We get these in the UK all the time. Usually either try and hold them on the line as long as possible (if bored) or tell them to "fuck off" straight away.
Alas, the one I got a few weeks ago hung up on me when, after trying to get me to say what version of Windows I was running, I asked, "what's a, an 'operating system'?"
Obviously there's a fine line to tread between playing dumb enough to keep them on the hook and playing too dumb to be useful.
(Haven't had one of them call since, alas: refining your technique is hard if you don't get enough practice calls.)
I've had 8 of these calls in the last month (had two in one day a few weeks back).
For me, the most frustrating part of the experience is that regardless of what you say, they follow their script to the letter - they're like method-actors which never get out of character. Just once I wanted them to say "ok - you got me!" but alas - apparently not having a PC or Windows is not enough to sway them.
If they're so true to their scripts it should be easy enough for someone to listen to a call and formulate a response that can just be played down the phone, requires no time investment from the recipient of the call and because the scammer is so desperate for a sale they'll stick through even when it seems like the person on the other end isn't 100% legit.
I use the "I'll just go and get the PC owner ... he's at the bottom of the garden". Then put the phone on mute. My personal record is getting them to hang on for 5 minutes.
Not quite the same, but I was on the phone to BT (British ISP) a couple of years ago as my internet was down yet again, and they were telling me to reboot my router. I'd already does as much diagnosing myself as possible, and completely knew rebooting my router would do nothing, but of course they wouldn't budge. I was in a pretty bad mood at them, so I said I'd put them on hold to go do it, then I went and had a bath. Twenty-five minutes later they were still on the line, and I got back and said "OK it's rebooted, still not working" and the call went on...
Yes, I've had similar experiences with Virgin Media.
Internet goes off, so I reset router and modem and check all the cables are properly connected etc.
So I login to the router admin page and sure enough it tells me it's unable to establish a WAN connection, modem lights also indicate that it's not getting a connection either.
So I call technical support hoping that they will check and tell me if there is an issue with the service in my area.
They ask me to reset modem and router, so I say "yes, tried all that" they make me do it again anyway. Ok , well that doesn't work so I ask if there is any problem in my area.
Instead they want to dig around in my computer's network/firewall settings. So I tell them the problem is that my router can't get a connection out to the WAN. Lady on the other end doesn't really know what a WAN is but I've already told her that the modem light that should be on is off.
Still they insist on going through the troubleshooting steps on my PC and can't proceed until they've done that. The only computer in my house at the time is my Ubuntu box so they insist it must be that and I have to call them back from a Windows or Mac computer.
So I call back, pretending to have a Windows computer in front of me, pretend to go through all of their steps to no avail. About 45 minutes later she gives up and checks the service status. Sure enough, there is maintenance in my area which is why my internet doesn't work.
Us techies like to laugh about how the idiots in tech support always ask us to do stupid things like "Turn it off and on again".
But honestly, do you know the level of computer knowledge of 90% of callers to the tech support line of residental ISPs? Requests like "is it plugged in?" or "turn it off and on again" do help lots of people who don't know about these things.
What's worse is often people think they know about computers (and actually don't), and then ring up tech support. This is why "I know computers, I know it's not that" will never work with tech support. For every person who says that & knows computers, there's people who say it and think that (say) the IP address 192.168.1.2 must be on the 2nd port on their router (because the .2 means second port, see?).
Just accept that you have to go through the motions.
Better solution: tell them you're an ex OpenReach engineer - they let you right through to second line straight away. Repeat the story until you get what you want.
I get all the details out of the as possible and report them to the police. Reason being, just becasue I know there con artists I do know there are people who are completely IT ignorant and they would not fair as well.
Some of these spoof there CLID, and use VOIP dialouts alot as well, so you need to log time and duraction of the call as well as the CLID presented. Any other details you can obtain from them like pretenting you want to do a instant BACS transfer of money to them or need to call them back etc to get more details the better.
Obviously there's a fine line to tread between playing dumb enough to keep them on the hook and playing too dumb to be useful.
(Haven't had one of them call since, alas: refining your technique is hard if you don't get enough practice calls.)