Good try scammers...

[Clunkclick]

Our very good ex-colonial colleagues from downtown Mumbai have hit on a wizard weeze to get control of your computer.

 

This week, after a deluge of incoming nuisance calls from an "International" number, which all went  to answerphone and then immediately rung off, I got an e-mail today purporting to come from an IT jobseeker, enclosing a "CV"(In Word format) . . . . 

 

What kittening banana boat do they honestly think we've  just fallen off.

 

This was a new one on me, but, beware, nevertheless.

 

Any other novelties on this front, anyone ?

 

 

Nick

[mac11irl]

How much time do you spend trying to come up with the most hyperbolic thread title that has bogall to do with your actual posts' content????

Edit -

this reply no longer relevent courtesy of some proactive modding

Edited 14 September, 2016 by mac11irl

[SkodaVRS1963]

How much time do you spend trying to come up with the most hyperbolic thread title that has bogall to do with your actual posts' content????

 

Yes I thought it was supposed to be something along the lines of "nice try but no cigar".

 

I suspect the OP has got his metaphors mixed up.

[Auric Goldfinger]

How much time do you spend trying to come up with the most hyperbolic thread title that has bogall to do with your actual posts' content????

 

by the looks of it as much time as me..........................

[gadgetman]

So an international call from one of the various scammers and then a phishing/malware laden email have a factual basis?

On that basis, I must be really worried getting umpteen of those emails daily and regular international calls asking about PPI, political polling survey or asking me to buy Sky protection insurance.

Going to edit title to something meaningful and ship to off topic

[mac11irl]

So an international call from one of the various scammers and then a phishing/malware laden email have a factual basis?

On that basis, I must be really worried getting umpteen of those emails daily and regular international calls asking about PPI, political polling survey or asking me to buy Sky protection insurance.

Going to edit title to something meaningful and ship to off topic

Well thats a better rebranding exercise carried out than what most of the scammers manage!!

[GentleGiant]

Since they rang off without leaving a message, how do you know they were scammers??

 

It is a sad fact that a number of UK firms use Indian call centres to get around UK cold call regulations; I get them all the time for the previous owners of my phone number, although the number of calls per week is slowly declining as them the person they are asking for is dead.

[ColinD]

I've found playing along wasting their time has seen a huge drop in calls. I can sort of do it and take a break from work... just 5 mins role play or until I start laughing.

 

Saves them calling you or someone more who might fall for it. I see it as doing my bit!

 

They don't call me as often now. I think it's when I described my car accident as driving out of a cargo plane while airborne that's put a black mark against my name.

[Clunkclick]

How much time do you spend trying to come up with the most hyperbolic thread title that has bogall to do with your actual posts' content????

Edit -

this reply no longer relevent courtesy of some proactive modding 

Creativity darling, some of us have got it . . . but don't self-harm if you haven't. !

 

Sorry, I didn't realise that posting on this site was tantamount to an entry in some sort of dulness competition, overseen by gold card carrying Humpah Lumpahs from Momemtum.

 

Police State here we  come.

 

No wonder Jezza blew up his house !

 

You see how easy it is . . that didn't take anytime at all.

 

Nick

Edited 14 September, 2016 by Clunkclick

[Clunkclick]

Since they rang off without leaving a message, how do you know they were scammers??

 

It is a sad fact that a number of UK firms use Indian call centres to get around UK cold call regulations; I get them all the time for the previous owners of my phone number, although the number of calls per week is slowly declining as them the person they are asking for is dead.

Past experience. 

 

Its always, the bloke with the bad Spike Milligan "Pakastani daleks" accent telling me that "You have a problem with your computer" (Because i put it there).

 

And I don't know anybody abroad that would have a need to phone me.  

 

But you could be right they might not have been scammers. But when you're getting 6 calls a day minimum for the last 10 years, its just too much of **** to answer it when you know that 9 out of ten of them are cold/nuisance callers that you don't want any truc with the other side of hell freezing over.

 

Nick

Edited 14 September, 2016 by Clunkclick

[Clunkclick]

Yes I thought it was supposed to be something along the lines of "nice try but no cigar".

 

I suspect the OP has got his metaphors mixed up.

They are even more mixed-up here:-

 

 

N

[cheezemonkhai]

So they're from India are they?

That's a bit racist isn't it. Most if you look are from anywhere but.

[FUBAR]

I've found playing along wasting their time has seen a huge drop in calls. I can sort of do it and take a break from work... just 5 mins role play or until I start laughing.

 

Saves them calling you or someone more who might fall for it. I see it as doing my bit!

 

They don't call me as often now. I think it's when I described my car accident as driving out of a cargo plane while airborne that's put a black mark against my name.

