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Re: Tech support scammer makes my day!

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On 2015-07-16, Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> wrote:

> Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> writes:
>
>> On Thu, 16 Jul 2015 09:28:29 -0500
>> JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> One of my relatives keeps getting these... and tells the caller she
>>> has an Apple computer. This evidently confuses them as they ask what
>>> version of Windows it is.
>>
>> 	I never get these - otherwise I'd be inclined to tell them that my
>> windows server is running X11R7.

Me: My computers run Linux.  Or are you asking about the Windows XP
    that I run under VirtualBox?

Him: <baffled silence>

> I don't know whether I get these or not:  if the caller ID doesn't tell
> me it's somebody I know, I figure if they have something I want to hear
> they can leave it on the answering machine.  I get a couple of calls a
> day that I don't pick up; I got months between having a message left on
> the machine.

I make it a policy to not answer the phone if I don't recognize the
caller ID.  There might be the odd exception - for example, if I'm
expecting a call from someone whose number I don't know.  However,
I won't pick up under any circumstances if the call display shows
"unknown" or a toll-free number (800, 888, etc.).  And yes, few such
callers leave a message.

This has worked so well for me that I haven't had to resort to my old
pre-call-display policy for some time.  This was to pick up the phone,
say "hello", and hang up if there was no response within two seconds.
This would catch the cases where the telemarketer's demon dialer had
called me but was still trying to connect to an available agent.  I
created this policy when I noticed that any time my wife said "hello"
twice, the next thing she said was almost invariably "Don't call me
again!" followed by slamming down the phone.

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ /  I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
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Thread

Tech support scammer makes my day! simon@twoplaces.co.uk (Simon Turner) - 2015-07-16 12:03 +0100
  Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2015-07-16 09:28 -0500
    Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2015-07-16 16:17 +0100
      Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2015-07-16 10:10 -0600
        Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2015-07-16 17:59 +0000
        Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! simon@twoplaces.co.uk (Simon Turner) - 2015-07-17 09:29 +0100
      Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! simon@twoplaces.co.uk (Simon Turner) - 2015-07-17 09:22 +0100
        Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2015-07-17 09:47 +0000
          Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Stephen Wolstenholme <steve@easynn.com> - 2015-07-17 11:35 +0100
        Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! lawrence@cluon.com - 2015-07-21 16:36 +0200
          Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2015-07-21 14:45 +0000
          Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2015-07-21 16:45 +0100
          Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2015-07-30 22:50 +0000
            Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Lon <lon.stowell@comcast.net> - 2015-08-02 11:17 -0600
            Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2015-08-02 01:26 -0500
    Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! mjb@signal11.invalid (Mike) - 2015-07-16 22:06 +0100
      Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Dan Espen <despen@verizon.net> - 2015-07-16 20:20 -0400
  Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! Chris J Dixon <chris@cdixon.me.uk> - 2015-07-17 08:10 +0100
    Re: Tech support scammer makes my day! mjb@signal11.invalid (Mike) - 2015-07-17 21:01 +0100

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