Those nice people that call you to help you fix your computer

[knc]

Sure are impatient. He could not wait for me to find the ctrl - r keys... SMH..

He hung up on me! I was just going to get my Credit card...

 

[frederick]

Ah man...I hate when that happens. It really sucks when I tell them that I don't own a computer, they get all offensive about asking me if I'm sure. And when I tell them I'm Amish and don't believe in technology they really get impatient. I want them to help me, but what are you going to do when your an Amish guy like myself and don't have any of those fancy electronic gizmos.

 

[compnet]

we had one on the line this morning for 21 minutes.. They kept transferring us..

Every time they said "do you see the key next to control that looks like a flag," I would get all angry and say "ARE YOU CALLING ME A ___?" I'm sure you can figure it out..

I have to say they are a lot more patient on the phone than I am.. 20 minutes and I didn't even get a browser or cmd open... I tell people they have to pay for a service call if they can't get join.me or showmypc working in under 5.

 

[arrow_runner]

Man I never get these calls. If I did, I'd run upstairs to my Apple II and see how long that lasts...

 

[mraikes]

Ah man...I hate when that happens. It really sucks when I tell them that I don't own a computer, they get all offensive about asking me if I'm sure. And when I tell them I'm Amish and don't believe in technology they really get impatient. I want them to help me, but what are you going to do when your an Amish guy like myself and don't have any of those fancy electronic gizmos.

You tell them you don't have a computer, but you still need help because your carriage is (a) buggy!

I kill myself . . .

 

[Vicenarian]

or when they ask if you have "Windows", you tell them, "Sure I have windows...at least 8 of them throughout my house"

 

[frederick]

You tell them you don't have a computer, but you still need help because your carriage is (a) buggy!

I kill myself . . .

That's awesome. I wish I would have thought of that when they called.

They do have patience, but when you are pretending to be a legit Microsoft Help Center, you have to play it cool as much as possible, that's how you wheel them in. At least twice a month, I email my clients a Watch List email. It involves things like new computer scams, web sites and emails, and other little bad news things.

 

[seedubya]

I'm Amish and don't believe in technology

Liar! You can't be Amish. You have a phone for them to call you on!

 

[bertie40]

I had a job yesterday, basically a scam job as described above.
I was driving to the customer when he phoned me up, panicking.

Basically, there was Indian music blasting at top belt out of his speakers, plus "war" messages popping up on his screen.

When I got there, I found aa_v3.exe running, plus some files called djpunjab.

This was a pretty straightforward cleanup, which I followed by a series of scans, plus an sfc for good measure.

What amused me was this. The Indian guy called back whilst I was there. My customer took the call and said the problem was fixed and hung up.

I then started counting down from 10 to 1 out loud.

My customer laughed at me, saying "he's not going to call back is he"!

When I got down to "2". The phone went again.

Engage smug mode

My customer was called another 4 times within the next 3 minutes.
These scumbags are nothing, if not persistent.

 

[PBComputer]

Had a call yesterday evening just as I was sitting down to my evening meal. It was "BT Broadband" about faults with my computer sending errors back to BT main server. I let me do the normal script they go through before pointing out a few facts the I'm not a BT customer and I know I don't have any errors.

I would of let me go on longer but my food was going cold.

 

[KompuKare]

Liar! You can't be Amish. You have a phone for them to call you on!

Actually, apparently having a phone is allowed by the Amish but it has to be for business or emergency use only and cannot interfere with family life etc. In other words it has to be in a shed.

 

[SAG]

Liar! You can't be Amish. You have a phone for them to call you on!

No no no, he really is Amish. And very outspoken against all forms of technology.
I read all about it on his blog once.
I've even subscribed to his email list.

 

[frederick]

Liar! You can't be Amish. You have a phone for them to call you on!

I had a few former Amish buddies in the military. I say former Amish because they did there walkabout thing (i can't remember what it is called) and they decided to join the military before returning to their Amish community. You can have a cell phone, a car, a computer, etc., so long as you don't own it (in some circles you can own it), and that these things are used strictly in course of your professional life, and have no impact on your personal off-duty life.

As far the scammers go, when I tell them I don't have such things cause I'm Amish, they act confused. They sound foreign (not from America) and speak english about as well as a 2 year old. In some cases worse than said 2 year old. They don't fully comprehend what Amish is, and I take advantage of it.

Now personally, no I'm not Amish, I'm Roman Catholic. And I will probably go to hell for claiming to be Amish over the phone to some random stranger whose is trying to scam me for my credit card, but I don't care, I've done enough things to warrant myself getting first class tickets on the flight to hell. Something about a hand basket and a rocket ship.

bertie, I've cleaned up only 2 that were like that. Customer asked me do something about the calls he was getting so I took his cell phone and removed the battery and handed it back to him. He asked what that would accomplish and I told my customer "well, now when he calls, I don't have to listen to it ring". I haven't found anything that works as far as preventing them from calling other than saying "The police and interpol are tracing this call now and just told me they only need 15 more seconds before they have your exact location". They immediately hang up and for some weird reason and don't call back. Take advantage of their retardation I say.

 

['putertutor]

Man!! I never get these calls. I'm really missing out

 

[nesrinamb]

why can't I get one of these calls i wanna pretend i have no idea what i am doing when i really do.

 

[glricht]

We got one the other day, but my wife answered it and hung up before I could get on the call and play with the guy. The guy told my wife he was from "Windows".

He hasn't called back.

 

[seedubya]

Actually, apparently having a phone is allowed by the Amish but it has to be for business or emergency use only and cannot interfere with family life etc. In other words it has to be in a shed.

Really? Talk about your misconceptions!

BTW, the original comment was a joke ..... appears to have fallen flat though.

 

[seedubya]

Some time last year I was a a small client's office, working through lunch. So was he and one of these guys called. This wasn't the first call that he'd had so the conversation went something like this

Scammer: Hello sir. I am from Microsoft etc. etc.
Client: Wow, great timing. I'm having terrible trouble with my PC, it takes almost 20 minutes to start up. Can you fix it?
S: Oh yes sir, very glad to help sir! Can I get remote access, please?
C: Ok, just let me switch it on first. It will take some time, can you hold?
S: Oh sure.

He puts him on hold then and proceeds to go back to his work, just checking in with the scammer every 7 or 8 minutes saying "Now it's at the login in screen" "Now it's still logging in". He kept the guy going for almost 45 minutes. At the end, lunch was over and he just hangs up. The scammer calls back and he then proceeds to tell the scammer that he knew what he was up to all along and "How does it feel to be scammed and lied to?". Best way yet I've seen of dealing with them.

 

[bipc]

You tell them you don't have a computer, but you still need help because your carriage is (a) buggy!

I kill myself . . .

now that's funny right there me i just let them talk and talk and talk and in the end just say no and hang up when they call back i answer and when they say anything i say no and hang up again, usually by the 3rd call they get the message

 

[brettjameslive]

It never ceases to surprise me that people are still falling for this well publicised scam! Still, keeps me busy