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[OT] Phishing Phone Call
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Warren Oates
Jan 13, 2013, 11:02:07 AM1/13/13
to
Had a very intriguing phone call yesterday (Saturday). Gentleman with an
almost unintelligible Asian accent, it went something like:
Him: I am from the DNS company.
Me: The DNS company? Really?
Him: Yes sir. Your computer has been sending destructive messages all
over the Internet.
Me: Really? My computer?
Him: Yes sir. I need you to sit down at your computer right now ..
Me: Right now? Is it that serious?
Him: Yes sir. We have been sending you messages for the last three weeks
about this matter ...
Me: Messages? I didn't get any messages. What email address did you send
them to?
Him: No, sir, not email. The light yellow box at the bottom right of the
computer screen.
Me: [pause to stifle guffaw] Really? I don't know how I might have
missed those messages. Mind you, we have a Mac.
Him: A Mac? How many computers do you have?
Me: I'm not telling you that.
Him: Well sir I need you to sit down right now at your computer ..
Me: I don't have any idea what you're talking about.
Him: Okay sir, goodbye.
I've read about this stuff. It seems that the unwary _will_ sit down
right now at the computer and type in whatever the bozo tells them to
type in. Leads to identity theft and all sorts of stuff.
Beware.
--
Soulless fruitflies are the nanotechnology of the fear industry -- Bucky
almost unintelligible Asian accent, it went something like:
Him: I am from the DNS company.
Me: The DNS company? Really?
Him: Yes sir. Your computer has been sending destructive messages all
over the Internet.
Me: Really? My computer?
Him: Yes sir. I need you to sit down at your computer right now ..
Me: Right now? Is it that serious?
Him: Yes sir. We have been sending you messages for the last three weeks
about this matter ...
Me: Messages? I didn't get any messages. What email address did you send
them to?
Him: No, sir, not email. The light yellow box at the bottom right of the
computer screen.
Me: [pause to stifle guffaw] Really? I don't know how I might have
missed those messages. Mind you, we have a Mac.
Him: A Mac? How many computers do you have?
Me: I'm not telling you that.
Him: Well sir I need you to sit down right now at your computer ..
Me: I don't have any idea what you're talking about.
Him: Okay sir, goodbye.
I've read about this stuff. It seems that the unwary _will_ sit down
right now at the computer and type in whatever the bozo tells them to
type in. Leads to identity theft and all sorts of stuff.
Beware.
--
Soulless fruitflies are the nanotechnology of the fear industry -- Bucky
Patty Winter
Jan 13, 2013, 1:15:57 PM1/13/13
to
In article <50f2da80$0$33828$c3e8da3$a909...@news.astraweb.com>,
Warren Oates <warren...@gmail.com> wrote:
[very amusing description of a phone conversation]
>Me: Messages? I didn't get any messages. What email address did you send
>them to?
>
>Him: No, sir, not email. The light yellow box at the bottom right of the
>computer screen.
can use to put messages right on your screen? Sort of like how Comcast
sends messages to your cable TV receiver? (Although those just trigger
a light on the box; they don't show up on your screen.)
>I've read about this stuff. It seems that the unwary _will_ sit down
>right now at the computer and type in whatever the bozo tells them to
>type in. Leads to identity theft and all sorts of stuff.
better (she used to work for one of the biggest antivirus companies)
click on a Google search result and then click on the resulting website
to download some software to view the schedules of a local transportation
agency. That sure didn't seem right to me; the schedule should have been
readily viewable on the website itself. It was only after I moved closer
to her desk that I realized she had mistyped the name of the agency and
was on a fake website. I sure hope she was running software to protect
her from malware. (She has a Windows system.) I'm still amazed at how
she wasn't paying a bit of attention to whether she was on the right
website or not before she clicked to download the software.
Patty
Warren Oates
Jan 13, 2013, 1:26:35 PM1/13/13
to
In article <50f2f9dd$0$80118$742e...@news.sonic.net>, patty1
@wintertime.com says...
system, but they're internal messages (I mean, come on, intelligent
Windows users are behind 2 or 3 firewalls -- who's gonna be the first
to cry "oxymoron?") from various apps and the system and most people
just ignore them because they just happen all the time and you probably
can't turn them off. That's the point of the scam -- "oh, _those_
messages ..."
