I just got off the phone and I'm very happy. Every now and then I get a call from an number with identity concealed. The call is always made by a person of middle-eatern or far-eastern origin. The accent sounds indigenous to India. These persons call and claim they are with Windows or MicroSoft. (Yes, I said that correctly. They allude to Windows being a separate entity.) Well I have been friends with a person that actually does work for MicroSoft in Seattle and verified that the callers are scammers. Now I do all I can to frustrate them on the phone. Today was a new personal best. I frustrated the original caller into getting their supervisor on their own and I then proceeded to drive him over the edge into cursing at me. When I began to cheer and laugh he knew he'd been had by someone onto their game. That's when he hung up on me. This entry will probably be taken down, but I just had to share this. The DarkLite Queen is once again, victorious!
"nos de tenebris lucem splendescere clarissimis enim sumus caeruleus"
Comments
Scammers
I was once charged over $200 by them, only to find out they did not fix the problem. So now, I just don't talk to anyone without a Yankee accent. It's not fair but it's the best I can do.
Gwen
Should have used Dawn's Voice
and said "I'm Lux Noctis and you're listening to the Vortex; 87.1, KVTX. Whether you're working or partying, I'll be looking after you. Through the night to the light."
I just vent at them
and tell them that they should cut off, cook and eat their dangly bits.
Makes me feel a bit better anyway. I'd sentence them to hanging, drawing and quartering if I had the power.
I used my thickets Boston
I used my thickets Boston accent to play around with the caller before it got too hard to keep up the act. The poor guy had to ask several times what I said as he couldn't make it out. I guess "wicked pissah" has a different meaning outside of the area ;)
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
I've been using:
https://www.nomorobo.com/
Currently just for land lines. It intercepts robo-calls so you aren't bothered except for a single ring. Also i don't answer calls from callers I don't know. Anyways, the service is free for those who may be interested.
{{Hugs}}
And now for mobile phones
Nomorobo has rolled out a paid version for IOS and Android but there is a waiting list.
Lori
A word of warning for those in the UK
There are a number of devices that will block all calls with 'Number Withheld'.
Many NHS Trusts block their numbers for and to quote the head of one trust, 'data protection reasons'.
He explained that you might not want your family to know about some disease or illness you have if the last call received by a phone can be obtained by dialling 1471. Sounds a very weak excuse for me especially if ALL calls from the hospital are made with number withheld.
So if your hospital might call or if someone you know gets taken into hospital you will never get the call if you block call with no caller ID.
Others are moving all calls to 0330 numbers which are not local calls any more just to get more revenue.
Recommend Truecall in the UK
I have a device called TrueCall which can be user programmed in many ways. I have mine set so that if anything other than a Number Withheld or International number call arrives, it rings my telephones. If Withheld or International, it gives a message saying, "Personal callers are welcome but not spam callers. If you are a personal caller, please press 8 to be connected."
Pressing 8 rings my telephone, but the important thing is that Spam callers hear the first few words and ring off and I don't even here a peep from my phone. Even more important: I have received urgent medical calls, such as, "You need to go to hospital NOW," from Number Withheld callers.
I can look at call records and see how many calls come in - not that many, maybe a dozen a month, but I think that is partly because the spammers give up on my number after a while.
Caller ID costs ££££
with many Service providers. It should be made standard by Ofcom to help fight the scammer/spammers
Truecaller
I have an Android app called Truecaller, not sure if it is the same people or not. The free version does a great job of blocking things I don't want. It will block no caller id as well as calls from numbers I tell it to block. It also puts an icon up that it has blocked a call and I can look at the records and have the options to handle the call in various ways. I really like it.
Like I say, I have the Android app and I'm in the U.S. I don't know if it is available for Apple or if will work in the UK.
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
Truecaller
It probably works in most countries - the company responsible is a Swedish outfit called True Software Scandinavia AB.
trueCall is a hardware device which sits between the telephone socket and (landline!) telephone which intercepts calls and either passes them on (those you've put on your star list) or plays one of two pre-recorded messages: one (for unknown callers) asks them to state their name before ringing the telephone, announcing who's calling, and giving you the option to accept or reject it; the other (for callers on the block list) politely informs the caller they're not welcome then hangs up. While enabling caller ID is chargeable, some telephone companies charge peanuts for the service (with PlusNet it's a mere £1pcm).
Meanwhile, a few weeks ago at work, some bright spark from an ambulance chasing company ("Our records indicate you had an accident or injury at work that was not your fault...") tried dialling several direct dial extensions at work. One colleague frustrated him by replying "National Accident Helpline - please confirm the details of your accident" thus throwing him off his script.
