Phishing: It's not just for email anymore

[wrenb]

I just got a phishing telephone call at my office. I'm used to telemarketers (the Do-Not-Call apparently doesn't apply to business numbers) and I know about phishing in email. But this is a new one on me.

Her: "Hi, this is Jill. I'm calling about your copy machine.  I just need to know the model number on the front of it."
Me: "Sure. Can you just

Comments

[ricevermicelli]

She was calling from a call center somewhere. You don't really care where. What she was hoping was that you'd give her the model number/ID number for the copier, so that her employers could send you a ton of supplies and bill your for them, probably at ludicrously above-market rates. She would use the ID from the copier to generate documentation making it look like you placed an order for these things.

Just so you know, if you are sent merchandise you did not order through the mail, you may, under federal law, consider it a gift. You are not obligated to either return or pay for it. It's just a touch hard to prove, if they have the ID from your copier, that you didn't place an order, which is why they ask you for it. If you aren't biting, they usually hang up without the long pause.

[sarah_milwaukee]

That scam's been around longer than email! In my days as a receptionist (various temp jobs during college and grad school summers) I got a few of those calls. They wanted to know the name of the person responsible for ordering supplies and the model of the copier, to make the invoice look convincing.

I remember my dad telling me about the free light bulbs they got at work as the result of a similar scam, and that was when I was a little kid so 25+ years ago.

[sunnyhunny]

Yup. I used to get them All. The. Time. when I was the entire IT department at KI. I even had the pleasure of being called a "stupid bitch" by one of those morons because I told him that I didn't want them to send me any toner cartridges. His reponse was that if he had "such a stupid bitch working for [him, he'd] fire [my] ass for spending the company's money." Nice, eh?

[wrenb]

You'd think that after 5 years on this job I'd have run across this one. But it was the first time I'd heard it. Usually the telemarketers are more blatant about selling, as in "May I speak to whoever is in charge of making decisions about your telephone service?".

This one's speech sounded so much like my own spiel for checking references that I didn't realize she was a telemarketer until she hung up on me.

[ricevermicelli]

My non-government bosses let me be mean to telemarketers too. Within reason, of course. Usually, it doesn't take much to get rid of them so there's no need.

[wrenb]

Everyone gets to be mean to telemarketers. It's like a code of conduct.

I worked Phonathon for 2 years in college, so I always try to be polite to telemarketers, even when I hang up on them.

[jminnis]

I'm a firm believer in never giving away information to someone who calls me. Instead, I ask for their company and the reason for the call. I then call the company back to deal with it.

I won't even give money to HMC or my high school over the phone. I either send them a check or make a donation online. But at least I'm nice to those callers. ;)

I get a lot of the "police dance charity event" and so forth. Which is just phishing for credit card numbers.

[cellio]

Weird!

Twice in the last month I've had the following previously-rare exchange:

*ring*
Me: hello?
Caller: who is this?
Me: whom are you trying to reach?
Caller: who is this?
Me: you called me; you have to go first.
*click*