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  • #1

    The "Windows" Scammers

    We've seen posts here about folks getting calls from people claiming to be from "Windows" or "Microsoft," saying they're getting reports of error messages from the recipient's computer. It's a well-documented (at this point) scam in which the callers/scammers attempt to get you to click to a website or similar so they can hack your computer for fraudulent purposes.

    Welp, Mom got a call from one of them earlier today. Literally as I was heading out the door to go to work, I overhear her reaction:

    "Well, I don't know how you can be getting error messages from my system, since I don't have a Windows computer. I have an Apple computer. You're wasting your time. Goodbye."

    Click.

    I'm so proud of her.
    PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

    There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!
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  • #2
    Dammit why is it I never get to have fun with these guys?
    Supporting the idiots charged with protecting your personal information.

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    • #3
      Sometimes I wonder if the calls I don't pick up, that never leave a message, might be something like this. If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer. Maybe I should, sometime. Could be fun!
      When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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      • #4
        Mom was wondering how the scammers got our number, since it's unlisted.

        Dad and I had to explain to her that just because we're unlisted doesn't mean that they can't dial our number. "Basically, this guy is given a list of numbers and told to call as many as he can by the end of the day. He'll just cross us off and move on to the next number."
        PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

        There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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        • #5
          I think it's a robo-dialer that they use to assign a range of numbers like say, 606-0842 to 867-5309 and it will dial literally every number in that range. Doesn't matter if your number is unlisted if that's what it does.

          Note, though, my understanding of robo-dialers is very basic. I'm just assuming this is what they do.
          If I make no sense, I apologize. I'm constantly interrupted by an actual toddler.

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          • #6
            Way to go, Mom!

            I got one the other day that started out with a recording saying they were from "card services" and wanted to talk to me about lowering the interest rate on my "credit card." I know this is a scam, because in the fourteen years I've had credit cards, none of them has ever once offered to do anything nice for me. Also, when they actually do call, they identify themselves as calling from whichever bank the card if with (Chase, etc). So I waited on the line until I got a real person and said, "What part of 'National Do Not Call List' do you not understand?"

            They hung up.
            "Redheads have at least a 95% chance of being gorgeous. They're also concentrated evil." - Irv

            "This is all strange, uncharted territory and your hamster only has three legs." - Gravekeeper

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            • #7
              Quoth raudf View Post
              I think it's a robo-dialer that they use to assign a range of numbers like say, 606-0842 to 867-5309 and it will dial literally every number in that range. Doesn't matter if your number is unlisted if that's what it does.

              Note, though, my understanding of robo-dialers is very basic. I'm just assuming this is what they do.
              You've got it spot on. (For legit call centers, the dialer program has a blacklist of numbers to not call.)

              (Old-time hackers called this war dialing. Instead of trying to get a human, the dialer was listening for a modem's connect signal. Those it found would be noted in a file for later human perusal. See this entry at the Jargon File.)
              Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you speak with the Fraud department. -- CrazedClerkthe2nd
              OW! Rolled my eyes too hard, saw my brain. -- Seanette
              she seems to top me in crazy, and I'm enough crazy for my family. -- Cooper
              Yes, I am evil. What's your point? -- Jester

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              • #8
                If I get a call this is how I would like to respond.

                "I just have Steam on my Windows. Nothing threatening."
                To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

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                • #9
                  Yeah, I posted about this a couple of weeks ago.

                  I tell them I'm with the FBI. They can't hang up fast enough.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth An Haddock View Post
                    I tell them I'm with the FBI. They can't hang up fast enough.
                    It's the green teeth that clinch it...
                    I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                    Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                    Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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                    • #11
                      I had my third call from them yesterday. Its getting annoying, not because they've called but every time they call I'm either heading out or putting the kids to bed and I don't have time to stay on the phone and mess with them
                      Be Nicer To Retail Workers 2K18, also known as: stop being an incredibly shitty human to people just doing their job.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth MoonCat View Post
                        Sometimes I wonder if the calls I don't pick up, that never leave a message, might be something like this. If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer. Maybe I should, sometime. Could be fun!
                        Or not... there is a "one ring" scam http://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-ri...200000992.html that can cost you money
                        Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints...
                        TASTE THE LIME JELLO OF DEFEAT! -Gravekeeper

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                        • #13
                          Quoth skeptic53 View Post
                          Or not... there is a "one ring" scam http://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-ri...200000992.html that can cost you money
                          Only if you call them back.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Argus View Post
                            Only if you call them back.
                            ...which I would never do. If they couldn't be bothered to leave a message, or even wait for me to answer, then it couldn't have been important.
                            Sometimes life is altered.
                            Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
                            Uneasy with confrontation.
                            Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

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                            • #15
                              Quoth An Haddock View Post
                              I tell them I'm with the FBI. They can't hang up fast enough.
                              Bad move - that's impersonating a police officer. On the other hand, if you tell them you're with "The Agency" or "The Bureau", or throw together a combination of letters ("I'm with the MIB", or "I'm with the TLA"), you're not identifying yourself as being a member of an ACTUAL government department.

                              Note: for those not "in the know", the groups I mentioned are the Men In Black, and the Three Letter Acronym.
                              Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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