DocAndersen
One of the things I find interesting is the ever-evolving reality of scams. I published a post roe than four years ago now on the concept of the Windows Helpdesk calls. I loved keeping them on the line for as long as they would stay on. One of the people told me I was lying. They told me my computer was reporting errors. Did I say which one? The person replied the Dell. I honestly at that time and to today don’t own a Dell computer. I told them that, and the person on the phone said: “sir you are lying.” The reality of nearly a billion computers in the world (actually more now) is that no matter what no one can collect the errors from those computers.
Even if they did collect the errors, they wouldn’t find specific errors from a specific computer with more than a billion computers in the world. The average PC is producing between 20 and 40 event log errors (you can type Event Viewer in the start menu, or go to accessories event logs. You will see that there are three or four different types of logs. On an average day, you generate between 100 and 125 events. Just to be clear, that means that every single day, the Windows Helpdesk sorts through 100,000,000,000 errors, and finds the specific one that is related to you. If you look at the event log, there is little to no identifying information in the event. The windows helpdesk was a scam.
The new ones are more and more sophisticated. The one that I got the other day started with Uncle. I looked at email because I have a nephew and nieces. It had nothing to do with me, but I opened it and then added the email address to my junk senders list. The reality of email and phone scams is that they are increasing. Another scam now is the ring once, with a foreign number. If you don’t catch that, you just redial thinking someone was trying to reach you, and you get zapped with a very expensive call toa number that doesn’t exist. I won’t argue the ethical quandary that these calls produce. I will tell you that IT organizations around the world are trying to get rid of these calls, emails and other scams.
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Question of
did you know there was an international organization devoted to reducing phone scams and email scams?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Have you ever won the email lottery? (its a fake).
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Has the windows helpdesk ever called you? (its a fake)
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Yes
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No
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Yeah, the space of scam continues to expand, and we should be very attentive + careful to prevent serious mistakes.
It is really quite sad. I understand people have to make money, but at someone else expense?
Some law office called my husband’s cell this morning and did not leave a message. Now he wants me to look up the number, which I will, since I’m suspicious. Meanwhile I got an email with nothing but the email address and a note that my invoice was overdue and a PDF attachment. I could not find the company in the email address in a search so I deleted the email and blocked the sender. I did not download the PDF to see what the supposed invoice was. The email was sent to an address I no longer use.
Both of those actions are truly the way to respond! The email with the attached file is a known cyber phishing attack, there is malware in the PDF so good you deleted it. I hadn’t heard of a law firm calling, I may have to do some research!
One day I spent a very long time on the phone with those who just needed to remote into my computer. I was not feeling well and was laying in bed so I had time. I said things like “Which computer we have 5 and then they had so much to say. Finally after keeping them from bugging someone else for two hours I said – “Oh wait did you say computers?”
“Yes.”
“I am so sorry. I thought you were talking about our cell phones. Have a great day.”
The longest I’ve kept them on is 30 minutes. You are my hero!!! that is an awesome story!
I received an email informing me that I have a problem with a certain bank and asking me to check it by logging in to a given link. But the thing is, I don’t have an account on that bank. I know it’s a phishing email.
Thank you – that is another form of scam. I didn’t even start down the phishing path. I love it when they tell me my apple account is locked and open the attachment to fix my account. Makes me laugh every single time.
Every day my phone is filled with such suggestions. I rub them without opening them. This is annoying gossip.
It really is annoying gossip. Or worse, outright crime. Frustrating I know!
I have dealt with scams claiming that I won a huge prize from Publishers Clearing House on my Twitter account. The catch was that I had to pay a sum of money to get my prize. I scolded them saying that I am not required to pay the bill for a prize until after I collect the money.
That is very true, by law you only have to pay taxes. No reputable award forces you to pay a fee to get the money.
I read that in the scam reports that any company that wants a fee to collect a grand prize is a scam.
Yes, they also won’t ask you for any information about you. I find it hilarious and sad when I read about these.
My heart breaks when someone falls for these scam artists.
yes it is truly sad when someone falls prey to well, nasty people
Karma will get them one day.
I do hope so. Meanwhile, when they call me I try to waste their time!
