How do I get this deal!

Re:A lifetime contract for AV software! by wierd_w · 2012-10-04 08:06 · Score: 4, Insightful

Oh no silly. You seem to think that this was a "pay once, and get service forever!" Type lifetime contract.
Coming from a scam farm, I would expect more "signee agrees to pay $24.95 per month in purpetuity in exchange for service."
Re:A lifetime contract for AV software! by mark-t · 2012-10-05 01:48 · Score: 1

Lifetime AV contracts exist, but they only apply for the lifetime of the installation. Any reinstallation requires a new contract, and of course, it's not transferrable.

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Bad video by ildon · 2012-10-04 08:03 · Score: 2

I realize it's difficult to record a phone call, but I literally can't understand anything the telemarketer is saying in the video due to the audio quality.

Re:Bad video by Cinder6 · 2012-10-04 08:07 · Score: 5, Funny

I got a couple calls from these guys. I couldn't understand them then, either.

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If you can't convince them, convict them.
Re:Bad video by gstoddart · 2012-10-04 08:21 · Score: 2

I got a couple calls from these guys. I couldn't understand them then, either.
No kidding ... usually it's terrible line quality, terrible English skills, and some idiot saying he's "from the windows service provider and there's a problem with my computer".
A friend's father in law got taken by one of these last year -- he immediately re-imaged the PC, told his father in law to cancel his credit cards, and then proceeded to give him a stern lecture on such things.
I sat my parents down a couple of years ago and gave them a good lesson on being skeptical about such things. It's saved them a few times.

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Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Re:Bad video by PlusFiveTroll · 2012-10-04 08:22 · Score: 1

I have one touch recording with my pbx system, I'll have to remember to use it the next time one of these loosers calls. Most of the time they are on hacked VOIP, or out of country internet on VOIP so the quality is pretty crappy.
Re:Bad video by flimflammer · 2012-10-04 08:34 · Score: 0

No kidding. Is it too much to ask for some captions?
Re:Bad video by rtfa-troll · 2012-10-04 08:47 · Score: 1

Put it on headphone and volume up a bit. It was fine. Certainly better than some support desk guys I have had in the past.

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Re:Bad video by Cinder6 · 2012-10-04 08:51 · Score: 4, Funny

I was amused at the way they identified themselves to me: "Microsoft Malicious Software Department". Yeah, I'm posting on Slashdot, but even I was surprised that Microsoft is so transparent about selling malware...

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If you can't convince them, convict them.
Re:Bad video by Nutria · 2012-10-04 09:09 · Score: 1

usually it's terrible line quality, terrible English skills, and some idiot saying he's "from the windows service provider and there's a problem with my computer".
Just as I was clicking on the link to read these comments, an Indian with bad English skills called me up saying that I am eligible to receive education grant money that I don't have to repay. But he mumbled so much that that's all I couple understand.

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Re:Bad video by Cro+Magnon · 2012-10-04 09:21 · Score: 1

I've gotten two calls. The first time was at night and I was half asleep. The second time, I wasn't home, they left a message on my answering machine, and I couldn't understand them any better while awake.

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Re:Bad video by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 09:24 · Score: 0

I recognized the guys voice, this scam was attempted on me a few weeks ago, I had to ask him to repeat almost everything he said ( he was clearly getting frustrated ) but like a lot of support techs with heavy accents, them seem to persevere. I feigned network issues and asked for his phone number, he echoed my phone number back slowly and I acknowledged that it was mine, he said OK OK and hung up :)
Re:Bad video by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 09:46 · Score: 0

That is an indian accent from the "techinical expert"
Re:Bad video by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 10:18 · Score: 0

Once you figure out what the ethnicity is of the callers (not the recipient), all becomes clear. This is compounded by the fact that the callers repeat what they've already said 2 or 3 times in a row. If you work in IT -- any field of IT for that matter -- surely you know where this comes from. It has absolutely nothing to do with the video. :-)
Re:Bad video by GoogleShill · 2012-10-04 10:27 · Score: 2

