Have you had to deal with this scammy phone call?
I received a very unusual and scammy phone call today. The man on the other end didn’t speak English well at all which made it really hard to understand him. He kept wanting me to go to my computer and log on because, “your Windows programme is sending thousands of e-mails to my company”. He declined to give me the name of the company or pass the phone to his manager. When I asked for his name and phone number he hung up on me.
Then I got a call 20 minutes later from a new phone number and it was the same guy. By this time I had already called my ISP and asked them about the situation and they confirmed it is a scam. I told the guy to leave me alone and if he called back I would do everything in my power to find out who he was and I would turn that information over to the authorities.
What worries me is what would have happened if my kids had picked up the phone.
Have you ever receive a call like this? What did you do?
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23 Answers
I’d call the police and give them the number he called from. Or did your phone say his number was “blocked” or something?
No, I haven’t but I too would alert the authorities.
I’ve heard of this scam before, I would’ve just really served it up to that guy.
There’s the possibility that they’re just a few kids doing it for the sake of fun.
It’s either you ignore it, or if it’s serious, either ask your husband to answer it, or report it.
I’ve dealt with a very similar problem before, except that the guy was seriously creepy.
@Luiveton ”There’s the possibility that they’re just a few kids doing it for the sake of fun.”
It’s definitely a legitimate scam (irony?) that has affected thousands of people I believe.
The first call was blocked as just 5 numbers came through so I immediately suspected that they were telemarketers. The second time he called a “999” area code came up which is a toll free one.
When I called my ISP they advised me to just hang up on them. I was really surprised when he called back as I was clear the first time that I thought he was a scammer. The second time I got quite angry with him.
The cops won’t do anything about this. I once took a pile of child porn into them that I had stumbled across on Yahoo Groups and they were perplexed. They took it but I don’t know that they did anything with it.
The FBI tends to be better equipped to handle this stuff than local cops.l
@wundayatta except I’m in Canada: the land of scammers.
I did but I told them I do not own whatever they said it was causing them harm. :)
Now they are really annoying me! They’ve called again. I told them that if they called again I’d report them for badgering me.
I had something very similar about 6 months ago – it was obviously a scam, but I tried to get the guy to speak slowly and clearly, just to see how far he would take it. He just ignored me and kept pushing the same line, so I hung up. I am also in Canada.
When I get calls from scammers and telemarketers, I engage them and act like a potential victim so that I can get the most information out of them, to learn their modus operandi.
Register with the National Do Not Call list and file a complaint against them.
Whoops you’re in Canada… hmmm… maybe try reporting them to the RCMP or the Anti-Fraud Center? Not living in Canada, I don’t know if those are the right agencies to handle it but they seem like good leads.
I’ve had good luck with the US DNC system hopefully one of those Canadian agencies can provide some relief or at least point you in the right direction.
Hope it works out!
FWIW, I received that call long after I’d added myself to our national do not call list.
@dappled_leaves Apparently the Do Not Call List was used as a “OH YAY these are active phone numbers!!!” by more than a few companies. <rolls eyes>
I’m feeling very creeped out by this. Especially as they have called 3 times after me telling them in no uncertain terms that I know they are scammers and that I’ll never do anything they ask.
It may be time to pull out strong language if they call again.
Well, there’s always the old coaches whistle technique; just make sure it’s them!
@wonderingwhy lol that is a great idea. I happen to have a whistle.
The number is always the same with the exception of the one time they used the “999” area code.
I get a lot of those calls, it’s a very common scam in the UK. They tell me that my computer is sending viruses. I tell them there are five computers in our household conncted to the internet and if they can tell me the MAC address of the one that’s causing the problem, I will be able to fix it myself. Funnily enough, they hang up at that point.
I try to string them along for a while, to waste their time as well as mine…
I keep a loud whistle by the phone and use it when appropriate.
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