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telephone hackers - can we upload something?



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 20th 18, 11:26 AM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

I had one of these calls yesterday - "your computer has stopped
communicating with the Windows server", or something like that.

I used my usual: "hang on while I get the police on the other line";
that usually makes them hang up pretty smartish.

However, thinking about it afterwards, I wondered: would it be possible
to devise something that could do something to their systems, while
pretending to do whatever they ask? I've never gone beyond the initial
call - I have always seen through them so far, it's not been difficult!
- so I don't know what they ask you to _do_.

I suspect it isn't likely to be possible, but it would be _so_
satisfying ... (-:
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

.... "Peter and out." ... "Kevin and out." (Link episode)
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  #2  
Old July 20th 18, 01:04 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Ed Cryer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,621
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
I had one of these calls yesterday - "your computer has stopped
communicating with the Windows server", or something like that.

I used my usual: "hang on while I get the police on the other line";
that usually makes them hang up pretty smartish.

However, thinking about it afterwards, I wondered: would it be possible
to devise something that could do something to their systems, while
pretending to do whatever they ask? I've never gone beyond the initial
call - I have always seen through them so far, it's not been difficult!
- so I don't know what they ask you to _do_.

I suspect it isn't likely to be possible, but it would be _so_
satisfying ... (-:


I've used a technique with spam callers who start with something like
"Hello. And how are you today?"
It consists of completely monopolising the conversation. They're paying
for it; you can have a captive audience.

Oh, I'm feeling very down today. My dad died and left me all his debts.
And then my computer blew up, and shattered the house, bringing down the
partition wall with next door. And then an alien flew in through the
window, abducted me to a mother-ship in the sky and implanted God knows
what in me. I'm finding that I've acquired extraordinary powers; such as
I can fly like a bird, and my eyes give out a beam of light which can
cut through solid objects like a laser beam, and there's a big S carved
on my front, and ... Hello, are you still there?

Ed
  #3  
Old July 20th 18, 02:22 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

"Ed Cryer" wrote

| I've used a technique with spam callers who start with something like
| "Hello. And how are you today?"
| It consists of completely monopolising the conversation. They're paying
| for it; you can have a captive audience.
|

The only problem with that is that it's likely you're
talking to someone in India who's being paid pennies
and will gladly keep you on the line for hours if there's
a chance of getting you hacked. In the meantime, it's
not really their time you're wasting. It's yours.
It might be a good strategy for elderly people
living alone, though.


  #4  
Old July 20th 18, 03:13 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Ken Blake[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,221
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

On Fri, 20 Jul 2018 09:35:14 -0400, Wolf K
wrote:


I've kept some of these callers on the line by whining and whinging and
pleading with them to tell me which of our three computers is the
infected one. I once kept the guy on the line for almost 10 minutes. I
know they are poor sods trying to make a living, but the organisations
they work for are evil.




There are many "poor sods trying to make a living" with whom I don't
sympathize--bank robbers, hired killers, mafia members, and so on.
  #5  
Old July 20th 18, 03:22 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Weatherman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 20
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

Ken Blake wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jul 2018 09:35:14 -0400, Wolf K
wrote:


I've kept some of these callers on the line by whining and whinging and
pleading with them to tell me which of our three computers is the
infected one. I once kept the guy on the line for almost 10 minutes. I
know they are poor sods trying to make a living, but the organisations
they work for are evil.




There are many "poor sods trying to make a living" with whom I don't
sympathize--bank robbers, hired killers, mafia members, and so on.


I agree with you except for the bank robbers. That's a public service
after all the banks have stolen from us.
  #6  
Old July 20th 18, 03:29 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

"Ken Blake" wrote

| There are many "poor sods trying to make a living" with whom I don't
| sympathize--bank robbers, hired killers, mafia members, and so on.

This is really only a UK problem. The majority of the
calls I get are scams. Both state and federal gov't
have stopped enforcing DoNotCall lists. But CallerID
means I never have to answer scam calls in the first
place. In the UK they don't seem to have a CallerID
function.

But I agree with you. I always hang up on bank
robbers without so much as a how do you do.


