You have the option of asking to speak to a native-born American, they have to ind one for you.

I got totally hacked last week, by the nicest-sounding youg "Paki" type. We had to replace my typewriter, (there were no few that THREE nasty viruses in it) and replace all numbers: credit card numbers, home and cell phone numbers,

Now, when I talk to a "Paki," I become so frightened I often just hang up rather than dare to complete the transaction.

I am mobility impaired, so physical shopping is not possible for me. That's why I use the Internet. And now I am afraid of dealing with Pakis.

Can you really demand to speak with an native English speaker? It sounds terribly rude, but after all the hassles we went through last week with the hack, I'm not eager to do it again.

I'm not sure you're aware, but "Paki" is considered to be a racist slur... You might want to consider that when talking about people from the Middle East or Asia...

"'Paki' is a shortened moniker referring to people of Pakistani descent, similar to Yank for American or Aussie for Australian.[1][2] It is considered a highly pejorative racial slur primarily in the United Kingdom and Canada."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paki_(slur)

As to your question, I have no idea if you can "demand to speak with an native English speaker", rules may even change depending on what company you're dealing with...

Something to also keep in mind, the nationality and/or ability to speak fluent English does not make one more or less likely to end up dealing with someone who might hack your system. If you open your device up to anyone else, you open yourself up to being hacked, by anyone, regardless of their nationality. Speaking to someone who speaks fluent English just means that you'll understand the hacker better when you talk to them.

Also, assuming your typewriter(?) was hacked (I'm not entirely sure how one "hacks" a typewriter) I hope you reported the incident to the company so that they would be aware of the problem.

The best advice would be to deal with reputable, highly rated companies and never give out personal information to anyone over the phone unless you can 100% verify that you know who you're talking to, which is rare.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 04:41PM by Finally Free!.

http://www.asianimage.co.uk/columnists/10344450.Why_the_term__❇❇❇❇__is__and_always_will_be_offensive/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 04:41PM by anybody.

That maybe she doesn't know, but it is definitely not a nice thing to say. A lot of older (and I don't know how old OP is) don't realize the words they use are really not okay like savage for Native Americans (or other indigenous peoples) oriental for Asian people, darkies/coloured for black/African people etc...No it's not about PC running amok and being oversensitive, it's about being a decent human being that has some awareness in the world.

Case in point: I call children savages and have realized this is probably not the best or most polite thing to call them, especially in the area in which I work and live with a lot of Native children. It's not a big deal to change my language because I know more than two. ;)

and they don't realise it's no longer the proper term. Can't change the past but you can change as you go forward.

www.naacp.org

culturally sensitive, and I genuinely did not know that "Paki" was a slur. I have watched British films and comedies (pretty current ones) and they used "Paki," so I figured that if anybody ought to know, THEY would, as the British are so very polite.

"Typewriter" was a slip because I was tired and kind of groggy from a pain pill due to chronic arthritis in the low back. I still think of my computer keyboard as a typewriter, and that accidentally slipped through.

Cheryl, thank you for your support. Unless I'm really in a dark mood, I generally try to be pleasant and upbeat toward everyone.

I spent a decade or so living in the Deep South, and that was quite the experience. Being the ONLY bilingual in the office, I was given interviews with people (say, Russians or Croatians) whose language was impossible for me.

And I have to admit that when I speak Spanish, I'm sure that my native Spanish-speaking listeners get a giggle or two. But they know that I am giving it my best shot, and they were grateful that someone tried. I learned to understand people whose regional accents were thicker than London fog. That was quite an experience, too.

In general, then, I try to behave as a polite, professional person, and if I had known that "Paki" was insulting, I would not have used it. I appreciate your enlightenment.

Because we ALL say things without knowing what they really mean sometimes. It's where we go and what we say after someone explains why a term is problematic. I'm still learning just as I hope others are as well and we can teach each other the best we can if we are receptive.

I'm sorry what you have to go through right now. It's effing terrifying. All I can do is echo advice that anytime someone contacts you because of problems with your computer, it's probably a scam. I get those pop up windows on occasion screaming about how my computer is infected and I need to contact Windows support and all the nonsense. If you ever feel slightly suspicious about a call, it's totally not rude to hang up or ask to speak to a supe, because if they argue, something is not right. The specific message I learned working in call centers when someone asks for a supe is, "I can definitely transfer you to my supervisor, but he or she will most likely tell you the same thing I just explained. Please hold while I transfer." Then an introduction is made to the supe and I tell the caller I will disconnect now.

I hope you get it worked out and you are right to be suspicious about strange calls right now.

Sure enough, I was a classic victim. My computer slowed way down and then showed two big black boxes which said the same thing: One or more computer viruses have invaded your computer. Call this number _yada-yada-yada - and we will help you untangle it. I know very little about IT. I don't need to know a lot about it. I can send and receive letters and pictures, follow common-interest groups, get NETFLIX movies and shop at amazon. That's really all I need. And until last week, I never had a difficulty with any of them.

And then came The Great Disruption. We had to change everything - home and cell phone numbers, bank cards, passwords for everything. But how was I supposed to know? As far as I knew, the computer behaved exactly as it was supposed to. And then it didn't.

I know the basic rules; I have firewalls set up, I know enough not to click on stuff I don't recognize, etc. But I don't "do"computers" for a living. Nor would I want to. They confuse me.

But until this recent bruhaha, I had thoroughly enjoyed chatting with friends about mutual interests, sharing stories, etc. Now I have less and less interest in even being around it. The sense of betrayal is always there. And that HURTS.

For customer service I think you get it a little easier when speaking to a gringo or cracker (is that a racist slur?) But it's a sad fact that call centers are full of minorities. It's all part of the social hierarchy that we've been in since Washington's time. Generally Everyone has their place, and come from their ethnic neighborhoods. All climbing and pining to get to the upper side of town. The gentrified lifestyles. What I struggle with is Ghetto Ethnics from the Deep South, You've got to really listen to get what they are saying.

(ok, I cleaned up the racism good enough, I hope...)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 05:03PM by poopstone.

No, poopstone, you did not clean up the racism nearly enough.

You have a right to spout your racist assholery, but please do it somewhere else.

CZ (admin)

I would also like to thank you, concrete zipper. I don't know if poopstones post necessarily cross the line in terms of forum rules, but I think he deliberately skirts them. that or he's just so stupid he isn't aware of how offensive this stuff he posts is, or he doesn't care. It's probably a combination of the last two.

And it's funny, poopstone, that you talked about having to really listen to someone to understand them, since I've been listening to your racist and misogynistic nonsense on this forum for much longer than I would have liked to, and I still fail to understand why you think your white privilege justifies excuses your racism and deeply-rooted personality flaws.

I echo CZ's sentiments in requesting that you leave this place and spout your racism somewhere else. I am glad an administrator is finally commenting on his nonsense.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 06:18PM by midwestanon.

If you do a search on his previous posts and see how tenuous his grasp on the English language actually is, you will find this post ironically hilarious.

Reminds me of the backasswards idiots who would buy the "Welcome to America, Now Speak English!" t-shirts would use irregardless and other such nonsensical words all the while thinking they're the clever ones.

In you grew up in America, learn how to speak and write English properly before you criticize others for likely speaking it better as a second language than you.

And no, I don't care if I'm being mean. That's what you get when you're a willfully ignorant ass.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 06:24PM by Itzpapalotl.

According to Merrimack-Webster.com:

The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose.

Https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless

Of course it's a word because people can say it and people know what the meaning is, however, it's still a nonsensical word usually used by people who don't understand English. It's only annoying when the person is whining about how others need to speak English here in the USA, just to clarify. I understand the connection between proper English, stratification in education, and classism, for what it's worth.

Thank you!

At last! Is admin finally kicking this fool to the curb? We'll no longer read his troglodyte posts and opinions? Great day if yes!!

Poop, we won't miss you. At all.

Duzzat mean that we can call Poopstone a nice name, like "Poopy" or "Stony" ?

I am losing my hearing. In great leaps and bounds. Can't afford a hearing aid!

So I frequently annoy the $h!t out of customer service people by asking them to repeat themselves, making sure they know my hearing trouble is to blame. That way I don't offend or hurt anyone's feelers.

I did my time in cube farms and I've been cussed up hill and down dale so I know how it is. I try to be as pleasant as I can!

I used to work in a claims for Allstate, which is very serious about customer service. An older, very hearing impaired man called in with a claim and could not hear any questions I asked. I finally had to pretty much shout into the phone in a pleasant voice (it's a challenge!) so he could understand what the process entailed because he was not interested in having his agent take care of it. The whole damn call center, probably the size of a basketball court, could hear me and either had trouble suppressing laughter or wondering why I was getting away with yelling at a customer.

My late father was going deaf and I constantly had to speak loudly or repeat myself. My mom is going that route as well, too, so I am sympathetic to it. Now I work with a bunch of youngins' that just pretend they don't hear me. :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 08:17PM by Itzpapalotl.

Another example of prejudice at its finest. I am sure those that reside in Asia are very happy to not have to deal with your rude prejudices. Unless you have verifiable proof who hacked you and style your information. Do us all a favor and keep your rude comments to yourself!!

"I need to talk to someone else, please."

I usually don't recognize different accents by name, but I think it's poor business to assign telephone duties to someone who is difficult or impossible to understand on the telephone.

Having worked in consumer protection for nearly three decades, I can attest that a majority of scammers derive from Pakistan.

The Asian sounding voices do not sound discriminatory to me to call them out, because they will rip you off for all they can. The accent is actually a warning sign and a red flag.

That Catnip was targeted by the technical support scam and had her computer hacked, is how they operate from afar.

These people are linked to Al Qaeda and ISIL. The money they make in this multi-million dollar industry goes to fund terrorist activities.

They will market Catnip's contact info on the underground to other con artists because she took the "bait" for one scam. These felons are so bad they are as bad or worse than the drug cartels of South America. They resort to murder and mayhem in their own ranks, and have turf wars with competitors. They are bad hombras.

The best thing you can do, Catnip, when contacted by these shysters is to hang up the phone. Do NOT give them any personal information, no account numbers, and never wire money.

No one will contact you for technical support. When you get phishing e-mails or popup windows, either "x" out of the popup windows, and delete the e-mails to spam before opening.

I've had hack attempts these past couple of weeks on my computer. Instead of answering the "window" that says to act immediately, I shut down the computer. Whether the hackers are coming at us through this or other websites, I do not know. That you were hacked around the same time that the hacking attempt happened with me may not be as coincidental as we like to think it is.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 06:44PM by Amyjo.

So the majority of scammers are Pakistani and they fund Al Qaeda and ISIS.

Do you really not understand how stupid both of those assertions are?

Yeah, that post was pretty weird, even by Amyjo standards.

Amyjo, are you getting this from some alternative media site on the interwebs, or are you just mixing up stuff you hear in the news?

I work in this field of law enforcement.

There's nothing weird about it, if you know anything about these cons.

Which you apparently do not.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 10:04PM by Amyjo.

Okay, if you protest let's take a look at what you actually wrote.

1) "A majority of scammers derive from Pakistan." Is that a global statement? There are more "scammers" in Pakistan than in India or China or the US? Is it per capita? Your statement is nonsensical.

2) "They will rip you off for all they can." Does that refer to Pakistanis or scammers or Pakistani scammers." Who exactly are you stereotyping and condemning? How do you measure the extent of "their" avarice?

3) "These people are linked to Al Qaeda and ISIL." Does this apply to Pakistanis in general, to Pakistani scammers in general, to IRS scammers, or to computer security scammers?

4) How do you personally distinguish between Pakistani accents and Indian or Bangladeshi accents? Or are you condemning all South Asians?

5) Do your stereotypes kick apply to Pakistanis employed by a phone bank in Arizona for Bank of America? Are those people scammers who finance Al Qaeda?

6) How do you know of the financial links to ISIL and Al Qaeda given that that information is held closely within the FBI and CIA? Are you really a senior official in one of those agencies or are you just spouting off based on your own anecdotal experience and rumors in your office?

Which exactly is more likely? You are what you claim to be and to know what you claim to know, or you are making appallingly racist assumptions? Occam's Razor.

I'm not really surprised you don't know this, given your common lack of knowledge in general. Don't pretend to be an authority about something you're clearly not, which you have a pretense of doing.

My information is publicly available, which gets back to my point of your overall ignorance on substantive matters.

The majority of online technical support scams do originate from Pakistan and India, as I explained above. As do the IRS scams.

That's a fact.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 10:09PM by Amyjo.

Could that possibly be because majority of outsourced call centers are based in India and Pakistan?

Scammers shell call centers are not outsourced.

What a lame ass remark.

I was the admin for employee credit card programs, and spoke to many call center employees. My issues were not with ethnicity, location (often Asia), nor language accents. My issues were with their poor access to factual solutions, often being given outdated or otherwise useless information. I felt sorry for them; they must take a fair amount of abuse. That is their company's fault, not theirs.

As admin, I had access to "preferred" admin and tech domestic assistance, but needed to determine the levels of service served our employees when using the CS numbers on the back of their cards, be the cards green, gold or platinum. Not even the primary on the account received the "superior" answers that I did, from my preferred admim contacts.

Long stories short, the cardholders often had to go through me to get something fixed.

btw, foreign-born CS people usually speak at least two languages; those who have never tried to learn a second language are the loudest-mouthed bigots about "can't understand 'em!" whom I have ever heard moan.

Indian police arrest a ringleader of the IRS scam. This is just one scam of dozens operating out of India and Pakistan. It pays to be on guard, educated and informed. Knowledge is power when it comes to protecting yourself from these cons.

"Police in India have arrested a man they say was the ringleader of a network of call centers that allegedly swindled thousands of Americans out of millions of dollars.

Sagar Thakkar, 24, was detained in Mum-bai after arriving on a flight from Dubai on Saturday.

"He was the mastermind of IRS scam call centers in the state of Maharashtra and one center in Ahmedabad," said Mukund Hatote, assistant commissioner of police in Thane, just north of Mum-bai.
Hatote said Thakkar stands accused of extortion, cheating, impersonation, criminal conspiracy as well as violating India's communications and tech laws.

News of the scam broke last October when Indian police raided nine calls centers -- eight in Thane in Maharashtra -- and arrested more than 70 people on suspicion of posing as IRS agents to steal cash from U.S. citizens.

Workers at bogus call centers used American accents to impersonate IRS agents. They told their victims that they owed back taxes and would risk arrest if they hung up or failed to pay up....

Indian police say they have charged more than 390 people in connection with the scheme, and more than 12 remain in jail."

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/09/news/tax-scam-india-arrest-ringleader/index.html

And every nation on earth has its share of crooks.

America has more than its fair share of suckers, which is why we're a lucrative market for the many scams internationally.

Al Qaeda and ISIS run multi-million dollar empires with the technical support and IRS scams originating from Pakistan and India. The money they raise goes directly to funding terror operations around the world.

The Nigerian online dating scams are another racket, which is a multi-billion dollar industry, that goes to fund Al Qaeda and other terrorists globally.

That's a given.

They take money from those who are gullible here, and then weaponize it against us.

Pretty slick.

Why do you think Utah has one of the highest rates of pyramid schemes and rackets nationally? Because of the gullibility and inability of Mormons to know who is scamming them, given their naivete.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 10:37PM by Amyjo.

You really think the scams you describe are the major source of support for Sunni extremism? Greater than the flows of capital from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates?

Naivete comes in many forms, including the belief that one's own experiences and gleanings from office conversations comprise proof and a willingness to reach global conclusions without statistical analysis. Naivete sometimes even comprises a willingness to simplify immensely complex phenomena on the basis of superficial criteria like race and accent.

Where on earth did I say that?

Stop making shit up.

To a Pakistani or an Indian, Paki is like ni**er. Is that how you guys talk at home? Did your mom or dad talk like that, too?

I discovered kind of by accident that when you are talking to someone from a call center in India or wherever, and I don't mean scammers--I mean the customer service people from Comcast or some other company you do business with---anyway---if you are having trouble understanding them because of the accent, just say, "I'm sorry, but may I please speak to your supervisor?" The supervisors are usually here in USA. If you are having some kind of account problem and they can't help you, it's normal to want to speak to the supervisor. If you aren't having any trouble except understanding them, just say so. Say, "I'm so sorry, but my phone cuts out sometimes and combined with your accent, I'm just really having trouble understanding you. Could you please connect me with someone else, like a supervisor?" They are usually nice about it. One girl told me that she would make a note on my account that when I called, they were to transfer me automatically to a supervisor or someone else with no accent, so I didn't have to ask. I thought that was very nice of her--and some accents are heavier than others, so there have been times when I was able to tell them that they didn't have to transfer me, that I was not having any trouble understanding them. But so many companies are outsourcing their customer service stuff, it is very common to have your first (phone) contact be someone with an accent. I have less trouble now than I used to, because my primary cancer doctor is Indian, and my two favorite Urgent Care doctors are also both from India. I have to use UC a lot, and when I do, I call both the local ones that my insurance allows, and ask them who is on duty, and then I go to the one where either Dr. Patel or Dr. Hussain is working. It's a "dammit day" for me when they are both off. :)

It's cruel to gang dump on one of the nicest longtime posters RfM has hosted through the years. I'm referring to Catnip, someone who is dealing with deteriorating mobility and is traumatized from having her computer hacked and not being able to get the help she deserves.

Over twenty years or so I have never seen a hint of negativity in her posts. She is consistently kind and supportive. Yet, admin has invited insults to be thrust on her and has misrepresented her intent.

Did she balk at the insults? No. She absorbs them stoically.

Others have used ugly rule breaking name calling in this thread. Here are some of the insults which are against RfM rules. "Stupid, asshoelery, I don't care if I'm being mean, fool, trogoldyte. None of this filth helps anyone's recovery.

I'm ashamed that I've been associated with this site for so long and have seen it deteriorate to such despicable state.

Not catnip, and a poster that has a history of being despicably sexist, racist, homophobic and an all around bigot on this site.

Try going back and reading where I said I give catnip the benefit of the doubt on this. People don't always know if what they're saying is ok or not, so I give them the benefit of the doubt when they don't display a history of ignorant bigotry.

It sucks what she's been through. I've been the victim of burglary, theft, scams and all sorts of crime at the hands of people that usually are white Americans. Notice how I don't call them gringos, crackers, wasi'chus, palefaces or any other racial slurs. You are allowed to see it how you want and others are allowed to voice their views when a bigot expresses their ignorant opinion as usual.

I'm ashamed that people are ok with the use of racial and ethnic slurs and don't bat an eye about it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 11:05PM by Itzpapalotl.

"Stupid, asshoelery, I don't care if I'm being mean, fool, trogoldyte" are all referring to Poopstone's racist post, not to Catnip's OP. Admin is finally calling out Poopstone.

My post, which used "fool" and "troglodyte," was clearly aimed at Poopstone, since I specifically named him as the target.

For the record, Catnip has no history of racism or meanness, at all, and IMO should be given the benefit of the doubt in this case.

Shame on anyone who is so easily diverted from the point of the thread.

I'm deeply ashamed of being associated with a site which would dump of Catnip to get to someone else for a personal kick in the pants.

I guess you could leave if you're so deeply ashamed of those of us who try to educate others on racial and ethnic slurs.

I'm deeply ashamed of people who let ethnic and racial slurs slide without comment.

Exactly. I would have thought that you had been around rfm long enough to know that threads get sidetracked, and this wasn't really even much of a side track; 'poopstone' was racist, has a history of racist and misogynistic remarks, gets called out on them all the time but there has been no action about it, and an administrator has finally taken note. It's something that needs to happen, and why not this thread? Catnip has been given a lot of help. I don't feel bad in the slightest for calling out poopstone. I will call out anyone who says something undeniably stupid or makes a racist remark in any context.

What would be cowardly would be to let such remarks slide, without anyone taking note and going to some lengths to indicate that such language is not tolerated. Know that I am talking about poopstone, not catnip. I have used racial slurs before and had absolutely no idea that they were racial slurs. I'm guessing that a lot of people here have that an experience that is similar in some respect. Hell, some people here might be old enough that it was considered appropriate in their youth to use language that today is considered a slur.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2017 11:50PM by midwestanon.

I'll try not to repeat what has already been said. Asian Americans were the majority at my high school, and Caucasians only make up about 20% of the student body at my current college. Meanwhile Asians at my college are about twice that, with many of them being international students who speak English as a second or third language. While that's a bit of an outlier, it just strikes me as very unfair to show a preference toward those with English as a first language, except in cases where it results in too many accidental communication errors. Even if there are any trends in scammers' ethnicities, that's no reason to throw everyone under the bus. Sorry for your troubles, though.

When I or my husband call up support services on the phone, a lot of the time they are are foreigner who is hard to understand. It's embarrassing to make them keep repeating themselves; I always feel bad for them. They do seem to have a lot of foreigners working for companies. Most of the ones we had , spoke good English, but the accent was thick. It's hard learning a foreign language.
( The Germanic ones are easy, like German or Swedish. I'm still trying to learn French, I just can't pick it up. I want to learn Canadian French, which is hard to find anyway. The Romance languages are very hard for me, so I can imagine having to learn it and speak on the phone with it, which is harder than speaking in person, face to face)
Speaking of the IRS scammers , most are from India, or similar countries. We got them a lot. Our phone ID always said "Seattle, Wa",which was one of their main satellite states .
I still have some of their messages on my I phone, because they're kind of comical .
I feel sorry for the people who fall for it , probably the elderly and people who haven't lived here long enough to know our
laws.
In Amy's defense, what she's telling about Isis and Al Queida is exactly how they operate and get their money.
After 911, a lot of this was made public.
They had cell groups all over the place, still do

Oh yeah, one of my best friends is Korean. She hates it when people just assume she's something else, like Chinese, or Hapanesr. She mentioned herself that she prefers people using " oriental ". It's also who says it and how it's used.

Sorry, I meant to say Japanese ".

In Canada, they use " First Nations" , instead of " Canadian Indian", and " Inuit" for Eskimo.

About ten years ago, I got into trouble for referring to Asians as Orientals. I did not know that the rules had changed and that it was considered derogatory. When I was growing up, "oriental" was considered the normal term. Teachers at school used it, books used it, T.V. and radio used it. I have also gotten into trouble for referring to Native Americans as Indians. But my husband is Native American, and he often calls himself an Indian. An elderly neighbor who is older than me tends to refer to Black people as "Colored". But the Black people in our area are okay with it, because they figure that in her day it wasn't yet a put-down. Now I wonder if it's still okay to refer to African Americans as "Black". It can be easy, at least for older people, to get into trouble with this stuff.

Yes. And I think most of us know catnip well enough to realize she made an innocent error.

The problem, I believe, is with people who intentionally and repeatedly express racist views. This isn't about an ill-advised word uttered by a good person.

Putting aside the whole "Paki" slurr controversy, catnip said that she was hacked by somebody with a South Asian accent.

She didn't exactly give the details, but the most common scam that I am aware of that would fit this picture involves somebody calling catnip to tell catnip that her computer has a problem that they need to fix. While she's cooperating with the scammers to deal with this computer threat, that is when they steal credit card information and perhaps even put viruses on the computer that didn't previously have them.

As for being afraid of dealing with people with a similar accent in customer service in the future, the real question is how you get in touch with them and why. If you call a major company, like Apple, Delta,Ford etc. and are connected to somebody with a South Asian accent, this is an all likelihood a very legitimate transaction.

But, if people are calling you out of the blue, even with a perfect Midwest accent, telling you there's something wrong with your computer and asking you for personal information, I would hang up the phone. In fact, when people call my home and ask for me, I never even tell them that they have the right phone number. My first question is always "Who are you?".

So, ultimately it's not the accent of the person, but instead it is the nature of the contact and did you initiate the contact, or was it initiated by somebody else trying to get in touch with you. Always be very careful when you get a phone call from somebody you don't know.

NeverMoJohn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Always be very careful when you get a phone call
> from somebody you don't know.

I never answer phone numbers I do not know.

If they choose to leave a message, I can call them back if I think the call is legit.

If they choose to not leave a message, I assume that it is a junk call.

I was trying so hard to cooperate with these pleasant-sounding young men with the musical accents (far from being a bigot, I am a student of language and dialects, and these fascinate me no end.)

When I shut it all down and asked my daughter, who knows a lot about this sort of thing, came over and played with it, she paled and said, "Start unplugging, Mom. We are taking this puppy to Best Buy."

I have never set out with the intention of deliberately messing with someone. So it literally did not occur to me that anyone else would set out with such a plan.

It feels like a kind of violation of self, and if there are you out there who think that is funny, well, I hope you do't have to go through it.

It is so much more than a technical malfunction. That computer, if you have used it for a while, is tangled up in who you are. It knows the kinds of books you like. The kind of music you listen. DO YOU REALLY WANT A TOTAL STRANGER SKIMMING OVER YOUR PERSONALITY????

I've had that scam tried on me three times and it was always some guy with a heavy indian accent. But since my native language isn't english and I don't live in america buisness and technical help is done in my own language. Which is another reason I guess america is a better target for that particular scam, the very fact that it's in english while my internet, computer and bank people would contact me in my own language makes the scam that much more obvious.

Catnip, I think it's important to understand *why* you got hacked. Without having the details of how your transaction came about, it's hard to say. But generally you want to avoid giving out personal or credit card information to anyone who contacts you, especially if that person says they are from "computer support." If you see a pop-up screen on your computer saying that you need "computer support," then exit out of the screen or reboot your computer.

I'm sorry that you got hacked. What a pain to have to start anew!

Some come from cold calling. The pop-up window is the other way the hackers come in through the computer to hijack it and scam its owner.

The accent is a dead giveaway if you get the cold call.

Best thing you can do then, according to the FCC is to just hang up.