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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?
If I have the time I like to keep these people on the phone. My record so far is an hour and fifty minutes. I have a honeypot system ready to go and it's fun and informative to see how they operate. Keeping them busy means they have less time to prey on somebody else less compueter savvy. I see it as a public service.
Those fools call me at least once a week. I have asked to be removed from their call list many times and it does no good at all. And I tell them that I would never have a Windows machine in my home and even that does nothing to stop them. The one answer to all of this is to require all solicitation calls to use a specific prefix both on PCs and on phone lines. That way any sales call in itself would be a felony if that special prefix is not displayed clearly.
I've gotten a half dozen calls and they were all great. Approaches I have taken include 1) Getting panicky because I can't find the Start button. "Did the virus make it go away?" Then asking if having a Mac was the reason I can't find it. 2) Asking if the virus was the reason I had so many pictures of naked men doing disgusting things to other naked men 3) Asking the female scammer if she was married. "Would you like to marry me?" she asked. "I dunno, we should get to know each other. What's your email address?" She gave me something that seemed sort of reasonable but it didn't actually work. What a surprise 4) Not being able to find the right key because I kept mixing up left from right, and top from bottom. 5) Asking "Are you proud of your job? Is this really the best job you could get? We know you are scamming people. Would your mother be proud of you?" I can't wait for the next call.
he has mild Alzheimer's, but enjoys talking on the phone with anyone. he knows nothing about computers.
If they scam people for a living, I can't understand why they don't try harder. They 'Microsoft' people have to be the most transparent, obvious, and pathetic scams out there, which is saying a lot.
On second thought, except for the part about trying to 'help' the user, they actually are believable as employees of Microsoft.
I run a call blocker on my android phone that only allows people in my contacts list through. Keeps the riffraff out -- an endless swarm of poor quality technical recruiters, phone soliciters, scammers and Comcast salespeople. Best $3 I ever spent.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
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.
I usually say I have 25-30 computers, and ask them to tell me which one has the problem. Reasoning that they called me and must be able to know which unit it is. They will either be confused and pass me to the "next support level" or say it doesn't matter which unit I log in to. At that point I insist they tell me which unit it is. By this time they usually use some foul language and/or simply hang up. Mission accomplished.
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.***
This year alone, I received 4 calls from these scammers, pretending to be Microsoft technicians.
Decode your health
the next one caught on my quickly
That must've stung.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Boring Little Story About My Windows
I work with a security firm, and we have close to realtime traffic maps of the internet - so we traced both the call and the traffic and found the call was coming from Jacksonville in Florida. I phoned the police there, and said this person was trying to hack into a security firm, and we had an address for them. If they moved immediately they might get a big arrest. They very kindly dispatched a couple of cars and I was still on the phone when they knocked on his door..
Is it me, or has wasting the time of these asshole scammers become a rather popular sport among IT folks?
I personally jacked one around for about 30 minutes. The best part was at the end, when I told him my hobby was murdering cows for no good reason. Dude got PISSED.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
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.
I pride myself with the fact that once Jehovah's witnesses called me and they themselves decided to hang up on me. I don't recall what I said exactly but I listened attentively, I actively engaged in a discussion, I never raised my voice and I always remained courteous. Now I realize I must be a absolute and genuine bastard. No matter how hard I try, my bastardness seems to ooze out out of every hole and pore of my body. Damn, my goal in life of becoming lovable remains far away on the horizon of my journey.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Boring Little Story About My Windows
Right... and that's why you always pirate windows.
It's sad that the pirated version of an OS is better than the legit version, but with windows it's a fact.
The person who called me didn't get far because I told him right away that I know it's a scam.
Then he threatened to kill me and my family. That was a little unsettling.
Scammer: We have detected a denial of service attack launched from your IP address. You need to follow our instructions right now or all of your billing information will be all over the web.
Me: How did you find all of this out?
Scammer: The Microsoft security server flagged your computer as launching a DOS attack on the Whitehouse web site and then began sending out your credit card information to a torrent. There is no doubt that your identity is being hacked. Check your bank account to see if there are any transactions not authorized by you.
Me: So you work for Microsoft?
Scammer: Yes. This is Microsoft support. That's how we know that your computer has been compromised.
Me: You are not. You are a f*n scammer! I don't even have a windows computer on my network.
Scammer: Well, it is your IP address that is originating the DOS attack. What operating system do you run?
Me: Fedora 20 Heisenbug development release.
