Recording of Recently Shut-Down Telemarketers In Action 104
An anonymous reader writes "Just yesterday, the FTC, in conjunction with other government agencies, shut down an international telemarketing scam. A recent video has surfaced showing them in action, trying to scam one of the principals of a Canadian web start-up. Watch the scammers lie through their teeth to convince their 'victim' that he needs to buy a lifetime subscription to their anti-virus product."
All telemarketers are scammers (Score:5, Insightful)
There are no exceptions.
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Except those great guys from "card member" services who want to re-finiance my non-existant credit cards, they are so leguit they call me on my cell phone even though I am on a do not call list, that is how totally valid and legitimate they are.
So I always give them a credit card number off a VISA prepaid card i paid for with cash.
They are so not totally scammers....
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Except for the ones who actually do the job right, of course (which requires managers who allow it).
Telemarketers as a group get a lot of shit for doing a pretty benign job. At my last IT admin job, I got a few telemarketing calls a month, mostly from vendors we already work with telling me about their new products. Pretty benign, and sometimes actually useful.
The bad ones are just the ones who cold-call people they have no relationship with already, press sales, and lie.
Re:All telemarketers are scammers (Score:5, Insightful)
usually telemarketing refers to cold calling.
What I mean, is that usually if it's an ongoing business relationship - like you had with your vendors - then it's no longer telemarketing - emphasized by the fact that even if you were on a some national do not call list(in any western nation) they can call you because they have an already established business relationship with you.
in that context all telemarketers are scammers.
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Well, since we're redefining [wikipedia.org] telemarketing [google.com], why not cut the definition down to those who are "selling" only items that don't exist, or touting services that they know the target has no need for? While we're at it, let's restrict "developers" to be only people who write programs using C#, "gamers" to be only those who first played Pac-Man at exactly age 19, and "unemployed" to mean only those who have received no income from anywhere in the past 23 years. Suddenly all our discussions are much simpler.
That's
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well,
we we're referring to even legit magazine salesmen as scammers and people selling legit socks for price of "shipping & handling". because it's all the same bullshit - if their product depends on the on the call pressure factor in order to make a sale it's bullshit and that's what a lot of telemarketing depends on. if it's a business relationship call then it's not telemarketing, if it's soliciting you to buy some bullshit it's telemarketing, like adverts on tv are marketing. this is not redefining
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if their product depends on the on the call pressure factor in order to make a sale it's bullshit and that's what a lot of telemarketing depends on.
So how is that different from any other form of marketing? If the salesman doesn't helpfully offer a test drive, you're probably not going to buy the car. If the new meal-in-a-box doesn't have flashy packaging that looks different from every other meal-in-a-box, how will you learn the product exists?
Every form of marketing relies on the strength of its medium to make a sale.
if it's a business relationship call then it's not telemarketing, if it's soliciting you to buy some bullshit it's telemarketing, like adverts on tv are marketing. this is not redefining the word unless you use the definition that any business related call with the end aim of making more business is telemarketing, in which case ceo's are telemarketers.
I'll use the definition I linked to:
The marketing of goods or services by means of telephone calls, typically unsolicited, to potential customers.
"Marketing of goods or services by means of telephones calls" means just that, and nothing more. No
Re:All telemarketers are scammers (Score:5, Insightful)
If a telemarketer calls to try and sell me a service or product that I don't already have, then in it is generally a safe bet that I don't want or need it. If it happens to be for something that I would quite like, I am sure I can find a better price by myself rather than accept what a salesman is offering me over a phone line. I will never pay for something from a telemarketer and I detest the whole idea of sales people phoning strangers in an attempt to talk them into buying a product.
I'm not saying all telemarketers are bad, just that telemarketing as a whole is bad!
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The telemarketing calls I get at work have typically been vastly different from residential ones, at least in the last 20 years (there did seem a time where the residential ones were trying to sell an actual, possibly decent product, just at maybe not the best price). And it can vary depending on what work you do, even with laboratory work in my case, I've seen a lot of variety at different jobs.
I've had plenty of calls from equipment venders, mostly follow up calls to quote requests, although some cold c
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I'd signed up to a website and he was phoning me to see if I'd found my way around properly. He was offering to stay on the line and talk me through the online videos, he was telling me Google search terms to help me out and offered to email me links to YouTube videos. Twenty minutes I chatted to him. It was all very pleasant.