I got a call from a guy from The Alien Touch with the same scam, in fact it sounded exactly the guy in the video, so I wouldn't be surprised if it weren't the same dude. I was only able to keep him on the phone for about 4.5 minutes when I finally told him I run Linux. He asked me "Then why the f* are you wasting my time?!?!" To which I replied, "Because you're a f*ing scam artist scumbag!" Then he hung up. The sad thing is that they have a Facebook page with 56 followers (victims, probably).
Re:Bad video by Enter+the+Shoggoth · 2012-10-04 11:30 · Score: 2

I got a call from a guy from The Alien Touch with the same scam, in fact it sounded exactly the guy in the video, so I wouldn't be surprised if it weren't the same dude. I was only able to keep him on the phone for about 4.5 minutes when I finally told him I run Linux. He asked me "Then why the f* are you wasting my time?!?!" To which I replied, "Because you're a f*ing scam artist scumbag!" Then he hung up.
The sad thing is that they have a Facebook page with 56 followers (victims, probably).
Telling them you run Linux is lame... we should all follow Tom Mabe's lead.

--
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Andy Warhol got it wrong / Fifteen minutes is too long.
Re:Bad video by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 12:07 · Score: 0

This is my video, I just talked him on for a laugh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy9DWyfKCiQ&feature=youtu.be
Re:Bad video by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 15:23 · Score: 0

Also, remember to use it when one of the tighters calls.
Re:Bad video by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 19:29 · Score: 0

I got calls from these guys. The really sad thing is that they have as much charm as my ISP. I tried to explain to them that my version of Ubuntu doesn't have a start button. He tried to tell me that every windows computer has a start button. Now before getting a BSc in Computer Science, I got an Associate Degree in Electronics Engineering. I've done this for a while. I've worked for government spook houses. Both my ISP and these clowns tried to lie to me. I didn't do what this guy did and bait them, but I am annoyed that both tried to feed me lines of bullshit. I reject bullshit. He was as nice to me at the end of the call as he was to this guy. I hope the cops kicked his ass before they put on the chrome bracelets. My thoughts: plant a steel toe into his butt once more for me too. Kick his ass.
Re:Bad video by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 00:17 · Score: 0

Yeah, my mom got a kick out of that. She asked what the heck Microsoft was doing calling her about her mac.
Re:Bad video by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 09:17 · Score: 0

"the number is correct, the name is wrong."
You can't argue against such logic.

One question: by Tastecicles · 2012-10-04 08:03 · Score: 1

Whose lifetime?

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Operation Guillotine is in effect.

Re:One question: by click2005 · 2012-10-04 08:08 · Score: 3, Funny

The phone conversation's lifetime.

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Forwarding to my mom by AttyBobDobalina · 2012-10-04 08:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I get forwarded so many *fake* scamming stories from my mom...now I get to create an e-mail from a real one. Thanks, Slashdot! My mom appreciates it.

Thank you for calling by Megane · 2012-10-04 08:17 · Score: 2

Thank you for calling, my name is Peggy, how can I be fixing your computer today?

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No Protection? by sizzlinkitty · 2012-10-04 08:20 · Score: 1, Offtopic

I could only wish that one day, a scammer will contact me about the viruses on my linux workstation. Scammers like this need to be beheaded...

Re:No Protection? by wierd_w · 2012-10-04 08:32 · Score: 3, Funny

Haven't you heard about the dangerous su, sh, and dd viruses!?
Why, I hear that if you get all three, they can nuke your whole box!
(LOL!)

Collateral Damage by badford · 2012-10-04 08:25 · Score: 5, Funny

This will hurt all of the legitimate anti-virus telemarketers out there as well as a many a wayward Nigerian prince. Perhaps an elaboration is due. You see I am a representative of the late Nigerian Head of State, General Arbach Jamani who died on 12th August 2003, I have been tasked to distribute the excess revenue from precious metal mining that the lord, bathsheba, has blessed our coffers with...

