Scam Watch: Ando edition (aka I'm not that dumb you moron).

[weemadando]

So I got a cold call about an hour ago from a man with a distinctly sub-continental accent claiming to be from "The Technical Support Section of Windows Operating Systems". I hang up on him. Then get another call. And then hang up on him after a few minutes of telling him "Yes, yes - I understand, now please can you just skip to the sales pitch" and them him just starting his script over. And get another call. I finally crack and decide that if they're going to this persistent then I might as well play with them too.

So they ask me to check my event log and tell me that all my "grant administration privileges" logs are viruses. They ask me who uses my computer "Oh, it's just a family one, we don't use it for much - mainly just internet banking". The salivation was audible at that point. And then they really insulted me by assuming that I used IE as they tried to get me to install some remote access software. I found some screen caps on the WoW forum (of all places) of someone going through the remote access software they wanted me to install step by step. Cue several minutes of me reading out a dud session number and password and them trying to get it right. During this process I get handed from one operator to another, all claiming to be "a supervisor" or "tech support" as they try and get a valid session ID from me.

Finally I get sick of this game and move onto the meow game. This quickly gets old as I don't have anyone to play off so Id tell them that I know full well what they're doing and would appreciate it if they stopped trying. Cue abuse and a hang up.

And then they called back.

AGAIN.

And not even with a hate filled screed or anything. They just tried again from scratch. From line one of their script again. So I explain again that I understand what they are trying to do, that I'm not going to fall for it and I'm just glad to have wasted a bit of their time in which they might have actually successfully scammed someone. Cue another bit of abuse and another hang up. They haven't called back again.

Somewhere in between all this I also managed to snipe a copy of Adobe CS5 Master Suite on eBay for $390.

It has been a good afternoon.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

I got pretty much the same phonecall a few days ago. I did not play along. I hung up. They've been calling back at least once every day. I wonder how long it will take for them to give up.

[PeZook]

Why not take five minutes to try and report it to the proper authorities? With scams like these (all scams, really), it's important to bring the method to people's attention as fast as possible.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Report it to the proper authorities how, exactly? The calls are evidently coming from outside of the country, at least in my instance, since each one has been a different person, and all of them have had very thick accents that sound Indian. The number doesn't show up on caller I.D., so the best I can think of doing is just warning other people about it, which is what I have done. If there is a specific authority to contact about scams such as this, I'm afraid I'm unaware of it.

[weemadando]

Why not take five minutes to try and report it to the proper authorities? With scams like these (all scams, really), it's important to bring the method to people's attention as fast as possible.

The first thing I did was send an email to Victoria Police with the relevant info.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Seems like the scam is known about in the UK, but has become increasingly prevalent in the last year.

Doesn't seem like there's much the police can do about it, but I've sent off an email to the state police anyway.

[Sinewmire]

They ask me who uses my computer "Oh, it's just a family one, we don't use it for much - mainly just internet banking". The salivation was audible at that point.

Heh, thanks, you made me laugh. Not hard to do, but I appreciate it!

Good story. I'd have known this was a spam, but now I can be certain. Thanks for the warning.

[Stark]

The first thing I did was send an email to Victoria Police with the relevant info.

You'd probably have more luck calling Sea Patrol.

[The Yosemite Bear]

before I got on the DNC list I used to get these, however I did try to get information, they had spoofers so that my Caller ID didn't get the right number to report to the phone company.

[PeZook]

Doesn't seem like there's much the police can do about it, but I've sent off an email to the state police anyway.

They can warn people about it in any periodic anti-scam campaigns they make, and it may just so happen that it can nudge an investigation somewhere in the right direction, and it's not like it took much of your time

I always try to notify whoever I feel is relevant if somebody tries to scam me.

[weemadando]

The first thing I did was send an email to Victoria Police with the relevant info.

You'd probably have more luck calling Sea Patrol.

Do I expect a CSI style super outcome? Hell no. But you never know if it might help someone.

[Enigma]

If it was me I'd have put the phone down and let them blather on and realize that no-one was listening to them. Let them waste their time.

[The Yosemite Bear]

always waste the scammer's time, then ry to get as much information as possible so you can report the scammer to authorities...

[Twoyboy]

Report it to the proper authorities how, exactly?

Maybe by reporting it to the government department specifically set up to report scams to.

I haven't got this one, but I got one a few months ago from a guy from the subcontinent who said he was from "the government" and wanted to check a bunch of my personal details as part of a survey. I told him where to go and hung up. He tried ringing back once and I ignored it. I liked weemadando's method though.

[General Zod]

Somewhere in between all this I also managed to snipe a copy of Adobe CS5 Master Suite on eBay for $390.

Are you sure it's a legitimate copy? Even with my student discount it costs $999 for the CS5 Master Collection.

[Zixinus]

You know, I wonder what the general reaction of people here in Hungary would be with this scam, considering that almost all home computers have an illegal copy of Windows.

[weemadando]

Somewhere in between all this I also managed to snipe a copy of Adobe CS5 Master Suite on eBay for $390.

Are you sure it's a legitimate copy? Even with my student discount it costs $999 for the CS5 Master Collection.

Allegedly it's an excess serial from a corporate order. There's a reason I choose to use PayPal.

[Tolya]

The first thing I did was send an email to Victoria Police with the relevant info.

You'd probably have more luck calling Sea Patrol.

Or Queen Victoria herself for that matter.

First time I hear about such a scam though. Indian accent isn't a surprise: from what I heard, India is a big call-center right now.

[Sarevok]

You should report these things to police. From what I had seen call centers in subcontinent tend to be medium sized businesses at least. If foreign governments ever pressure Indian authorities it would not be hard to track down these fuckers.

[Shroom Man 777]

What kind of abuse did you get, ando? It sounds funny.

[Sarevok]

What kind of abuse did you get, ando? It sounds funny.

Probably various variants of fuck you man. Indians are not very creative with English insults.

[weemadando]

What kind of abuse did you get, ando? It sounds funny.

IIRC it went something like:

"Fuck you you fucking asshole fuck you prick fuck you."

[Molyneux]

Just wondering, but what is the "meow game"? That sounds like something fun to use on the next telephone-survey we get calling here.

[Tanasinn]

You say "meow" randomly in sentences. If questioned on it, you act puzzled and annoyed.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Just wondering, but what is the "meow game"? That sounds like something fun to use on the next telephone-survey we get calling here.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... d=31139255

That's it, I've seen it used in police stops, a buddy of mine from basic sent me a video of his unit doing it at low-intensity checkpoints in Iraq, I've also done it to telemarketers.