I Had A Scam. [Archive] - Renovate Forums

issatree

28th February 2017, 05:33 PM

Hi to you all,
Phone rings, overseas male voice, hard to hear, accent horrible, not really able to understand properly.
Mr. Smith, this is Telstra, we are warning you that you have a problem with your Computer, OK, what is wrong.
If you follow what I'm telling you, we can fix this. Your Computer will be off for approx. 1 hour. Who am I speaking to. This is Harry Williams, No. D657295. Crap.
That was actually what he told me.
Went to Google, printed in www.teamevent.com (http://www.teamevent.com) & you will see there is a box with all the errors on your PC, along with 1 Warning.
By this time I'm just about sick of this as, there always seemed to be a 5-6Sec delay between us.
Was struggling to understand him, asked for an Australian voice, another chap a little bit better but nod good enough for me.
Asked, could send me an Email, so I can follow that. Dead Line after 36mins.
Of course there was no Email forthcoming.
So be aware, as they had my Name & Ph.No. Smith is not my real name.

AlexS

28th February 2017, 05:49 PM

They have your name and phone number because the electronic phone directory is sold to them by your beloved telephone supplier.
Sometimes get one or two of these a day for a couple of weeks, then nothing for a while. There are a number of tactics you can use.
1. Just hang up. Doesn't waste your time.
2. Blow a whistle into the phone. I'm told this is painful for the listener.
3. Try to keep them going for as long as possible by pretending to be stupid, pretending to do what they say, ask them to repeat things etc. Stops them ringing someone more gullible than yourself and can be entertaining if you have nothing better to do with your time.
4. Pick your favourite blasphemous, foul-mouthed, racially offensive insults, type them into google translate, translate them into Hindi or other sub-continental language, listen to them spoken and record it. Play it back to them.

Fuzzie

28th February 2017, 06:04 PM

Or if you are a geek you can transfer the caller to Lenny (an automated answering robot on voip).
:dev:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWrkDOt_IfM

derekcohen

28th February 2017, 06:32 PM

I have had this as well. They want to connect to your computer, during which time they will steal all personal data (passwords, bank details, etc) and place spyware to continue the process.

I asked for their telephone number to call back. Of course what they gave was rubbish.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Chris Parks

28th February 2017, 06:45 PM

I was getting a few scam callers a while ago but after the last call we haven't had a single one in about six months. The caller told me there had been an accident or something similar and I agreed with him as he had rung the NSW police dept and we have a few accidents. He asked me to repeat who he had rung and I told him and then said all calls to this number were traced. He then asked me what he should do!! I advised him it might be a good idea to hang up before the trace was completed. Fair dinkum, some of them are as thick as two short planks. I am guessing that our number has been removed or I hope it has because the next one will get exactly the same treatment.

KBs PensNmore

28th February 2017, 07:03 PM

I know of 2 people that got similar calls, and as they had nothing better to do, they went along with what was being asked. They kept saying, that the page hadn't come up yet or something similar, kept them going for half an hour or more then told them, "It was the most fun they'd had all day, as they don't even own a computer, let alone know how to use one", They'd been told of this type of thing by their offspring.
Kryn

crowie

28th February 2017, 07:06 PM

I answer all phone calls with morning and if there is a delay in the response I've used my very limited school german to talk after that....
last one asked me if I understood english, to which I replied "nine"....worked, as he hung up!!

Cal

28th February 2017, 07:46 PM

Lappa

28th February 2017, 08:04 PM

Believe it or not, blowing a whistle down a phone line can be construed as a form of assault according to a recent article. Pity; I bought a whistle just for annoying phone calls.

bueller

28th February 2017, 08:18 PM

I love screwing with these guys. I worked IT support for years but I usually act all concerned and waste their time until they lose the will to live and hang up.

One of the security guys I worked with a few years ago actually got really annoyed getting these calls constantly so he setup a virtual machine they could "hack", tunnelled back into their network and wreaked some of his own havoc. Not legal by a long stretch but they were in India so he wasn't that concerned. Unsurprisingly it was the last call he had from them for a while.

Sturdee

28th February 2017, 09:16 PM

I've used my very limited school german to talk after that....

