Any fun tips for dealing with the Microsoft tech virus scam?

I’m running out of creative ideas with dealing with the Microsoft tech virus scam, I have been getting one to two calls per day for a week now.

woodsman said:

I’m running out of creative ideas with dealing with the Microsoft tech virus scam, I have been getting one to two calls per day for a week now.

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I have been getting those calls for almost two years now from folks with strong Indian accents claiming they are calling from Los Vegas or some other USA location............



I finally had to start using my cell phone as my primary phone and then get an answering machine for my local phone.............and never pick up the phone when it rings...........It it is important folks will leave a message............... the MS scammers never do.....

woodsman said:

I’m running out of creative ideas with dealing with the Microsoft tech virus scam, I have been getting one to two calls per day for a week now.

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Regardless of the scam, one thing I do that seems to at least stop the repeat callers, though new numbers seem to continue to call... (I think that a company that's hounding me for $25 that was dissolved back in '11 when I went through bankruptcy has decided to get even by selling my information to some "marketing" agency or another).... anyway, what I do is that I answer the phone, mute it, having never said hello or anything, and then just let them rattle on til they realize that they aren't talking to anyone at all. No number has called back more than once because they figure I'm just going to be truly wasting their time. I do still, as mentioned, get similar scam calls from other numbers, but I have no idea if the ones I've already mentioned or the ones I'll get today and tomorrow and on into the future are MS scams or not as I don't ever actually listen.

Just to be clear the very first time a call comes in from a number I'm unfamiliar with, I let it go to voicemail, if no voicemail is left... from there on out I consider the number to be the number of a scammer. And for the most part the area codes are ones that kind of give them away as I have no personal or business calls likely coming in from FL or DE or .... Those that generate from CA are a bit more concerning, but again first time a call comes in I let it go to voicemail and I google the number, only once was I one of the first callers to receive a scam from a particular number, but within a day there were dozens. So again, I am being somewhat diligent about assuring I'm not being a jerk to non-scammers.

woodsman said:

I’m running out of creative ideas with dealing with the Microsoft tech virus scam, I have been getting one to two calls per day for a week now.

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You could try something like this...

imyoda said:

I have been getting those calls for almost two years now from folks with strong Indian accents claiming they are calling from Los Vegas or some other USA location............



I finally had to start using my cell phone as my primary phone and then get an answering machine for my local phone.............and never pick up the phone when it rings...........It it is important folks will leave a message............... the MS scammers never do.....

Click to expand...

I do pretty much the same as yourself but sometimes I’m in the mood to play with these scammers. I did have one on the hook for better than fifteen minutes and I may have angered them and that’s why they continue to call. I pretended that my computer was down and I was going to have one of my children bring it in for repair. I was basically hinting I was elderly and not very computer savvy. Anyway’s, they offered to try to fix it remotely, I managed to keep them on the phone thru two attempts to restart into safe mode ( note: I don’t even own a windows product). I felt some anger building with the person so on the third try I said I’m in safe mode, he asked for the IP address and three times I gave him a fake home address pretending not to not know what an IP address was.

I soon ran out of ideas to keep him on the phone forgetting all the windows protocols because I have been using Mac for years. I informed him that I was scamming him the whole time, That Indian fella sure had some expletives for me. I laughed to myself the rest of the day about it.

woodsman said:

I’m running out of creative ideas with dealing with the Microsoft tech virus scam, I have been getting one to two calls per day for a week now.

Click to expand...

I decided to have fun with them... and picked it up, and pretended I couldn't understand them.. Next, I went all dumb technically ,and I channeled someone that called into the operations help desk way way back when I was in computer operations.. She was an older lady who was a secretary, and didn't understand new fangled stuff. she few up in the selectric typewriter days. Think of trying to teach computers to your great grandmother, .. and needing to get things very precise, but still have to repeat yourself 10 times, because of being unsure. He finally hung up in frustration, and never called back.

They bug us in cycles. Every month or two, we'll get 4-5 messages from them in a week. Nothing, not even the F-bomb and helpful suggestions for self-gratification in a loud, forceful voice seems to deter them from their appointed rounds.

DiAnna said:

They bug us in cycles. Every month or two, we'll get 4-5 messages from them in a week. Nothing, not even the F-bomb and helpful suggestions for self-gratification in a loud, forceful voice seems to deter them from their appointed rounds.

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Those little F***ers just never quit...............and they sure as hill bug the s**t out of me....

Now I am getting obo-calls from Dr. Carson asking for money to defend himself from the nasty and unfair MSM......

Some folks are just lucky.............:doh

They were bothering me a few months ago, but they made the mistake of calling from a number that could receive incoming calls. I posted the number on facebook and asked others to call and pass it on. I personally called them every half hour all day, it was raining and I didn't have anything better to do. I would call and read to them, or ask stupid questions about what shoes I should wear, or what to have for lunch, then I told them that I would do the same thing all day every day until they stopped calling me. The manager and I were on a first name basis by the end of the day and he was begging me to not call anymore.

wolfsgirl said:

They were bothering me a few months ago, but they made the mistake of calling from a number that could receive incoming calls. I posted the number on facebook and asked others to call and pass it on. I personally called them every half hour all day, it was raining and I didn't have anything better to do. I would call and read to them, or ask stupid questions about what shoes I should wear, or what to have for lunch, then I told them that I would do the same thing all day every day until they stopped calling me. The manager and I were on a first name basis by the end of the day and he was begging me to not call anymore.

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Sweet revenge............but did you get his Amex card number?

woodsman said:

I’m running out of creative ideas with dealing with the Microsoft tech virus scam, I have been getting one to two calls per day for a week now.

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That's like the Google Earth scam too.

wolfsgirl said:

They were bothering me a few months ago, but they made the mistake of calling from a number that could receive incoming calls. I posted the number on facebook and asked others to call and pass it on. I personally called them every half hour all day, it was raining and I didn't have anything better to do. I would call and read to them, or ask stupid questions about what shoes I should wear, or what to have for lunch, then I told them that I would do the same thing all day every day until they stopped calling me. The manager and I were on a first name basis by the end of the day and he was begging me to not call anymore.

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Good idea !!