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65,000 Complaints Later, Microsoft Files Suit Against Tech Support Scammers
MojoKid (1002251) writes Tech support scammers have been around for a long time and are familiar to most Slashdot readers. But last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had issued lawsuits against several culprits responsible for tech support scams. Now Microsoft has announced that it too is going after tech support scammers. According to the company, more than 65,000 complaints have been made about tech support scams since May of this year alone. Bogus technicians, pretending to represent Microsoft, call the house offering fake tech support and trick people into paying hundreds of dollars to solve a non-existent issue. If successful in their ruse, the scammer then gains access to a person's computer, which lets them steal personal and financial information and even install malware.
I managed to keep one of these guys on the phone for about 20 minutes while I stumbled through his directions, over and over, "rebooting," pretending to be using Windows, etc; the next one caught on more quickly. Have they called you? If so, how did the call go?
"...the next one caught on my quickly." (?)
was the magic number 65536?
Maybe the complaint system only support 2^16 entries?
he has mild Alzheimer's, but enjoys talking on the phone with anyone. he knows nothing about computers.
before I got bored. He, and his "supervisor of tech support" was already spitting mad so when I thanked him for playing the fool and provide me with some laughs it pushed him over the edge. My shtick is to pretend to be an elderly man, who off course has trouble hearing so they have to s p e l l r e a l s l o w l y and i still mess it up, have them explain the internet (isn't it that cable thingy that I plug in the wall? You want me to disconnect it?) all while obviously being vey very worried about them virus things. I've seen them talk about it on TV. Is it like Ebola? I don't want to get that.Of course none of his instructions worked because I don't use Windows.
The trick is to appear complaint while being confused and incompetent. The couple of times he doubted my old age gimmick I thanked him and joked the ladies tell me that as well.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
If automakers built cars that crashed as often as all the versions of Windows, the earth's population would be about 1,000 people today.
*** Don't be dull.***
the next one caught on my quickly
That must've stung.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I kept one on the line for about 45 minutes before I told him I was running Linux and that I knew of this scam. He got mad and said Linux is a scam and then he threatened to disconnect my internet. I told him to go right ahead and hung up.
All the trademarks. Middle of the day, thick Indian accent, said he was from Microsoft support, said there was a problem.
He really was. He was calling me about a ticket I had opened with Azure support. Go figure.
This place reads like a combination of Penthouse Letters, Soldier of Fortune, and Byte magazine.
I used to get these calls. They kept calling from the same number, so I set up a redirect on my VOIP system that routed their calls to the FBI office in my state capitol. My logs showed they chatted for just over thee minutes!
Dunno, but I managed to keep one on the line for almost an hour before I had to go get my kid from a football game. I even gave clues that I wasn't on windows - he wanted me to start task manager, I brought up top and read him the output. When I got to the Zombie Processes part, I freaked out.
Finally had to go, so I confessed that I had been screwing with him, and felt it was my duty to keep him on the phone as long as possible to keep him from harming someone clueless. He called me a "miserable son of a bitch" and slammed the phone down.
Wish I had some way of recording stuff like this...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
A friend and I had some fun at the Jehovah's Witnesses' expense about 30 years ago. I was over at his place, and there was a knock at the door. He peeked outside and said "Dude, it's the Jehovah's Witnesses, come here!" He threw his arm around me and answered the door in a very lispy voice, and they were mostly speechless. He then looked at me and said, "Well hun, I don't guess they have anything to say, so let's go back to bed!" and shut the door on them. He never got another knock again.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas