slartabartfast
Extortion implies that the extortionist is in a position to damage you if you fail to do as he wants. This caller apparently has nothing to damage you with. Social engineering is the easiest way to break into a computer, but it is not at all clear that this particular scammer had that as a goal. Likely this guy is more interested in getting your credit card number than access to your computer, by offering to sell you something he does not have to sell. 

You're probably right, but his repeated "worry" about bayoubill's computer reminded me of Tony Soprano..."say, how's your kid doing in school?  Sure hate to see something happen to him..."  Kinda creepy.
 
I actually keep my DAW computer physically disconnected from the network when not online.  I'm not sure if that's really doing anything, since I eventually connect to the 'interwebs' daily, but it makes me feel better...

Sometime back, I posted this video on a guy scamming the scammers by setting up a virtual machine/rigging some of the functions keys and letting the scammer have remote access to his virtual machine........I watched the whole thing and it's just too funny.
 
 

Mesh
Sometime back, I posted this video on a guy scamming the scammers by setting up a virtual machine/rigging some of the functions keys and letting the scammer have remote access to his virtual machine........I watched the whole thing and it's just too funny.
 
 

i remember this post Mesh. It's too good. The 'scamming the scammerer' guy is very clever. It's worth the watch.

I wonder, if a lot of people did do something like this to trap these scammers, would it slow them down?
 
but then again,
 
 

For a long time I'd make sport of these calls, keeping them on the line as long as possible and messing with their heads.
 
Then it occurred to me that "Kevin in Texas" was probably just a poor kid from Mumbai who thought he could make his mother proud by landing a job in the tech industry. He endures verbal abuse hour after hour, working what we'd consider an undesirable graveyard shift, commuting for hours to get there every night, and earning less than a teenage McDonald's order-taker in the U.S.
 
People living in impoverished countries don't have the luxury of ethics, can't move on to another job because their employer's a scumbag, and certainly wouldn't dream of complaining. Picture dozens of kids crammed into a hot, humid room with a 2-foot-wide workspace, no breaks and a quota for calls under penalty of unemployment. Burnout (and suicide) rates are high among such workers, both from terrible working conditions and constant abuse on the phone.
 
And all you're doing by leading them on and keeping them on the phone is assuring they'll lose their job. Their bosses don't care; there's a long line of applicants waiting to take their place.
 
So when I get those calls now, I politely tell them I'm not interested and just hang up. They get to meet their call quota and move on.
 
Of course, if they subsequently call back as in Bill's case, then the gloves come off. Knowing they're working from a flowchart, it's easy to throw them a curve that throws them totally off-script.

(BTW, people who do this sort of work say it's not Americans who are the most abusive, but rather the British. Go Team UK!)

A new scam in the UK is when they call pretending to be "a legal advisor from a solicitor's office" and start trying to get you to talk to them about a "reported serious accident" involving their "client" and "your vehicle". Not that they can tell you what accident, when it occured even what your vehicle is. Or who their client is.

They just keep saying the magic formula, "I am a legal advisor, your vehicle has been in an accident, you must do what I say." The obvious reply being "you say you're a legal advisor, but I only have your word for it. Which firm of solicitors do you work for? What is the name and roll number of your supervising solicitor?" Their scripted answer to all tricky questions then comes into play, which is "erm..... That doesn't matter, you have broken the law, I AM A LEGAL ADVISOR."

Had them twice in the last month, once each on our two landlines. Great fun. It's illegal in the UK to pretend to be a solicitor, and in any case a lawyer representing a party you've injured would already have your vehicle details - or how else did they find you to call?

They get particularly upset when told you are admiting nothing and if they want to pursue the matter further to put their claims in writing so you can pass it on to your insurer and legal advisor and you'll look forward to seeing them in court.

Like the "Microsoft" scammers there's a good 20+ minutes entertainment to be had from them, unless you don't know how accident and injury claims are really handled, what the regulations about solicitor's conduct are and that doing something just because a lawyer representing someone else says you must is rarely a good reason to do anything and find being called by a pushy "legal advisor at a big law firm" terrifying.

I detest this sort of scammer. They are parasites who prey on the elderly, on people who don't know enough about complicated stuff to realise they are being scammed and they are persistent and aggressive in their attitude. I don't care that they are low paid, they know exactly what they are doing and will prey on their neighbour as readily as they will on someone in a distant country they've never met. They are no different than the fake "gas meter reader" who gets into your house and steals from you.

tlw

I detest this sort of scammer. They are parasites who prey on the elderly, on people who don't know enough about complicated stuff to realise they are being scammed and they are persistent and aggressive in their attitude.

 Yes.......In the US, these "Legal Advisors" are more commonly known as lawyers. 

The third caller that called me using the same scam (I've never purchased MS support though) got a bunch of profanities from me.  They called back immediately and a dude with a thick Asian accent told me a bunch of things my wife had been doing with "big black c-ck".  I laughed and told him me and my wife are lesbians.  They never have called back.

Heh heh Bob misspelled rooster.

I usually don't feel I have the time to waste (I know! I know!), but sometimes I have fun and play like some completely agreeable ADHD idiot.  "Ok, so what do I need to do?"  "Is my computer the black box with the window or the grey one?"  "Do you like rabbits?  I do!"