  #7  
Old July 20th 18, 04:21 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

In message , Mayayana
writes:
"Ken Blake" wrote

| There are many "poor sods trying to make a living" with whom I don't
| sympathize--bank robbers, hired killers, mafia members, and so on.

This is really only a UK problem. The majority of the
calls I get are scams. Both state and federal gov't
have stopped enforcing DoNotCall lists. But CallerID
means I never have to answer scam calls in the first
place. In the UK they don't seem to have a CallerID
function.


We've had one for years. There are even 'phones you can buy that screen
calls based on them (you press a button to add them to your blocklist).
We call it CLI - calling line identification. (Not sure why - maybe
CallerID might be confused with the criminal investigation department!)
I don't see why _I_ should pay out for such a 'phone, though.

The CLIs are often spoofed though - for example, calls obviously from
Asia show as UK ones, or they show as ones which if called back are
non-existent. I've tried to argue that the telecomm.s companies are
participating in the deception by passing on these faked CLIs (which
ought to be detectable), but unsurprisingly I haven't got anywhere.

But I agree with you. I always hang up on bank
robbers without so much as a how do you do.

(-:

I'll repeat it in case the thread wander has diverted attention from it,
but I still suspect the answer's no (as I can't think how it would
work), but: anyone think of a way we could upload something to their
systems? (If only a list of numbers to call - including the private
lines of their prime minister and the heads of crime families, and every
police station in their country ...)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"There are a great many people in the country today who, through no fault of
their own, are sane." - Monty Python's Flying Circus
  #8  
Old July 20th 18, 05:26 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| I don't see why _I_ should pay out for such a 'phone, though.
|
| The CLIs are often spoofed though -

We don't pay for it anymore. Here, also, it's often
spoofed. And a recent trick is for fundraisers to use
a personal cellphone with a local exchange, so it
seems legit. But the nice thing is that I can tell
if a caller is someone I know.

Few are legit. So I just ignore them, unless
they're someone I know. The few people who get
blocked can leave a message. The whole thing
used to drive me crazy when I answered each call.
Now I use a lot of email and usually only need to
glance at the phone when it rings.

| I'll repeat it in case the thread wander has diverted attention from it,
| but I still suspect the answer's no (as I can't think how it would
| work), but: anyone think of a way we could upload something to their
| systems? (If only a list of numbers to call - including the private
| lines of their prime minister and the heads of crime families, and every
| police station in their country ...)

I don't see how that might be possible. You're
on a phone call. There's no server connection
going on.

Were you thinking of a case where they want
access to your computer? Even then, if you let them
run some kind of remote desktop, you'd have to be
a very clever hacker with knowledge of bugs in
that software to attack them back.


  #9  
Old July 20th 18, 06:11 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

I had one of these calls yesterday - "your computer has stopped
communicating with the Windows server", or something like that.

I used my usual: "hang on while I get the police on the other line";
that usually makes them hang up pretty smartish.

However, thinking about it afterwards, I wondered: would it be possible
to devise something that could do something to their systems, while
pretending to do whatever they ask? I've never gone beyond the initial
call - I have always seen through them so far, it's not been difficult!
- so I don't know what they ask you to _do_.

I suspect it isn't likely to be possible, but it would be _so_
satisfying ... (-:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvJQxgtJW94

You can also report the spam call at 800notes.com, so others will know
that phone number may be from a scammer (or it could be spoofed by the
scammer) when they do an online search on the phone number (rather than
pay for all the lookup services pretending they'll give more details).

For landlines and VOIP (from ISPs), you could subscribe to NoMoRobo
(nomorobo.com) to get rid of the robocallers. It's free. At most, you
hear one phone ring and then it stops if NoMoRobo decides it was a
robocaller (not if a spam call by a human but by a robodialer). If a
human caller is mis-identified as a robodialer, they are presented with
a 4-digit CAPTCHA to complete their call. You can also report robodial
calls to NoMoRobo to help yourself and others. Alas, while they also
have an Android app, it isn't free. I do use NoMoRobo on my cell phone
number, plus I added it to my aunt's home phone (Comcast Voice).

