10pm calls from Indian scammers

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luckysurprise

43 posts

Geek

#150056 9-Jul-2014 22:30

This "Microsoft" scam is nothing new of course, but in the past they haven't bothered me at anti-social times. But just this last week I have received 3 of these calls after 10pm on 3 separate nights.

I have to keep the phone on the hook as I am on the transplant waiting list and a call could come through about a kidney for me at any time of day or night.

Surely there must be some way of filtering out these calls. I am never in my life likely to receive a legitimate phone call from India. This would be true of many people. Is it not possible to ask Telecom to reject any calls from there? If email can be filtered for spam by ISP's so it never reaches your inbox, why cannot phone calls also be filtered? Is there a technical reason making this more difficult than filtering email spam?

This particular scam has been going for a long time and shows no sign of ending and is causing a lot of bother for a lot of people. India is not a lawless country; why are these people permitted to continue their criminal enterprise with impunity? Hell, by claiming to be Microsoft they are breaching copyright, which is regarded as a form of terrorism these days! Why aren't Microsoft or the NZ Govt on our behalf agitating the Indian Govt to do something about it?

Sorry just had to have my wee vent...

1 | 2 | 3

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#1086100 9-Jul-2014 22:39

Not much can be done.
Some ways to get rid of it.
When its them just put the phone down so they listen to them selves.
If you can mock their accent and say random stuff, that can work.
Waste all their time. So follow their bs for 45 minutes and they will get tired of time wasting.

What ever you do don't show any anger. They will keep calling if they got a kick out of it.

Beat of luck with your luckysurprise.
Let's hope it's in form of kidney and a phone call.

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richms

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#1086110 9-Jul-2014 22:48

No, telecom refuse to offer any call rejection services. Even if they did, my experiance with the healthcare industry is they normally call with blocked numbers for some reason, so would get blocked too.

Cant they just call your mobile when needed? The indian scammers just stick to landlines from what I have been told.

Richard rich.ms

bfginger

1244 posts

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#1086174 10-Jul-2014 06:32

Whatever you do, don't "mock their accent" or offend them in any way. They may be in possession of your personal information, they already hate you and many have shown themselves to be vindictive and extremely racist. It's best to reduce their strike rate by appearing naive and wasting their time then ending the call at random so they think their connection has cut out.

D1023319

524 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#1086188 10-Jul-2014 07:58

I just them them i have a linux pc so i know they are scamming me. I then follow up with how do they sleep at night stealing from us because we are only poor.

I used to waste their time but i realised i was only wasting my own time.

trig42

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#1086216 10-Jul-2014 09:05

Last time one called, I told them my windows were fine. They were all closed because it was a bit cold outside and I did not want a draft.
He kept telling me that it was windows on my computer.
I told him my computer had no windows
He asked if it was a Mac
I said no.
He said my computer had windows.
I said, no, my house has windows, and doors too.
He said my operating system was windows
I said, no, my computer has a screen, but it does not open or close like a window.

... this carried on with me playing dumb and him getting more and more insistent. He eventually hung up (about 10 minutes I suppose). I haven't had a call since (be about 2 months now), though I expect they'll try again soon.

DaveDog

336 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1086246 10-Jul-2014 09:23

I cannot for the life of me understand why phone providers do not offer the ability to Geoblock some regions or countries. For example, I do not know or want to receive calls from anyone in Nigeria, so why can't I block that?

Hiamie

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1086251 10-Jul-2014 09:36

luckysurprise: I have to keep the phone on the hook as I am on the transplant waiting list and a call could come through about a kidney for me at any time of day or night.

Just supply the hospital or whatever with your mobile number. You can then move around and go out and about knowing that you can be reached - always. And, I have never known the Indian scammers call on a mobile number!

Tony

networkn

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#1086265 10-Jul-2014 09:43

The three calls I have had, once I blew a whistle in the ears, once I played along with 10 minutes between each interaction for 2 hours and the last time I played porn.

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#1086293 10-Jul-2014 10:57

DaveDog: I cannot for the life of me understand why phone providers do not offer the ability to Geoblock some regions or countries. For example, I do not know or want to receive calls from anyone in Nigeria, so why can't I block that?

Because a lot of these calls are over VoIP and the host can be anywhere in the world......

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richms

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#1086295 10-Jul-2014 10:58

If the telcos would allow a block of withheld, and that fake international caller ID of +0000 then it would stop a lot of these calls.

Richard rich.ms

PassiveFever81

367 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1086304 10-Jul-2014 11:14

I certainly don't miss these idiot scammers... I had one on the phone for at least 20 minutes, eventually I said the computer had never been on the internet, so how could it get all these downloaded viruses... Boy was the guy mad :P

When I changed to Slingshot a few years back we had to change our number to something outside of the usual set of numbers for my town, since then, I haven't had a telemarketer or scammer ring... Ahh the peace :)

kiwifidget

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#1086316 10-Jul-2014 11:27

I tend to get more calls from HRV than the scammers. I let the HRV person prattle on, ask them to repeat stuff they said 5 minutes ago. Then when I get bored I say "So its a lot like my DVS then". Boy, do they get mad!
And double glazing people. Let them rabbit on for a while about all the benefits etc, then say "Yes, I agree with all of that, its why I had my house done 3 years ago".
They sometimes respond with something like "Why didnt you say so at the start?", me "Well, you never asked."
Although with regard to scammers, I do believe their use of English swear words is improving.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

DaveDog

336 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1086318 10-Jul-2014 11:30

xpd:
DaveDog: I cannot for the life of me understand why phone providers do not offer the ability to Geoblock some regions or countries. For example, I do not know or want to receive calls from anyone in Nigeria, so why can't I block that?

Because a lot of these calls are over VoIP and the host can be anywhere in the world......

Well... That's a stinker...