Keeping cold callers on the line for as long as possible...
Discussion
A couple of weekends ago I was at work and two phone calls in the morning, both of which sounded very scammy. Sadly no story to tell of keeping them on the line, as it was the second call that kept me on the line trying to figure out what it was!
The first call was from an Asian sounding chap telling me he was from 'such and such' an IT company, and I got halfway to hanging up when I thought better and wanted to see where it went, sadly he had already hung up by this point. I'm not sure why he did that but beat me to the mark.
The second call was from a Scandinavian sounding guy, and he was going on about how my company had ordered several Segways for a security job in Sweden, and the order had come from our Swedish office, with him wanting to confirm it before he processed the order. I was quite confused at first as we don't have any offices or jobs in Sweden, and despite telling this guy several times, he was very persistent and kept babbling on about confirming the order. He just couldn't accept that there was no one by the name of the person he was talking about in the company, nor that we did not order anything or have offices there. By this point I wanted to hang up on him as we were just going around in circles, but there was a nagging feeling that this may be legit and I just didn't know about it, so I just stayed polite but firm in telling him I knew nothing of what he was talking about.
He then started talking about our website, reading it out and describing it correctly to me but stating that it had ".nu" at the end (I think) instead of ".com". I kept telling him we had no website by ".nu", and again he couldn't accept this. I then said ours was ".com" and he made some typing noises then proclaimed that someone had clearly copied our website - it was at this point the penny dropped for me, as he was likely to start going on about how he knows someone who can resolve this issue for us. I hung up and didn't hear back from him thankfully.
Had that not been the office line I would have ditched him the moment he started babbling!
The first call was from an Asian sounding chap telling me he was from 'such and such' an IT company, and I got halfway to hanging up when I thought better and wanted to see where it went, sadly he had already hung up by this point. I'm not sure why he did that but beat me to the mark.
The second call was from a Scandinavian sounding guy, and he was going on about how my company had ordered several Segways for a security job in Sweden, and the order had come from our Swedish office, with him wanting to confirm it before he processed the order. I was quite confused at first as we don't have any offices or jobs in Sweden, and despite telling this guy several times, he was very persistent and kept babbling on about confirming the order. He just couldn't accept that there was no one by the name of the person he was talking about in the company, nor that we did not order anything or have offices there. By this point I wanted to hang up on him as we were just going around in circles, but there was a nagging feeling that this may be legit and I just didn't know about it, so I just stayed polite but firm in telling him I knew nothing of what he was talking about.
He then started talking about our website, reading it out and describing it correctly to me but stating that it had ".nu" at the end (I think) instead of ".com". I kept telling him we had no website by ".nu", and again he couldn't accept this. I then said ours was ".com" and he made some typing noises then proclaimed that someone had clearly copied our website - it was at this point the penny dropped for me, as he was likely to start going on about how he knows someone who can resolve this issue for us. I hung up and didn't hear back from him thankfully.
Had that not been the office line I would have ditched him the moment he started babbling!
bristolracer said:
I normally say to the microsoft scammers
"your grandmother must be so proud of what you have become,stealing from the innocent and elderly" and hang up
There is a recording online somewhere (can't find it) where the 'victim' starts by asking if the caller is religious and the call ends with the caller crying and promising to change his life."your grandmother must be so proud of what you have become,stealing from the innocent and elderly" and hang up
Brigand said:
The second call was from a Scandinavian sounding guy, and he was going on about how my company had ordered several Segways for a security job in Sweden, and the order had come from our Swedish office, with him wanting to confirm it before he processed the order. I was quite confused at first as we don't have any offices or jobs in Sweden, and despite telling this guy several times, he was very persistent and kept babbling on about confirming the order. He just couldn't accept that there was no one by the name of the person he was talking about in the company, nor that we did not order anything or have offices there. By this point I wanted to hang up on him as we were just going around in circles, but there was a nagging feeling that this may be legit and I just didn't know about it, so I just stayed polite but firm in telling him I knew nothing of what he was talking about.