You can use Google Voice (if you're in the USA or Canada). They have
their own anti-spam caller blacklist. At one time, I got rid of telco
(POTS) service and just had a cell phone number. I moved it to Google
Voice after testing for a few months. It was the same phone number that
I've had for over 40 years (except the area code changed when my area
got split up into multiple area codes). It was the number that family,
banks, employers, and everyone else ever got. Cost me $20 to migrate to
Google Voice. I even got an Obitalk VOIP box to use with my home phone
with Google Voice, and got rid of my ISP's voice service. Since then
the number of spam calls has gone down a lot. In fact, I can go to
voice.google.com, login, and check on the Spam folder, plus I can
designate new calls as spam or otherwise choose to block them. With
screening turned on, unknown callers (not in my contacts list) must say
their name, my phone gets called, and I can choose to accept their call
(press 1) or let it go to voicemail. Wrong number callers hang up after
hearing the screening prompt or when hearing the outgoing voicemail
message, so I'm not bothered with those calls. Human spammers go away
at the screening prompt. Robodialers don't ring longer than about 3
times and they don't respond to the screening prompt, so they keep
ringing and hang up after their 3 or 4 rings. A robodialer that makes
it to the screening prompt won't know to give a name for me to hear, so
I hear their robotized spiel when I press 1 and just hang up, but I get
extremely few of those calls. You cannot use NoMoRobo with a Google
Voice account, so no combining their blacklists.

After getting the robodialer to react to your voice and transfer to a
human scammer, interrupt yourself by saying there's an emergency and put
them on hold. Leave them on hold. The longer they are hold, the less
time they have to afflict other victims. You could interrupt them by
saying, "Okay, I understand, but I'm wondering if you've heard about the
power of Jesus, Praise the Lord, Hallelujah. I'd like to tell you about
salvation, brother, and how you, too, can be reborn." Even if they
start speaking, just keep talking while ignoring anything they say.

One scam trick is to pretend they are from Microsoft who has somehow
divined that your computer is infected. They'll take you to Event
Viewer to have you see all the errors listed in there. Tell them there
are no errors, no warnings, and all entries are info only. They'll be
astonished. Keep pretending to do what they ask but don't bother and
just report anything that contradicts their intent. Toy with the
****ant. You could tell them you don't have a computer. When they get
pushy, say "Hey, you called a public telephone booth and I answered the
call while sitting on the bench waiting for the bus."
  #10  
Old July 20th 18, 06:21 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Ed Cryer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,621
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Mayayana
writes:
"Ken Blake" wrote

| There are many "poor sods trying to make a living" with whom I don't
| sympathize--bank robbers, hired killers, mafia members, and so on.

Â*This is really only a UK problem. The majority of the
calls I get are scams. Both state and federal gov't
have stopped enforcing DoNotCall lists. But CallerID
means I never have to answer scam calls in the first
place. In the UK they don't seem to have a CallerID
function.


We've had one for years. There are even 'phones you can buy that screen
calls based on them (you press a button to add them to your blocklist).
We call it CLI - calling line identification. (Not sure why - maybe
CallerID might be confused with the criminal investigation department!)
I don't see why _I_ should pay out for such a 'phone, though.

The CLIs are often spoofed though - for example, calls obviously from
Asia show as UK ones, or they show as ones which if called back are
non-existent. I've tried to argue that the telecomm.s companies are
participating in the deception by passing on these faked CLIs (which
ought to be detectable), but unsurprisingly I haven't got anywhere.

Â*But I agree with you. I always hang up on bank
robbers without so much as a how do you do.

(-:

I'll repeat it in case the thread wander has diverted attention from it,
but I still suspect the answer's no (as I can't think how it would
work), but: anyone think of a way we could upload something to their
systems? (If only a list of numbers to call - including the private
lines of their prime minister and the heads of crime families, and every
police station in their country ...)


Have some harmless fun.
Do you remember the old dial-up connection sound?
Record this;
https://youtu.be/PDE9b5iU8vI
and keep it handy on a phone or tablet.
Next time you get a call, just give a whistle and play it into the mic.

