Update: Literally an hour after posting this, I had another call running the same scam. As suggested earlier, I broadcast this one via Periscope and you can can go back and watch it via the app. I’ll be more organised next time and have a special machine ready for them :)
These things just don’t stop. I had my first seriously nasty one a few years ago which I summarily recorded, annotated and published for amusement and education. 817k views later and, well, clearly these are both entertaining and unabating so I keep capturing them.
I actually hadn’t received any for quite some time then I had one a few days ago from “Telstra” (a large local Telco down here in Australia) which quickly descended into rampant abuse from the operator. In fact it got so derogatory that I elected not to publish it (much of it was directed at my wife). Then would you believe it, I get another one just today. Naturally I recorded it and gave him enough rope to see the mechanics of the scam and just like they were with LogMeIn years ago, they’re abusing TeamViewer and Ammyy Admin, both to take remote control of the target after which a variety of nasty things usually happen.
Warning: By the end it all descends into “creative” suggestions of how I can better enjoy my own company. If you still want to see it, here’s the video in its unedited entirety:
Incidentally, I have no idea why I keep receiving these! They only ever come in on the land line and it can be any time of day or day of the week. Clearly these guys need to work on keeping a track of who probably isn’t worth calling again…
Oh and just one more thing on this – if there was ever any doubt about how innocent the call centre operators in this scam are and if they’re just following a script or not, pay close attention to the end of the video. These are just nasty people and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they’re complicit in these deceitful and illegal activities.