Scammer: That may be why. There is a vulnerability in the latest development release of Fedora that would allow attackers to do exactly what your computer is doing now. Your identity is being broadcast all over the Internet as we speak. Can you halt your computer?
Me: Let me take a look at the network traffic first.
Scammer: ...
Me: Wireshark shows no incoming or outgoing traffic that is out of the ordinary.
Scammer: That's what I am trying to tell you. The vulnerability sends the packets using the raw network interface so you will not see the packets in any traffic captures.
Me: Wait one second! I know the network stack in Fedora backwards and forwards. Traffic is captured from the Ethernet interface just before it is shipped out over the wire.
Scammer: The exploit actually replaces the Ethernet driver. What you are seeing is what the hacker wants you to see and no more. If you aren't going to shut down your computer, I will! Give me the root password!
Me: lol
"Does your mother know what you do for a living? Do you think she would be proud?"
Most of these are little sweatshop ops out of India, China and Eastern Europe.
Microsoft can scream at the FTC all damn day. These guys, if caught, just uproot, disappear, and come back under another business name, registering new phone numbers, etc.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Recently I had one of these scammers call me and I played along very briefly. When he didn't know my IP address, despite claiming to be monitoring my computer, I told him he was a filthy scammer, at which point he got abusive. I got abusive right back at him. After I asked if he wasn't ashamed of himself for stealing out of a call center in India, he informed me that he was in Pakistan and that he hated all stupid Americans, so he enjoyed stealing from them.
We yelled at each other for a while, and he really lost it. When I told him he was a dirty criminal sonofabitch, worse than a dog, he said he'd f*ck all American girls, kill all Americans, and I said he was drone bait, him and his whole family. After he threatened to blow up the US for about the tenth time, I told him that he could look forward to Ebola. That shut him up for a moment, and I hung up.
This place reads like a combination of Penthouse Letters, Soldier of Fortune, and Byte magazine.
thank you for playing *CLICK*
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!
The surefire way to have Jehovah's Witnesses depart posthaste is to tell them you've been "disfellowshipped" -- aka excommunicated. They will turn and walk faster than you can say "boo".
Mormons will do the same thing, but I like to have "fun" with the Mormons. Tell them something similar. Tell them you have been excommunicated for temptation and failure to repent. Tell them you were once a "good Mormon" but were tempted and got caught diddling the help in the Mormon Temple in $insert_city. It only works if you keep a straight face. They look at each other, get nervous, thank you for your time and walk away looking all sheepish and weird.
A friend and his wife once made super cookies in the form of "666' and served them up with cans of ice-cold Coke. The Mormon missionaries looked at each other and said "they sensed a spirit of confrontation" and left. They died laughing after they left. They never received additional visits.
MS didn't sue earlier because it's really hard to find a legal entity to sue. When you get one of these calls, the thing calling you is not directly attached to a land line. It's a software pbx system that may be running on a compromised machine in some part of the world. The call only gets connected to the person you talk to after you connect and the system determines you may be a real person willing to talk to someone. The calls get routed through compromised voip service providers, compromised pbx systems, or termination lines leased with false id and credit cards. By the time the provider knows what's happening, tens of thousands of calls have been made and the front end system just moves to another provider. As to "opting out" -- only legitimate telemarketing organizations bother with do not call lists. These asshats just random dial. It's cheaper.
To figure out who to sue, you have to participate in the scam long enough to have an actual transaction processed and then follow the money -- but that's not so simple now. Most of these particular kinds of scams don't accept payment at the telecenter you're talking to. They just install the ransomware on the pc. Then once you're already compromised you have to pay someone else -- through a web site, a wire payment, or some other mechanism that's much easier to hide than just a credit card transaction.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
...so far is 3 hrs 49 min.
I usually take on a clueless elderly or hillbilly persona and make them repeat everything several times. In the middle of the call, I have taken on a fake middle eastern accent and they never seem to notice.
I was recently working out at one of our work sites without a computer within a mile when one of the idiots called. I pretended to be almost blind and got him to tell me what I should be seeing on the screen. I screwed with him for 35 minutes while my crew ate lunch and listened on the speakerphone. He just blasted right on with his script when I told him that I had Windows 3.11...
I have found that most of these scams operate from India. When I get bored screwing with them, I start calling them dirty names with references to Pakistan (whom most of them hate for some reason). I have induced some monumental temper tantrums.
I had one that kept insisting that he was a legit MS tech as I got nastier and nastier. I'm not sure that he knew that I was screwing with him.
I actually made a female scammer cry one time. I assume that it must have been her first day on the scam.
Another female called one day but quickly figured out that I was messing with her. She said, "your screwing with me aren't your" and when I replied that I certainly was, she hungup but not before saying "thank you, have a great day".
I made it close to two hours once, while working at the same time. I speak french and they don`t speak it very well thus it was perhaps easier than you to keep them hooked up. He was quite angry when he understood he had been played all along. I hoped that saved a few people from getting caught by that scheme!
scammer: Good day, I'm calling from Windows support. Do you have a computer?
me: You tell me.
scammer: [hung up]
I don't understand why this is Microsoft's problem. Why would you complain to Microsoft about this and not your attorney general? If someone is selling fake Rolexes on the street, you don't complain to Rolex..
Why it's Microsoft's problem
Because the people being scammed do not have standing before the court to make a claim of fraudulent use of trademark on behalf of Microsoft. Only Microsoft, as holder of the trademark, has the right to make such a claim.
Until Microsoft makes the claim, if it has received even one notification of the fraudulent use of its trademark, subsequent use of its trademark without a complaint by Microsoft can legally constitute tacit permission, and enough of that, and the trademark becomes a generic term (like "asprin", which was a trademark of AG Bayer, until they failed to defend it from being applied generically).
I imagine that Microsoft actually doesn't care if you get scammed (and would actually prefer it, so long as it mostly impacts Windows XP users, and not Windows 7/8 users), but they don't want to risk losing their trademark on the name "Microsoft" over it.
They'll probably claim they can't trace the call, and yet they seem to know exactly where to send the bill. Odd, that.
I've had two of these calls. The last one was hilarious. I'm a computer programmer so I'm very knowledgable with computers but I played dumb with the guy. I got to the point where he wanted me to download software that would allow him to remotely access my computer. At this point, I let him know that I was a computer programmer and that I knew there was nothing wrong and that he was just trying to scam me. His response was priceless. His exact words were (in a thick Indian accent, but with the name Eric): "Stick a finger up your ass!" and then he hung up.
Microsoft just pays a few (very cheap) net programmers to track them down and then sends the DOJ after them. Like they did with the bot nets. Then your tax dollars do the real work. I suppose it's a good thing (law enforcement and all) but basically when you start costing a major corporation money and/or it's reputation then there's no end to the resources that will be put towards bringing you down.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
SCAMMER: We have detected that the Windows computer running on your network has a virus.
ME: [lie] I only run Linux.
SCAMMER: [click]. . . [dial tone]
I'm exhuming a Slashdot meme from long ago, but if you have a spare VM, fire it up and string them along to the Team Viewer/WebEx part of the call, and give 'em a full screen goatse! ;-)
... well, never mind. You don't want to know. I'll just say you cant unsee it.
For those who are fairly new around here, it was an old meme - a picture of
When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. It only affects the people around you. Same thing when you're stupid.
no mercy.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
I got one of those calls the other day. Oh I was ecstatic ready to play the game. Then I realized I had dinner to make and the kids were hungry so I cut it short. I did get him to yell and hang up rudely - score. Then I remembered why didn't I finish that FreePBX project to block these telemarketers...
I can understand if you are bored and need some jollies by stringing along these scammers. But you are deluded if you think you are somehow performing a public service and preventing someone else from getting scammed. These guys are a dime a dozen and are working for peanuts. Do you really value your time on par with these assholes? If I don't recognize a phone number I don't bother to answer it, unless I'm at a computer and can quickly google the number. And screw Verizon for only giving you a 30 day block on numbers unless you dish over some extra moolah.
them: please click the link i sent you to your email me: ok... (go to the most hard core porn site, turn up the speakers and play a really juicy video) oh my! my machine definite has a virus... them: sir... umm.. we'll see this is why i am calling... umm let me send you another email with a link... me: (video still playing) sure.. but i need a min or two... make fap fap fap noise...
The first call I had from a scammer claiming to help me with a virus I strung along for a while. I told him I had six computers running Windows, I just needed him to tell me which one he was calling about. I don't remember how he reacted to that but I do remember him asking me to write down a very long number to verify something. After I started to run out of space on the scrap of paper I was scribbling this number onto I stopped him and asked him what this number was for. At that point he got frustrated and hung up.
