Some Extra Techniques To String Along Scam Callers

When a scammer phones you pretending to have found “a problem with your PC”, it’s a social service to string them along for as long as possible. We recently rounded up techniques for wasting their time; here are some extra additions.

Regular Lifehacker contributor Alex Kidman recently beat his own record and kept a scam caller online for 1 hour and 17 minutes, which deserves praise in and of itself. Some of the extra techniques he used:

  • Claiming his PC had experienced a blue screen of death
  • Claiming 316 updates had to install before he could reboot
  • Pretending to type in web addresses but not understanding you need full stops in them

While you can look up spurious error messages to make your fake tale more credible, Alex offers one other tip: make sure they can’t hear you typing when you’re claiming your computer isn’t working. Hit the link for the full account.

Microsoft Scam Call: Special director’s cut edition [Fat Duck Tech]


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