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-badford

Re:Collateral Damage by 91degrees · 2012-10-04 08:46 · Score: 4, Funny

You're clearly lying. I know because I've been in contact with the representative of the real Nigerian head of state, regarding the transfer of $20,000,000 (TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS) and he said you;re the scammer.
Re:Collateral Damage by badford · 2012-10-04 08:55 · Score: 1

You're clearly lying. I know because I've been in contact with the representative of the real Nigerian head of state, regarding the transfer of $20,000,000 (TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS) and he said you;re the scammer.
Good sir. I can quite understand your frustration. You must be referring to my dear friend Colonel Akbar Hottentot, the new Nigerian Head of State put into power after the recent Three-Days-War. I can assure you that once I receive your initial tithe to cover day to day business expenses and travel, the $20,000,000,000,000,000,000 (Twenty BaZillion Dollars) will be summarily deposited into your account.

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-badford
Re:Collateral Damage by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 11:19 · Score: 0

Those Nigerians go through heads of state at an alarming rate... :P
Re:Collateral Damage by MysteriousPreacher · 2012-10-04 12:01 · Score: 3, Funny

Not as quickly as HP does.

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-- Using the preview button since 2005

Not much sympathy by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:27 · Score: 1

I realize it's not nice to blame the victim, but it's hard not to in this case. Anyone who cold calls you at home is going to either be conducting a survey or scamming you (or both).People have known this for ages, it should be common knowledge at this point that no one should ever believe anything an unknown party says to them over the phone. How is it that people still fall for this sort of thing. Even people who know nothing about computers should know enough about life to not assume everything a random strange on the phone tells them is true.

I had the exact same experience, in a VM... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:32 · Score: 0

I submitted to the FBI.... all the info I had.. I really hoped I help bring these fools to meet thier maker. I still have my video somewhere... I just don't have the amazingly stupid audio that should accompany it.

Bad audio quality, but... by frostfreek · 2012-10-04 08:35 · Score: 4, Interesting

Very interesting end to the video, where the scammer realizes that he's dealing with someone who knows something about computers, and starts to try to... what.... do some damage?

Re:Bad audio quality, but... by Pseudonym+Authority · 2012-10-04 09:25 · Score: 1

I thought it was especially funny how he went into `My Pictures'. Was he looking for some porn?
Re:Bad audio quality, but... by Cinder6 · 2012-10-05 18:29 · Score: 1

Whenever I have to work on someone's computer, they always start freaking out and asking if their pictures will be okay. They don't care about any important documents--just the pictures. So I suppose that, if you wanted to be real vindictive, and you know you only have a few seconds in which to act, you would take out their pictures. Of course, the smarter vindictive person would just open up the command prompt and nuke their system from there (though it lacks something of the personal touch).
(Of course, we're talking about a guy who didn't notice all he was deleting was the worthless default pictures that ship with Windows, so how smart could he be?)

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If you can't convince them, convict them.

Ars Technica got a call today by Relayman · 2012-10-04 08:35 · Score: 1

Ars Technica got a call from the scammers today.

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Better Link by Bill+Dimm · 2012-10-04 08:45 · Score: 4, Informative

Slashdot linked to the blog's homepage instead of the specific blog entry with the video, so the link isn't going to give the right result if they post anything else to the blog.

Watching scumbags lie? by Hatta · 2012-10-04 08:51 · Score: 5, Funny

No thanks, I got enough of that last night.

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Re:Those aren't telemarketers. by DriedClexler · 2012-10-04 08:57 · Score: 0

Those are folow up calls. You already had a business relationship - BIG difference then some scammer calling you up for their greatest and best whatever.

Nice try, telescammer.

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Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.

My favorite... by Java+Pimp · 2012-10-04 08:58 · Score: 1

inf infected files on hard disk
Oh noes!

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Kull: She told me she was 19!

