Funny, love to toy with them and glad the bad guys are being arrested…how many folks go along with them and get suckered….
John > On Nov 30, 2018, at 11:31 AM, Lee Larson <[email protected]> wrote: > > Over the last few years I’ve been sometimes annoyed and sometimes amused by > the frequent calls from “Microsoft Technical Support” about “problems with my > Windows computer.” > > The calls always begin with someone speaking in a heavy Indian accent saying > something like “Hello, this is Edward from Microsoft Technical Support. We > have detected problems with your computer.” > > Just for fun, I usually ask “How do you know it’s my computer?” > > Edward: “We have extensive security monitoring and have matched it with the > number under which you registered Windows.” > > At this point, I go in one of several directions. > > If I’m in a hurry, I say something like "But I have no Windows computers.” Or > I ask “Does your mother know you’re a criminal?” These are usually answered > by a quick click. > > If I’m not in a hurry, I’ll play stupid to see how long I can keep “Edward” > on the line by having trouble with my computer. > > A while back, I fired up VirtualBox on my Linux machine and opened a Windows > VM, just to see what they would do. I connected to the Web site they > suggested and watched lots of traffic as they “diagnosed” my problems. There > were lots of changes to the Windows registry. After a short time, they came > back and suggested things could be fixed for $150. At that point, I used my > mother-criminal line, hung up and deleted the Windows VM from the Linux > machine. > > This has been going on for years and I’ve often wondered why Microsoft put up > with it. According to ZDNet, it looks like they finally hit the breaking > point. > >> New Delhi police have arrested 63 suspects in the last two months working >> and operating 26 call centers that were engaging in tech support scams, >> posing as tech support staff at Microsoft, Google, Apple, and other major >> tech companies. The raids on Delhi-based call centers have taken place over >> the last two months, Microsoft said. Police first raided 10 call centers and >> arrested 24 people in October, and then raided 16 other call centers and >> made 39 more arrests this week. > >> Microsoft said its staff received over 7,000 victim reports associated with >> the 16 call centers raided this week, from over 15 countries. Users reported >> paying between $100 and $500 for unnecessary tech support services and >> products. The raids resulted in the seizure of substantial evidence >> including call scripts, live chats, voice call recordings and customer >> records from tech support fraud operations, Microsoft said. The Delhi >> police's crackdown on tech support call centers came after Microsoft filed >> legal complaints earlier this year. Microsoft has been collecting customer >> complaints about tech support scams since 2014, via its "Report a technical >> support scam" portal. > > L^2 > > --- > Lee Larson > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > Glory awaits, gentlemen. In the words of General Tacticus, 'Let us take > history by the scrotum.' Of course, he was not a very honourable fighter. — > Terry Pratchett > Jingo > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > MacGroup mailing list > Posting address: [email protected] > Archive: > <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.mail-2Darchive.com_macgroup-40erdos.math.louisville.edu_&d=DwIFaQ&c=OAG1LQNACBDguGvBeNj18Swhr9TMTjS-x4O_KuapPgY&r=F2GFXrjLFqVo3VwvIlo_XYeEiRRjHv15rxcenz7A21woG2aFGcrzndoSsskxfmOs&m=C2B8HbCxUrSX-XPFUvlS5NpDx36QzZ-ca3IoNjKY_pM&s=gOMhRzwT3b9vUv3oAWlgt2iN3S8tE--fA9TSxDws2NE&e=> > Answers to questions: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup/>
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