I've never had a phone call like that. I've never had Google, Amazon, Pay
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Nice try, telescammer.
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Besides, who buys anti-virus software anymore?
Re:All telemarketers are scammers (Score:4, Funny)
Re:All telemarketers are scammers (Score:5, Funny)
The lifetime subscription?
I guess my Mom would have too if I hadn't stopped her.
My ex did. I didn't stop her. :-)
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Oh well, at least they didn't get the combination to my luggage. 1234 will be safe forever!
Re:All telemarketers are scammers (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:A lifetime contract for AV software! (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh no silly. You seem to think that this was a "pay once, and get service forever!" Type lifetime contract.
Coming from a scam farm, I would expect more "signee agrees to pay $24.95 per month in purpetuity in exchange for service."
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Bad video (Score:3)
I realize it's difficult to record a phone call, but I literally can't understand anything the telemarketer is saying in the video due to the audio quality.
Re:Bad video (Score:5, Funny)
I got a couple calls from these guys. I couldn't understand them then, either.
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No kidding ... usually it's terrible line quality, terrible English skills, and some idiot saying he's "from the windows service provider and there's a problem with my computer".
A friend's father in law got taken by one of these last year -- he immediately re-imaged the PC, told his father in law to cancel his credit cards, and then proceeded to give him a stern lecture on such things.
I sat my parents down a couple of years ago an
Re:Bad video (Score:5, Funny)
I was amused at the way they identified themselves to me: "Microsoft Malicious Software Department". Yeah, I'm posting on Slashdot, but even I was surprised that Microsoft is so transparent about selling malware...
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usually it's terrible line quality, terrible English skills, and some idiot saying he's "from the windows service provider and there's a problem with my computer".
Just as I was clicking on the link to read these comments, an Indian with bad English skills called me up saying that I am eligible to receive education grant money that I don't have to repay. But he mumbled so much that that's all I couple understand.
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I've gotten two calls. The first time was at night and I was half asleep. The second time, I wasn't home, they left a message on my answering machine, and I couldn't understand them any better while awake.
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I got a call from a guy from The Alien Touch with the same scam, in fact it sounded exactly the guy in the video, so I wouldn't be surprised if it weren't the same dude. I was only able to keep him on the phone for about 4.5 minutes when I finally told him I run Linux. He asked me "Then why the f* are you wasting my time?!?!" To which I replied, "Because you're a f*ing scam artist scumbag!" Then he hung up.
The sad thing is that they have a Facebook page with 56 followers (victims, probably).
Telling them you run Linux is lame... we should all follow Tom Mabe's lead. [youtube.com]
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I have one touch recording with my pbx system, I'll have to remember to use it the next time one of these loosers calls. Most of the time they are on hacked VOIP, or out of country internet on VOIP so the quality is pretty crappy.
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No kidding. Is it too much to ask for some captions?
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One question: (Score:2)
Whose lifetime?
Re:One question: (Score:4, Funny)
The phone conversation's lifetime.
Forwarding to my mom (Score:5, Funny)
Thank you for calling (Score:2)
No Protection? (Score:1, Offtopic)
I could only wish that one day, a scammer will contact me about the viruses on my linux workstation. Scammers like this need to be beheaded...
Re:No Protection? (Score:4, Funny)
Haven't you heard about the dangerous su, sh, and dd viruses!?
Why, I hear that if you get all three, they can nuke your whole box!
(LOL!)
Collateral Damage (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Collateral Damage (Score:4, Funny)
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You're clearly lying. I know because I've been in contact with the representative of the real Nigerian head of state, regarding the transfer of $20,000,000 (TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS) and he said you;re the scammer.
Good sir. I can quite understand your frustration. You must be referring to my dear friend Colonel Akbar Hottentot, the new Nigerian Head of State put into power after the recent Three-Days-War. I can assure you that once I receive your initial tithe to cover day to day business expenses and travel, the $20,000,000,000,000,000,000 (Twenty BaZillion Dollars) will be summarily deposited into your account.
Re:Collateral Damage (Score:4, Funny)
Not as quickly as HP does.