It's a shame the guy didn't speak better English. I got bored trying to
understand him and make him understand me; else I would have toyed with
him some more.
--
Hello from the dark side
@wintertime.com says...
> Do Windows systems have some sort of messaging system that Microsoft
> can use to put messages right on your screen? Sort of like how Comcast
> sends messages to your cable TV receiver? (Although those just trigger
> a light on the box; they don't show up on your screen.)
>
No, not like that. The pale yellow pop-ups pop up when you start the
> can use to put messages right on your screen? Sort of like how Comcast
> sends messages to your cable TV receiver? (Although those just trigger
> a light on the box; they don't show up on your screen.)
>
system, but they're internal messages (I mean, come on, intelligent
Windows users are behind 2 or 3 firewalls -- who's gonna be the first
to cry "oxymoron?") from various apps and the system and most people
just ignore them because they just happen all the time and you probably
can't turn them off. That's the point of the scam -- "oh, _those_
messages ..."
It's a shame the guy didn't speak better English. I got bored trying to
understand him and make him understand me; else I would have toyed with
him some more.
--
Hello from the dark side
Patty Winter
Jan 13, 2013, 1:33:49 PM1/13/13
to
In article <MPG.2b5cc6246...@news.astraweb.com>,
Warren Oates <warren...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The pale yellow pop-ups pop up when you start the
>system, but they're internal messages (I mean, come on, intelligent
>Windows users are behind 2 or 3 firewalls -- who's gonna be the first
>to cry "oxymoron?") from various apps and the system
Thanks for the clarification, Warren. Are they error messages, or
>
> The pale yellow pop-ups pop up when you start the
>system, but they're internal messages (I mean, come on, intelligent
>Windows users are behind 2 or 3 firewalls -- who's gonna be the first
>to cry "oxymoron?") from various apps and the system
what sorts of things do they say?
>It's a shame the guy didn't speak better English. I got bored trying to
>understand him and make him understand me; else I would have toyed with
>him some more.
Patty
Warren Oates
Jan 13, 2013, 4:17:08 PM1/13/13
to
In article <50f2fe0d$0$80118$742e...@news.sonic.net>, patty1
@wintertime.com says...
be at risk ...". Or if there' are automatic updates available for the
OS, "Updates available. Click the button." Or (and this one's annoying
because you can't seem to get rid of it: "New hardware is available,"
but when you try to install the "new hardware" if fails.
There's also the kinds of notifications that Linux desktops give out,
about "You are now connected to [blah blah]" or "Downloads complete" but
those are usually a different colour.
Anyway, I've got the firewall on, behind the one in my router, and I've
got an antivirus thing, and the cute l'il laptop's XP is behaving itself
so far. It's got a removable "caddy" for the optical drive, and I've
orded a spare from Ebay, and I can put a 2nd HDD in it, slides in and
out, I'll try to put OS X on it.
@wintertime.com says...
> Thanks for the clarification, Warren. Are they error messages, or
> what sorts of things do they say?
>
If you've turned off the internal firewall, it says "Your computer might
> what sorts of things do they say?
>
be at risk ...". Or if there' are automatic updates available for the
OS, "Updates available. Click the button." Or (and this one's annoying
because you can't seem to get rid of it: "New hardware is available,"
but when you try to install the "new hardware" if fails.
There's also the kinds of notifications that Linux desktops give out,
about "You are now connected to [blah blah]" or "Downloads complete" but
those are usually a different colour.
Anyway, I've got the firewall on, behind the one in my router, and I've
got an antivirus thing, and the cute l'il laptop's XP is behaving itself
so far. It's got a removable "caddy" for the optical drive, and I've
orded a spare from Ebay, and I can put a 2nd HDD in it, slides in and
out, I'll try to put OS X on it.
Jim Janney
Jan 15, 2013, 6:12:38 PM1/15/13
to
Warren Oates
Jan 16, 2013, 8:10:39 AM1/16/13
to
In article <ydny5fu...@shell.xmission.com>,
Jim Janney <jja...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
> See also
>
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/in-which-windows-technical-support-
> scammers-call-me-again/
Thanks for that! I also followed the link to the page where the guy kept
the scam artist on the phone for two hours, pretending to connect to his
CompuServe account.
