[pstack]

My aunt did this, too. Not a stupid person, either. A doctor.

She believed that the indian on the phone was from Microsoft and somehow detected that her computer (and every other computer in the house, including the 27" iMac I bought my mom for mother's day) were infected. They pinched her for $250 bucks per machine ($750 total). Gave them her credit card number. Let them install shit on the machines. Everything.

Even after I called her and explained to her what just happened, she took a ton of persuading to cancel her credit card (I don't even know if she ever did that), because she was STILL worried that despite what I (a software engineer of two decades) told her, it "might still be legitimate".

Also, who calls back numbers they don't recognize? If you're a number I don't recognize and you don't leave a voicemail, then fuck you!

[BorisMelnik]

this is a much bigger and more widespread scam that is happening. where I live, there are at least 2 call centers dedicated to doing this all day every day. I know this because I went in for a job as a network teck (For their own internal systems) and saw what was going on.

[larrywright]

I've gotten two of these calls. I tell them I don't have any Windows computers, only Macs. They stutter for a minute and then hang up on me.

[girvo]

I dragged one along for 15 minutes trying to "follow" his instructions, before confessing it was an Ubuntu laptop. He told me "go f* yourself, and your mother is a whore!" and hung up on me. Made me giggle :)

[sneak]

There are many stupid doctors.

[mikeash]

What do you call the person who graduated at the bottom of their class in med school?

"Doctor."