Not much sympathy (Score:1)
I realize it's not nice to blame the victim, but it's hard not to in this case. Anyone who cold calls you at home is going to either be conducting a survey or scamming you (or both).People have known this for ages, it should be common knowledge at this point that no one should ever believe anything an unknown party says to them over the phone. How is it that people still fall for this sort of thing. Even people who know nothing about computers should know enough about life to not assume everything a random
Bad audio quality, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Very interesting end to the video, where the scammer realizes that he's dealing with someone who knows something about computers, and starts to try to... what.... do some damage?
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Whenever I have to work on someone's computer, they always start freaking out and asking if their pictures will be okay. They don't care about any important documents--just the pictures. So I suppose that, if you wanted to be real vindictive, and you know you only have a few seconds in which to act, you would take out their pictures. Of course, the smarter vindictive person would just open up the command prompt and nuke their system from there (though it lacks something of the personal touch).
(Of course,
Ars Technica got a call today (Score:2)
Better Link (Score:5, Informative)
Slashdot linked to the blog's homepage instead of the specific blog entry with the video [wordpress.com], so the link isn't going to give the right result if they post anything else to the blog.
Watching scumbags lie? (Score:5, Funny)
No thanks, I got enough of that last night.
My favorite... (Score:2)
inf infected files on hard disk
Oh noes!
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I dunno man, I think all my text file are infect with something. They just keep showing me links for porn...
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Bwahaha (Score:2)
Brilliant.
I pride myself in taking some of my precious time to mess with scammers that call. My co-workers get a kick out of it when I get one, I just go wherever my mind leads me and usually get hung up on.
I love the typo in the pasted fake error message from the command prompt.
Hey, at least they have jobs... (or had)
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At my current company we have a huge number of cold callers, mostly of the automated variety. There's always a pause as the auto-dialer software waits for a human voice rather than a fax, which is when you should randomly press buttons on your touchtone phone. This either fools the software into thinking it's called a fax line, and removing you from its call list, or transfers you to a human. In the latter case, it's now fun time. My two favourite games (shamelessly nicked from someone else) are:
1. Answer e
Scumbags (Score:5, Funny)
These guys were targeting primarily older users. They called my parents at least 5 times telling them they could tell there were viruses on their machine and that if they didn't pay the fee, the computer would stop working. My mother asked me what she should do, and I told her to get a contact number so she could forward to the Kansas Attorney General.
Phone call went like this:
"Can I get your number so I can send it to the Kansas Attorney General for investigation?"
"What?"
"I need your number so I can send it to the AG."
[someone in the background] "HANG UP! HANG UP NOW!"
Never called back. Problem solved.
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These guys were targeting primarily older users.
Yup, they targeted my elderly neighbour and a number of her friends, but I've never heard of them targetting younger people. This suggests to me that they have access to data on people so they can pick the best targets. The only commonality we could find amongst the victims we knew was that they had called British Telecom's broadband support lines in India ...
Tele-guru tech bastards - No [w]alues (Score:3)
Toward the end of the audio recording is a real treasure. How do they justify what they do with themselves? They are simply a bunch of boody motherfuckers with no [w]alues.
Part 2: illegal wiretapping... (Score:2)
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First of all, it depends on where the person who is doing the recording is located. In many jurisdictions, it is perfectly legal to record a conversation if at least one of the parties being recorded is aware of it.
And of course, quite often they will say that the call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes. Although they are talking about recording it themselves, those exact words also have the upshot of giving you permission to record the conversation as well.
And if there'
Interesting but needs some work (Score:2)
For technical people like us, it's totally obvious what's happening, but still "a bit long and boring".
What this video need is a shorter version (3 minutes tops, I think) that explains what's happening in wording that my mother will understand.
Then it will be very useful to educate the non-technical rest of the world and make them aware of the ***** **** ******kers ******** ** out there and prevent them for falling for this ***t.
Local police anti-fraud specialist resources (Score:2)
Who are the customers? (Score:1)
The direct YouTube URL for this video (Score:1)
I was having trouble view the video from the given "temporary" website's embedded link but I found it on YouTube. Here it is if you want it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7zuQ8mYpog [youtube.com]
Or you can watch presidential debate with Mitt (Score:2)
Actually I think these debates should be recorded and showed later at scammers school, because it's high class lying.
thanks (Score:2)
When the original story aired, I couldn't make sense of it, had no clue what the scam was. Now I at least have a rough idea.