I switch over and only talk in dutch, an advantage of being an immigrant. :U

Peter.

Fuzzie

28th February 2017, 09:33 PM

I often ask them what the IP address of my problem system is just to make sure they are looking at the right computer. Usually they just hang up there and then, but one was smartarse enough to ask me to go to the control panel network details panel and read it back to him!

issatree

28th February 2017, 11:08 PM

Hi All,
It seems I'm not the only one.
Thank You All for Your Responses.
I so glad I didn't do anything stupid, & let them in.
It was mainly the Accent & the delay between me asking him to speak up, & then this other chap came on, & not much better.

KBs PensNmore

1st March 2017, 12:22 AM

City morgue, you kill 'em we chill 'em.
Or say "Australian federal police"
I have fun with them sometimes if I can be bothered. I had one guy say "go to hell sir" at the end of the call as he spent so long with me and finally realised he was wasting time [emoji1]

One that I use is "City Crematorium, You kill'em, We Grill'em" :D Only trouble was that a police officer was on the other end of the line, as the call was listed as "Restricted Number" and a mate of mine used to ring with that code, I thought it was him. The Officer was not AMUSED.
Kryn

old1955

1st March 2017, 03:23 PM

I had a gut full of numerous callers wanting to fix my Microsoft Windows etc etc. it was happening daily at the time. On one call I acted like a 200 year old nut job. Convinced him to go right through his crap and towards the end he was wanting me to push the Windows key. It took another five minutes of him trying to tell me which key and where it was. At the end I told him I didn't have one of those and that it had an apple (that I was eating) on it. He called me a "mother you know what" and hung up. Total time 30 enjoyable minutes for me.

I later read an article where a significant number of these 'poor people' were suffering from depression due to the way Australians treated them. I have a fix for that - Don't ring Australia.

Ross

rrich

1st March 2017, 03:37 PM

We have that kind of scam here too. Depending upon my mood I'll do one of two things.

1: OMG! Which computer
nonsense
Well you have to give me the IP address of the computer so we can fix the problem. We have 27 here.
nonsense
I can't tell, I need the IP address
nonsense
Come on you need to tell me which one. The address should start with ten dot.
(At this point the almost intelligent ones just hang up knowing that ten dot is a not-routable address. Otherwise we don't get past the IP address.)

2: Which computer? We have quite a few here. (Then I push a few keys on the phone)
nonsense
Let me explain what is going on here.
nonsense
In about 30 minutes I will get an E-Mail from the telephone switch. It will contain your exact location in GPS coordinates down to the nearest meter. It is too late for you to hang up. (Almost all do, however if they don't I'll continue.) I will give your coordinates to Vinny in Philadelphia. As a retired FBI agent, Vinny owes me big time. He will give your coordinates to his cousin, Guido, in Palermo. Guido is a 'Problem Solver'. You have just become Guido's latest problem. You can expect a visit from Guido to solve the problem.

I did have one explode and ask if I was threatening him. I answered that I was just explaining the consequences of your little scam and have a nice what is left of your life.

I only got the network problem scam phone call twice.

rustynail

1st March 2017, 04:17 PM

AlexS

1st March 2017, 04:21 PM

Impersonating police officer - Chargeable offence.So who's going to report you?

david.elliott

1st March 2017, 04:58 PM

I think it's ~$6.00 per month to have calling number display on my landline...anything we don't recognise, shows "overseas" or an 02 8219 XXXX number that is the Epilepsy Action Australia gets ignored...those guys have been really persistent..
Of an evening, we get the call on the landline at home, and then my mobile immediately afterwards...and at work I get the call most days about 12:00 ish on my mobile...I know it's them coz I called back once and it says welcome to EAA and then hangs up...

Something that really has my back up currently is the fundraiser tactic of thanking me for my past support...at that time I arc up and challenge the statement asking when and how much...and can I get it back...I really need it now...
Had one yesterday at work on my mobile, and in the opening statement she mentioned Dunn & Bradstreet...which is usually guaranteed to get your attention...then tried to get me to accept free investment advice...
When I kept talking over her and asking her to explain the D&B connection she hung up...

doug3030

1st March 2017, 04:59 PM

Believe it or not, blowing a whistle down a phone line can be construed as a form of assault according to a recent article. Pity; I bought a whistle just for annoying phone calls.