Other approaches I've heard are to leave the phone off the hook but walk away (so the caller ends up talking to air until they realise there's no-one on the other end) or to hand the phone to a nearby toddler who loves talking...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
I've been getting,
I've been getting, predictably, political phone calls (robocalls). I don't have as much of a problem with the shilling for a party as I do the constant barrage of "vote straight ticket!" messages. That's a refuge for the incompetent and illiterate, as well as the moronic.
So, when the call starts, I set the phone down and walk off until I hear the beeping. The longer I keep that sucker on the line, that's one less person they can dial that night.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Not for land lines!
According to their Web site, it works only on VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), not on POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service). In my area, AT&T offers U-Verse, which is VOIP (as is, I understand, Comcast's phone service). But I have an old fashioned land line, and Nomorobo doesn't work for those.
My favorite
My favorite thing to do is to start talking softer and softer. Then I wait for them to turn up their volumn very high to hear me. When that happens I blow into a whistle as hard as I can right into my phone. After a few years of doing this I don't get many scam or even telemarketers calling me. Go figure.
Air powered boat horns
do a wonderful job as well.
Doesn't work so well anymore,
Doesn't work so well anymore, the phone systems have automatic cutouts for volume spikes.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I was once told that the scammers ...
... particularly those from the Indian sub-continent are allowed 7 minutes per call. My record so far has been to string it out for 22 mins and 47 secs.
And then it takes me less than 30 seconds to login, load up my call history and block that incoming number. Not sure what I will do when we move back to the UK once my SO retires.
Tell them,
That you use a Mac, they hang up REAL quick then.
When my mum gets these jokers on the phone she'll tell them that she either has a Mac or that she only has a tablet with Android on it. I was sitting, listening to her do it once and nearly wet myself I was trying to not laugh loud enough so the guy on the other end wouldn't hear me as mum often uses the loudspeaker function on the phone.
The reason I was laughing was mum was stringing this joker along by asking how they knew she had a Windows PC when all she had was a tablet running Android 5.
dont frustrate them scare them!!
i got a call from those scammers years ago the idiots called me at 2 am and woke me up so i was a little testy.
I started playing along with them then the acted like i had a buddy in the NSA, brought up how things like this fund terrorism, said let me get him on the phone so they can trace the call and dispatch a predator drone to look around. Well i he hung up so fast after that it was not funny they have not called back since.
"Cortana is watching you!"
Simple Solution
I used to play with them. Then I got tired of the game.
Simply ask. "What is you phone number?" They hang up. :)
I happened upon...
...guys who were happy to give me phone number to call. Actually, whole point of their call was to give me that number... That charges like 100 usd per minute...
Anyway, "in Soviet Russia", major mobile operators are more dangerous and steal loads more money... Just today received obscure message about change in charging policy for the service provided for free last 10 years...
Another thing about many of the "scammers" in Russia is that they already are serving their time in a prison. Not much you can do to scare them...
Another kind of calls is "hi its me I have problems I need 1000 dollars right now could you send them to here..."
Funny thing is that most of the time "me" knows the names, and imitates voice good enough too fool relatives over phone... And it happened to my friends and colleagues. But in those situations "me" that had "problems" was in the same room...
My parenrs received calls of that kind regarding me about a dozen of times. But my parents are paranoid so they immediately called me back to check if I was OK... First two or three times I had a hard time proving to my parents that I had not had any multimillion debts with any strange people and have not murdered anybody...
Further to SamanthaMD;'s comments for UK
I got BT to bar calls with no calling line ID. The scammers still get through with a spoof ID which 1471 gives a "number unobtainable" tone when you try calling it! The UK gov't has just announced proposed new penalties for such spammers, which we would be great if you can identify them, but overlooks the practical problems of identifying them without running the risk of prolonging their call and getting caught by the scam. I have never had the courage to take their call further.
Best wishes
Dave
This is your hospital/doctor calling
and they can't get through bacause of you block. They do it for the reason I explained, 'Data Protection'.
I feel like complaining to Ofcom about the hospitals.
Samantha
British Telecom _knows_ where
British Telecom _knows_ where the call is coming from. They just block the ID from the end receiver.
My idea? (US) Tell the phone companies that they are not allowed to complete calls that do not come from an 'owned' number. That'll put paid to the caller ID spoofers immediately. (meaning that their Caller ID number has to route back to the origin point, and ring)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
That won't work
There are many known deficiencies in the SS7 (Signalling System 7) that Telcos use on their infrastructure that the hackers know about and exploit. This is how the Indian 'This is microsoft support' scammers can change the number presented to the Telco and the person being called every time.
