Recently, I was just sitting at my computer, when I got a call on my phone. Unfortunately, I don't have a recording app on my phone (I did on my old one), so this is just the highlights from a few handwritten notes and my memory ...
(call from 212-777-3001)
Me: Hello?
Caller: Hello, this is <mumble>Global Soft<mumble>, we're recording errors on your computer
Me: huh?
(Really? I'm finally getting one of "those" calls)
Caller: we're getting lots of errors from your computer. viruses, malware, ....
Me: huh? How do you know about this stuff?
Caller: we receive error messages from your computer. your computer is infected ... i just need to walk you through a few steps to fix it ...
Me: huh?
...
Me: huh? I'm sorry, I'm pretty dumb about computers. How do you know what's wrong with my computer?
Me: huh? Oh! I know! Do you mean I bought your service when I bought the computer
Caller: yeah, yeah, that's right. that's what you did!
...
Caller: ok, I just need you do to a few things ...
Caller: turn on your computer ...
Caller: Let me know when you see your desktop ...
Me: huh? it's on, I'm looking right at it.
Caller: do you see your desktop
Me: huh? I don't know ... it says dollar sign
Caller: (confused) huh? :-)
Me: huh? I see a dollar sign prompt (I'm looking at a Linux shell prompt, but was trying to remember what a Wylbur prompt looked like ... If you're wondering: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORVYL_and_WYLBUR)
Caller: where's your desktop?
TMe: huh? what's a desktop? oh! That! there is no desktop. This is a brand new computer they just gave me
Me: before this we did everything with punched cards ...
Caller: how do you get to the internet?
Me: huh? Do you mean how do we do things? I can submit any card deck you need, the submission desk is just down the hall ...
Caller: Are you at work? Is this your personal computer?
(... much hilarity ensues while I offer to submit cards and he tries to get me to the desktop and/or internet)
Me: huh? Of course I'm at work. I don't have a personal computer
Caller: Can you get to the Internet from work
Me: I'm not authorized to use the Internet
CLICK! (he finally hung up)
:-)
I am kicking myself a bit. Not only did I have no way to record the call, but I realized afterwards that I have a throw-away, very vulnerable, Windows-XP virtual machine (from a course I took recently) that would have been a perfect victim. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that my dyslexia would have kicked in ... and my credit card would have ended up being denied in that case. :-)
But, pretending I was using punched cards did give me a bit of a giggle.
Update:
Here's an article which give another example of how somebody else had fun with these guys: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/i-am-calling-you-from-windows-a-tech-support-scammer-dials-ars-technica/Update 2: Another article, also from ARS, provides more detail on how one of these operations is run (and how the FTC is taking them down.) http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/stains-of-deceitfulness-inside-the-us-governments-war-on-tech-support-scammers/
Update 3 (9/12/2014): There's now a metasploit module which allows you to turn the tables on these scammers. http://www.scriptjunkie.us/2014/09/exploiting-ammyy-admin-developing-an-0day/
