Telephone Scam ..... When Will They Give Up?

[smellyloo]

Being inundated with pre-recorded telephone scam. You know the one ...

"Your internet connection has been hacked .... We will disconnect your service within 24 hours"

Why do they bother? Does anybody fall for this these days?

[Boatingman]

Hi

Yes the do I know of at least 3 in my town who fallen  for it

all elderly I am afraid

 

Ray

[FairTmiddlin]

Have a watch of some of this guy Jim Browning's video's he shows how they work and gets back at them sometimes deleting all the data on their severs

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNG0osIBAprVcZZ3ic84vw

[CambridgeCabby]

My mother had one last month , thing is she doesn’t have the internet and never has , sadly she just hung up instead of keeping them on the phone wasting their time .

I despise all these cold calls.

if a solar panel company rings i will gladly spend ages chatting about the merits etc and when they think they’ve got me hooked i simply ask them if they are permitted on a listed thatch building (ours isn’t but they don’t know that)

 

if it’s a conservatory they’re trying to sell again spend ages discussing sizes etc and then ask them if they are suitable for 2nd floor flats .

 

they want to waste our time so I feel it’s only fair if I waste theirs 

[FairTmiddlin]

Had a friend who kept a double glazing firm on the phone for nearly an hour. Getting the guy to give all the merits of different configurations of window openings, types of glass, hinges and childproof catches.

Then dropped the bombshell of saying "I didn't know you could fit them in a caravan"

[grendel]

my dad had one, the caller asked him to press certain keys on his computer and explained what he was seeing, then asked him if he could connect to his computer to sort it out, my father said yes, and they started going through the process, at this point the caller asked him why he couldnt connect, so my dad innocently replied, '

Quote

oh does the computer need to be connected to the internet, you see we dont have the internet, I did wonder how microsoft knew there was a problem?

caller hung up.

[annv]

I cant believe that people get taken in by this, The last time they rang i didn't have anything on so when he asked me to switch on i said ok waited a while picked phone he wanted me to press several buttons i said ok made a coffee he then said what could i see i said nothing it it up stairs so hang i will go and see after a bit he wanted me to take the phone up stairs i said i cant the lead isn't long enough big pause, he then got his supervisor  they then wanted me to bring computer down stairs, lead not long enough this went on a while me playing the village idiot they then disconnected i haven't had a call for a long time now perhaps i have been barred from the club.John

[grendel]

best one I ever had was a real bt helpdesk person, who while on the phone told me to remove the faceplate of the phone socket, I did point out that would cause the call to end, but he insisted.

[Timbo]

Ellie had a cold caller the other day.
"Hello" says Ellie as she picks up the phone.
"Hello" says the chap who made the call.
"Hello" says Ellie.
"Hello" says the chap.
"Hello" says Ellie.
"Hello" says the chap.
"Hello" says Ellie.
"Look, if you do not tell me who I'm talking to I will end this call!" says the chap.
"Hello" says Ellie.

Click

[Breydon]

23 hours ago, smellyloo said:

Being inundated with pre-recorded telephone scam. You know the one ...

"Your internet connection has been hacked .... We will disconnect your service within 24 hours"

Why do they bother? Does anybody fall for this these days?

As the saying goes "there is always one". They send out millions of these scam phone calls all over the World and a few people do respond and that is how they make money. Once they lock somebody's computer and get paid to get it unlocked they will find it locked again in a few weeks time and so it goes on.

Not everybody is completely computer literate but still use computers in some way and it is usually these people who get scammed. 

[MauriceMynah]

I agree Breydon, but would answer the original question by saying that they will give up when it's no longer profitable. Same thig as you are saying but blunter.

[grendel]

about 3 weeks after the last telephone has been disconnected from the network would be my guess.

[annv]

They can't be very intelligent it's always a Indian accent result red flag, danger!!scammers about,it then depends how bored one is. John

[Hylander]

Although my old Mum of 96 has now passed, in her latter years , bless her she would have fell foul of these buggers.   She never had a mobile phone or anything like it but would unfortunately have told the world all of her and everyone in the family's personal business without a thought.     What they do is wicked.

 

 

[Bexs]

Although my old Mum of 96 has now passed, in her latter years , bless her she would have fell foul of these buggers.   She never had a mobile phone or anything like it but would unfortunately have told the world all of her and everyone in the family's personal business without a thought.     What they do is wicked.
 
 

Yes my Dad who’s 89 and just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s would fall for anything.

I live in fear of bogus callers.

One saving grace is he doesn’t have the internet or a computer.


Sent from my iPhone using Norfolk Broads Network

[smellyloo]

On 04/09/2018 at 14:22, Hylander said:

  What they do is wicked.

 

 

Exactly ...... Preying on the vunerable is disgraceful. Not just the scammers do this there are quite a few "ligitate UK businesses" who provide aids for the elderly who quote  extorionate prices up front.

