I once got a telemarketer call from a woman who asked for me by name. I had received enough telemarketer calls that I didn't want to tell her I was who she was asking for or not, so I asked who was calling. She said she couldn't tell me until she knew if it was me. I said I couldn't acknowledge if that person lived here or not until I knew who was calling. She repeated she couldn't say until she knew I was the person she asked for. It went round and round for at least 10 minutes. I could tell she was getting frustrated, and I was getting kind of bored with it so I hung up.
I almost always ask who is calling now. We get a lot of automated calls now and I have been putting them on a call blocker list, but they seem to have millions of numbers they can call from, or else they have ways around the blocker. We screen some through our caller ID, but some you can't really tell as Pay as you Go cell phones just come through as "wireless caller." The last time someone called wanting money, I was very apologetic and started telling them about my financial woes and bills and then said "sorry" and hung up. Liz in breezy, chilly Missouri. -----Original Message----- From: Linda Walton <[email protected]> To: Lace Chat <[email protected]> Sent: Sat, Jan 14, 2012 5:00 am Subject: Re: [lace-chat] Warning [with apologies for duplication to Lesley Blackshaw - when I sent this esterday I was in a hurry to go out to an appointment and pressed on reply' instead of 'reply all' -- Linda] used to get these calls too, but I seem to have put a stop to them. Crossed fingers!) Like you, Lesley, one of these calls arrived on a day when I was repared to waste time on it. Usually I just told the girl that I idn't have a computer, or to 'go phishing elsewhere' and the call would e ended sharply, but a few days later there would be another one - very iresome. The main problem is not just to stop the call at the time, ut to find a way to cause them to never want to call you again. Simply utting down the 'phone or being rude to them can produce 'revenge' alls. Twice I've had a series of calls in the middle of the night, and hen you pick up the call it simply goes to a little recorded 'goodbye' essage. (This was exceptionally annoying when we were worried about a elative who was very sick in hospital.) They are impossible for ritish Telecom to trace, of course, but I recognised the voice on the ecording from other calls. So this time I decided to go along with them, and was transferred at nce to her 'supervisor'. I pretended to follow his directions, but lso put in lots of jokes and flirtatious remarks. Anyone listening to recording would know at once that I was merely spoofing him, but as he ook it all seriously I continued. A couple of times he wondered if I as really entering his instructions, and I assured him I was - although apping the keys helped me to have honesty in my voice, I didn't tell im that the computer was switched off, and I did make notes of what he as asking me to do. Of course, I could only guess what he might have xpected the computer screen to be showing. Finally, he had a tantrum nd announced that he would strike my name from his list, so that no-one ould ever offer to help me again, and I would be left with the problems till on my computer, then he cut off the call in a huff. (Dearie, earie me! And he must have wasted a good quarter of an hour on me, uring which he wasn't annoying anyone else either.) Success! There haven't been any calls since then, (several months ago); nd, as there never were any problems with my computer, I'm perfectly atisfied with it. Since then I've tried other sorts of acting to get rid of this kind of epeat scam callers. A good one is to keep saying "Hello?" as though ou can't hear them, (I see this as revenge for the sort of call where t is silent when you first pick up). Another tactic is to pretend that he line is very bad, that you can hear their voice but not what they re saying, and ask them to call back another time - it's surprising how ften they never do. (I developed this one when we really were having rouble with the line, and a man was working away on the box at the end f the road for two days.) Maybe these will help others - does anyone else have any schemes that ave worked? I'd really like to know! Linda Walton, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K., where we've been having a emarkably mild January, especially compared to last year's deep snow, ut this morning there was a heavy frost). n 13/01/2012 12:19, Lesley Blackshaw wrote: > On 13/01/2012 11:58, David C COLLYER wrote: >> >>>>Dear Friends, >> >> this afternoon about 4:00 o'clock I received an unusual phone call on >> my landline. A woman asked me whether I had looked at my "computer >> management page" as they'd sent me a number of messages lately telling >> me I was spreading trojans and worms. In wondered what she actually >> meant by "computer management page"?? <<<< > > > Variations of this call are our most frequent 'spam' phonecalls at the > moment. In particular telling us that there are serious security issues > with our Windows computers. When we say that we only have Macs the call > is cut off; same thing happens if we say we don't have a computer. I did > once let the guy waffle on for ages, pretending to input everything he > asked me to (I was bored and putting off a job I didn't want to do). > When he asked me what I could now see on my screen I spelled out T H I S > I S A S C A M. That also resulted in the phone call ending somewhat > abruptly. > > There are so many mallicious calls and emails these days, it's sometimes > difficult to pick out genuine callers. > > Lesley > Marple UK To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: nsubscribe lace-chat [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: ttp://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003/albums/most-recent To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003/albums/most-recent
