back to article Even 'Your computer has a virus' cold-call gits are migrating off XP

Tech support scammers have begun targeting smartphone and tablet users with offers to fix non-existent problems – for exorbitant fees. Cold call scams that attempt to hoodwink marks into paying for useless remote diagnostic and cleanup services have been a popular scam for years. Victims are often encouraged to sign up to …

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    1. Felix Krull

      Re: At least they're not scamming someone if they're wasting their time on you....

      Reminds me of a friend of mine's father, back when phone salesmen (here in Denmark) were only allowed to peddle newspapers, for some reason. They'd usually call at dinner time when they knew you'd be home, so he'd just say: ' Oh, how nice of you to call, please hang on for just a minute'. Then he'd put down the phone in the recliner seat and go back to his dinner.

      Half an hour later, when he'd finished his dinner, he'd sit down in the recliner with a cup of coffee, pick up the phone and say: 'sorry to have kept... hello? Hello?'

      Funny thing is, this was in the eighties, and back then this was considered terribly rude.

      Civilization: how I miss it!

  1. Andrew van der Stock
    FAIL

    What are LogMeIn doing to make these scams easier to report and block?

    In my view, LogMeIn (and all remote access tools, really) should have a warning users have to read and acknowledge on the login screen with a big red button users can easily click to report and block the six digit code immediately that terminates the connection to your computer immediately. LogMeIn should make note of the IP addresses of the originating end, and block the source IP AS netblock from making any new LogMeIn connections until the parent ISP clears their customer off the Internet. LogMeIn should donate any payments from fraudulent scams to Indian charities, particularly charities with programs like ethics for kids to prevent new recruits. As the scammers have to install an agent on their computers, it would also be nice if the LogMeIn code locks the scammer workstation hard and sounds a very loud siren noise and flashing lights with a notice of the nearest police station's address, so they can go hand themselves in, and send out a IP trace locator to the local authorities so the scammers can be arrested and prosecuted.

    Or am I just dreaming, and Logmein is profiting from this awful trade?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ahemm!, a little extreme but what the hey...

      Having already been called by these blood-sucking scumbags more than once, I most fully appreciate and sympathize with your justified outrage, but getting Logmein to do anything that far-reaching would be a very hard sell.

      Even if the entire blogosphere, facebooksphere, twittersphere and anywheresphere chatted constantly about how Logmein was just a scam-facilitating tool (which is one thing that WOULD make them act), the minute they began backtracking and blocking sender IPs, the scammers would just find and use some other tool.

      Incidentally, does Logmein actually show a connecting system's true public IP address or does it display some universal proxy address?

      Payback.... can be fun....

  2. Tanuki

    Is it wrong to...

    start playing along with these callers' sad spiels but after a few minutes say something like "You sound like a nice [boy|girl] - tell me - what colour bra and panties are you wearing?" and "You don't have a webcam do you?"

    1. dorsetknob
      Coat

      Re: Is it wrong to...

      "" Emphatic no it is not wrong""

      I Usually Play along with this type of scam for as long as possible to waste their time and when the so called support worker /cold calling scammer is female i end up playing the phone pervert

      you know

      what colour is your bra does your panties match what style are they your turning me on ( Slap your belly with hand with phone held near you know what that sounds like )

      are you feeling wet down below You get the idea !!!

      I have Even had them pass me to their supervisor reporting me for sexualy harrasing them

      the So called supervisor taking over the call and telling me that the call is being recorded and that they are reporting me to the Police for "" Making obscene Phone calls""

      ""RESULT"" (win for me ).

      The so called supervisor ain't happy when i tell them to go ahead and report me to the police for "" Making obscene Phone calls"" as the police would not do anything because i have not made an obscene Phone

      when they examine my phone records for evidence they will find that

      1. I did not dial the call therefore i did not make an obscene Phone ( its not illegal to answer a call with risque conversation).

      2. that they then would be charged with wasting police time.

      Usually they then hang up (win no 2 for me ).

      Dirty coat ............well it seems appropiate

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The obvious solution to this problem is to ban the production of stock photos of cheerful people in brightly-lit offices with telephone headsets - without them, there'd be no way for the scammers to make their web pages.

    If you ask me, Google ought to put its copious brainpower to work coming up with a virus which would infect web servers, detect pictures of people with telephone headsets, and replace them with images of early-1900s sweat shops and etchings from 'Dante's Inferno'.

    That goes for legitimate companies who use those pictures, too, mind you.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      "The obvious solution to this problem is to ban the production of stock photos of cheerful people in brightly-lit offices with telephone headsets - without them, there'd be no way for the scammers to make their web pages."

      The "WhoStoleMyPhotos" extension is useful to see which stock supplier they're using (usually ShutterStock).

      I've never had one of these calls, but I've seen people fall for these, pyramid and various employment scams, As another poster has noted, teachers seem particularly susceptible to these kinds of con artists.

  4. Furbian

    My favortie brush offs.

    Tell them I have Linux, these leaves them befuddled and they hang up quickly. In reality I have a few Linux Virtual Machines, but my main OS is Windows 7.

    Another one I do for fun, tell them I built my PC, this also results in a quick hang up, i.e. "Yes, it's very simple, bought a case, motherboard CPU and memory, and put it all together...".

    Last but not least, "YES, I am really having trouble, can you just wait a minute.", then leave phone near a TV or some source of music, repeat as long as it's fun, i.e. "with you in a jiffy, just hang on, really interested", or they hang up.

    1. Chozo
      Devil

      Re: My favortie brush offs.

      Getting a rise

      "You idiot! you have just called the place you work for. Stand up so I can see what desk you're on"

    2. Soruk

      Re: My favortie brush offs.

      I've never had one of these calls, but my mum has had a few, and she always winds them up - with RISC OS. (Her main computer is an Acorn Risc PC700)

  5. Steve Brooks

    Last one I had I used a well known fictitious computer as a stand in, when you tell them all you are getting is an ++out of cheese++ error they start to get confused. Of course I did tell them they had called Commander Vimes of the Ank-Morpork City Guard first but they didn't seem to get a clue from that, and putting Mr Stibbons on to let them try and fix Hex just didn't get a rise, I guess the Diskworld books don't sell well in India.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I've always thought it would be amusing to get hold of one of the flow charts those kind of places use, and start to use it on the caller as if you were the one doing the cold-call, and act offended if they try to say they're the ones who called you.

    1. Ed_UK

      "I've always thought it would be amusing to get hold of one of the flow charts"

      Counterscript is what you want:

      http://egbg.home.xs4all.nl/counterscript.html

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