I just received a phone call from a women saying she was with microsoft

[lowell holmes]

And I did not think Microsoft would call me, so I went online and checked.

Microsoft does not call individuals. It was a scam.

[Peter Christensen]

I get those calls all too often.

I have a Mac.

I get rude and then hang up.

Then they call you........

[Wade Lippman]

I once did what they asked, until I got to a point where it would do damage and hung up.
It is free up to the point where your computer is broken. Fixing it is extra.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Did "Donna" call you too?

[glenn bradley]

I recently watched a video of a guy who kept those "hijack" scammers on the line just long enough to plant his own attack on their systems. They slowly started to realize their computers were becoming unusable. He then told them he did it and begged them to call the cops. Hilarious.

[Bill Bukovec]

I strung one of those clowns along for about 10 minutes once. Finally I said, " Is this suppose to work on my Macintosh?". They hung up and didn't call. back.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I got a call today that my computer was infected. Calling from Microsoft. Asian (Indian) sub-continent.
I've had them do it before. Nothing stops them from calling back.
Now: Who here has had a call from the IRS (In Canada it's the Canada Revenue Agency) that there is an arrest warrent out for you for back taxes? We get that all the time.

[Chris Parks]

I've tried a couple of approaches, first I asked him if he could help fix my Commodore 64 computer but he had to give up on that one, next I told him he was ringing a highly confidential number in the police dept and all calls to this number were automatically traced, CLUNK and the line went dead and I went a long time before I got another one. Another approach if I simply can't be bothered is to tell them I don't have a computer.

[Doug Garson]

I got a call today that my computer was infected. Calling from Microsoft. Asian (Indian) sub-continent.
I've had them do it before. Nothing stops them from calling back.
Now: Who here has had a call from the IRS (In Canada it's the Canada Revenue Agency) that there is an arrest warrent out for you for back taxes? We get that all the time.
Yes got one of those again just last week. Just waiting for the police cruiser to show up and haul me off the jail. Had the Microsoft call a few weeks ago. Call started with " I'm from Microsoft how are you?" My response was "no you're not and I'm fine" CLICK.

[Brian Henderson]

I got a call today that my computer was infected. Calling from Microsoft. Asian (Indian) sub-continent.
I've had them do it before. Nothing stops them from calling back.
Now: Who here has had a call from the IRS (In Canada it's the Canada Revenue Agency) that there is an arrest warrent out for you for back taxes? We get that all the time.

I just say "cool, come get me, you know where I am".

[Al Launier]

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/nomorobo
Xfinity Voice service works with Nomorobo to block unsolicited robocalls to your home. Nomorobo is a cloud-based service that hangs up on or blocks illegal robocaller or telemarketer calls from calling the intended home phone number.

So every evening around 7 PM I get a single phone call noted as "Incoming" that rings once & then disconnects. I don't know if this call is from the same caller each time, or if this is the preferred time for these robocalls. At first, when I picked up the phone to get the number calling, or when I tried to determine who the caller was from the phone menu, but there was nothing listed. So we wait for the second ring before picking up.

Xfinity does a similar thing with scam emails. One must simply forward the email to missed-spam@comcast.net and the email doesn't appear again.

[Aaron Conway]

I got that call once. I kept telling him I didn't need new windows because my house was new...he eventually hung up.

[Bob Glenn]

If you answer an unsolicited call, a scammer may say, "Can you hear me?". Just hang up. If you say yes, they can record that and use it to say you agreed to their made up proposition.

[Lee DeRaud]

Did "Donna" call you too?The bot from "Card Services"? I always wonder if she looks as good as she sounds. :)

[Scott Snyder]

I got that call once. I kept telling him I didn't need new windows because my house was new...he eventually hung up.
ive done the same thing

[John K Jordan]

I've had them do it before. Nothing stops them from calling back.


I haven't had to hang up on a scamspam call for a long time. My method is to never answer a call unless I know who is calling. If it's important, they will leave a message.


JKJ

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The bot from "Card Services"? I always wonder if she looks as good as she sounds. :)


That's one of those questions I will leave this earth without knowing the answer, I suppose!:D

[Lee Schierer]

We just received a call that claimed to be an emergency notification from Microsoft that our windows license has expired and that we should call (877) 281-1578 to prevent the shut down.

Yeah right.

[Roger Feeley]

I like Bill Gates solution proposed many years ago. All phone numbers are 900 numbers. The charge is some nominal amount that wouldn't matter to an average phone customer or to a business. But to a scammer that depends on 10s of thousands of calls to find one sucker, it would be a death knell. Same thing with email. All emails are billed at $.001 and the first 200 per month are free. You and I would never notice it. But the scammer that relies on millions of emails to find one sucker couldn't afford the bill.

Billing is mostly between ISPs. I have Verizon and you have ATT. If I email you, ATT bills Verizon and Verizon charges my account. Gates suggested that the ISP's keep the fees to cover the cost of administration.

Further, Gates suggested a whitelist that customers can actively manage. So, for instance, I could put Rockler on my whitelist and they can send me emails for free. If I ever get mad at Rockler, I can log in and remove them from my whitelist. I suppose we could go further and let me charge someone more to email me. I would enjoy that.

Any legitimate business that can't bear a tenth of a cent for sending you an email is working on too thin a profit margin.

[Roger Feeley]

The bot from "Card Services"? I always wonder if she looks as good as she sounds. :)

The FCC says that complaints about Rachel from Card Services is at the top of their hit parade. I've always wondered who did the voice for that system. What must she think about being the most hated voice in America.

[Jim Koepke]

On the Windows scam, my reply has varied from extreme paranoia directed at them for spying on me, to telling them my machine is a Mac, pretending like they are talking about my glass window or just stringing them along and telling them when my TV program is over then the computer can be turned on and viewed on the TV screen.


If you answer an unsolicited call, a scammer may say, "Can you hear me?"

My reply to that question is "no" then they usually hang up.


Now: Who here has had a call from the IRS (In Canada it's the Canada Revenue Agency) that there is an arrest warrent out for you for back taxes? We get that all the time.

My reply to them is, "Come and get me copper, you'll never take me alive." Again, they tend to hang up.

Sometimes if it is a live person my reply is to tell them that it is against my policy to do business with criminals. If they claim they are not a criminal, they are informed that by calling people who are on the do not call list, they are in fact committing a crime and are therefore a criminal.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

She always tells me there's no problem with my account so I tell her thanks for the info and talk to you later.

[Keith Westfall]

If you want to hear some funny conversations with the telemarketers, google Tom Mabe. He is hilarious!

[John K Jordan]

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/nomorobo
Xfinity Voice service works with Nomorobo to block unsolicited robocalls to your home. Nomorobo is a cloud-based service that hangs up on or blocks illegal robocaller or telemarketer calls from calling the intended home phone number.


What does this service cost?

JKJ

[Lee DeRaud]

What does this service cost?

JKJFree on landline (including VOIP), $2/month/phone on mobile.

[Scott Snyder]

Tried to sign up, never got an "Activation email" from them. Wonder if its just more phishing?

[Roy Petersen]

Free on landline (including VOIP)
If you look more closely, it actually requires VOIP,as it has all calls going to them which are then forwarded to you; basically VOIP to your landline phone.
From the terms: "Comcast XFINITY Voice Service is an Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled communications service"...

[Lee DeRaud]

If you look more closely, it actually requires VOIP,as it has all calls going to them which are then forwarded to you; basically VOIP to your landline phone.
From the terms: "Comcast XFINITY Voice Service is an Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled communications service"...Yeah, VOIP is what I'm using now (Spectrum).

But the way they describe it, it uses the "simultaneous ring" feature and answers their end if the number is in their database...I was under the impression that feature was available for ATT POTS lines as well, possibly depending on what level of equipment the local office has installed.

[EDIT: or not. Apparently it's not available for copper analog (their description) lines yet. Given that it's working its magic well upstream of the analog portion any given phone's connection, I'm not sure why.]

[Tom Stenzel]

My reply to them is, "Come and get me copper, you'll never take me alive." Again, they tend to hang up.

jtk

I always insist on paying them in person. Then telling them I give it to them - in Hot Lead! This is after they've told me the LOCAL POLICE were coming to arrest me. I'm still waiting.

For the computer scam it's usually from the Windows Corporation, telling me my Linux box has some problem. I string them along but haven't had a call from those idiots for some time.

-Tom

[Rick Potter]

We only keep the land line for possible emergency calls. We average about 7 telemarketer calls a day, and never answer the phone unless we know the person calling, which is maybe once a week.

I clear the calls before going to bed each night, but last week I missed a night, and set a new record of 28 calls in two days. Most of our calls are hangups from R2D2.

Getting a couple a day now on the cell phone also.

[Matthew Curtis]

I like to keep them on the line as long as I can. Time is money. I had one person for over an hour one day.

[glenn bradley]

I haven't had to hang up on a scamspam call for a long time. My method is to never answer a call unless I know who is calling. If it's important, they will leave a message.


JKJ

This is me. Same with email. If I'm not expecting it, it gets trashed. This method has never negatively effected me. Just goes to show you how much "stuff" comes your way that you don't need.

[Pat Barry]

I like to keep them on the line as long as I can. Time is money. I had one person for over an hour one day.

I feel my time is too valuable for this. Just hang up.

[Matthew Curtis]

I feel my time is too valuable for this. Just hang up.

Just imagine if everyone who got a phone call from a tella-marketer would talk to the caller for an hour (or even 15min). Far fewer people would receive phone calls. These companies would lose so much money just by wasting their time.

[Curt Harms]

Free on landline (including VOIP), $2/month/phone on mobile.

And worth WAY more, especially during these silly (campaign) seasons. We'll get 8 - 10 political calls/day. The limitation with NoMoRobo is that it only works on landlines that support simultaneous ring, generally some variant of VoIP.

[Brian Henderson]

Just imagine if everyone who got a phone call from a tella-marketer would talk to the caller for an hour (or even 15min). Far fewer people would receive phone calls. These companies would lose so much money just by wasting their time.

Which is fine if you have no life. Most of us have better things to do with our time.

[Bill Dufour]

I got a another call for "Angel" the other day. When I say no angel here they say well maybe you can help me instead. I ended up telling them I wanted an Abrahms tank and 50 caliper ammo to fit. the guy told me he will send it in the mail. I hope they send it priority mail so it get here soon.
Bil lD

[Lee DeRaud]

I got a another call for "Angel" the other day. When I say no angel here they say well maybe you can help me instead. I ended up telling them I wanted an Abrahms tank and 50 caliper ammo to fit. the guy told me he will send it in the mail. I hope they send it priority mail so it get here soon.
Bil lDWill an Abrams fit in a large flat-rate box?

[Bill Dufour]

Will an Abrams fit in a large flat-rate box?

I think maybe he thought I meant a Sherman tank since I mentioned that as well. They are a little smaller. I guess he could tape multiple flat rate boxes together to fit?
Bill D

[lowell holmes]

Keep police whistle next to the phone and blow it when these calls come up.

[Jim Koepke]

Keep police whistle next to the phone and blow it when these calls come up.

They all tend to wear head sets. Talk softly so they turn up their volume. Then 'accidentally' touch one of the dialing keys. This gives them an earful. Apologize and say something about trying to settle your cat. Do this a few times and they won't want to talk to you.

jtk