Foxy, I get 4 or 5 of these "I am from Telstra---" calls a week.
I am trying to get off their call list by making a nuisance of myself.
After the speel, I say "Oh there is a problem with my Windows ?"
Oh yes they say we would like to fix it.
I say OK just a minute, go and make a cup of coffee then after five
minutes, I come back and say "I have been all round the house and I
can't find anything wrong with my windows !"
They then tumble they have been had, but you have to be not a wilting
flower as you will get a lot of swearing and abuse for wasting their time.

Another one I use is if the English is poor, I say I can't understand
you, do you have someone with better English, they then get someone else.
I then let them go through the "windows key & 8 key routine and they
then ask what is on your screen ? I say just some icons. No they
say hold down the window key and press 8.
And so we go around and around the routine.
Sometimes the more switched on will ask what windows are you using ?
I'll say Windows ? I don't use windows, I use Linux because it
"p477es off people like you. Most will ask :whats that ?"

A friend of mine hacks them when they call and gets them talking to
each other and causes havoc in their call centre.
By the way their activity is a little earner on the side when the
call centre is not busy.
I finish by telling them to get a real job.

Another thing to watch for is the spiffing false Telstra bill.
Look down the bottom, if it says "Telstra a division of Bigpond"
it should be the other way around.

Cheers and have fun with them. Although your fix might be inconvenient someday.

Hi Bazz,

Thanks for sharing your experiences.
What you did was very clever.
I'd never have thought to do anything like that.
And hopefully with all the blocks that have
been put on our phone, I won't have to in future.
Also I won't be so trusting either.

Aaaahhh, Foxy I have just read the comments on the Australia Day
thread about your computer adventure.
When you held windows key and pressed 8 I presume they got you to
enter a string like PCANYWHERE, forgotten exactly what it was, but
that is a routine that is properly used when you ask Telstra for assistance.
They will get you to use that routine so they can access your computer
and see what needs changing.
However remember only allow that IF IT WAS YOU WHO CALLED Telstra.
I had reason to allow it once when I had trouble getting my Brother printer to work.
The Brother Tech found the problem with their Linux Driver.
JayB was right you did not need a new drive, just reformatting it
and then reinstalling windows would remove anything they may have planted.

These so & so's are not technically savvy and they just follow a
routine they have in front of them

Foxy, rule 2547, make a bl**dy" backup.

Hi Bazz,

They got me to click onto a "Red box"
(asset access) and give them the number
that came up on the screen. Then they
went through several screens with me - gave
me a password to put in - then I clicked onto
Ï accept" and they told me not to touch my
modem as a robot would get rid of the hackers
for me. I did as I was told while they apparently
downloaded my files.

I know - how stupid was I?

I've now lost trust of anybody with an Ïndian"
accent. Hopefully that will pass.

Well Foxy, if it is any comfort there are thousands of people who
have been caught. Many voice hackers are very clever and use physiological techniques.

Cheers