Tonight on CEP! It’s a New Year’s Special Edition TaS Episode!
- Rather than the usual Foghorn Leghorn, I told all the scammers today I was Eddie Munster. Hilarity ensues, for us.
- I made the first (Medicare) scammer sigh right off the bat.
- The next one, a paypal impostor, says i can call him James. So i call him anything but. He tried telling me that “hack-kers from Michigan” took my bitcoins using “micro viruses”, and other wild fake tech terms to dazzle me. He said they tried to get into my “serwer” so i said “What? They got into my Star Wars?” My personal favorite is the part where I describe the Firefox icon on my screen. When he tells me to download his evil UltraViewer software, I take him on an ADD-fueled wild ride.
- The next two are car insurance/warranty scammers who asked what car I drove, so I told them i drove some classics.
- The next one is a cable company scammer calling herself Lydia, so i call her Medea. She offers me a fake discount, so I whip out the calculator and got her so confused, that she agreed to apply the discount twice.
- Saving the best for last, everybody’s favorite scambaiter returns! Karl Mailchimp created another persona, a pierogi farmer named Ross Pierogi. The scammer alleges that someone stole his credit card, so he plays along with that on-the-fly, ad-libbing, creative genius we’ve come to expect. Wait til you get to the part where the guy tries to spell “help desk host” to him.
As always, please warn your friends about phone scams by sharing this episode! Visit becomeanexorcist.com to join the good fight.
Marc-Anthony Arena was born in the 80s, back when technology was hopeful. He's an honors graduate of both McQuaid Jesuit and RIT. He has been in the IT industry since 2000. He is the author of "How to Protect Yourself from Your Computer", the only Plain English guide to the concepts, scams, and scandals of the tech industry. After 10 years as a dynamic and outspoken local talk show host, he launched The Computer Exorcist Podcast, available anywhere and anytime. His message is this: ALL of the heartache, headache, and expenditures in this industry are completely preventable.
