@ AC
"I think one day, I'll try asking them what their mother would think if they knew what their boy was doing..."
I did that!
This was after a particular strong calling offensive where I was getting several calls per week. I'd gotten calls, my Mum had gotten calls (she had been coached to say no MS products!), my brother had gotten calls. I'd done the stringing them along (wasting their time costs them money), or if I was busy I would say there are no computers running Microsoft products and hang up, but then my fuse blew.
I started off with asking the female caller what their "error reports" had said, then what product was reporting errors, then asking who she was again. I was getting tired of it by this point, so I went on the offensive.
"Did you know what you are doing is illegal under Australian law?" Ur...no, no, no...um.
"I know you are not a representative of Microsoft as I don't have any Microsoft products, which means that you have deceptively being trying to gain access my computer systems for the purposes of fraud, a criminal offence." That isn't true, we...
"At this point I should inform you that I have been recording this conversation and will later be turning it over to the police for investigation and prosecution." That is not...
"What would your mother think of you being involved in criminal activity?" ...*silence*...
"Do you think she would be proud of you, raising a criminal?" There is no criminal activity, sir, we are *click*
The call ended mid-word, so my thought was that there was someone else monitoring the call and they ended it, because I can't see the female caller ending it mid-word like that.
Maybe it was a coincidence but I stopped getting calls from "Microsoft" shortly after that. Now we've been getting calls regarding solar panels, and the accents aren't Indian any more but from my inexpert ear they are perhaps Thai.