Re:My favorite... by Mashiki · 2012-10-04 11:31 · Score: 1

I dunno man, I think all my text file are infect with something. They just keep showing me links for porn...

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Om, nomnomnom...

Obvious by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 08:58 · Score: 0

Is it too much to ask for some captions?

She asked whether he was some kind of Mothra Fawker. I think it's a sort of asian sex act.

Re:Obvious by aevan · 2012-10-04 09:28 · Score: 1

Madam Butterfly, NC17 version. Coming soon in 3D

serious question by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 09:06 · Score: 0

Why is he telling him to do all this stuff after he has a remote connection?

Re:serious question by Pseudonym+Authority · 2012-10-04 09:41 · Score: 1

Build confidence and look as transparent as possible.

Bwahaha by kiriath · 2012-10-04 09:08 · Score: 1

Brilliant.

I pride myself in taking some of my precious time to mess with scammers that call. My co-workers get a kick out of it when I get one, I just go wherever my mind leads me and usually get hung up on.

I love the typo in the pasted fake error message from the command prompt.

Hey, at least they have jobs... (or had)

Re:Bwahaha by LizardKing · 2012-10-04 20:31 · Score: 1

At my current company we have a huge number of cold callers, mostly of the automated variety. There's always a pause as the auto-dialer software waits for a human voice rather than a fax, which is when you should randomly press buttons on your touchtone phone. This either fools the software into thinking it's called a fax line, and removing you from its call list, or transfers you to a human. In the latter case, it's now fun time. My two favourite games (shamelessly nicked from someone else) are:
1. Answer every question or prompt with one word, usually "yes", but extra points for something else
2. Pretend you are a law enforcement officer at a crime scene, and question the telemarketer as to their relationship with "the deceased", ascertain their location and then pretend a unit is on its way to question them

Scumbags by kstatefan40 · 2012-10-04 09:14 · Score: 5, Funny

These guys were targeting primarily older users. They called my parents at least 5 times telling them they could tell there were viruses on their machine and that if they didn't pay the fee, the computer would stop working. My mother asked me what she should do, and I told her to get a contact number so she could forward to the Kansas Attorney General.

Phone call went like this:

"Can I get your number so I can send it to the Kansas Attorney General for investigation?"

"What?"

"I need your number so I can send it to the AG."

[someone in the background] "HANG UP! HANG UP NOW!"

Never called back. Problem solved.

Re:Scumbags by LizardKing · 2012-10-04 20:34 · Score: 2

These guys were targeting primarily older users.
Yup, they targeted my elderly neighbour and a number of her friends, but I've never heard of them targetting younger people. This suggests to me that they have access to data on people so they can pick the best targets. The only commonality we could find amongst the victims we knew was that they had called British Telecom's broadband support lines in India ...

Tele-guru tech bastards - No [w]alues by Penurious+Penguin · 2012-10-04 09:19 · Score: 2

My aunt who operates her own publishing company, was recently 'had' by similar tele-guru tech bastards. From the audio recording, it sounds almost identical to what she described to me. She didn't even know she'd been scammed until after I heard the story, poked around in the logs and such, and explained the dupe. It cost her something near $100 and I spent my own time trying to figure out WTF was going on and checking for problems. Many people are unaware that Microsoft never contacts their customers unless an active request is pending. My aunt is no dummy and is a power-user in her own niche; however, she simply has never had time to keep up with modern nonsense. I was actually more furious than she was when we concluded it was a scam. I still have no sure way of knowing exactly what these scoundrels did beyond what I was able to undo. It is nice to have word of the demise of at least some of these louts.

Toward the end of the audio recording is a real treasure. How do they justify what they do with themselves? They are simply a bunch of boody motherfuckers with no [w]alues.

