Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

I have something similar when I get them phoning to say they are from a company that works with all the big providers, like BT, they then go on to speak about Microsoft. I let them continue, going along with what they are on about, then I just drop into the conversation "is that on the MacBook or the iMac as I use Macintosh computers". That stops them in their tracks and they hang up!

All good fun and at least while talking to me someone else, possibly a vulnerable person, is saved from being scammed.

How they find people to do that work or do it themselves I do not know, the level of verbal abuse they receive must be off the scale!

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

I did once string them along for nearly half an hour,
it was 'Microsoft Technical Department' I think.

I pretended to be very naïve (not difficult) and bring
my laptop to the phone, then very slowly turn it on,
press some buttons they were telling me.

When I changed my voice and told him what I
thought of him he went absolutely ballistic

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

Yes, I have pretended the laptop was on when it wasn't. He couldn't understand it.


I also had an answerphone message saying that if I didn't ring them back, I would be arrested.

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

My landline call blocker deals with all scammers - occasionally I'll check to see how many tried to get through and failed - it runs into a couple of dozen usually.

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

The best way to scam them back if your unfortunate enough to have picked up the phone is to let the conversation start then within a few seconds, just say 'hold on a moment, someone is at the door', then just put the handset down so the phone call is still active and go about doing what you was doing before the phone call. All the time they are waiting, they are having to pay for the phone call. The scammer will eventually get the message and terminate the phone call.

If the first thing you hear though is an automated voice message asking you to press 1 for this or press 2 for that...immediately end the call because that scam is designed to redirect you to a more expensive phone line connection which usually charges triple the normal price of a phone call.

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

They also use `spoofing` when ringing mobile phones (trying to present themselves as land-lines) - I don't know anybody from `Fort William` or `Hungerford` so know that they are scams. I get at least three of these nuisance calls on my mobile every day - luckily, my phone knows that they are Spam and get flagged as such. I block them, so they can't get through again and then check the number on whocallsme website to see how dangerous the call would have been.

Bastards.

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

I've noticed recently the calls to my landline from the Indian scammers are from mobile numbers, they never used to be. Then calls to my mobile more often than not are those where "we are calling regarding the recent motor accident you had" (it was a cracked windscreen), these are from the London or Birmingham area and are from landlines.

All this together with the e-mail scams do get just a little tedious at times but I guess that's the price paid for having phones and e-mail addresses. Very tiresome is how I find all this and such a waste of my time.

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

Baz, I was once told by the telephone preference people that some of these numbers with London codes are not from London at all.
Apparently the scammers can 'buy' numbers so's it looks as if they are from our big cities, but they are in fact, still from abroad.

I don't know how this is done, so it's no good asking me, but I would like to know just who sells them these numbers! Surely that should be illegal?

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

I get a lot of calls on my mobile from 0843 numbers which ring very briefly. I presume they think I'll see the missed call and ring it. A quick google suggests that they are from Indian mobiles. Must be some sort of scam but I'm not sure where the profit for them is.

Re: Indian scammers - BBC Panorama

As would many thousands of people Mups. It comes down to somebody else making cash out of those who seek to scam people, it's everywhere!

No matter where the calls originate they may come into a landline via a network owned by BT, they could do something, but then of course, they probably make money out of "caller display" charges, or used to, also by selling customers devices to combat unwanted callers!