 

This is your new plan for the next one  

[Clunkclick]

Unlikely.

 

In words calculated to inflame the  instincts of  even the most self-effacing gold card carrying members, . . .  "Eff-Off" mate.

 

I don't give a raging **** what colour/pattern the perpetraors are,  but i do judge behaviour - that's still permisible outside the realm of the Home Office,  isn't it ?

 

I take as I find (unless you can prove otherwise).

 

When answered, I  find I get ZERO cold/nuisance/scammer calls are from Reykavik, Anchorage, Rotarua, Shanghai, Singapore, Punta Arenas, Vichy-en-France, Point Mogu, Vladivostok or Woomera and 99.9% come from the wonderful sub continent. 

 

Could this possibly be that the scammers are piggying-back on the improved communications links that have been put in place to support the  not-so recently outposted call-centres ?

 

Nah, of course not Malcolm (Sarcasm)

 

Nick

Edited 15 September, 2016 by Clunkclick

[Clunkclick]

Last time I inadvertently answered the phone to an undeclared/unknown number it was one of our sub-continental colleagues on-the-make with the computer error scam routine. 

 

Having used Random Activity Sampling in a previous professional life, I am aware  that the sample size here is partcilularly small, but trust me, experience leads me to believe its representative. 

 

I've got caller ID on the handset and 95% of the incoming are international, most of which withhold their number and those that don't can usually be identified using the offices of number tracing services on the web as having an origin in the "Jewel in the Crown"

 

 

Nick

[gadgetman]

I'm surprised that you haven't had BT block any international or withheld numbers. It's basic stuff Nick!

[GentleGiant]

I have to answer international calls, because it might be family or friends.

 

Had a funny scam on social media last year, a friends QQ account was hacked (it happens a lot due to lots of Chinese using obvious passwords); and as usual, the hackers send out please help I need cash messages to everyone listed on the account.

 

The first person they tried it with was her UK husband, and BOTH of them were sat on our couch when it happened, so I had the account blocked and then returned to my friend with the password reset within a few minutes of it being hacked.

[Tilt]

If I get a call that doesn't interest me I just leave the caller talking and let them hang up.

 

And I never reply to 'opt out' text requests.

 

If you ignore them they will not ring back as it costs them money.

[rum4mo]

The "Microsoft" guys that phone me are normally very polite, even after I'm requested that they go and ---- themselves, they normally come back with "twice back to you sir you Jolly Fellow!", until I tried a different tack, I now claim to have an Apple computer, now that seems to mean that I'm handed to a more senior expert, who just hangs up?

Edited 27 September, 2016 by rum4mo

[punyXpress]

If I get a call that doesn't interest me I just leave the caller talking and let them hang up.

 

And I never reply to 'opt out' text requests.

 

If you ignore them they will not ring back as it costs them money. *

 

* Much of which finds its way to BT who have plenty of clout to stop these calls, but don't bother. I wonder why?

[GentleGiant]

I've just had an interesting email turn up - the first from my Yahoo account in over a year.

 

No title.

No sender

no body text

a header where the Yahoo email server has marked the origin as "Invalid"

 

Yet Yahoo still says it is "Good"!!!

 

Upon examination, the mail is carry a lot of hidden html coding; so it was deleted straight from the server, without ever darkening my door.

 

And they wonder why the whole world has ditched them; I would close my account if I could remember the log in details!!!

[KenONeill]

The "Microsoft" guys that phone me are normally very polite, even after I'm requested that they go and ---- themselves, they normally come back with "twice back to you sir you Jolly Fellow!", until I tried a different tack, I now claim to have an Apple computer, now that seems to mean that I'm handed to a more senior expert, who just hangs up?

My usual reply to these guys - "What's a menu bar; I'm running Unix!"

[OldTrilobite]

I'm surprised that you haven't had BT block any international or withheld numbers. It's basic stuff Nick!

We dare not block the withheld numbers either, because our local hospital, the village medical centre, and our dentist all withhold their number. God knows why, but as we are using these health services a lot these days, we have to accept all withheld number calls.

[sdenny]

My usual reply to these guys - "What's a menu bar; I'm running Unix!"

 

I'm now settled on "So, would you like to lie to about the supposed virus on my computer before I tell you I'm an IT consultant, or shall we both save some time?"

 

Sometimes, I even make it to the end of the sentence before they hang up.

[Defenderben]

Think our work mail server system gets around 60-100 bogus emails a day getting through with various attachments mainly word documents, your invoice, your parcel tracking number your this and your that all day long.

They come in on a lot of hacked known email addresses too but when you look closely they are not quite right, we even get emails which initially look to be from our own email addresses but as said not quite right on spellings or an underscore here and there.

Nothing new.