And is probably a wast of time as well - callcentres use amplifiers which filter out any sound loud enough to cause hearing damage or pain, at least the ones in Australia do because of duty of care to the employees. They are mass produced and so would be available to the overseas centres as well.

I just ask them for their card number. They ask what card number. I tell them we take visa or mastercard. they ask why I want their card number and I reply that there is a $25 fee for calling this number. They ask what is the fee for and I tell them that i cannot answer that until after they have paid. Every time they try to go back to their script, ask for their card number again and do not talk to them about anything other than the card number. They usually do not last long.

Cheers

Doug

markharrison

1st March 2017, 07:54 PM

My favourite is what a friend of mine does. She picks up the phone and whispers into the phone "It's done, but there's blood everywhere".

crowie

1st March 2017, 08:19 PM

Tonight I was mentioning this thread to a dad at gym who is a Telstra Engineer...
He said that he happened to be working from home when one of the scammer rang the house; he asked for the employee number and as he was already in the system did a profile search on the said employee number coming back to the scammer saying that's wrong. The scammer protested and the Telstra Engineer identified that he worked for Telstra, was working from home and had just completed an national and international employee's search against the given employee number and before he had the opportunity to question the scammer further the busy tone was in his ear....SPRUNG!!! His thoughts on the matter are that the scammers know Telstra and set up a "call centre" employing unwitting people to do the phone calls not knowing they are doing illegal calls.

doug3030

1st March 2017, 10:24 PM

His thoughts on the matter are that the scammers know Telstra and set up a "call centre" employing unwitting people to do the phone calls not knowing they are doing illegal calls.

I am sure that this is the case, and it is not just Telstra. People in the countries where companies set up call centres know that legitimate companies like Telstra and government bodies like the ATO operate call centres in their countries. How hard would it be to recruit 1000 people to man what they all know to be a dodgy callcentre?

Wouldn't it be easier for one conman to open a Call centre that they claim is being operated by their company on behalf of Telstra or ATO? The one boss can recruit a Centre Manager, team leaders and workers who all think they are doing legitimate work. All the documents that they sign and the training they receive leads them to believe that their work is legitimate and only the one person knows it is not.

I had dealings with scammers impersonating the ATO a couple of years ago. They were chasing me for a $5000 tax bill that I had no knowledge of. I worked out that I was being targetted because the real ATO had gone through the ABN listings and deactivated all the inactive ones, including an ABN I had for a business I ran 10 years ago. The whole list of cancelled ABN's and contact details was freely available on the net.They were demanding that I pay the $5000 or face prosecution. If people had been avoiding tax by noABN looked ot be inactive they wouls probably have paid up.

I called them out as spammers several times but they would not back off because they actually believed that they were representing the ATO.

I had even called the real ATO and confirmed that I had no outstanding debt.

The calls stopped around the same time that I read that a group of scammers impersonating the ATO and the IRS in the US had been rounded up

Cheers

Doug

smidsy

2nd March 2017, 09:03 AM

This has been on the news, its lead generating.
They get your information and sell it to shonky lawyers who then chase you to take action - apparently it's caused a major spike in dodgy claims.

I was getting a few scam callers a while ago but after the last call we haven't had a single one in about six months. The caller told me there had been an accident or something similar and I agreed with him as he had rung the NSW police dept and we have a few accidents. He asked me to repeat who he had rung and I told him and then said all calls to this number were traced. He then asked me what he should do!! I advised him it might be a good idea to hang up before the trace was completed. Fair dinkum, some of them are as thick as two short planks. I am guessing that our number has been removed or I hope it has because the next one will get exactly the same treatment.

smidsy

2nd March 2017, 09:05 AM

I've done the "I've got several computers running on different ISP's and need the IP address of the bad one" line and that stuffs them up.
Or tell them you run linux, that stuffs them up - I got creative one day, allowed him to talk me through it and told him I'm running Windows 3.11.

rustynail

2nd March 2017, 01:41 PM

So who's going to report you?
You never know who is on the other end of the phone.