Ed (:-

  #11  
Old July 20th 18, 07:02 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

Ed Cryer wrote:

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Mayayana
writes:
"Ken Blake" wrote

| There are many "poor sods trying to make a living" with whom I don't
| sympathize--bank robbers, hired killers, mafia members, and so on.

*This is really only a UK problem. The majority of the
calls I get are scams. Both state and federal gov't
have stopped enforcing DoNotCall lists. But CallerID
means I never have to answer scam calls in the first
place. In the UK they don't seem to have a CallerID
function.


We've had one for years. There are even 'phones you can buy that screen
calls based on them (you press a button to add them to your blocklist).
We call it CLI - calling line identification. (Not sure why - maybe
CallerID might be confused with the criminal investigation department!)
I don't see why _I_ should pay out for such a 'phone, though.

The CLIs are often spoofed though - for example, calls obviously from
Asia show as UK ones, or they show as ones which if called back are
non-existent. I've tried to argue that the telecomm.s companies are
participating in the deception by passing on these faked CLIs (which
ought to be detectable), but unsurprisingly I haven't got anywhere.

*But I agree with you. I always hang up on bank
robbers without so much as a how do you do.

(-:

I'll repeat it in case the thread wander has diverted attention from it,
but I still suspect the answer's no (as I can't think how it would
work), but: anyone think of a way we could upload something to their
systems? (If only a list of numbers to call - including the private
lines of their prime minister and the heads of crime families, and every
police station in their country ...)


Have some harmless fun.
Do you remember the old dial-up connection sound?
Record this;
https://youtu.be/PDE9b5iU8vI
and keep it handy on a phone or tablet.
Next time you get a call, just give a whistle and play it into the mic.

Ed (:-


If you have an answering machine (where you can listen to new calls to
screen them by waiting for someone to start leaving a message and then
pick up the handset if you want to talk to them), you could add the
"service disconnected" tone to the beginning of your outgoing voicemail
message. Robodialers will not remove you from their calling list if you
hang up on their call. You'll go back into their queue. However, many
robodialers are calling non-verified phone numbers and will update their
list when they hit a disconnected number. They only have so much time
to make so many calls, so they don't want to waste time redialing a dead
number. Only add the 3-tone sound to the start of your outgoing
message. Do not add "This line is no longer in service." You want the
robodialer to hear the tone and remove you from their calling list.
Real humans will hear the tone which is immediately following with your
real outgoing message to them.

https://lifehacker.com/182989/stop-t...ted-line-tones

You need to hunt down a recording of just the SIT (Special Information
Tone) sound - just the sound and not followed by a human-like
explanation. You want to confuse the robodialer, not human callers. I
had to find someone that had recorded just the tone. At Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specia...rmation_tones), record their
vacant SIT. You only need one copy (wiki pays the tone twice). I did
find another copy at:

http://www.yourhomenow.com/sound/sit-tone.wav

Your outgoing message would be something like "SIT You have reached
yourname. Please leave a message after the tone. Thankyou." The
robodialer will drop the call after hearing the SIT.

Since most robodialers will disconnect after the 3rd ring, they won't
hear the 3-tone sound at the start of your outgoing message. Most
answering machines won't let you configure them to answer on shorter
than 4 rings; however, some let you send all calls to voicemail. With
monitoring (aka screening) enabled on the answering machine, you could
hear it was a real human and perhaps someone you want to talk to to
interrupt the voicemail to take the call. Lots of answering machines
have screening.

Been too long to remember but I once played with an automated phone
system using my computer, analog modem, and some software. When a new
call was received, and just like the voice prompts you get at large
companies that make you drill through their menus, this setup would have
callers press "1" to forward the call to you. All it did was have the
modem ring an attached phone. Robodialers cannot follow instructions.
Since the instruction was issued during the robocall and before any
human spammer picked up the call, they wouldn't hear the instruction to
hit "1" to forward the call.
  #12  
Old July 20th 18, 07:36 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

In message , Mayayana
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| I don't see why _I_ should pay out for such a 'phone, though.
|
| The CLIs are often spoofed though -

We don't pay for it anymore. Here, also, it's often


We don't pay for CLI, either (well, it depends who your telcon. provider
is and what tariff you're on). I was referring to the blocking 'phone
when I said I didn't see why _I_ should pay for it.

spoofed. And a recent trick is for fundraisers to use
a personal cellphone with a local exchange, so it
seems legit. But the nice thing is that I can tell
if a caller is someone I know.


