“I am from Windows Support–”
“No, you’re not,” I told the Indian-accented fellow on the other end of the phone. “You’re about the tell me that my computer is sending error messages on the internet, correct?”
“Sir, your computer is sending –”
“No, it isn’t,” I interjected before he could finish. “Tell me, does anybody still fall prey to this scam? I grant that it might be fresh to people living in areas with dial-up connections and ISPs that use steam-powered mainframes, but here in the US I don’t think you’ll find many takers.”
“Sir, I just want –”
“I can hear your associates in the background — they sound busy,” I pointed out. “How many people are going to fall for the scam today? Where do they live? I find it difficult to credit that anybody in the developed world would be sufficiently gullible.”
“Sir, this isn’t a scam,” the flustered scamster pleaded, his voice heavy with frustration. “If you’ll just let me –”
“But you see, I already know your script,” I advised him as my incredulity grew. “Why do you continue pretending that you’re trying to help me?”
“Sir, I can’t understand you.”
“That much is certain.” Click
Here’s what occurred to me as this little dialogue unfolded about five minutes ago:
The “State” is engaged in exactly the same kind of deception — trying to inflict unneeded and counter-productive “services” upon us at our own expense. The biggest difference is that their “Support” personnel are much more insistent, and will kill us if we don’t play along with their scam. That doesn’t mean, of course, that we shouldn’t tell them, at every opportunity, that we know precisely what they are doing.
4:46 pm on October 13, 2014
