Yipes! Where was Karen Price Mueller of NJ.com before I got snookered into parting with my life’s savings by some con man claiming to be from Microsoft? Mueller has a column that begins:
Consumers like when a company offers good customer service.
So you need to know that while the people behind Microsoft and Windows want to have satisfied customers, they aren’t going to call you to report there’s a problem with your computer.
But scammers might.
That’s right. They impersonate company reps and try to steal money or personal data from computer users like Lewis Edge.
Mueller goes on to tell how Edge, who is 73, “hasn’t ever fallen for one [of these cons], but the calls just keep on coming and he wanted others to know what to watch out for.”
For the second time in a single column, war was not declared.
Forgive my snark, but who is Mueller’s intended audience? Is there anyone alive who has fallen for this scam? If you’ve never received one of these phone calls — and if you haven’t, please share your secret — the routine goes something like this:
[Phone rings. You answer and are greeted by two or three seconds of silence. At length, a live person materializes at the other end of the line. He has a heavy Indian accent.]
Person: Hello, I am Tom calling from Microsoft. Your Window computer have a virus.
You: My computer have a virus?
Tom: You own Window computer?
At this point, I generally hang up, though some times I affect a disembodied voice and say, “Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line. A representative will be with you shortly.”
On average, I got two calls a month from Tom.
Meanwhile, I can’t wait to read Mueller’s next public service column. I have it on good authority that she is going to blow the lid off the Nigerian prince email scam.