WWTBAM Bored

I got four of them today. Once came in the morning and I just hung up.

This afternoon, I listened to a bit of the song and dance informing me that they had learned that attempts had been made to hack my computer from New York. It might have been anyone from cybercriminals to international terrorists doing this.

While a part of me was actually curious to see what would happen if I played along some more, I decided to cut it off and did so by inviting the Windows technician to perform an act upon himself that I don't think he realistically could have done with all the Windows Technical Support in the world.

I thought that was the end of it, but five seconds later, he calls back and tells me that I used a slang expression with which he wasn't familiar (he must have really been desperate for business). I then used a second, somewhat shorter slang expression, consisting of two words, the second of which was "you," and hung up again.

He called back again five seconds later and this time he starts cussing me out (I'm pretty sure that's not what the Microsoft handbook recommends in cases like this). That was a mistake since my knowledge of scatalogical phraseology is probably greater than his, and I gave him a few of them back and hung up a third time.

I always try to be pleasant with sales calls, no matter how annoying, but I have little patience for scam artists who are undoubtedly calling from someplace where they are beyond ready prosecution for federal wire fraud charges, and make a living preying off older or less computer savvy people. My computer isn't running any better, but I feel a whole lot better now.

At this link is a funny video of British comedian James Veitch presenting a TED talk about how he replied to spam e-mail to see what would happen, and the humorous exchanges that resulted.

http://www.ted.com/talks/james_veitch_t ... technology

- Tim H.

I did that once with a spam email just to see what they would send me without making me click their malware/virus link.

I was having a good time with it, my wife and I still joke about my online mistress.

Of course, it was all fun and games until I told my best friend and found out my darling Arianna was cheating on me with him! She was sending him emails too...

I set up a savings account with Discover because their rate is better than anything I can get locally, and I told them I wouldn't do any on-line signatures and that I wanted paper statements. Yeah, yeah, very non-green. So I'm paranoid.

I got a call from Rihanna this morning saying they needed a form to set up an account, that all she had was the form adding SteelersFan to the account. Since I mailed both forms in the same envelope, there is some kind of problem. Turns out, all I have to do to correct this is go on-line and sign there. I said, "I'm not doing that." She said she would doublecheck for the second form, which she said she did, and sure enough, no form. Except, they could not set up the account without that form, and they cashed the check (also in the same envelope), meaning they set up the account.

I do not think this is a scam. I think it's their lame attempt to get me to go on-line since it's much cheaper for them.

My BFF from college, who worked for Social Security for years as a systems analyst, got a call from SSS's buddy or someone similar, and darn it, she bought into it for a few seconds, then realized it was a scam and turned off her computer. She said the guy was furious and started to chew her out, at which point she hung up. She said it took her three days to dig out what he planted in a matter of a few seconds.

SportsFan68 wrote:I set up a savings account with Discover because their rate is better than anything I can get locally, and I told them I wouldn't do any on-line signatures and that I wanted paper statements. Yeah, yeah, very non-green. So I'm paranoid.

I got a call from Rihanna this morning saying they needed a form to set up an account, that all she had was the form adding SteelersFan to the account. Since I mailed both forms in the same envelope, there is some kind of problem. Turns out, all I have to do to correct this is go on-line and sign there. I said, "I'm not doing that." She said she would doublecheck for the second form, which she said she did, and sure enough, no form. Except, they could not set up the account without that form, and they cashed the check (also in the same envelope), meaning they set up the account.

I do not think this is a scam. I think it's their lame attempt to get me to go on-line since it's much cheaper for them.

My BFF from college, who worked for Social Security for years as a systems analyst, got a call from SSS's buddy or someone similar, and darn it, she bought into it for a few seconds, then realized it was a scam and turned off her computer. She said the guy was furious and started to chew her out, at which point she hung up. She said it took her three days to dig out what he planted in a matter of a few seconds.

She would have had to allow the guy to control her computer. My systems are so well protected that even if my wife or daughter let that happen the malware would have been quarantined.