As I said, I wanted to do that kind of thing, but the asshole's English
was so bad that it was too difficult.
Jim Janney <jja...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
> See also
>
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/in-which-windows-technical-support-
> scammers-call-me-again/
Thanks for that! I also followed the link to the page where the guy kept
the scam artist on the phone for two hours, pretending to connect to his
CompuServe account.
As I said, I wanted to do that kind of thing, but the asshole's English
was so bad that it was too difficult.
Jim Janney
Jan 16, 2013, 11:45:32 AM1/16/13
to
Warren Oates <warren...@gmail.com> writes:
> In article <ydny5fu...@shell.xmission.com>,
> Jim Janney <jja...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
>
>> See also
>>
>> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/in-which-windows-technical-support-
>> scammers-call-me-again/
>
> Thanks for that! I also followed the link to the page where the guy kept
> the scam artist on the phone for two hours, pretending to connect to his
> CompuServe account.
>
> As I said, I wanted to do that kind of thing, but the asshole's English
> was so bad that it was too difficult.
I understand the logic behind email spam and phishing: you can reach
> In article <ydny5fu...@shell.xmission.com>,
> Jim Janney <jja...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
>
>> See also
>>
>> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/in-which-windows-technical-support-
>> scammers-call-me-again/
>
> Thanks for that! I also followed the link to the page where the guy kept
> the scam artist on the phone for two hours, pretending to connect to his
> CompuServe account.
>
> As I said, I wanted to do that kind of thing, but the asshole's English
> was so bad that it was too difficult.
large numbers of people at essentially no cost, so it doesn't matter how
high your failure rate is. Phone spam mystifies me. The return on time
spent must be very low.
--
Jim Janney
Joe from NY
Jan 16, 2013, 3:06:21 PM1/16/13
to
On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:45:32 -0500, Jim Janney wrote
(in article <ydntxqh...@shell.xmission.com>):
> I understand the logic behind email spam and phishing: you can reach
> large numbers of people at essentially no cost, so it doesn't matter how
> high your failure rate is. Phone spam mystifies me. The return on time
> spent must be very low.
Unfortunately I know of two women "of a certain age" who received such calls.
Two were duped into giving over their credit card numbers and were charged
something like $50 to have a "Microsoft expert" do absolutely nothing to fix
a non-existent problem. It took less than 10 minutes. They told me about this
after the fact. There's no telling how much the charge might grow to in the
future.
There is also a third woman, "of a certain age + 20" - seriously, she's 88 -
who was smart enough to say "Thank you for the heads-up. I'll call my
computer guy," and then hang up. She then called me to verify for her that it
was a scam.
--
Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can findï¿œno common denominator,
but among thoseï¿œwhom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
ￜ ￜ-- WH Auden
(in article <ydntxqh...@shell.xmission.com>):
> I understand the logic behind email spam and phishing: you can reach
> large numbers of people at essentially no cost, so it doesn't matter how
> high your failure rate is. Phone spam mystifies me. The return on time
> spent must be very low.
Two were duped into giving over their credit card numbers and were charged
something like $50 to have a "Microsoft expert" do absolutely nothing to fix
a non-existent problem. It took less than 10 minutes. They told me about this
after the fact. There's no telling how much the charge might grow to in the
future.
There is also a third woman, "of a certain age + 20" - seriously, she's 88 -
who was smart enough to say "Thank you for the heads-up. I'll call my
computer guy," and then hang up. She then called me to verify for her that it
was a scam.
--
Joey from New York
Among those whom I like or admire, I can findï¿œno common denominator,
but among thoseï¿œwhom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.
ￜ ￜ-- WH Auden
Warren Oates
Jan 16, 2013, 3:44:20 PM1/16/13
to
In article
<0001HW.CD1C726D...@news.eternal-september.org>,
setup, I guess. Remember, these call centers are in Bangalore or
somewhere -- the minimum wage is like ten cents an hour; the biggest
cost is the phone lines and service, I'd guess.
