"David"

Today, a boring one. "Can I ask you something? Do you think it is okay to steal?" he tried to keep to the script as I tried to knock him off it.

"Sir, I don't know what you mean. I am from Windows technical support. As you go about your day checking email and such things--"

"Do you sleep well at night?"

"I don't know what you mean, sir. Your computer has informed us that--"

"Next you will ask me to download software and if I do, it will lock up my computer and you will demand money to unlock it. I've gotten many calls like this and all of them are attempts to steal from me. I read all about you on the internet. Everyone has."

"I don't know what you mean, sir. Viruses have infected your computer--"

"Everyone knows this is a scam. The only people you manage to fool are those with minds like children. Does that make you feel good?"

I don't think he heard that last bit.

I got a call some weeks ago from an Indian accented guy saying my "vindows has viruses."

I'd gotten this sort of call a few times in the past. The first time I got the call, I just hung up, then web searched 'windows tech support scam,' and obviously, that was him.

The next time I got this call I yelled at the guy and said he was stealing and he would pay for what he was doing. The next time I pleaded.

This time I told him, "Look, you don't have to have a job where you're stealing. Whatever they told you, your English is good enough you can get a decent job that's honest and you don't have to steal anymore."

Perhaps because of some rule of politeness where I could talk until I was done, he let me go on and on and on in the same vein until he finally broke down and said "Yes. it is a bad job. I know what they will do to you if you download the code I am supposed to get you to download. it is a bad job and I will leave it."

I feel good about this, even if he never takes his own advice. For next time, I will research what someone in India can do in terms of free job search advice, so I can be ready with some real information.

This is the first time I feel like I might have had a chance of actually helping the situation. I do wish I could have been less angry and more, well, taking it in stride. Maybe next time. Based on the pattern it looks like there's going to be a lot of next times.

I'd like to hear from anyone else who's tried this sort of thing or played around with this situation.

Rob