IT started more than a year ago.
I knew it was a scam from the start, because the call came in on my mother’s landline.
My mother was 92 years old at the time and had never used – let alone owned – a computer.
The caller, ostensibly from ‘Windows Technical Department’ was insistent that there was something wrong with the computer associated with this line, although no computer had ever been associated with the line.
My computer has actually never been connected to the Internet.
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I told him to get lost.
After a few more of these calls, I developed a standard response: “Hold the line please. I’m putting you through to our technical department.”
Sometimes I told them they were going through to “security”, just to make a change.
Now I don’t even waste my breath. I mention the word “scam” and they hang up immediately.
If you Google ‘Windows Technical Department’, you will find any number of sites offering advice on how to deal with the scamsters. It seems that – in the USA, where the scam has being going on for at least five years – it is possible to find a source telephone number for the call, but that doesn’t seem to help.
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As a correspondent on cnet.com puts it:
“The folks calling do not have a legitimate CallerID number and will certainly not give me a number to call them.
Even if they do, I also question whether they can be prosecuted. They never claimed to be Microsoft; they are ‘Windows Technical Department’. They may be the ‘Windows Technical Department’ at scammersRus. So they are not lying.
“They also do not say my computer IS infected, they say it ‘could be’ infected, which again is not a lie. This scam is well crafted to avoid saying anything untrue, while misleading people into making dangerous and unfounded assumptions.
This is not just Joe Scammer calling. This is a Big Business that is skirting the line of illegality and has sophisticated call centres, multiple employees and obviously they are tracking the calls they make as they offered to call me back when I get home.
“The accents are clearly Indian, so we have a good idea where they come from. These guys are smart and organised. I doubt there is any legal recourse you have to shut them down. I am betting they even have a strong legal team that is advising them how to set things up to avoid being prosecuted.”
He could be right, but, if they are so organised, why have they called me at least 20 times? Surely they should have realised they are not going to con me and have ceased to waste airtime calling me?
My thought was that more and more scammers are jumping on what would seem to be a lucrative bandwagon.
But, if that is the case, how come they all have Indian accents?
Your best bet is to follow the advice offered on makeuseof.com:
“So, how should you deal with a scam call?
“Well, the answer is simple: Hang up.”
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