I got a weird call in the middle of the night from some stoned Indian "Microsoft tech support". With a stoned voice he said something like "hello sir, we've discovered some errors with your computer, do you have a Microsoft computer?". I was awake anyway and began to boot up a Windows Clone operating system (ReactOS) in a virtual machine (a sandbox computer if you like).
If you've heard about them before (check youtube) they ask you to open up harmless windows whereas they claim those things contains errors (which they don't). Anyway, I played along (although those windows doesn't exist in ReactOS) and eventually started to download some remote-help-tools they told me to install. Sadly, in the middle of the installation, the progress just froze. ReactOS was not compatible with those remote access tools. I kept playing along but the guy realized something was wrong when I never connected my computer to his. He just hung up on me. I suppose my tone of voice was a little too sarcastic so that it became obvious that I knew what was going on.
If you ever encounter these guys, don't attempt anything I did above (don't let them take control of your computer in any way.. just don't listen to them). But do waste their time by playing along (but don't touch your computer). The more time you waste of theirs, the more likely one potential victim does not have to get his/her life ruined.
Apparently, they make a lot of money with this scam according to an interview with a scammer of similar kind I found on youtube the other day.
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