Last night I got a call from 253-802-0308 - my iphone said it was from Auburn, WA.

I don't usually answer calls from numbers I don't know, but I have a friend that was supposed to be near Seattle about now, so I answered.

It sounded like a call from a crowed metal-walled room somewhere in the vicinity of Saturn. Think accented male voice tells me that he is from the Windows Operating System tech support center and that they have detected a problem with my computer - that is has been taken over by a virus and asked if I was aware of the problem.

I usually hang up on spammers, but I found this so amusing that I feigned concern and told him that no, I wasn't aware of the problem. What needs to be done?

and g'dammit... the connection was SO bad that I couldn't hear what he was saying, but it was clear that by now, he was reading a script. I actually asked him to call back. He did, still couldn't hear so I hung up. Called again and I told him that it won't work and hung up again.

That was it...

upon googling the number it seems that this is a large operation running all kinds of scams...

Too bad, I was really curious to learn just what he wanted me to do. It sounded like he was ready to walk me through making changes on my system. Pretty sure that I know windows enough that I could have faked my way through it. What changes could be dangerous? Create a virtual server so that all would stream though them?

They'd probably just define a proxy so that all internet traffic goes through a third party (ie man in the middle attack).

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[arstechnica.com]

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silvarios
[arstechnica.com]

nice little post there - thanks

I would have asked him what he was wearing.

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It is what it is.

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hal

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silvarios
[arstechnica.com]

nice little post there - thanks

No problem.

My brother-in-law got the same call about a week ago. He's not really computer savvy, but was smart enough to NOT login to the site the guy was trying to get him to login to. He asked me if it sounded legit and I told him it was a scam and to ignore it.

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N-OS X-tasy!
I would have asked him what he was wearing.

LOL. Did he sound hideous?

When the scammer asked which version of Windows I was running, I would have said Contiki on a Commodore 64!

I would have asked the guy for his name and then told him that I worked for the FBI tracking hackers and scammers. I'd then tell him to sit tight while officers drove to his location and that failure to wait would result in far more serious charges.

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macphanatic
I would have asked the guy for his name and then told him that I worked for the FBI tracking hackers and scammers. I'd then tell him to sit tight while officers drove to his location and that failure to wait would result in far more serious charges.

at that point, they laugh and say, good luck.

When you're committing a phone crime in Turkey, you don't much worry about the FBI. And these guys have heard it all. Read the article that Silvarios posted.

"I will find you..."

"Good luck"...

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Forrest
When the scammer asked which version of Windows I was running, I would have said Contiki on a Commodore 64!

Contiki, eh? Points for obscurity, especially in conjunction with classic hardware. Kudos.

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N-OS X-tasy!
I would have asked him what he was wearing.

You omitted the part where you would say, "Hi this is Dan I'm typing nakeeeed"

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“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish"
Steve Jobs

"There are only two mantras yum and yuk mine is yum "
Bernard Mickey Wrangle<>Tom Robbins<> "Still Life With Woodpecker"

"There is a fine line between a rut and a groove"
G.D. Kittredge III

"

I was at my 87 yr old mother-in-law's house checking on a few things for her
When the phone rang. She sounded confused so I tried to listen, but she said
To the caller, "hold on a second, talk to my son in law."
After saying hello the "gentleman" on the line said he was John(blah, blah)
From (blah, blah, blah) and he was calling because he detected a problem
With our computer, we needed to log in ,...."
Had a rough day at work so I was in a mood anyway and cut him off right
there and said " Wait a minute, I know you're full of crap, this call reeks of
Of so much fraud, it's unbelievable. This house doesn't even have a
computer you ass wipe."
Then I hung up before I shocked my Mom in law too much.
Never said stuff like that to callers before, even spammers, made
me feel a little better, though.

Dave

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Welcome to Dave's BBQ!

Many have eaten here....

Few have died

Then I would have identified myself as the police.

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It is what it is.

[800notes.com] <~~~~here *(:>*

---

“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish"
Steve Jobs

"There are only two mantras yum and yuk mine is yum "
Bernard Mickey Wrangle<>Tom Robbins<> "Still Life With Woodpecker"

"There is a fine line between a rut and a groove"
G.D. Kittredge III

"

I've gotten the same call. I was asked to go to the Start menu or something and I told him I couldn't find it. Lead him on for a minute or so before I mentioned I used a Mac. He hung up.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Pleeease baby jeezus let them call me.

I think I'd start by ssslooowly beginning to imitate his accent...

Oh, and I'd have to 'enter' everything he told me like my mom.

Hunt...



...and...


...peck...

Narrating the whole thing for him.

"Dubayu... Dubayu... Dubayu... "s"... "c"... "a"... "m".. What? "p" not "c"? Oh. OK... Dubayu... Dubayu... Dubayu... "s"... "e"...

I've gotten that call a couple times. Last time, I played along for a minute or two, acting like I was really worried that my "Windows PC" (don't own one) might have a virus. I tried to sound really concerned, then just hung up on him when he started saying something else.

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