Sawdust Maker

2nd March 2017, 03:13 PM

Isn't it "impersonating a policeman carrying out their official duties"?

You can't get done dressing up as a copper for a fancy dress party

Chris Parks

2nd March 2017, 10:29 PM

This is a very funny take on scam emails

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QdPW8JrYzQ

Skew's_Girl

3rd March 2017, 11:39 AM

I've gotten the 'Windows technician' and the 'Telstra technician'
Then I started getting "You've been in an accident recently, we may have $10 000 for you'
And 'super cheap travel tickets like free'.
The latest was 'government rebated solar panels'
There's been so many.

I'm going to try the Lenny cause that's damn near hilarious. Best example of the Turing test I've ever seen.
I tried doing 'the addled old lady' once. "Hello? is this peter?" peter turned out to be a pet cat that died and Alice was waiting for a call from peter to know whether or not to get milk even though her daughter Rachel and her second Daughter Lucy both said it couldn't happen but peter is such a nice cat... drawn out for 10-20 mins before I cracked up and couldn't go on.

I think my personal best was becoming an American TV Evangelist exorcising the viruses Telstra said were on my computer. I wish i'd taped that one.

I've given up now. It takes too much energy so Lenny'd be a good break for me while driving their profits down.

rustynail

3rd March 2017, 06:31 PM

Isn't it "impersonating a policeman carrying out their official duties"?

You can't get done dressing up as a copper for a fancy dress party
Crimes Act 1900 Section 546D.
" Impersonation does not include conduct engaged in SOLELY for satirical purposes."
The rest is chargeable.

doug3030

3rd March 2017, 06:57 PM

" Impersonation does not include conduct engaged in SOLELY for satirical purposes."

In Victoria you can't even use satire as an excuse - VICTORIA POLICE ACT 2013 - SECT 256 Impersonating police or protective services officers (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/vpa2013164/s256.html)

I wonder how they get away with making those "cop" movies :rolleyes:

AlexS

3rd March 2017, 09:23 PM

All well and good, but does anyone really think some low-skilled call centre operator in India who is breaking the law is going to report you to the Australian police?

I wonder if everyone who receives these calls were to ring the Indian embassy to complain, every time it happened, would the message get back to the Indian government that they need to do something to stop these scum. Might be worth a try.

doug3030

3rd March 2017, 10:32 PM

I wonder if everyone who receives these calls were to ring the Indian embassy to complain, every time it happened, would the message get back to the Indian government that they need to do something to stop these scum. Might be worth a try.

It would never work because the number of calls to the embassy would be so high the only way they could handle it would be to outsource their switchboard to a call centre in India.

rrich

5th March 2017, 05:05 PM

SCAM E-Mails. I don't get too many of them anymore.

I got one that wanted my phone number and address. I responded with the address and phone number of the Los Angeles FBI office. I'm sure that the idiot called the FBI office from somewhere in Africa. For about a month I got threatening E-Mails from the idiot with FBI logos but with grammar and spelling errors.

Now I'll get one Nigerian Prince scam every six months or so.

Chris Parks

5th March 2017, 05:37 PM

This one is absolutely hilarious...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIVfrBFc5og

rustynail

5th March 2017, 06:36 PM

[QUOTE=doug3030;2010115]In Victoria you can't even use satire as an excuse - VICTORIA POLICE ACT 2013 - SECT 256 Impersonating police or protective services officers (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/vpa2013164/s256.html)

I wonder how they get away with making those "cop" movies :rolleyes:[
It would be at Commissioners discretion. As pretty much everything is in Vic police.
Usually a subtle uniform change is enough.
Doesnt say that in the Act though.

woodPixel

5th March 2017, 06:49 PM

Given the hysteria about terrorism and the endless tracking our government does on us, how hard would it be for people to report these calls?

Even though you don't know the number called from, given its blocked, what would happen if you rang the Terrorism Hotline and said you just received a call from ISIS asking for donations?

