- They were unconvincing. I didn't understand how this scam could work on anyone. But a quick search led me to a couple in Tennessee, a student in Virginia, and thousands of others who'd fallen for the scam. There was something about this scam that worked — and I had to find out what it was.
So I got further and further into the scam. At first, I played along for a few minutes and then hung up. After a few days, I trolled them with the vast amount I learned about their operation. Then, on a hot mid-September day, I decided enough was enough.
I was going to get to the end of this scam.
I've been targeted by this IRS scam for the last two years or so. Two or three calls a week. Always from different numbers. They always leave a message, "This is the IRS calling about unpaid fees... blah blah blah..." When I first got the call, I called the number they told me to call, and as soon as I heard the crappy phone queue message, I realized this was NOT the IRS and hung up. Now I have an entry in my phonebook that is named "scammer", and every time they call I add the number to that contact in my phone book. And I have chosen "Block this caller" on that contact. So if they ever use the same number, the call gets blocked. It ain't elegant, but it works.
I have never gotten the IRS calls but I was getting a few "Microsoft" calls every week for a while. I trolled hard, I probably said the worst things I've ever said to these people. I remember my wife begging me to stop saying those things one day when I was screwing around with one of them. Why they inspire such hate in my I do not know. I can't say that I felt better after they start screaming profanities at me. They quit calling me.
My GF got scammed by bastards like these. Unfortunately, I was at work at the time. Somehow she landed on an "official Microsof webpage" that locked down the laptop. If I'd been there it would've been a simple crtl-alt-delete but she freaked, called their 1-800 and by the time she called me about it we were out $250 for their "special" anti-virus software, fucking Malwarebytes. Anyways, the bank only gave us 2/3rds of our money back because we technically used the program. I was livid. Called the number and of course it was some Indian jackass on the line. My GF is so much more intelligent than me on just about everything but is extremely computer illiterate. She felt so stupid. It wasn't even the money that pissed me off so much as how bad they hurt her ego. Not to mention the fact that these assholes are ripping off people half a world away. Screw it. She learned an important lesson and I just imagined how shitty the life of the person on the other end of the line must be to sink so low. Fuck these people. I appreciate a good con but these scams are just the lowest scum of the earth.
I'm not so sure about "dark" - I mean, scams are designed to take advantage of our innate sense of guilt and/or greed. From a performance standpoint, the low-level conman is deliberately refining for stupid. From a social darwinism standpoint, you've got guys running an 800-seat VoIP scam out of a sweatbox call center in Bangalore vs. fat dumb americans willing to believe that the IRS takes payment in iTunes gift cards. You can say "vulnerable" but one man's "vulnerable" is another man's "fuckin' idiot."
Agreed. I've so far not been targeted by any phone scam like this. Then again, any time I get a call from a number (or area code) I don't recognize, I ignore it, or hit answer and then end. ...cue Obi Wan Kenobi, "I am not the idiot your are looking for."
"We are looking for the owner of computer. Are you the owner of computer?" "...yes, I am 'owner of computer.' Are you the keymaster or the gatekeeper?" "Sir this is Microsoft. Your computer has a virus." "That's interesting because it's running CheezOS. What sort of virus?" "A very bad virus sir. We will need to clean your computer." "Great. Lemme get my Windex." "No sir not that kind of cleaning. We need to clean the files of the computer." "I'm going to guess that costs money." "...sir it is very important that your computer is clean of viruses." "I never should have given it shore leave in Port Au Prince." click I have a contact in my phone named "spam robodialer." It's got about a dozen phone numbers.
As soon as I asked "which one of my computers has a virus?", that was the last line of the conversation. Now I'm blacklisted, I guess. Odd numbers never leave me voicemail either, I think my acoustic cover of Lil' Wayne's "Ms. Officer" scares them off before the beep.