We are all familiar with the assholes who call claiming to be from Windows Tech Support.
I have encountered someone who fell for their scam. Be aware: If they scam you the first time, they are not finished. It gets worse.
A 79-year-old woman - before you make any nasty remarks, be advised that this woman is my sister, my only remaining sibling. She is an intelligent woman; has a masters degree and taught for several years at a university.
But she has had little use for computers and didn't have one at home until I bought her one just for grins. It turned out to be a good thing, because her husband had a massive stroke about ten years ago and, while his mind still works just fine, his body requires that they have a live-in care giver. The ability to use the computer for the many things that the situation requires saves her a great amount of time and hassle.
Last year, she got a call from "Windows tech support." Not being very technically savvy, and being a very trusting person (some call this a positive character trait; I call it a flaw), she fell for it and gave them a few hundred dollars for a lifetime of their alleged support.
A couple of days ago, she got another call from them. The guy said that the company was going out of business and would be unable to support the service they had sold her. They are returning all of the money from customers in her position. Wait for it ---- Because of financial laws regarding subscription services such as this, they cannot put a credit on her credit card, but must pay her in cash. Further strange statutes require that all customers receive the same amount from them. Because of the way things work out mathematically, they must give each customer three thousand dollars, and those who have less owed to them must pay back the difference. Being the kind-hearted business they are, they are going to allow her to keep one thousand, even though she had paid them far, far less. So all she has to do is let them charge her card for two thousand, and she can keep the extra thousand. They even showed her a display that showed they had deposited three thousand in her checking account.
She told them to fuck off. After which, her computer had a blank screen. Rebooting didn't help, so she called her grand daughter, who had it up and running in a matter of minutes.
Home 
