Telephone Computer Scams

I got another one of those calls tonight, from some person saying they were calling from Microsoft, informing me that I had a problem with my computer.

These calls are scams, the callers hope to talk the person into giving them access to their computer, and with it, access to all their personal information.

They tell you someone has already accessed your info, which makes the recipient of the call immediately panic.

The first time I received this type of call, I informed the police, but there didn’t seem to be much they could do, except warn the public. I must not have been the only one reporting this as, shortly thereafter, there were numerous articles in the paper warning people not to fall for this scam.

The second time, I made the mistake of saying the caller was trying to commit fraud, and that I would call the police. The caller became very irate, yelling at me to go ahead and call the police, he even dared me to. I, in another of my not so bright moments, said I would but he was tying up my phone line.

This caller was very rude, not appreciative at all of my comments. He told me to do all sorts of crude creative things, swearing and yelling at me. He scared me, so I called the police again.

The policeman I spoke to was very pleasant. He told me that these guys pull your number at random from the online directory, which is why I’ve received more than one call. He very politely suggested that I not engage in any conversation next time, but just say No Thanks and hang up.

I got another call tonight, from a 207 area code, which is Maine, other calls had a series of numbers displayed rather than a true phone number.

When the caller asked me if I was on my computer, (some people take a while to learn their lesson) I said I didn’t have a computer. He sounded most annoyed, asked me why I was wasting his time. I replied “You called me remember.” He laughed, realizing how silly that had seemed and I hung up.

See, I finally did as I was told. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

PS. As I was trying to post this I couldn't access the internet, some problem with Google. Maybe there is something wrong with my computer....not. I called a friend and she had the same problem. What timing.