Another call was much shorter. I got a call and the caller said that my computers were not responding to updates from Microsoft. I told him it would be odd for them to respond since none of my computers ran a Microsoft operating system (which was a lie). He was stunned into silence for a second, laughed out loud, then hung up.
My mom was taken by one of these guys. She let them remote control the computer for a bit but they were asking for money to help her out. She told them her sons helped her with the computer and didn't want to spend any money fixing it. It may have been coincidence but a week after that call the computer started to act funny. Out of an abundance of caution my brother and I wiped the drive and installed Ubuntu.
Last Christmas my brothers, sisters, and I got her an iPad. She loves it. She gets her e-mail, surfs the web, plays Candy Crush, and can do FaceTime with her grandkids. The only thing she uses the Ubuntu computer for now is to act as a print server since the printer does not do AirPrint natively, now she can print her coupons and recipes from the iPad.
They won't scam Mom again and I can't wait for them to call me again just so I can play with their heads.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
And the solution being to not use Microsoft Windows .. DistroWatch .. 'a very simple table comprising of 5 major distributions' ...
I'll invent a tool that allows you to kill people via a phone line. I could see a really HUGE market for something like this.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I started out with the same thing that a lot of other people have talked about: pretend to go along, be a bit (or a lot) stupid, mis-hear or mis-apply instructions, etc. Then, for some perfectly legitimate reason I coughed. Inspiration struck. I faked a heart attack even telling the guy I wasn't feeling good, making noises, and then pretending to fall and drop the phone for some real banging sounds. The guy on the other end of the line was so concerned he stayed on the line an extra five minutes without me saying a word. He hung up and then called back. I let it ring through to VM. I was chuckling for weeks afterwards.
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
Ah the 16 bit 95.
I had one of these guys playing around in a Windows XP VM for about 45 minutes. They're clueless and can't deviate from what appears to be a line-by-line script. He never noticed the VMware Tools task tray icon, never noticed the VM services, didn't notice that it was pretty much a box clean of all typical user data.
They want to almost always connect to your PC via Ammyy Admin (which has/had a pretty nasty vuln that allowed YOU to take over THEIR PC).
When the nice Indian gentleman tells me that my computer has a virus I simply scream "OH MY GOD NO! NOT A VIRUS? Aaaaarggghhh!" and start making loud banging noises with my hand on the desk.
After a short moment I then say in a breathless voice "I have destroyed the computer, can you suggest a good place to buy a new one?"
That usually leaves them dazed and confused -- whereapon they hang up.
Lots of fun for all the family :-)
I'm not sure if you're being serious... I have spinny drives that are over ten years old and still trucking. SSDs don't ever need defragging (in fact you shouldn't), and there is little to no need to defrag a hybrid either.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
Kept one of them online for about an hour with, of all things an old Vista VM I had.
Let it go, and go - then came the sting for $$$ and I politely declined. Then the anger started, I enjoyed the threats for a minute or more - then calmly told them I had actually scammed them. He was confused, and I explained that it was a VM with a snapshot, and that as soon as he was off the phone the VM of Vista would be back the way it was before they called.
Then again, on another call - when asking there was a problem with "Microsoft Windows", I asked which one of my Linux or Mac's was causing the issue....
I enjoyed the threats of "we know where you live". The counter for that is, can you afford the airfare on your wage?
I got one of these calls, and when I explained to the woman on the phone "I use Linux" she apologised for wasting my time and hung up!
Don't blame me, it's usually 2 in the morning when I post
> Have they called you? If so, how did the call go?
I have. They call and claim to be Microsoft, notifying me of a virus, and offer to help instal software.
And I recorded it :)
http://barrystaes.nl/scambait/
It's lengthy, but I got him pissed at the end. XD
(The best tactic against them is to waste their time. I did not have a VM handy to fool them, otherwise I would.)
Hivemind harvest in progress..
http://stevenmurawski.com/powe...
"Support" guy: Why would you waste our time like that?
Photography, technology, and my dog Scout - http://mattstratton.com
i kept him on the phone with the false hope that he'd make a sale with me. i told him how inept he is, how poorly spoken he is, how overanxious he sounds... they'll stay and take the abuse hoping you'll eventually break down and pay up. HA! They try to get you into a panic and believe something serious is wrong with your computer... and that THEY somehow found out about it and are calling to help you! Insanity...
if it lasts more than 4 hours.
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Well let me tell i know who r those scammers i have all the details of them and i really want to help you but do onething i cant give any information here so just call me on +919582540442 and my name is tushar