phosfate: Ouroboros painting closeup (House goes RAWR by ablog_ortwo)
phosfate ([personal profile] phosfate) wrote2008-04-30 02:51 pm
Entry tags:

yay!

Somebody just called and tried to scam us for toner cartridges!

[identity profile] jood.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Wha?
ext_6373: A swan and a ballerina from an old children's book about ballet, captioned SWAN! (Default)

[identity profile] annlarimer.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a thing where you get a call saying "This is Mumblety Crazypants from Computer Division/IT/whatevs, we've had a mix-up with your order, can you tell us what your computer model is and what toner it takes? We'll get that right out to you." The hope is that they can get you to verbally acknowledge the "order," send you a toner cartridge at a grossly inflated prices, and by the time it arrives you won't realize that you never ordered toner and will pay for it. It works well on companies where each office orders and pays for its own supplies, especially if you get somebody who doesn't actually order things to answer the phone. Not so good for organizations with a central supply depot, like ours.

It's similar to the people who call your house and say, "We're the people who handle your magazine subscriptions." "Really? Who are you?" "The people who handle your magazine subscriptions." "Which subscriptions would those be?" "Click."

[identity profile] dr-tectonic.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
If I got a call from someone who was actually named Mumblety Crazypants, working for Computer Division/IT/whatevs, Inc., I would probably succumb to the sheer awesomeness of the names and just go along with whatever kind of scam they wanted to run.

<NPR sponsor guy voice>"Computer Divison/IT/whatevs. A global leader in providing computer stuff since sometime. NASDAQ symbol 'WUT'. Computer Division/IT/whatevs: 'We have your toner ready.'"</NPR sponsor guy voice>

[identity profile] jood.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, that's really...deeply stupid. People fall for this?

NM. Of course people fall for this.





Good CHRIST I need a good rolleyes icon.
ext_6373: A swan and a ballerina from an old children's book about ballet, captioned SWAN! (Darkplace Thanks for the Lobotomy by ico)

[identity profile] annlarimer.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"And from viewers like you. Thank you."
ext_6373: A swan and a ballerina from an old children's book about ballet, captioned SWAN! (Angel puppet)

[identity profile] annlarimer.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Yup. It's like Nigerian scam spam. If they get one or two people buying it a day, they're golden.

[identity profile] jood.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I loved reporting them to the Secret Service, until I figured that if they were clever enough to dupe somebody stupid and greedy enough to cough up confidential information, let 'em have it.

Also, there's this. Which is glorious.

[identity profile] nitasee.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
There's gold in them there cartidges.

(It's been a while since I had someone try that scam on me.)

[identity profile] skitz-phenom.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 09:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I used to LOVE those calls! I tried to keep the person on the line as long as I could. I'd tell them to hold while I went to check our model numbers and then I come back with bogus letter/number combos(that usually spell fun things).

One guy I talked to let me put him on hold like, 10 times because I played dumb, and told him I was really interested and that we really needed toner. I kept telling him I didn't know what numbers to look at and that there were all sorts of things written on our printers and copier. He finally hung up when I told him the model number on our copy machine was FUX_0FF_8008

Sometimes I miss answering phones.
ext_6373: A swan and a ballerina from an old children's book about ballet, captioned SWAN! (AHAHAHAHAHA by _sciocco)

[identity profile] annlarimer.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Genius!

[identity profile] jood.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 09:26 pm (UTC)(link)
You're my hero.

[identity profile] skitz-phenom.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
*Takes a bow*

[identity profile] skitz-phenom.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
YAY! I've never been anyone's hero before!

[identity profile] jood.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Your post + your icon = brainsplode


Also, I can't stop imagining the Starburst ad for it.


*claws out eyes*

[identity profile] skitz-phenom.livejournal.com 2008-04-30 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Also, I can't stop imagining the Starburst ad for it.

OMG - I may have to have the person who made the icon for me modify it to say: 'Taste the Rainbow'... LMAO!!

I love your icon - that's the best eyetwitch! I have no more fun icons, so you're stuck with Boromir being porny.

[identity profile] strigine.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
...I love you. XD

[identity profile] lots42.livejournal.com 2008-05-01 02:40 pm (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't...I'd be afraid the Secret Service would accidentally forward my report back to the scammers and I'd get ten mafia guys pissed at me.