Q: call from Microsoft/apple notice I have a technical issue

You don't need an antivirus program. Any telephone call, email message or pop-up notice that claims you have a virus or malware, or that your Apple ID will be locked if you don't 'verify' it, is a scam. No-one can detect a virus remotely, and anyway there are no viruses in the wild affecting macs.

These scams cannot be stopped with an antivirus app.

You just don't answer them.

When such scams come on your screen, don't react, quit (from the menu) Safari, restart while holding the Shift key.

Note: you do not need any antivirus app on your mac, it will at the least be counterproductive to the built-in safety of OSX. Some AV apps are downright crippling, like Symantec/Norton and MacAfee. But others will consume resources and create issues, without doing anything useful.

Personally I just tell them they are a liar. Then when they get funny about it I ask them what religion they are and when they ask why do I want to know what religion they are I tell them its because lying is a sin in pretty much every religion and so they they are a sinner and a liar. 

usually they have hung up by then but if they haven't I leave them ranting on hold for a while to stop them scamming someone who might be gullible!

Harsh but hey if enough of us do it they might just get the message!!

Donald Collier1 wrote:

 

Personally I just tell them they are a liar. Then when they get funny about it I ask them what religion they are and when they ask why do I want to know what religion they are I tell them its because lying is a sin in pretty much every religion and so they they are a sinner and a liar.

Ooo.... I haven't tried that. I usually ask them how many people fall for the scams and how they feel about that. Sometimes i tell them I'm running Unix. Or DOS. Next, I plan on telling them I have no computer and am rabidly anti-technology. I'd tell them I'm Amish but I suspect they don't have Amish people in their country and might not be familiar with the religion.

You could try blowing a sports whistle down the phone.

Roger Wilmut1 wrote:

 

You could try blowing a sports whistle down the phone.

Much less entertaining. I also always seem to get the calls when I'm at work. My colleagues might be distressed by the whistle.

Roger Wilmut1 wrote:

 

You could try blowing a sports whistle down the phone.

http://www.amazon.com/Tide-Acme-Thunderer-Metal-Whistle/dp/B0000BY93O

Meg St._Clair wrote:

 

I'd tell them I'm Amish ...

... but they don't have phones.

John Galt wrote:

 

Meg St._Clair wrote:

 

I'd tell them I'm Amish ...

 

... but they don't have phones.

 

 

Actually, some of them do. They usually keep them in a shed a distance from the house. That way, they are only used in emergencies. The Amish aren't anti-technology across the board. They just think really long and hard before adopting something. Only when the bishops have determined that it fits in with their mission is it accepted. I've often thought that's something I could learn from. Until the next shiny gadget comes along.....

Where I'm from, most of them have them. They don't even bother to keep them away from the house. They pretty much have them on them at all times.

So, rotary dial only then?

KiltedTim wrote:

 

Where I'm from, most of them have them. They don't even bother to keep them away from the house. They pretty much have them on them at all times.

They are definitely not a completely homogeneous group.