Indian Phone MS agent scammers doing rounds in CHCH nz

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kiwigeek1

622 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 214296 5-May-2017 13:39

Hi Guys

not sure if this is correct place but we are part of ISP with SPARK

9:30am we had indian call saying PC report saying its infected

dad said he didnt have a computer and knows they are scamming and they hung up

only 1 hour later they called back with a different indian

who was also hard to understand and hung up after dad said dont have computer

anyhow going to get him to report the numbers on ID

to https://store.spark.co.nz/forms/s/phone-scam-report

think they were 09 numbers would have to ask him again.

is there a NZ scam site that can report this so goes out to all people

I recall there was one. I do a search meantime dont want

poor non techie people to get caught with it.

BarTender

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# 1776310 5-May-2017 14:14

The DIA Site is the place to go: https://www.dia.govt.nz/Spam-Reported-Scams

kiwigeek1

622 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1776312 5-May-2017 14:17

found netsafe and spark pages

kiwigeek1

622 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1776354 5-May-2017 14:58

just had another call.. thats 5 different indians call here

they clearly dont mark it of their own DB to prevent double ups. lol

a kid deletes their files while they are connected

I guess if got time to mess with them and keep them on phone for ages

as must cost

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu7cCNsvDWg

frankv

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# 1776415 5-May-2017 16:13

It's probably 5 different lots of scammers. Someone will have acquired a list of phone numbers (including your father's) somehow, and sell it. And he'll sell it as many times as possible, as quickly as possible. New lists are more valuable than ones that have already been mined.

Often, the calls are paid for with stolen credit cards, so it doesn't cost the scammer anything but his time. Nevertheless, I think it's worthwhile to waste his time, if you have the time to waste. A few minutes from each potential victim adds up to a wasted day for the scammer. When the rewards-to-time ratio drops enough, scammers will drop out of the game.

Incidentally, don't ever tell them *how* you know it's a scam... this just educates them to create a more credible scam story.

DarthKermit

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# 1776421 5-May-2017 16:22

Do they even need a list of numbers? All they'd need to do is start at (eg) 03 ___ ____ and work their way sequentially through the phone number range.

xpd

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# 1776425 5-May-2017 16:33

3 people support this post

Had one the other day from an 09 815 xxxx number at work.

Usual "Calling from Microsoft Tech Support blah blah"....... I just replied "You do realize youve called an IT company ?" - guess who hung up first.

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frankv

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# 1776429 5-May-2017 16:41

If you're a poor Indian lad with a phone and nothing better to do, you might go through the numbers sequentially, but you would prefer to have a list of known good numbers. So a list has some value, in that it avoids time wasted on disconnected/unassigned numbers. If you were stuck, you might dial numbers randomly/sequentially hoping for a hit, and as a by-product produce a list of those that answer, to be sold. I suspect that those calls that hang up the moment you answer are automated calling systems building these lists.

A list of numbers with associated names is more valuable again. Adding details (address, age, DoB, income, passport or drivers license number, Visa card number, mother's maiden name) to a name adds value, and can be on-sold to other scammers, or telemarketers, or whoever. So don't ever give any information about yourself over the phone to a stranger.

Linux

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# 1776434 5-May-2017 16:51

When they call play a porm hub video down the phone

Linux

kiwigeek1

622 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1776447 5-May-2017 17:31

Dads number isnt listed.. so they got it somehow

he did however get scammed for some pills of facebook.. that eneded up charging $500

which banks dont refund of course.. banks are enablers.

shk292

1738 posts

Uber Geek

# 1776469 5-May-2017 18:00

What's the best way to string them along? Turn them loose in a VM perhaps? Leaving them waiting while you do things really slowly is good too I suppose

frankv

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# 1776833 6-May-2017 12:11

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shk292:

What's the best way to string them along? Turn them loose in a VM perhaps? Leaving them waiting while you do things really slowly is good too I suppose

An easy opening gambit is to say "Hang on, there's some-one at the door". That gives you time to think of what you want to do next.

Also, "My computer isn't near my phone" (which obviously isn't cordless). So everything they tell you to do involves a long delay while you walk to the computer, perform some imaginary action, and then return to report the results (in detail, at length)."Rush to the phone" to tell him that there's a whole lot of stuff on the screen that you're writing down, then rush away again to "write it all down", while he's telling you not to bother. Just when he's starting to get somewhere, report BSOD, including all the hex and other technobabble, verbatim. Insist that he writes it all down.

I'm really helpful and friendly and nice, but screw things up. e.g. I don't wait for them to complete their instructions before rushing off to do things (badly).

Get them to spell every technical word out for you. Mishear all Ss as Fs.

Unless you *really* know what you're doing, I wouldn't give them a VM to play with... to do that, you're letting them through your firewall.

nzlegs

51 posts

Master Geek

# 1776840 6-May-2017 12:28

I had 1, I did ask which computer it was that was affected. He then asked if I had several, I replied about 10 tablets but he rudely hung up before I could tell him about the windows machines. Damn!

amiga500

1402 posts

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# 1777911 8-May-2017 15:43

Ask him if the viruses could be causing fuzzy screen fonts in Linux Ubuntu. That might shut him up.

Paul1977

2792 posts

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# 1778458 9-May-2017 13:39

We have received several of these in the last 2 days at work. I'm in Christchurch.

One came through on my DDI. I strung him along for a few minutes then got bored and told him I was the IT Manager at my company, at which point he strangely hung up immediately.