Do scammers actually talk to each other?

[HairyHeretic]

There's a scam currently doing the rounds in this part of the world. I know it's been active in the UK and Ireland for about the last 6 months, to the extent that the consumer safety types actually put out a warning about it. Basically they call you up, ask for you by name, and claim it's about a problem with your computer. They might claim to be Microsoft, or affiliated, the exact details change.

They then get you to open the event viewer, and tell you all the little warnings in there mean your computer is in terrible trouble, but they can fix it. Then they want you to either install remote access software and/or pay a couple of hundred for their 'service'.

In the last 3 weeks I think they've called me 5 times. The first time, before I was aware it was a scam, I was just confused. When I told them there weren't any problems with my computer the line went dead. A bit of quick googling later, and I see the details. It's call centres in India or the Far East, using VOIP, and pretending to be located in the UK.

I was planning to have some fun with them the next time they called me, but this afternoon I was in the middle of a game online.

"Hello, is this mister <my name>?"
"Who's calling?"
"My name is Jennifer, and this is regarding your computer."
"No, it isn't." <click>

I guess there must be at least a few groups trying this, as you'd think if they were told to go away once, they'd see there wouldn't be much point calling you again.

Anyways, if you get a phone call out of the blue, with someone telling you it's about the problems they've detected on your computer, it isn't :)

[MasterMischief]

No, they don't.  Ever check out 419 Eater?  If they talked to one another, they wouldn't get pranked as much.

[Muninn]

Oh, wow.  this reminds me of a time just before I came to Japan there was a scam going around where some "car insurance" company would call people and say there was a problem with their car insurance.  I think a good number of my co-workers had these people call them, when they called me it went a little like this:

<operator>: Hello, is this (Muninn)?
<me>: . . . yes.  Who is this?
<operator>: Hello, I'm (some not real name), this is about your car.
<me>: I don't have a car.
<operator>: Oh, well...
<me>: *click*

Then they called, again, a few days later:

<operator>: Hello, is this (Muninn)?
<me>: . . . yes.
<operator>: Hello, I'm (some made up name), this is about your ca-
<me>: I don't have a car and I know this is a scam. I want to be taken off of your call list. How did you get my number?
<operator>: . . . oh, okay. Uhm.  Let me get you to my supervisor, can you hang on a minute?
<me>: yeah, sure.
<operator>: *line goes silent, followed by some music then....* ... *click*

They never called back.

And this is from me who is usually painfully shy on the phone.

[Oniya]

I was getting calls from a number that I Googled and found to be tied to scams involving American Express credit cards.  The next time the number showed up, I picked up the phone and said 'I do not, nor have I ever had an American Express card.  Stop calling me.' - all before the other person had a chance to say 'Hi'.

They haven't called back.

If you're in America, there's a site called http://whocalled.us , and one called http://whocallsme.com that provide places where people can post information that they've gathered about these callers.  Everything from car warranty scams to credit card phishers, to legitimate callers that somehow never identify their company on the Caller ID.

[Callie Del Noire]

I read through the 419 site.. LOVED the Harry Potter prank. 'We'll pay for handwritten pages but you must submit a minimum of a 100 HANDWRITTEN pages at a time'. GOD .. I LOVED that one.