Lying Is Okay When It’s To A Scammer

(I got this scam call last week, and I thought I’d play along.)

Caller: *heavy accent* “Hello, this is Patrick from Microsoft and I have been receiving messages that your computer has a virus.”

Me: “That’s terrible!”

Caller: “If you would go to your computer now and turn it on…”

Me: “You guys haven’t fixed it yet?”

Caller: “What?”

Me: “On Monday, Charles called and said he could fix my computer. I gave him my credit card number and he charged me $350.”

Caller: “Charles did?”

Me: “Yes. William said if I paid $728, my computer would be fixed.”

Caller: “Well, he called from Windows Support; I am calling from Microsoft.”

Me: “Yes, that was where James was calling from, too, on Thursday when I gave him my credit card number and he charged me $93.”

(This went on for about ten minutes. I would always use a different name, day, and dollar amount each time I said I gave my credit card number. It confused “Patrick” so much that he thanked me for my business and hung up. I haven’t had a call now for two weeks!)