In UK, all fobile numbers start with 07. I've only once had a marketing
call from one of those.
[]
| I'll repeat it in case the thread wander has diverted attention from it,
| but I still suspect the answer's no (as I can't think how it would
| work), but: anyone think of a way we could upload something to their
| systems? (If only a list of numbers to call - including the private
| lines of their prime minister and the heads of crime families, and every
| police station in their country ...)

I don't see how that might be possible. You're
on a phone call. There's no server connection
going on.


Not initially, but ...

Were you thinking of a case where they want
access to your computer? Even then, if you let them
run some kind of remote desktop, you'd have to be
a very clever hacker with knowledge of bugs in
that software to attack them back.

.... yes, that's what I was thinking of. Pretend to do what they ask but
instead, upload something nasty. However, as you say, almost certainly
not possible. Too many bad movies (Independence Day, I'm looking at you
....)

[Actually, I enjoyed that movie - if you ignored the technical errors,
it was a good romp. And IIRR that was the one that had some very
gentlemanly and unrealistic Brits in it.]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Never make the same mistake twice...there are so many new ones to make!
  #13  
Old July 20th 18, 07:39 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

In message , Ed Cryer
writes:
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

[]
I'll repeat it in case the thread wander has diverted attention from
it, but I still suspect the answer's no (as I can't think how it
would work), but: anyone think of a way we could upload something to
their systems? (If only a list of numbers to call - including the
private lines of their prime minister and the heads of crime
families, and every police station in their country ...)


Have some harmless fun.
Do you remember the old dial-up connection sound?
Record this;
https://youtu.be/PDE9b5iU8vI


Ah, that was a later one - V42 or X something. Not like the old 300/300
(or, if you were posh, 75/1200) ...

and keep it handy on a phone or tablet.
Next time you get a call, just give a whistle and play it into the mic.

Ed (:-

I'm beyond just wanting to waste their time (though I like the old one
someone linked to about simulating a crime scene). I want to do their
systems some harm ...
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Never make the same mistake twice...there are so many new ones to make!
  #14  
Old July 20th 18, 07:41 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,679
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

In message , VanguardLH
writes:
[]
Been too long to remember but I once played with an automated phone
system using my computer, analog modem, and some software. When a new

[]
Did you get through to any good games companies? Such as the one that
had "Global Thermonuclear Warfare"?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Never make the same mistake twice...there are so many new ones to make!
  #15  
Old July 20th 18, 09:51 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
David E. Ross[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,035
Default telephone hackers - can we upload something?

On 7/20/2018 3:26 AM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
I had one of these calls yesterday - "your computer has stopped
communicating with the Windows server", or something like that.

I used my usual: "hang on while I get the police on the other line";
that usually makes them hang up pretty smartish.

However, thinking about it afterwards, I wondered: would it be possible
to devise something that could do something to their systems, while
pretending to do whatever they ask? I've never gone beyond the initial
call - I have always seen through them so far, it's not been difficult!
- so I don't know what they ask you to _do_.

I suspect it isn't likely to be possible, but it would be _so_
satisfying ... (-:

If I am sitting at my PC when the phone rings, I sometimes have my PC's
Fax application answer. I told my daughter that, if she calls and hears
Fax synchronization tones, she should hang up; wait a full minute; and
then call again.

--
David E. Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

Attorney-General Sessions claims the bible favors imprisoning illegal
aliens. However, God repeatedly commanded us to welcome the stranger in
our land. For example, see the following:
Exodus 22:20 at
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=22#P2 131
Exodus 23:9 at
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=23#P2 151
Deuteronomy 10:19 at
http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=5&CHAPTER=10#P5 200
 




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