Scambusters - what's doing the rounds today?

[Easy-X]

Yesterday: crypto scam "you have $13,000 of BitCoin in a frozen account so we need to install remote access software on you phone" fuck that, just send me a cheque

Today: "This is Ted [with an Indian accent] from Microsoft Support!" Yes! Get in!!! Still going strong after all these years.

"Please click on the flag in the bottom left" - they seem unaware this moved in Windows 11.

"Click on the 3 dots in the top right" - Brave doesn't have 3 dots, it has 3 slashes.

I tried explaining these concepts (wasting their time + personal amusement = win win) but they weren't having it. It boiled down to installing AnyDesk and no matter how I phrased the question they would not be drawn on why they needed it.

I say "they" as the accent changed mid conversation. The second guy definitely had a better grasp of English. Even so...

"...this is needed by the Microsoft technician, sir."

Why does the technician need remote access to my PC?

"You are not a technician, sir..."

You don't know what I am.

"And I don't care, sir..."

The mask slips! We went round in circles until this last guy said "...then hang up the phone, sir." Odd, we (verbally) danced some more but apparently he doesn't have a hang up button In the end I asked:

Are you working from an Indonesian call centre? Are they forcing you to do this?

"Yes, sir." [monotone]

You have my sympathies then. I hope you gain your freedom soon.

"Yes, sir." [same monotone]

And then I was generous enough to hang up. Now, whether he was actually a literal slave is debateable but I think we can surmise the calls aren't recorded or directly monitored but there's probably some office manager / slave master milling about listening to half the conversation.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Polarbear]

Has anyone had an AI phone call where the AI responds to what you say? I had one yesterday. It was silent until I said 'who is this' then it started asking me questions and responding. It was quite weird as there was a noticeable lag between answer and response that you wouldn't have with a human.

I got bored with it an hung up but thinking about it I should have talked dirty to it to see what it said. (It was a female AI bot thingy )
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[doggone]

"are you going to be at home on the 5th of April?
Because TV detector vans are in the area and might call at any time" Good luck with that

About ten years ago I told them I didn't need one but they seem to want you to tell them over and over. Keeps them busy I suppose but the periodic letters are like a class in scammery with all kinds of lies apparently perfectly acceptable.
More red ink needed

[Easy-X]

[Ste]

[Easy-X]

Kitboga does a lot of that sort of stuff when he switches on the "old granddad" voice changer
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

'Scammers used fake app to steal from me in person'

Two aspect to this.

1) Criminals using a sale as a pretence to nose around and see if there's anything not nailed down worth stealing.

2) People trusting what's being shown to them on a stranger's phone.

And on the latter point, it's a fake app so the whole logging in, selecting an account and doing the transfer can be faked Why wouldn't you check your own banking app to make sure the money was in? "The transfer hasn't hit my account, sorry you'll have to come back later."

Obviously with the amounts involved in vehicle sales it's more likely to be a bank transfer rather than cash. There is more paperwork, e.g. the V5, but I think you'd also be perfectly justified in asking to see someone's driving licence "need to check you won't be riding off illegally"
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[doggone]

There still seems to be quite a bit of resistance to banking apps and not all 50+ either.
Mind it is a concern what might happen if it got lost or stolen and you didn't realise for a while. Also what might happen if you went on it while drunk.
And you might accidentally send one meelion pounds when you meant to send £100.00

I get in mine with fingerprint they might cut your finger off as well as stealing your phone

[to v or not to v]

[Ste]

https://i.imgur.com/zVHMHaf.png

Nectar points fraud is now a thing.

Where and how did they get my card number?

[A100man]

Took a call at my mothers.. EON Next herer we will come and move/replace your meter on May 11th and need 500 pounds..

However At my brothers business next door were were have a meter moved so it appeared to tie in..

..apart from he's with EDF, not EON, They sent the bill anyway in Chinglise with a ludicrous bank accound ref.
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[to v or not to v]

[Ste]

I've seen vague mentions of it to do with people losing points worth hundreds of pounds but this was the vast sum of £2.50 which barely seems worth it.

I'm going with credential stuffing as I had an ancient password on my nectar account.

Meh, I hope their fridge freezer breaks causing everything to defrost and be ruined.

[Easy-X]

Another "We're calling from the Microsoft Technical Department" (you can probably guess the accent.)

It's getting a little boring now as I know the script. I usually go with malicious compliance. "What is the key next to CTRL?" the Code key* why? "No sir, you are liar, you have not turned on computer!" Errr... okay. I got passed on to her manager. I then had an argument with him about AnyDesk being used by hackers Finally I got another woman - a senior colleague - who went through the classic, look at all these errors in Event Viewer.

Half way through this I must have said something wrong as she just stopped and slowly said "bye bye" huh? Again I've managed to get into a situation where the call staff are explicitly asking me to hang up

I started asking questions. So do have a single guy there, wandering about and monitoring conversations? Can I contact a friend or relative who might be able to help? And all I get back is nervous laughter and bizarre animal noises. Eventually the line did cut off so I'm wondering whether the call staff are physically unable to drop call, e.g. there's some call manager fella who does it, or are they just discouraged to do so in some twisted call stats competition.

If it is a "modern slavery" call centre I could well believe it. I have considered setting up a sandbox VM and let them hack away at that but I'm still not 100% sure I could persuade them to leave any pertinent details that might aid in their rescue without the slave masters finding out. Hmm... maybe I could write a message in various languages and set it as the desktop wallpaper.

*I have a custom built keyboard. "Code" is in place of a Windows or Apple key
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Ste]

That sounds dull.

Tell them that they need to speak up because you're wearing a towel.

Explain that you're wearing a towel because you've misplaced your pants.

Ask them if they've got any ideas where you should look for your pants.

Best results include someone then saying that I don't need my pants to hear what he's trying to tell me so I should look for my pants afterwards.

Worst results using lines from the Simpsons include being woken up by a call from a number that I didn't recognise. I took a few seconds to consider what lines from the Simpsons to use and I decided that I was going to be tame with this one, I'm not going to talk about towels, I don't need them to help me find my pants, we're not going to talk about Steamed Hams being an Albany expression for ham burgers, I shouldn't ask them what they're wearing, and so on and so on.

"Hello chief!!! Lets talk, why not!!"

Silence.

"Hi is that Ste? It's so-and-so from the council, I'm calling about the event next Monday that you're helping with."

Oh shit. I wasn't expecting to hear from her until the Monday morning. Thank god I exercised some restraint.

Always use lines from the Simpsons when possible. If you want to talk with scammers you can go for "I'm interested in upgrading my 28.8 kilobaud internet connection to a 1.5 megabit fiber optic T1 line. Will you be able to provide an IP router that's compatible with my token-ring ethernet LAN configuration?"

[Easy-X]

That's the running gag in Better Call Saul: Jimmy/Saul dropping great movie lines and the other characters staring blankly.

I might try Kurtz "little arms" speech from Apocalypse Now
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter