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Nope, it's mostly people in the US that fear their governments like that. I don't see anyone from Finland, Iceland, or Holand falling for this sort of thing (l
by hobarrera 10y ago
Nope, it's mostly people in the US that fear their governments like that.
I don't see anyone from Finland, Iceland, or Holand falling for this sort of thing (language barriers aside), because they don't run around scared of the government.
- Arnt 10y agoIt's s/government/Microsoft/ in those countries. Perhaps that shows that people expect Windows to break in strange ways and are afraid of what Microsoft might do ;)
- nogridbag 10y agoIf you read the article the IRS scam is just one of several common scams that Indian call centers perform. I would imagine the Microsoft tech support scam is much larger than the IRS scam and has global reach. Edit: If you want to be amused there's plenty of youtube videos of people toying with the scammers using VM's.
- gnufied 10y agoIt seems scammers are targeting first generation immigrants to US more than anyone else. Now - as a immigrant myself I can imagine how traumatic it can be to get call from IRS when you don't know your way around tax system. Obviously - people on HN are an exception but often times - life of an immigrant hangs by a thread - "there is an EAD renewal coming up in Feb if it doesn't get approved (for some reason), you lose your job, lose your home, may even have to go back to your home country".
- joeax 10y agoI was thinking the same thing. We have been conditioned in the US to fear the government to such degree (the IRS in particular) that it makes these calls seem plausible and frightening to the more vulnerable segment of the population.
- thinkMOAR 10y agoJust you don't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There was actually a big tv report *in hoLLand on this matter, the reporter travelling to india and facing his fraudulent callcenter contact... so please don't just write things you think are true.