New Microsoft phone scam
9 years ago
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9 years ago
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
This telephone scam is new to me.
Comments (31)A telemarketer is a telemarketer is a telemarketer. They prey on people to get money. These scams have adapted over the years from car warranties to phone service (remember "slamming"?) to other assorted BS. They bank on people wanting to believe that Bill Gates will pay you to spam people, and they use powerful motivators. They appeal to peoples' greed and/or peoples' fears. A Nigerian General wants to share millions with you. I'll send you a check for $5,000.00, you send me your car and a money order for $3,000.00, your grandson will go to jail for 20 years in a foreign country, you'll lose your house, be burglarized and so on. Here's a pretty good recording of this scam. It's over 1/2 hour long but you can skip through it for the entertainment, but it also has some good info in it to educate people on how they work. Once they get you to download one of the programs, they can get into your computer and you will have problems. They use essentially illusions to look credible and the non-skeptical will often swallow it hook, line and sinker. I always told my clients that if it comes to you in an email, assume it's false until proven true. And when they call you on the phone, it's not much different. The sad part is people WANT to believe scams. And they want to be the first to share this secret with people so they send it on to everyone they know. Anyone can challenge/dispute any charge, just like anyone can sue anyone for anything, however it takes proof to prevail. The banks have no liability to reimburse someone for being a sucker. The easy dispute process was tightened up on many years ago because people would buy something, then have buyer's remorse and dispute the charge. There are rules with a rescission period requirement on large purchases but on smaller purchases when you authorize a charge, you're basically on the hook for it. And to get a refund, you have to go through the proper procedures. People think a credit card protects them because if they drop the TV down a flight of steps, or leave the cake out in the rain, and they can just dispute it and get the money back. You can't challenge a charge because another store put the jacket on sale two weeks after you purchased it. Doesn't work that way. It's similar to people thinking they can buy something with a check and stop payment on the check with no ramifications or even to put them in a better bargaining position. Not always so. You can have issues with criminal charges against you for defrauding an innkeeper for one thing. Attempting to evade payment of a debt is a criminal charge in many places. For instance, writing a check on a closed account. Sadly there are some cards who will sometimes indemnify suckers and that costs everyone money. They'll do it for "customer service" I suppose but again, ever since the changes in the credit laws a number of years ago they aren't as friendly about it. Most of these telemarketers are educated, at least more than a lot of the people they call. I'd suspect the caller did not say they were with Microsoft. They probably said "tech support" or something and babble something about Microsoft certification or something and people who don't know better or don't pay attention assume something different. One of the collection agencies out of Canada operate under a name similar to a law office to gain credibility and scare people into paying up, even on debts they don't owe. People need to be educated and at least learn more than the telemarketers to protect themselves or they're destined to lose....See MoreAnother Phone Scam
Comments (13)You're only half right there sushipup1. SSI is Supplemental Security Income, yes, but it is NOT disability. RSDI (Retirement Survivors And Disability Insurance) is the "disability" program. It's sometimes referred to as SSD or SSDI. SSI is an income supplement program funded by general tax revenues (not Social Security taxes) designed to help aged, blind, and disabled people, who have little or no income. It provides cash to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. People on "disability" are able to also apply for SSI if they meet the requirements but it's very different from the disability coverage. There's so many scumballs out there. I think phones should have a button on them whereby you can push it to activate dumping a pail of water on them and then give a 50,000 volt zap to telemarketers and scammers. Voltage would increase every time they call someone. That would cut down on the lowlife calls from these "poor people who are just trying to make a living and feed their starving children..." to whom we should talk so nice and considerate!...See MoreA new telephone scam. Don't say "Yes"
Comments (35)Those who live to a ripe old age will find certain tasks or habits of life can't be continued. They reach an age where they can no longer drive, or live alone, or go shopping, or live in a rural setting or whatever. In much the same way, many elderly reach an age when their diminished thinking abilities make looking after their own financial affairs not possible. We have such an oldster in our family. She's mentally fine in most respects and lives comfortably on her own but can get flummoxed by new situations. Management of her financial means has been taken away from her and other than a small bank account for cash expenditures, all other money matters of her existence are handled by her kids (who themselves are approaching senior citizenship). Friends and family need to protect those with some degree of diminished functionality from causing themselves harm. This person I mentioned can be approached by any form of cons and other than the change drawer in her bedroom, there's little damage that can be done. Everyone should be so protected from various crooks who have been around since forever and will always be looking to take advantage of others....See MorePhone Scam Advising of 'Refund'
Comments (27)I found this article in a newsletter I get from a company called the Data Doctors: Why am I getting so many robocalls these days and what can I do to stop them? Answer This question was answered on March 7, 2019. If it seems like you’re getting a lot more calls that are either a robocall, a scammer or someone trying to sell you something, you’re not imagining it. According to call statistics from companies that monitor unwanted calls, the percentage of calls has risen steeply over the past year from 3.7% of calls in 2017 to nearly 30% in 2018. What’s worse is they predict by the end of the year, you can expect about 50% of the calls to your cell phone to be a nuisance call. Why It’s Accelerating One of the biggest reasons that we’re experiencing a huge increase in robocalls is that the technology to call millions of phones every day has gotten extremely cheap and easy for just about anyone with a minimal amount of tech skills. Why the Do Not Call Registry is Useless It doesn't hurt to register you phone number(s) with the https://donotcall.gov registry, but don’t expect it to do much for you. Only legitimate marketing companies that are willing to follow the rules will comply with this registry. If you do get a call you’d like to report, you can do so here: http://bit.ly/2Ut3E6K A growing number of the junk calls and text messages are coming from scammers that are operating outside of the U.S. through VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) so they’re not going to bother paying attention to the registry. Also, the registry does not apply to political calls, non-profits and charities or polling organizations and any company that you’ve either done business with or sought information from in the attempt to do business. Those businesses can call you for up to 18 months after your last interaction. Neighbor Spoofing You may have also noticed that a lot of the calls are coming from your same area code and some times with the same prefix as your phone number. This spoofing of the caller ID is done automatically by the robocall systems to make it look like someone in your area is calling you in hopes that you’ll answer the call. Never Say ‘Yes’ One of the many scams used by these robocalls is focused on recording your voice saying ‘yes’, which they can use as your voice signature for future scams. They’ll usually try at the very beginning of the call by asking something like “are you the homeowner” or “can you hear me?”. What Can You Do? The first thing is stop answering any call when you don’t recognize the number; let it go to voice mail. If you have one of the newer Google Pixel phones (2, 2XL, 3 or 3XL), there is a cool little utility in your Phone app that will allow you to screen calls using the Google Assistant – Google is working on making it available for other Android devices. The telecom industry is working on a caller verification protocol, but until then, there are apps available that will at least try to determine if a call is potential spam, including HiYa (https://hiya.com), YouMail (https://youmail.com), NomoRobo (https://nomorobo.com) or RoboKiller (https://robokiller.com)....See More- 9 years ago
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