--
Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012

Re:Tele-guru tech bastards - No [w]alues by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 13:45 · Score: 0

If your aunt fell for a total random stranger calling her up and telling her to poke around in her computer then having her hand over $100, then yes, she is quite the dummy.

here in OZ by ozduo · 2012-10-04 09:21 · Score: 0

We have a government run "do not call" register https://www.donotcall.gov.au/ which seems to work very well. Charities are exempt and OS companies can still harrass you but OZ companies can be severely penalised for cold calling any one who has bothered to register their phone numbers.

--
I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.

Re:here in OZ by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 13:53 · Score: 0

We have a government run "do not call" register https://www.donotcall.gov.au/ which seems to work very well. Charities are exempt and OS companies can still harrass you but OZ companies can be severely penalised for cold calling any one who has bothered to register their phone numbers.
I have a problem with this because the f*@king politicians decided in their infinite wisdom that political parties needed to be exempt from this as well.
Gee what a surprise.

Part 2: illegal wiretapping... by jd659 · 2012-10-04 09:22 · Score: 2

If telemarketers had slightly more power (think *AA) the guy posting the scam on the web site would end up in jail for illegally wiretapping phone conversations and own millions in damaged due to "lost business". We need to have the laws passed that safeguard the current telemarketing business model!!!

--
There's no such thing as "illegal download"

Re:Part 2: illegal wiretapping... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 10:16 · Score: 0

That's on a state by state basis. In many states, its completely legal so long as at least one party is aware its being recorded.
Re:Part 2: illegal wiretapping... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 11:03 · Score: 0

They are in Canada, which is a single-party consent system. The exception is if it is for commercial purposes, which it may be twisted as such that he may be receiving money from Youtube for the views.
http://blog.privacylawyer.ca/2006/07/can-you-record-telephone-calls-without.html
I have recorded phone conversations during a dispute with a contractor. The recordings were accepted without criticism from the judge in small claims court. the other party was offended, but the judge told him to read up on the laws regarding single-party consent recordings.
Re:Part 2: illegal wiretapping... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 13:47 · Score: 0

That is only true for two party calls. If you are in a teleconference with more people you must have consent from all connected parties.
Re:Part 2: illegal wiretapping... by jd659 · 2012-10-04 14:15 · Score: 1

Obviously that depends on the state, hence the "IF telemarketers had slightly more power..." If they did, all the states would make such recordings of telemarketers illegal. Like uploading a movie to a country where it is legal to share movies.

--
There's no such thing as "illegal download"
Re:Part 2: illegal wiretapping... by mark-t · 2012-10-04 17:00 · Score: 1

Not necessarily.
First of all, it depends on where the person who is doing the recording is located. In many jurisdictions, it is perfectly legal to record a conversation if at least one of the parties being recorded is aware of it.
And of course, quite often they will say that the call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes. Although they are talking about recording it themselves, those exact words also have the upshot of giving you permission to record the conversation as well.
And if there's really any doubt, you can just politely mention at the start of the call that it's being recorded, and then you're covered even in territories where both parties must be aware of a recording for it to be legal. After you've announced this, they can either continue to talk to you being in full awareness of the fact, or they can hang up.

--
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Re:Part 2: illegal wiretapping... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-05 07:34 · Score: 0

Which is irrelevant since I didn't respond to that post. Try learning how to read.

Schooling by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 09:27 · Score: 0

I like how the telemarketer expects the mark to just hand over control of their computer. In schools we need to teach our kids more than just how to open Word, Excel and Power Point. I bet more than a few people's identities have been stolen this way, along with credit card numbers of course.

Interesting but needs some work by Fuzzums · 2012-10-04 09:33 · Score: 1

For technical people like us, it's totally obvious what's happening, but still "a bit long and boring".
What this video need is a shorter version (3 minutes tops, I think) that explains what's happening in wording that my mother will understand.
Then it will be very useful to educate the non-technical rest of the world and make them aware of the ***** **** ******kers ******** ** out there and prevent them for falling for this ***t.

--
Privacy is terrorism.