He then started talking about our website, reading it out and describing it correctly to me but stating that it had ".nu" at the end (I think) instead of ".com". I kept telling him we had no website by ".nu", and again he couldn't accept this. I then said ours was ".com" and he made some typing noises then proclaimed that someone had clearly copied our website - it was at this point the penny dropped for me, as he was likely to start going on about how he knows someone who can resolve this issue for us. I hung up and didn't hear back from him thankfully.
Had that not been the office line I would have ditched him the moment he started babbling!
That sound more like he was the potentially victim.He then started talking about our website, reading it out and describing it correctly to me but stating that it had ".nu" at the end (I think) instead of ".com". I kept telling him we had no website by ".nu", and again he couldn't accept this. I then said ours was ".com" and he made some typing noises then proclaimed that someone had clearly copied our website - it was at this point the penny dropped for me, as he was likely to start going on about how he knows someone who can resolve this issue for us. I hung up and didn't hear back from him thankfully.
Had that not been the office line I would have ditched him the moment he started babbling!
There are scams based on impersonating companies to obtain goods on credit.
Edited by Martin4x4 on Sunday 2nd August 15:03
Martin4x4 said:
That sound more like he was potentially the victim.
There are scams based on impersonating companies to obtain goods on credit.
Hmm, it could be I suppose. I didn't question him on where he worked, it just seems a bit odd that he was calling up to confirm an order we'd allegedly placed, but then quickly changed tack and started taking an interest in our website. Oh well, nothing more came of it anyway.There are scams based on impersonating companies to obtain goods on credit.
They once cold called the bloke who ran Malwarebytes
http://blog.malwarebytes.org/fraud-scam/2013/04/ph...
http://blog.malwarebytes.org/fraud-scam/2013/04/ph...
If I get a strange number calling, I always answer with the following if i'm in a jovial mood!
caller: ring ring
Me: Hello Joe's crematorium you kill 'em we grill 'em
Caller: I'm normally asked who/what is this
Me: Joe's crematorium you kill 'em we grill 'em
Caller: oh right, sorry wrong number blah blah blah
Me: Look Sir/Madam I'm really busy here with dead bodies stacked to the rafters and i really need to get on
Caller: of course of course, sorry to have disturbed you
caller: ring ring
Me: Hello Joe's crematorium you kill 'em we grill 'em
Caller: I'm normally asked who/what is this
Me: Joe's crematorium you kill 'em we grill 'em
Caller: oh right, sorry wrong number blah blah blah
Me: Look Sir/Madam I'm really busy here with dead bodies stacked to the rafters and i really need to get on
Caller: of course of course, sorry to have disturbed you
I registered with TPS many years ago, and never had another 'fun' call again.
How boring am I?
Where we now live in the Philippines we get weekly calls from our local Holiday Inn, trying to sell us some deal or other, just a bunch of nervous, giggly young girls who don't speak very good English.
It can be fun.
How boring am I?
Where we now live in the Philippines we get weekly calls from our local Holiday Inn, trying to sell us some deal or other, just a bunch of nervous, giggly young girls who don't speak very good English.
It can be fun.
I registered with TPS many years ago, and never had another 'fun' call again.
How boring am I?
Where we now live in the Philippines we get weekly calls from our local Holiday Inn, trying to sell us some deal or other, just a bunch of nervous, giggly young girls who don't speak very good English.
It can be fun.
How boring am I?
Where we now live in the Philippines we get weekly calls from our local Holiday Inn, trying to sell us some deal or other, just a bunch of nervous, giggly young girls who don't speak very good English.
It can be fun.
srebbe64 said:
...it's a sport I'm getting quite proficient at. Yesterday:
Ring ring
Hello
Hi is that srebbe?
Yep that's me
Good news, you're eligible to claim up to £7800 for your recent injury
Wow, great, I never expected that because I thought it was my own fault really
What was your own fault?
The accident, I'm delighted I'm gonna get money for it though. Where do I pick it up?
