Brian's Blog

Unwanted Calls – Episode#10 – Virus Free

Brian — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:29:58 +0000

So simply put, in this episode I pretend to do everything the telemarketers asks, except when we get to the screen that’s supposed to say I have viruses I tell him it says my computer is virus free. What’s interesting though, is before we hang up he tells me that I wasn’t “performing” what he told me to do. So I guess the result of this exercise is to always produce a negative result.

I apologize for the buzz, I had the record level set a bit too high on my recorder.

Unwanted Calls – Episode#9 – I Don’t Care About That

Brian — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 05:04:44 +0000

Yet another Certified Windows Technician. And yet again I pretend to work for the phone company. I think the guy gets pretty frustrated at me, but I manage to keep him on the line either way.

I’m thinking I need to tweak my script a bit to get more information out of caller. Does anyone have any suggestions I should make to the script?

Unwanted Calls – Episode#8 – Skytel Support

Brian — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:31:34 +0000

This episode is short and sweet. Essentially, I tricked the telemarketer to reveal who his phone provider is and where his call centre is located. His call centre is located in India, and his phone provider is SkyTel in India. I’ve tried calling SkyTel to report that one of their customers is sending out fraudulent traffic, but it happens to be 12:30am on a Saturday in India. I’ll give it a try again later. I did call their technical support line, but the guy just hung up on me.

Unwanted Calls – Episode #7 – The Credit Card Company

Brian — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:35:20 +0000

New scam in this episode. I receive a call from the Lower Interest Rate Department who claims to work for all the major banks in Canada, Ontario. The department has such a good relationship with the banks, the telemarketers say that if you were to call your bank they would mistreat you so badly and not give you his good rates. And for some reason he needed that three digit number on the back of my card.

The call was from The Lower Interest Rate Department, the call taker was Zack Stevenson, and his call back number was 1-877-870-4015 or 1-877-870-4016–he gave me a different number the second time I asked, I suspect they just chose a number that rings busy. I Google the toll free number and found a page with comments from others who received similar calls.

Unwanted Calls – Episode #6 – Log Me Out

Brian — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:12:20 +0000

In this episode I receive another call from a “Certified Microsoft Technician.” This time when the scammer tries to get me open Event Viewer, I’ll tell him that everything checks out okay, and all I see are green check marks saying my system is good. Later he tries to get me to use Log Me In, which I pretend to open and then I tell him it’s letting me see his computer. After the call I tell listeners how they can report and help end this scam — and it’s more than just reporting it to the fraud squad.

Unwanted Calls – Episode #5 – Duct Cleaning Services

Brian — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:01:58 +0000

In this episode I receive a telemarketing call from Air Duct Cleaning Services based in Toronto. I get into a discussion with the telemarketer and try to figure out how they will send a crew from Toronto all the way to my house in Thunder Bay. The caller id on my phone showed up as (408) 443-0850, and the telemarketer claimed to be calling from (647) 763-8761 ext. 305 which rings busy when I try to call it. Telemarketer name was Seresha.

Unwanted Calls – Episode #4 – Do Not Call List

Brian — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:47:28 +0000

In this episode of Unwanted Calls, we received a call from a new scam asking us to sign up for the “Do Not Call List.” The telemarketer says her company is based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Her company will remove my number from “open databases available on the internet,” and if I do get a call from a telemarketer, they will sue the company on my behalf. I asked her if she heard of the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission), and she has never heard of them, but she does work with Canada and USA.

The company is called Customer Infoline, and their toll free number is 1-855-222-1199, and their website is www.customerinfoline.com.

This is obviously a scam, and their service is not worth the money you pay for; if it’s not a front for identity theft.

New iPhone App Released

Brian — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 22:16:06 +0000

My latest iPhone and iPod Touch app is now available in the App Store. MealJournal is a app to help eating disorder patients keep food records of their food intake, as well as their thoughts and feelings.

Often those trying to overcome an eating disorder, as part of their clinical treatment, are asked to keep a food record. Traditionally, this food record has been kept on a 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper, which is time consuming, and often inconvenient for patients to fill out in front of their peers.

MealJournal modernizes food records by utilizing Apple iPhone and iPod Touch technology. By utilizing the camera on an iPhone or iPod Touch, patients can quickly record meals by snapping photos. Thoughts and feelings can be recorded, either at moment of intake, or later on, by using the device’s microphone to record audio, or the camera to record video with sound. With MealJournal, keeping food records is no longer a time consuming, inconvenient process.

MealJournal is available for $2.99 in the App App Store. Give it a try now!

Unwanted Calls – Episode #3 – Wife is Going to Kill Me

Brian — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:25:18 +0000

In this episode of Unwanted Calls, I receive yet another call from a Microsoft Technician informing me that my computer has a virus. For this call I pretend to be married, and having used my wife’s computer last night, I believe that I may have infected her computer.

Unwanted Calls – Episode #2

Brian — Thu, 19 May 2011 18:12:47 +0000

This one is short and sweet because my recorder failed on me. I’m very disappointed, because I managed to get the guy to talk about what he had for lunch, at which point I got transfered to his supervisor.

So here is the first few seconds of my call with Telus Mobility.