Their bs line was really funny! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 09:37 · Score: 0

And it is still going on somehow the idiots have an auto dial machine running from a blocked number. The person who grabs the pickup is Punjabi. Same group who did it from a North Carolina number last month. Seems that they just wont give up. Last month as the clown tried to tell me my pc had problems..I just ripped into him and told him to f off. Now I get at least one call every other day from a blocked number. I think I will ask next time for the name of the company he represents before I tell him to f off again. Same thing with the scam automated message that "our records show that you are paying too high an interest rate on your current credit card" bullshit scam. I wait and press one then tell them to f off as well. It seems that the national do not call list is a target ...we are on it.

all advertisement is spam by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 09:44 · Score: 0

telemarketers are just the most obvious

almost all advertisement is unwanted but under most "normal" circumstances it is tolerated because it pays for other, wanted content

hopefully in a few years augmented reality will become popular enough that all "push" advertising will disappear

unfortunately due to the "puffery" exemption our government can't regulate the vast majority of commercial speech for the fraud that it is

Wait for Telemarketing Zombies ... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 11:00 · Score: 0

The cost of business and risk of getting caught is so low, that I'm surprised that we don't see more of such schemes emanating from Tech literate Countries (India, Philippines, China).

The only cost is time, and if you can hire school kids with basis English literacy for less than 1 dollar a day, you can easily setup a big telemarketing farm.
10s of million kids graduate every year and not all can afford higher education.

Local police anti-fraud specialist resources by cojsl · 2012-10-04 11:19 · Score: 1

We recently invited the local police department's anti-fraud specialist to speak to our local computer users group about this and similar topics in the wake of this scam robo-dialing it's way across our area. The officer gave an interesting talk, and shared several anecdotes about scam methods that were new to me. If you have a local computer users group, civic organization, seniors group, or the like, a presentation like this is a great way to spread the word on scam prevention.

Who are the customers? by Adam+Appel · 2012-10-04 11:30 · Score: 1

I can't believe anyone in this day will give any information to someone that cold calls them.

--
They come in the dark, only in the darkest.

The direct YouTube URL for this video by Swave+An+deBwoner · 2012-10-04 13:31 · Score: 1

I was having trouble view the video from the given "temporary" website's embedded link but I found it on YouTube. Here it is if you want it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7zuQ8mYpog

After leading them on told "I kill you you rascal" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-04 15:16 · Score: 0

I had my first (and only) death threat from one of them. I had told him I didnt have a computer in the house and started explaining how I thought electricity was dangerous and tried to avoid using it. A that point he said I was strange and then I told him (I got a bit heated about it) that he was a thief and liar and if I knew where he lived I would send the police around. He then responded with "I kill you you rascal" and hung up.

The next few times I pretended to do what they wanted until I got bored and then told them my computer was a corporate machine and the IT department had those options locked down. I then asked for their company name as I wanted to tell our IT department how helpful they were and perhaps they could get them to sort out all the computers in our office. He hung up after that.

Glad to hear they might actually get whats coming to them but you have to remember for those Indian workers this might have been the best job they could get.

Or you can watch presidential debate with Mitt by Pecisk · 2012-10-04 16:54 · Score: 1

Actually I think these debates should be recorded and showed later at scammers school, because it's high class lying.

--
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!

thanks by Tom · 2012-10-04 22:10 · Score: 1

When the original story aired, I couldn't make sense of it, had no clue what the scam was. Now I at least have a rough idea.

--
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org

Good job! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-07 02:37 · Score: 0

Read about that, too. Well, it's about time the authorities bare fangs on these violators. These culprits seem to treat the law like a joke and it's unacceptable. Hopefully, this won't be the last.

Re:Good job! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-07 02:44 · Score: 0

And if you guys wish to investigate on other violating companies, you can find a lot being reported at www.callercenter.com. Everyday, that website gets about 40 000 visitors and a good portion of them are there to report phone call harassers. Maybe the authorities can also look into that.

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Recording of Recently Shut-Down Telemarketers In Action

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