Well tell me more about your accident
Okay I applied for a job and I didn't fill in the application correctly
What job?
Elephant rider for a circus
Okaaaaay
I said I had experience but it turns out my experience was Indian elephants not African
Riiiiight
You know Elmo the patchwork elephant it was exactly like him but entirely grey
Hmmmmm
Anyway, nice talking and I look forward hearing from you again shortly, bye
You mean Elmer I think?Ring ring
Hello
Hi is that srebbe?
Yep that's me
Good news, you're eligible to claim up to £7800 for your recent injury
Wow, great, I never expected that because I thought it was my own fault really
What was your own fault?
The accident, I'm delighted I'm gonna get money for it though. Where do I pick it up?
Well tell me more about your accident
Okay I applied for a job and I didn't fill in the application correctly
What job?
Elephant rider for a circus
Okaaaaay
I said I had experience but it turns out my experience was Indian elephants not African
Riiiiight
You know Elmo the patchwork elephant it was exactly like him but entirely grey
Hmmmmm
Anyway, nice talking and I look forward hearing from you again shortly, bye
Got an ambulance chaser cold call from Bangalore Brian recently.
I opened by thanking him for the prompt call regarding my 'accident within the last 3 years' as 'it' had only occurred the previous day.
It was the other driver's fault, yes?
Yes.
Good. There will be much compensation! And you were injured?
Yes. Very badly injured. Fatally in fact.
(pause)
Fatally?
Yes. I'm talking to you from the afterlife. It's great here. Birds, booze, the works.
You cannot claim the money if you are dead. You must come alive again in order to claim the compensation.
He stuck with it for another few minutes. Good lad. He didn't get wound-up at all.
I opened by thanking him for the prompt call regarding my 'accident within the last 3 years' as 'it' had only occurred the previous day.
It was the other driver's fault, yes?
Yes.
Good. There will be much compensation! And you were injured?
Yes. Very badly injured. Fatally in fact.
(pause)
Fatally?
Yes. I'm talking to you from the afterlife. It's great here. Birds, booze, the works.
You cannot claim the money if you are dead. You must come alive again in order to claim the compensation.
He stuck with it for another few minutes. Good lad. He didn't get wound-up at all.
I get bombarded with these, partly because my home number diverts to my mobile, partly because my home number is my parent old number (and probably shows up as old vulnerable people) and also because my company name is linked to it.
So I get all sorts of offers plus the usual.
Had a great one today?
Is that williams paving
Oh, no he died recently
Oh well I'm sorry to hear that.
Well yea, basically he was bummed. To death
she did laugh to be fair then hung straight up.
I like when the windows scammers call and they ask what I can see on the screen....
"Well, there's a man, and it looks like...it looks like he's naked actually, and oh there's an animal as well.....it looks like a sheep"
They don't like that
And an all time favourite is speaking the second they talk, so they literally can't get a word in edge ways
that really gets them angry
So I get all sorts of offers plus the usual.
Had a great one today?
Is that williams paving
Oh, no he died recently
Oh well I'm sorry to hear that.
Well yea, basically he was bummed. To death
she did laugh to be fair then hung straight up.I like when the windows scammers call and they ask what I can see on the screen....
"Well, there's a man, and it looks like...it looks like he's naked actually, and oh there's an animal as well.....it looks like a sheep"
They don't like that
And an all time favourite is speaking the second they talk, so they literally can't get a word in edge ways
that really gets them angry Hello, is that Mr Smith?
Yes. (not really)
We are updating our records. Is that Mr Smith of 123 The Street, London, XX1 1XX?
Who are you?
We are updating our records.
Yes, you said that. But who are you?
Can you confirm you live at 123 The Street.
Who are you? What company do you represent?
This went on for ages until they hung up.
Yes. (not really)
We are updating our records. Is that Mr Smith of 123 The Street, London, XX1 1XX?
Who are you?
We are updating our records.
Yes, you said that. But who are you?
Can you confirm you live at 123 The Street.
Who are you? What company do you represent?
This went on for ages until they hung up.
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