Linux Mint Forums

Last night the phone rang, the wife answered it. The guy on the other end starts talking about how he can help her with her windows problems. She say's I can see out to them just fine, he says no windows on the computer. So the wife say oh we don't use windows and the guy is stopped dead in his tracks and he says you have to use windows that's what runs your computer, everybody uses windows. The wife reply's no we use Linux, again silents on the other end, finally what is Linux? Wife then says your not going to help any one good bye! and hung up.

It was some telemarketer that didn't have a clue to what he was talking about but I thought it was funny to listen to her.

That wasn't a telemarketer, that was a criminal. If you would have had Windows and would have gone along with their scam, you would have ended up giving them your credit card information... You can guess the rest It's a common scam these days, which seems to imply it is successful. It really steps up the ante when compared to scams that just send you email.

I've had them call me twice in the past year. I also don't run Windows (you'd think they would keep track or something ). But I'm not that quick on my feet with witty replies

Ooooh I would live to get one of those calls - yesterday my picture window got a 2 foot long crack from the frigid temp. I really need help! Seriously when that kind of call comes I ask for the company name a phone number to reach them - they always hang up. Pretty smart though when you think about it... most people use Windows and have problems so there is a pretty good chance of catching a phish.

Pat

Ouch. That's going to be expensive. We got down to about 2F last night here in OH. It was about -20F with wind chill.

My grandpa answered one of these phone calls while I was visiting there once. I was in the other room half listening until I figured out what was going on. I hit the button on the reciever on the phone, and he got really PO'd at me. At least the guy didn't call back. The saddest part is that i had just spent 2 hours fixing his "windows problems."

Last week, my mom calls me up to ask about someone trying to tell her that her computer has many problems. They had her look in the WinXP event viewer, and the error messages mean she has many serious problems. She went to the web page they told her to go to, and was about to push the button that will 'fix all her problems.' That's when she tells the guy to wait, and she calls me on her cell phone.

Imagine trying to explain to your mother to hang up on the guy trying to scam her, and never talk to those people who call again, while she is telling the guy that her son is telling her this on the other line.

Then imagine scolding your mother two or three more times to make sure it sinks in.

I had the same phone call. They told me I had problems with my windows, I told them if they could not see in they must be working fine. Click.

Sorry to hear about your picture window. That is expensive to fix. We've been lucky so far with just a dusting last week. I'm in Ga.

It amazes me how many people fall for all these scams. I don't know how many machines I have had to fix because of the fake anti-virus one. But 5 of those machines are now running Linux. Like someone said they must be making $$$ to keep doing it.

This scam has been going on for a few years now, there must be enough mugs in the world to make it worth while,and there have been enough warnings posted on this and other forums worldwide,

I haven't had this one yet although i had an interesting conversation with a company a few weeks back, they wanted information sent in some particular format,and i could not find it as an option in liberoffice, so i was transferred to the technical bod, I will help he said, click start click this click that select the other and so on, Have you found it? No i cant find start! its on the bottom of the screen left hand side, no haven't got start got a wheel an e-mail icon a web icon etc...but no start, of course you have all computers have a start, no i said PC'S have start, i have a computer it runs Linux, what is Linux? now what chance have i,, to make it worse their servers run linux.... in the end it transpired they could receive in RTF format so we got sorted....

if this is from the technical bod what chance have any of us...

You can delete this post as marketing if you like, it isn't, it is just recommendation, sometimes the dividing line between the two is so small as to be indiscernible, and if you live outside the UK there is not much point in reading any further.

I used to be plagued with telemarketers, I never got any computer related ones, but PPI claims, Double Glazing, Loft insulation, Health Insurance, you name it, I got it, sometimes several times a day.

My number is ex-directory and has been for decades, I have been a member of the Telephone Preference Service for at least 5 years and nothing has ever stopped them. Eventually out of desperation we shelled out for one of these devices:

https://www.truecall.co.uk/home.aspx

We have had it since about mid November and we haven't had a single marketing call since. Brilliant, it costs money, but it is worth it for the peace it gives you.

Not only that but it can record calls too, so if you ever have any dispute as to what was said in a phone call you now have real evidence to back up your side of the story. I haven't used that yet but I am sure I will one day. (Unfortunately this feature comes with Windows software so it may or may not be possible to use it from linux I don't know yet, I haven't tried, it is only a memory card that plugs into the phone so you can probably just copy the files off it without using the bundled software ).

It's an answerphone too, although the recording quality is not as good as the one built into my phone, still, you can't have everything I suppose.

I wonder if they have anything like that here in the states. I've always wondered why there wasn't something that you could filter your phone calls with.

If you guys are getting this <again> - then we'll get it down here in about 2-3 months time
- they really are That Predictable

as a aside - I did get a few of these, on the last time around,
& got into trouble with the wife, as I took advantage of them & lead them on & on & on
for nearly an hour ! - Naturally had a fun time . . .
it's a great yarn, as to what they wanted me to believe & respond to their sales pitch.

Yah - it's my 500th post

Congratulations, you've been promoted to level 5

Off... But nearly [probably not] on topic...

My phone went one day, so, I answered it, a bloke came on and said "Hi, I'm from Anglian Windows, can I ask about your windows?"

I replied "I havent got any windows"

He then said "Oh, well, can I ask you about your doors?"

I said "I havent got any doors"

He then said "You havent got any doors?"

I went "No.. I tell a lie... I have a secret door that leads to a secret land but it's okay because when I want to go to the shop I just catch the bus"

He hung up... Never heard from them since!

Result!

Dabz

Duh... I got called again with the same scam. It's getting old but Linux saved the day again You'd figure Microsoft would do something about this, as it is certainly not giving Windows a good name when this is the most exciting thing they get in the news for over here

Our local TV news ran this story yesterday.

http://www.9news.com/rss/story.aspx?storyid=319473

Good one. It reminds me of a banking scam phone call I had about a year ago - at 2:00am You would think these guys could figure out time zones

Pat