One of their most successful scams is the refund scam, where an elderly person (their favorite target) receives a voicemail from a (fake) representative at Microsoft explaining that the security software on their computer is faulty (they used to say it had expired), and so to avoid a class-action lawsuit, Microsoft is refunding each and every customer $200 whether they purchased the software themselves or it came built-in on their computer, and the message gives a number to call to get the refund.
Hundreds of people called scam-baiters call these numbers just to keep a scammer on the phone as long as possible. The more of the scammer’s time they waste, the less time s/he has to scam a victim.
Most scammers are as unaware that they’re being baited as their usual victims are that they’re being victimized, and many are just plain ignorant, so scam-baiter videos on youtube are often hilarious.
The refund scam: The victim calls the number provided in the voicemail and is asked by a Microsoft representative (the scammer) to open a program on their computer called Team Viewer, or a very similar one. This program gives the scammer full remote access to the victim’s computer. The scammer "verifies" that the faulty program is present and the computer is being infected. Eventually s/he asks the victim to log into their bank account so that they may watch in real time as “Microsoft” deposits the refund. When the victim goes to verify the deposit, he or she will notice that the “Microsoft” rep has entered in too many zeros, so that $299 might look like $2,099, or even $20,099, depending on how much the scammer saw in the victim's checking and savings accounts.
But the scammer has merely manipulated numbers to make it look like the refund amount is erroneous. No actual money is involved, no real changes have occurred. The scammer then panics because, he tells the victim, he will lose his job over this error, and the only way the now sympathetic victim can rescue him from impending ruination and his kids from starvation is for the victim to send him the over-payment in the form of prepaid visa cards, available at the victim’s nearest Target store or whatever.
That’s the point where the great majority of victims call BS and and hang up, and the scammer gets nothing. However, unless the victim has immediately unplugged their computer, they lose access to it. The moment the victim realizes it’s a scam, the scammer empties their computer of each and every file and folder, pictures and personal info included, and locks the victim out by changing their password. And while the scammer is busy doing that, s/he’s threatening to empty the victim’s bank accounts (which is impossible, but the victim rarely knows that). They are mean people whose only goal at that point is to frighten and confuse the elderly victims who won’t pay up.
This happened to my sister. It cost her $200 to have the computer looked at by a repairman who couldn’t fix it, and another $900+ to replace her computer. Moreover, the whole experience was horrible and scary and she was literally shook-up and cried about it for weeks.
It's all well and good that you won't be fooled yourself, but if you know anyone who might fall prey to any type of scam, please enlighten them. Showing them a few instructional videos like Jim Browning's, or funny scam-bait videos, or at least showing them where they can find them (youtube) would be more than a kindness.
I bet they were not expecting that answer. The family got a kick out of that one.
