Lately a favourite scam is allegedly from Microsoft usually in bad English about the damage to my computer. Why they would use English calling into a francophone household is clue enough that something is wrong.
After about the third one, I thought I'd do payback. Screaming hysterically at the top of my lungs, probably more so than any in a life and death situation,
NO, NO NOT MY COMPUTER OH GOD NO NO NO I'M GOING TO DIE, WHAT CAN I DO HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP DEATH DEATH DEATH MURDER MURDER
The scammer on the other end of the line hung up. I have no guilt about that.
Here's where I felt guilty and even a month later, I still bear that guilt. What I'd forgotten when I started my tirade was that poor Rick was upstairs working. He came down so fast, I doubt his feet touched even one stair. He was deathly pale. This man is very protective of me. He went through my broken face, my non nose blowing months and he didn't need to think another emergency was upon him.
He immediately understood my apology (which gets re-issued regularly since then) and saw the humour in the situation.
Others have since told me their tricks for those annoying calls.
One very clever woman, starts questioning her caller:
How is your wife?
Do you have any children?
What kind of car do you drive?
You get the idea.
I've heard about a person who says. "The person you want isn't here. How do you know her? Joe, don't move the body yet. The photographer isn't finished. And call the fingerprint people again. Now how did you know the victim....
The ideas are endless.
When the calls come into Geneva, I can't really go full circle with the marketing call. It is not my phone line and for all I know my housemate may have some relation with the country. I can when I'm in France on my own line...let them suffer with my accent.
With a scam such as my granddaughter has had her wallet stolen in Wales and needs money, that is easy. I don't have a granddaughter.
I know the marketers need to earn a living but our phone information is marked against unsolicited calls.
Rick may have forgiven me, but I still feel guilty for scaring him. For the scammer? Not a smidgeon of guilt.
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1 comment:
Love your response. Very funny except the part about scaring your guy. We're on a no call list but still get a few. I HATE when they're computer calls. I usually hang up immediately.
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