<0001HW.CD1C726D...@news.eternal-september.org>,
Joe from NY <g...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:45:32 -0500, Jim Janney wrote
> (in article <ydntxqh...@shell.xmission.com>):
>
> > I understand the logic behind email spam and phishing: you can reach
> > large numbers of people at essentially no cost, so it doesn't matter how
> > high your failure rate is. Phone spam mystifies me. The return on time
> > spent must be very low.
>
> Unfortunately I know of two women "of a certain age" who received such calls.
> Two were duped into giving over their credit card numbers and were charged
> something like $50 to have a "Microsoft expert" do absolutely nothing to fix
> a non-existent problem. It took less than 10 minutes. They told me about this
> after the fact. There's no telling how much the charge might grow to in the
> future.
>
> There is also a third woman, "of a certain age + 20" - seriously, she's 88 -
> who was smart enough to say "Thank you for the heads-up. I'll call my
> computer guy," and then hang up. She then called me to verify for her that it
> was a scam.
They only have to hook two people a day to make enough to pay for the
> On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 11:45:32 -0500, Jim Janney wrote
> (in article <ydntxqh...@shell.xmission.com>):
>
> > I understand the logic behind email spam and phishing: you can reach
> > large numbers of people at essentially no cost, so it doesn't matter how
> > high your failure rate is. Phone spam mystifies me. The return on time
> > spent must be very low.
>
> Unfortunately I know of two women "of a certain age" who received such calls.
> Two were duped into giving over their credit card numbers and were charged
> something like $50 to have a "Microsoft expert" do absolutely nothing to fix
> a non-existent problem. It took less than 10 minutes. They told me about this
> after the fact. There's no telling how much the charge might grow to in the
> future.
>
> There is also a third woman, "of a certain age + 20" - seriously, she's 88 -
> who was smart enough to say "Thank you for the heads-up. I'll call my
> computer guy," and then hang up. She then called me to verify for her that it
> was a scam.
setup, I guess. Remember, these call centers are in Bangalore or
somewhere -- the minimum wage is like ten cents an hour; the biggest
cost is the phone lines and service, I'd guess.
Mark Dodel
Jan 17, 2013, 12:01:33 PM1/17/13
to
On Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:10:39 UTC, Warren Oates
<warren...@gmail.com> wrote:
-> In article <ydny5fu...@shell.xmission.com>,
-> Jim Janney <jja...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
->
-> > See also
-> >
-> > http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/in-which-windows-technical-support-
-> > scammers-call-me-again/
->
-> Thanks for that! I also followed the link to the page where the guy kept
-> the scam artist on the phone for two hours, pretending to connect to his
-> CompuServe account.
->
-> As I said, I wanted to do that kind of thing, but the asshole's English
-> was so bad that it was too difficult.
Got the call today claiming he was from Microsoft calling about my
"computer problem". I was in a hurry (soup was done) so I just told
him I have no Microsoft crap here, but he kept right on talking so I
hung up. There are so many dull people in this country that I'm sure
quite a few fall for it.
Mark
--
From the eComStation 2.2 RC1 desktop of Mark Dodel
Warpstock 2013 - http://www.warpstock.org
Warpstock Europe 2013 - http://www.warpstock.eu
<warren...@gmail.com> wrote:
-> In article <ydny5fu...@shell.xmission.com>,
-> Jim Janney <jja...@shell.xmission.com> wrote:
->
-> > See also
-> >
-> > http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/in-which-windows-technical-support-
-> > scammers-call-me-again/
->
-> Thanks for that! I also followed the link to the page where the guy kept
-> the scam artist on the phone for two hours, pretending to connect to his
-> CompuServe account.
->
-> As I said, I wanted to do that kind of thing, but the asshole's English
-> was so bad that it was too difficult.
Got the call today claiming he was from Microsoft calling about my
"computer problem". I was in a hurry (soup was done) so I just told
him I have no Microsoft crap here, but he kept right on talking so I
hung up. There are so many dull people in this country that I'm sure
quite a few fall for it.
Mark
--
From the eComStation 2.2 RC1 desktop of Mark Dodel
Warpstock 2013 - http://www.warpstock.org
Warpstock Europe 2013 - http://www.warpstock.eu
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