Basically you receive a phone call claiming to be from the NBN Co. Usual line of rubbish that your computer may have an inherent fault stopping it from going over to NBN . The inevitable question is asked of you to press the Windows key + R . 400 + users have reported this to the ACCC recently . /
Around $67 K has been scammed off users of the 'net recently . Mainly pensioners and those that can ill afford to get duped . Be careful .
Response to Telephone Scammers
Let the person finish their blurb and then say " Hang on Iâll get my Mum". Put the phone down and go and make a cup of tea or something. When you come back to the phone the caller has gone and they will not call you again as it costs to much to keep the phone line open. Tom Oâ
Or say you transfer them to your IT department which looks after this service, and is part of the police service. This usually results in the line dropping out.
Thatâs a good ploy, @thomasn !
It actually costs them next-to-nothing to call you as they use heavily discounted VOIP call rates. They wonât like to stay on hold for too long, as one of their performance indicators is linked to the average time spent on each call.
If I have nothing better to do, I try to string them along for as long as possible. Just over 20 minutes is my record. Be prepared for plenty of verbal abuse when they realise their time has been wasted 
It tends to be really offensive abuse if you can manage to rope in the callerâs supervisor as well.
I now say I am finished being polite to you guys, F⊠off.
I found when they start abuse it can be rewarding to move into evangelical mode (pick any religion) and try to sell them god. Sometimes they go into meltdown abusive. It can be most entertaining. I never understood why they did not just hang up first 
I am retired and with a hands free phone I too string the cold callers along. I also have a printed note beside the phone which I read to"them which states âThank you for your call. I need to advisee you that this call may be recorded for training and prosecution purposes in an international court. Could you please state your full name and date of birthâ. Very few stay on the line for the full text. PS I too get abused but with age comes very thick skin.
I do this sometimes too, crofty (itâs fun isnât it?) though mostly we just ignore numbers we donât recognise.
If itâs a genuine call theyâll leave a message, or we pick up the phone - they only seem to call on our landline so we can hear them. Most times they hang up before we pick up anyway.
I pretend to be *** Solar & Electrical and try and sell them solar panels (which they are often trying to do to me). If they are trying to get me to change phone providers, I still try to sell them solar panels. They need to tell me which way their longest roof faces (North is better, or if they live in the Northern hemisphere, South). They donât get a word in.
My favourite thing to do to the scammers , if I have time , is to slowly get them to the point where they ask me to press the Windows key and then the R Key . I tell them that Iâm not that tech savvy and maybe one of their supervisors could help me . I then ask where the window key is on the key board . Iâm told next to the Control key . I waste more time and say I cant find anything with the word control on it . They then tell me it is spelt ctrl . /
To cut a long story short after wasting more of their time I ask them if these keys are on an Apple Mac . Time to move the phone away from the ear . Always gets the same reaction .
Or request their phone number and say youâll ring them back!
Iâve done exactly the same thing, except in the end, after 15 minutes or so, they asked me if I had a Mac! However he didnât give me the expletive treatment but was just very annoyed.
This was inevitable. The old Windows eventvwr scam moved on (in Australia) to the scammers claiming to be from Telstra and then to claiming to be from the NBN.
Itâs funny how long some of them will argue with you if you tell them that you are not with Telstra.
Whatâs not funny is that some of them are now threatening to cut off your internet if you donât do as they say. There are sure to be people who would believe that.
If you have the time, Iâd suggest you string them along, right up to the stage when they want you to download and run remote control software. Try to get the code from them and then report them. (Some of the reputable remote control software sites have an option to report scam users. If they say they are from Windows, thereâs a Microsoft page to report them too.)
Then see how much they swear at you when youâve wasted 45 mins. (I cooked and ate dinner while on one of their calls once.)
I am with you. They are wasting my time by making me getting to the phone in the 1st instance and then itâs all for nothing.
Grrrr!@#$%^&*(
Iâve been responding to known spoofed telephone numbers with the following greeting âHello, Telstra Internet Technical Services, what can I do for youâ. Iâve been more than amused by the scammers surprised and faltering reasons for calling me.
My land line goes to mail after 6 rings that does it for me - mates and important return of calls on mobile, Amazingly get very few calls who dont leave a message and genuine - so those annoying ones have learnt maybe? Am on Do Not Call Register as well. Which did a good job in this regard.
I simply talk to scammers and telemarketers briefly about my services (which can help anyone, anywhere). If they are not interested, being polite, I donât push them and hang up.
I just say that I am from the fraud squad and athey hang up then as well
My fvourite response is to let them rave on for a minute or so and then explain that I am on a Mac, so whatever they said simply cannot be correct. This gets rid of them in very short order and also affords me some puerile amusement. It is also perfectly true, as I bought my first Mac in 2006 and my only regret has been that I didnât do it earlier.
On Tuesday, 28th May I received a call on my landline (silent number) from a recorded voice stating that my NBN will be closed down for 24 hours then I heard a human voice âHello, how are you today, my name is Veronicaâ. Unfortunately, I responded with âyes, yesâ? when call when dead. I fear my voice and silent number will do the rounds with these con-artists and maybe have my voice saying âyesâ to deals I have not signed up with.
