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So, yesterday I'm working at home and the phone rings. The caller identifies himself as being from "PC Speedy" and gets about halfway through the first sentence of his scammy pitch before I tell him (in a very loud voice) to "F**k Off"! and I slam the phone down.
*** Background: This is a more-and-more common phone scam where somebody (sometimes identifying themselves as calling from "Microsoft", other times a 3rd party) and tells you your PC is infected with malware, performing poorly, whatever, and you need to fix it. To convince you they are legit, they give you a command to type in that produces a unique-looking code that is, in fact, identical on every Windows PC. They'll then direct you to the system event log, which inevitably is filled with scary-sounding messages, and these are pointed to as "proof" you have a problem. They either then convince you to let them remote in to your machine (where they then do who-knows-what to it) or convince to buy their particular piece of useless crapware to "clean up" your box. ***
My phone rings again, same number. I ignore it. Rings again. I ignore it again. Rings a third time. I pick up. It's the scammer again. He starts by demanding an apology from me for being so rude. WTH? The guy's scamming me, he knows it, I've made it clear that I know it, I tell him to go stuff it, and he calls back? Three times? He wants to know why I'm raising my voice, and tells me he'll prove that I have a problem. I keep cutting him off, making liberal use of four-letter words, trying to convince him that I know it's a scam and he should really stop wasting his time. (I need my phone line free for actual use.) The guy Will. Not. Quit. I ask him what's the brand of the PC that has a problem. "Nothing to do with brand". "What OS is it running then"? "Windows". I claim to have no Windows computers, only Macs. (This is a lie, but whatever.) "Oh, well it affects your Macs too." I finally just tell him I have a degree in Computer Engineering, work for [mega-sized computer company] (both actually true), I know he's a scam, and he can go rot in hell, and I slam the phone down again.
Finally gives up after that... I wait for the other proverbial shoe to drop like at 3AM or something, just to piss me off, but never get a callback.
Aren't all telemarketers, legit or not, rated on sales per day? Why keep pushing when I've already made it crystal clear that I'm on to him? I simply don't get it. And I can't be the first person to cuss him out; this isn't an unknown scam... maybe he's that new to the job? I dunno.
P.S. I'm cordial to telephone surveys (and even answer them on occasion), stern with "legit" telemarketing (like the cable company I use asking if I want an upgrade), borderline-hostile with the ambiguously-named cold-calling charities (where inevitably the actual charitable purpose receives very little of the donations), pretty mean to lazy companies that don't seem to understand the DNC list (and I report them to the FCC and state AG office if I can figure out who they are), but save actual cussing for outright scammers like this.
*** Background: This is a more-and-more common phone scam where somebody (sometimes identifying themselves as calling from "Microsoft", other times a 3rd party) and tells you your PC is infected with malware, performing poorly, whatever, and you need to fix it. To convince you they are legit, they give you a command to type in that produces a unique-looking code that is, in fact, identical on every Windows PC. They'll then direct you to the system event log, which inevitably is filled with scary-sounding messages, and these are pointed to as "proof" you have a problem. They either then convince you to let them remote in to your machine (where they then do who-knows-what to it) or convince to buy their particular piece of useless crapware to "clean up" your box. ***
My phone rings again, same number. I ignore it. Rings again. I ignore it again. Rings a third time. I pick up. It's the scammer again. He starts by demanding an apology from me for being so rude. WTH? The guy's scamming me, he knows it, I've made it clear that I know it, I tell him to go stuff it, and he calls back? Three times? He wants to know why I'm raising my voice, and tells me he'll prove that I have a problem. I keep cutting him off, making liberal use of four-letter words, trying to convince him that I know it's a scam and he should really stop wasting his time. (I need my phone line free for actual use.) The guy Will. Not. Quit. I ask him what's the brand of the PC that has a problem. "Nothing to do with brand". "What OS is it running then"? "Windows". I claim to have no Windows computers, only Macs. (This is a lie, but whatever.) "Oh, well it affects your Macs too." I finally just tell him I have a degree in Computer Engineering, work for [mega-sized computer company] (both actually true), I know he's a scam, and he can go rot in hell, and I slam the phone down again.
Finally gives up after that... I wait for the other proverbial shoe to drop like at 3AM or something, just to piss me off, but never get a callback.
Aren't all telemarketers, legit or not, rated on sales per day? Why keep pushing when I've already made it crystal clear that I'm on to him? I simply don't get it. And I can't be the first person to cuss him out; this isn't an unknown scam... maybe he's that new to the job? I dunno.
P.S. I'm cordial to telephone surveys (and even answer them on occasion), stern with "legit" telemarketing (like the cable company I use asking if I want an upgrade), borderline-hostile with the ambiguously-named cold-calling charities (where inevitably the actual charitable purpose receives very little of the donations), pretty mean to lazy companies that don't seem to understand the DNC list (and I report them to the FCC and state AG office if I can figure out who they are), but save actual cussing for outright scammers like this.
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