Telephone scams are the new trend of the century for criminals with nothing better to do. It’s not unheard of to be on the other end of a telephone scam. The creativity behind some of the scams is impressive – although some of that “creativity” is more obvious than others.
Cyber security expert and Oklahoma citizen, Patrick Allmond, recently had the opportunity to experience one of those super “creative” telephone scams firsthand. However, instead of falling for the scam (or simply hanging up), he decided to play the scammer at his own game.
In even more hilarity, Allmond streamed the whole debacle live on Facebook.
In the initial conversation, the caller claimed to be a customer support representative from Microsoft. Trying to gain remote access to Allmond’s computer, the cyber security expert chose to play along with the man’s games.
Throughout Allmond’s video, he continues to play dumb; getting “lost” as the scammer tries to give him step-by-step instructions. It is clear that the man is growing frustrated towards the end, much to Allmond’s satisfaction.
For nearly twenty minutes, the scammer stayed on the line while Allmond stalled with different ridiculous things. The funniest part about the entire scam attempt: the caller was offering “help” for a Microsoft bug – Allmond was using a Mac!
Oklahoma Attorney General Consumer Fraud Division Deputy, Taylor Henderson, found amusement in the scam attempt but still warned of the dangers.
“While the video is funny, the scam is not funny and it’s harming people. If you get an urgent phone call from someone saying, ‘Get on your computer, I think you have a problem.’ That should be your first clue. The reality is it’s happened to me.
It’s happened to everyone. We all get these phone calls. It’s not based on anything other than they’ve got your phone number and they know whoever answers this phone call probably has a computer.”