Many elderly folk will accept the first price as they think it too rude to haggle. BUT haggle and the price can be halved .... I know ...... this happened to my mum when she was in need of a stair lift.

"What they do is wicked"!!

[Polly]

 

They can't be very intelligent it's always a Indian accent result red flag, danger!!

Not always of course, 'foreign' in general a fairer and less racially charged description maybe.

[Hylander]

I have had 2 so called BT messages just lately ,  sounded non human telling me that I had got problems with my landline and to ring a certain number.    With that my old Mum would have done just that.     

Just as well Bexs that your Dad or my Mum did not have a computer.     The Bank kept wanting Mum (who did not know if it was Friday or Monday and certainly did not know who I was) to have a debit card for her account.   That was cut up and I took a visit to the Bank and told them in no uncertain terms not to send anything else like that.    We never had any further problems.

 

[Bexs]

haggle and the price can be halved .... I know ...... this happened to my mum when she was in need of a stair lift.
"What they do is wicked"!!

This is interesting to know as we need to get a stair lift fitted for my dad...


Sent from my iPhone using Norfolk Broads Network

[Bexs]

My dad has just been on the phone complaining that he has had 3 calls this morning from a company trying to sell him a way to block unwanted calls.

On the 3rd call dad pointed out that THEY were them selfs an in wanted call... they call him a name comprising of two swear words and hung up on him.


Sent from my iPhone using Norfolk Broads Network

[Meantime]

What I find the most frustrating is that you have to have a telephone line to have broadband in most cases. I have a mobile phone for making and receiving phone calls, I don't want a home phone. I'm with BT for my internet and I have to have a phoneline and pay line rental in order to have a broadband service.

It's about time that these companies starting offering the option of a cheaper line rental, purely for and incorporated into the broadband package without issuing a phone number of phone line. 

So one price for a line and broadband, or one price for a line and phone, or finally the option of a line with broadband and phone.

[FairTmiddlin]

What I find the most frustrating is that you have to have a telephone line to have broadband in most cases. I have a mobile phone for making and receiving phone calls, I don't want a home phone. I'm with BT for my internet and I have to have a phoneline and pay line rental in order to have a broadband service.
It's about time that these companies starting offering the option of a cheaper line rental, purely for and incorporated into the broadband package without issuing a phone number of phone line. 
So one price for a line and broadband, or one price for a line and phone, or finally the option of a line with broadband and phone.

Nothing in the contract says you have to connect a phone to the line. If you don't you will not get unwanted calls

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[Meantime]

Just now, FairTmiddlin said:

Nothing in the contract says you have to connect a phone to the line. If you don't you will not get unwanted calls

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app
 

That's true, but if I'm quoted £20 for Broadband, that's the price I want to pay, not an additional £18 line rental for a phone I don't want. Now I'd happily pay say £25 for the Broadband and line without the phone I don't need.

It all harps back to the days when people wanted a phone and then purchased the add on of Broadband. I think these days for most people they just want Broadband with perhaps the optional add on of a home phone number.

About time Ofcom got tough with the likes of BT and made them offer Broadband only services and pricing, which includes all the ancillaries such as a physical line needed to provide the Broadband only service.

[johnb]

We have broadband and phone line which has nothing connected to it so would be happy to get a broadband only deal.

One scam we used to hear of was receiving a call "We are calling about you BT phone" then offering a cheaper scheme which, when the recipent gave their details eventually turned out to be with a different company, "we are calling about your BT phone" not " we are calling from BT"

A lady of our acquaintance (about 95 years old) had no internet or laptop. One day she was contacted on the phone and told of a problem with her laptop and was asked to get her laptop and turn it on etc. She implied she was doing so, after about ten minutes sounding confused the caller asked what was happening. She then said she didn't have these things and rang off. The caller rand back and complained that she has wasted his time!!!

We now use only mobile phones and we haven't had a scam call for months, we did have a number all at one time about a year ago, there were numbers appearing so I logged each one as a scam, therefore just not answering them. TBH if I have the time, keeping them on the phone I find great fun. My usual answer to questions about accidents was to say I had had one, they then asked what I did about it, and I would reply I came hone waited for you to ring because I am too stupid to deal with things myself!

[ExSurveyor]

I had a call yesterday about my recent "accident"

We know you had a recent accident,  we are calling to help you. would you like us to help you.

Oh yes please,

I will transfer you to my supervisor,  ( this is triggered by voice software to detect  a yes.)

Hello can you tell me what happened. Well,  I was driving down the road when a bright light shone on me from above and the radio turned off.

( The clever ones normally hang up on me about now )

With this one I managed to get right through to the part where they did experiments on me with probes in intimate areas.

For some reason they cut the call.

I did hear from a telecoms friend that landline are being phased out in the next five years in favour of internet based calling.