These deficieincies have been known about for years.
Samantha
Yes, there are a lot of
Yes, there are a lot of issues. But they _can_ identify those people who are doing the spoofing. If I receive a call that claims to be from a Miami land line, they _see that_. They can tell that it's not actually coming _from_ a registered phone number, let alone from Miami at all. If the number isn't registered to the caller, they shouldn't be letting it through.
Most of the garbage calls I get claim to be from a US phone number, which turns out is out of service. They should not be allowing bad numbers to call through!
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
They are just not very interested...
...in preventing those people to reach you...
PS: do you know, that being paranoid does not mean that they are not gonna get you?... And by the way Heminguay who was thought to be paranoid because he was sure that "they" were watching him was actually closely watched by the US special services...
Perhaps refer them to the news article about
arrests in an India boiler room.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/06/huge-phone-sca...
my favorite
My time is billed at $150/hr 4 hour minimum, you owe me $600 just for phoning.
for some reason they hang up real fast.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
one thing I know from working in a call center... (comcast)
Some call centers don't let the caller hangup. As long as the dialer detects and active line it keeps the line open.
Set your phone down near a radio or tv... and the call goes on and on... eventually a limit is reached and the dialer will hang up.
Do this often enough and they will block your #. And since they share databases... your # will remain blocked (because you are costing them money).
If they're calling your cellphone... iphones can block a contact... so add them as a contact and block that contact. androids have a 'silent ringtone' option. And a single contact 'Telemarketer' can have many many #s so just keep adding them to the existing contact.
Enjoy.
They hang up on me....
They hang up on me when I tell them that I am an MCSA. And that I work in IT. I once told the IRS scammers that I had top secret clearance and worked at APG. They hung up to.
The part about being an MCSA is true, the part about APG is only half true. I did one job on the base, but it did not require security clearance.
about those callers.
first off they get your numbers from credit card use or the credit companys. If you use a credit card instead of a bank card you will get these calls often. Please note. Visa, Mastercard, and American express are the three main credit card companys they sell their products to other companys, but it is these three that sell the lists of numbers to other companys. Not your bank or credit union if that is where yours is from. There is a bunch of legal stuff I wont get into about it.
Second for the most part you have to say "take me off your call list" specifically. It's legal binding for them to do so if they do not you can have them charged with harassment. This is only good for that call list. The next call list they get in a week or two could have your number on it again.
Get rid of call waiting, caller id, voicemail. These just trip the computers into repeatedly calling your number.
Finnaly I dont generally get bothered by them or others. I have a cursed phoneline. It only rings whenever it really wants too. So i miss a number of calls as it never rings.
I have a service
They wash my windows once a month; they tell if any are broken.
And my penis is neither micro nor soft.
What was it they were calling about again?
Dont trust any prat on the
Dont trust any prat on the phone. These scum are a real
pain in the ARSE. Soon as I hear some body from abroad I hang up the phone.
These clots come on talking cack. So just hang up on the flith. Dont trust people over the phone.
Prank the telemarketers
Probably the most famous prank pulled on a telemarketer was done by Tom Mabe. IT went viral years ago, here is a link for anyone that has never heard it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmKtS-k12b0
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
///\\\///
///\\\\////never mind...
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
I have more fun with Telemarketers....
when they call me. As most of you kow out there English is not my first language. Hell it is not even my second but in truth my seventh. As Snowfall knows when I get tired I cannot control how thick my accent gets. When Telemarketers call I don't even bother. I even go so far as to ask them to use a Translator just so I can speak in my birth tongue of Romani. I love how they have to scrabble to find a translator only to fail.
May the peace and happiness of the Goddess keep and protect you
as always your humble outlaw
Jessie Wolf
Managed to do a similar one
Managed to do a similar one with same scam.
Nearly twenty minutes feeding the idiot with "when you say press any key, which key is the any key." Sort of loony responses.
victory again!!!!!!
wEEndows called me today. They were getting error reports and I have a WIRUS on my computer. The called went as such:
Are you at your computer?
yes.
Is it on?
yes.
Do you see key next to the left most control key?
yes, ALT.
next to that?
DELETE.
The wEEndows key?
No windows key.
What operating sEEstem, a Mac?
I use Borealis, this is a custom built computer, I thought you said you were from wEENdows.
*silence*
How'd you get my number?
*click*
Snowfall-6, scammers-0
quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall