Feeding the Windows scammer a line
I’VE been surprised by the number of readers who have called or written to tell me their own experiences with the so-called “Windows scammer”. Chris van der Linde said he was becoming tired of repeated calls from the Indian voice telling him there was a problem with his Windows program. He received another of these nuisance calls two weeks before Christmas and asked the caller to hold on, then passed the phone to his three-year-old daughter, whispering to her it was Father Christmas asking her what she wanted for Christmas.
Little Abigail took the phone with a happy grin and her father heard her say: “Yes, I have got a computer, thank you, Father Christmas, but what I want for Christmas is a pink bicycle with a bell and a basket.” Apparently the scammer hung up on her and has not called back since.
Incidentally, Abigail got her pink bicycle, complete with bell and basket.
I had a phone call from a rather worried reader who told me she and two of her friends had all received calls from the scammer.
What bothered her particularly was that all of the calls were on landline telephones, not cellphones, and all of them were to unlisted numbers.
If the numbers are not listed in the telephone book, she asks, how does the scammer address each person by name? Having an unlisted number obviously doesn’t guarantee telephone privacy.
Ruth wrote to say the caller was not always a man. She had received the scam call from a female voice and had simply slammed the phone down in anger.
To her surprise, the woman called back and berated her for hanging up on her. How’s that for bare-faced cheek! So far all the response I have had has been from people who did not fall for the scam.
I wonder how any people have been caught and what their experience was.
The project must be earning somebody a lot of money or it would not have continued for so long.
If I’m not busy next time the Windows man calls, I think I’ll have some fun trying to see how long I can keep the caller on the line by acting confused. The longer I can hold him, the shorter time he has to cheat others.
“Yes sir, I do have Windows, but I’m afraid they’re not very clean because we have water restrictions here and I am not allowed to use a hose to wash them. The program? Yes, I watch it on e.tv, but it’s not very clear because the wind blew my TV antenna over. Is it very windy where you are?” I can be a very muddle-headed old fart sometimes. And it’s not always an act.
Last Laugh
The psychiatrist said to his patient: “Well, we’ve been working on your kleptomania problem for 18 months now and I think you are cured at last.
“As a final test, I want you to walk through the supermarket from one end to the other and see whether you’re tempted or not.”
The patient thanked him and gratefully turned to leave. The psychiatrist called him back. “Just in case you do have a relapse,” he said, “I could do with a new microwave oven.”