If 50 people did this, those call centre people would be collectively black-bagged by the end of the day regardless of country.

Since they probably move from scam to scam daily, who is to say you aren't telling the truth? "Oh my! Mr ISIS wants money for the Caliphate and the call was from India!!!"

Sawdust Maker

14th March 2017, 11:26 AM

seems as though my business name is up for renewal at ASIC

interesting especially as business name rego is a state govt rort

Enfield Guy

14th March 2017, 12:53 PM

I believe that ASIC has taken over the role of issuing and controlling business name registration now.

cava

14th March 2017, 01:34 PM

Several years ago I got a telephone scam call, regarding something or other (I forget now what it was, but probably gold).

I strung the caller along, and set up several meetings with him in Dubai and eventually Morocco. He was keen, but his address kept changing. In the end a meeting was set up for Balcelona Spain, and he gave me is mobile number. :rolleyes:

I then contacted the local (Melbourne) fraud squad with all the details - and they weren't interested. Stated that they did not have the time or resources to follow up - yet I had done all the work for them.

AlexS

14th March 2017, 05:40 PM

I then contacted the local (Melbourne) fraud squad with all the details - and they weren't interested. Stated that they did not have the time or resources to follow up - yet I had done all the work for them.
At which point, you tell them that your next phone calls are going to be to the media and a couple of politicians...then follow through.

rustynail

14th March 2017, 05:52 PM

At which point, you tell them that your next phone calls are going to be to the media and a couple of politicians...then follow through.
And then start watching your back.

Sawdust Maker

14th March 2017, 06:43 PM

I believe that ASIC has taken over the role of issuing and controlling business name registration now.

Hmm, so it seems
In any event not a legit renewal

Dengue

14th March 2017, 08:39 PM

I went through the same routine as oldtree. Even my PC took 5 minutes to open, was able to use up a good 20 minutes of his time in which he would not be conning some old people. When it came to the "press the Windows button" we were supposedly interrupted by a knock at my front door, and I asked him to hold on. A few minutes later I got back on the phone to say that my visitor was a member of the AFP, and wished to speak with him. Instant hang-up at the far end. All good fun:)

kiwigeo

21st March 2017, 02:18 PM

Believe it or not, blowing a whistle down a phone line can be construed as a form of assault according to a recent article. Pity; I bought a whistle just for annoying phone calls.

How many scammers do you think would actually take it to court...and in the process be forced to explain to the court why they were ringing you up masquerading as a fake Telstra tech?

Sawdust Maker

21st March 2017, 07:18 PM

A number of years ago my mum's golf club received a letter of demand from one of those international telex directory people. ie pay up or we'll take you to court.
The club secretary had mistakenly agreed to an entry thinking it was a recurring bill - dodgy as hell

Anyway I drafted a response essentially suggesting that the local courts were in Adelaide and we were sure that the various Australian Authorities would be very happy if the firm instituted action and thereby agreeing to submit to Australian Jurisdiction.

The golf club never heard another word.

kiwigeo

21st March 2017, 07:43 PM

kiwigeo

21st March 2017, 07:50 PM

it would never work because the number of calls to the embassy would be so high the only way they could handle it would be to outsource their switchboard to a call centre in india.

rofl!!!!!!

Sawdust Maker

3rd May 2017, 03:14 PM

Just received this from a Mr Jim Bing

"
Dear CEO,
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO, because this is urgent. If this email affects you, we are very sorry, please ignore this email. Thanks)
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in China.
We received an application from Huayi Ltd on April 30, 2017. They want to register " offcut " as their Internet Keyword and " offcut .cn "、" offcut .com.cn " 、" offcut .net.cn "、" offcut .org.cn " 、" offcut .asia " domain names, they are in China and Asia domain names. But after checking it, we find " offcut " conflicts with your company. In order to deal with this matter better, so we send you email and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China or not?

Best Regards,
Jim | Service Manager
Asia Registration (Head Office)
8006, Xinlong Building, No. 415 WuBao Road, Shanghai 201105, China
Tel: +86-2161918696 | Fax: +86-2161918697 | Mob: +86-1582177 1823
Web: www(dot)asiaregistration(dot)org