The same her when those pesky scam callers from the IRS start claiming that my relatives will be arrested by the local police. I just hang up the phone.
I have consulted for the IRS. One of the people in IRS IT that I worked with used to say ask for their IRS employee ID, so you can call them back from the switchboard.
They hang up really quickly!
That is one good way to scare off a phony agent.
I spend a lot of time deleting scam emails and they are a real nuisance. An Indian man often rings us and tells us that we have a problem on our computer. I tell him all is fine and I don’t need his help and slam the phone down.
Scam emails and scam callers cause people to lose faith and that in itself is a crime
The sad reality of those scams is depressing I agree.
that one ring trick wouldn’t work with me. I rarely answer the phone even when it is someone I know calling…
actually that one is more than it rings once and stops. People think it is a valid call and press call back without looking at the number. On their phone bill they get a 20 or more dollar change for an international call to a fake number (like the old 1900 numbers).
I get it, but since I only return calls to people I know and then rarely I am safe from this type of scam
yes you are! So many people aren’t though, it is a little scary.
some folks will do anything just to take a buck…
That is the sad part. Some of these folks are doing this because it is the only job available.
I feel sorry for them.
No decent person would take that job
I agree. It is a sad reality when those jobs are available. it is even sadder when someone has to take it.
even if a decent person took such a job, doing it day after day would erode their decency, so I stand by my previous statement…
sorry, I wasn’t arguing just sadly pointing out that there is another side. I also think as you said, over time any good erodes.
I didn’t think you were contradicting me, I just wanted to clarify my position…
Very interesting information. Thank you for sharing. Even in our country we have more and more scams over the phone and computer. I am very careful especially with e-mail
Thanks! It is a global problem that is getting worse.
Any phone calls from an unknown number I don’t answer. I love it that my spam emails are separate and I can just delete them. Now I have an interesting question for you. Some kind of problem with WordPress. I am on a poetry site called The Creative Exiles. Whenever I get on the site I usually have to use Author Login. One time 403 forbidden Access to this resource on the server is denied! showed up and I could no longer get on the site. The owners who are friends tried every way to help get me logged in. Finally, I asked to change my password and WordPress let me change it and I got back on so I could read and post. Now the site is again back to saying 403 error for me. Do you have any idea why this is happening?
My gut (IMHO) based on what you’ve shared is that the issue is an expired password.
Thank you for the reply, Doc. I will pass on this to my friends who admin the site. There is a problem then somewhere because after the first time this happened I changed my password through WordPress and it was just fine and now it started all over again.
honestly, my gut could be wrong. That honestly is the easy answer. The harder answer is well, a lot more detailed.
Lol! Or a valid number. I know. But sometimes, I just forget and feel the need to give them a piece of my mind ?
I do that from time to time, Nothing wrong with expressing frustration.
Great posting, my dear friend … but you are really a man who knows everything about everything … I have no idea about it … I know there are scams and I do not advertise on unknown or hidden numbers … from security
I promise there are many things I know less than nothing about. Gardening, for example, I know nothing about!
The reality of the scams worries me, so I make sure to share with friends whenever possible.
And fraudsters are usually always a step ahead of us … just look at what kind of security systems cars have to steal from … the real thief steals it without damaging it
That is the reality of crime, that we build systems to secure and the bad guys find a new way around them.
Unfortunately, they are always one step ahead of innovators
They always will be. The problem with enforcement is they have to follow the rules. The bad guys don’t have to follow rules!
My calls all go to voicemail so I can filter out most of them. Frustrating!
That also prevents the newest scam as well.
I get them all the time. Some I like to “play” with. It amuses me. They tend to get super mad, when you play them and waste their time. Most of the time they are just deleted or hung up on. Great article as there are really so many.
I did this years ago on Niume, and once more than 2 years ago here. I need to get bak to posting this more often!
I got emails telling me I can have several million dollars from someone who died without heirs if I am willing to provide with this and that information ???. I replied saying they can certainly keep it ?. Sometimes I do reply to stupid mails or messages just for the heck of it ?
I do as well, it is a bad habit (now they know it is a valid email address) but well sometimes you have to!!!